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Wagga Wagga Business Survey 2009
In-depth analysis report
August, 2010
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................1
1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................................3
2 SURVEY METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................................................4
2.1 SURVEY BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................................4 2.2 SURVEY ANALYSIS ..............................................................................................................................................4 2.3 SURVEY RESULTS ................................................................................................................................................5
3 WAGGA WAGGA BUSINESS PROFILE ............................................................................................................8
3.1 BUSINESS PERFORMANCE ....................................................................................................................................8 Employee trends...................................................................................................................................................8 Expansion Plans.................................................................................................................................................12 Business Conditions ...........................................................................................................................................13
3.2 CONSTRAINTS TO BUSINESS GROWTH ...............................................................................................................15 3.3 EMPLOYEE NUMBERS ........................................................................................................................................16 3.4 APPRENTICES AND TRAINEES.............................................................................................................................18 3.5 PLANS TO MOVE OR CLOSE BUSINESS .................................................................................................................20 3.6 IMPORTANCE OF MARKETS ................................................................................................................................20
Import Replacement ...........................................................................................................................................21 3.7 COMPETITION ....................................................................................................................................................22 3.8 GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS ...............................................................................................................................29 3.9 SPECIFIC BUSINESS TYPES .................................................................................................................................30
Franchises and Branch Operations ...................................................................................................................30 Home-based Businesses .....................................................................................................................................30
3.10 ATTRACTIONS OF WAGGA WAGGA FOR BUSINESS ..........................................................................31
Satisfaction with Services in Wagga Wagga ......................................................................................................31
3.11 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES ....................................................................................................34
INTERNET ................................................................................................................................................................36
4 IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WAGGA WAGGA............................................37
4.1 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................................................................37 4.2 IMPORT REPLACEMENT......................................................................................................................................38 4.3 TRAINING AND EDUCATION ...............................................................................................................................38 4.4 INFRASTRUCTURE ..............................................................................................................................................38 4.5 INVESTMENT ATTRACTION ................................................................................................................................39
APPENDIX 1— ADDITIONAL FIGURES AND TABLES..................................................................................40
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List of tables Table 1 Respondent mix by industry........................................................................................ 6 Table 2 Respondents by employment size ............................................................................. 7 Table 3 Respondents by annual turnover ............................................................................... 7 Table 4 Employee change by business type over the last two years ................................. 9 Table 5 Predicted staff change by business type over the next two years...................... 10 Table 6 Expected change in Employees by Business Size .............................................. 11 Table 7 Expansion Plans by Business Size.......................................................................... 12 Table 8 Expected long term business conditions i.e. longer than 1 year......................... 14 Table 9 Change in employee numbers by industry for the last two years ....................... 16 Table 10 Expected change in employee numbers by industry sector for the next two years............................................................................................................................................. 17 Table 11 Apprentice and trainee numbers ............................................................................. 18 Table 12 Number of businesses interested in aspects of closer cooperation with other businesses, by industry (part 1) ............................................................................................... 24 Table 13 Rating of importance* of factors supporting business growth (part 1) ............. 26 Table 14 Number of businesses nominating factors to support business growth (part 1)....................................................................................................................................................... 28 Table 15 Views of components of infrastructure by industry ............................................. 33
List of figures Figure 1 Survey Response Rate................................................................................................ 5 Figure 2 Employee change by business type over the last two years................................. 9 Figure 3 Predicted staff change by business type over the next two years ................... 10 Figure 4 Change in employee numbers (sum of full-time, part-time and casual) by industry (Combined last two years and predictions for next two years) ............................ 11 Figure 5 Employee Change by Business Size (number of employees) ........................... 12 Figure 6 Expected business conditions in the next 12 months.......................................... 13 Figure 7 Expected long term business conditions i.e. longer than 1 year ....................... 14 Figure 8 The top six constraints to Development for Wagga Wagga businesses .......... 15 Figure 9 Workforce Shortages all Respondents .................................................................. 19 Figure 10 Products and Services Sourced from Outside of Wagga (n=204) .................. 22 Figure 11 Competition Score by Industry ............................................................................... 23 Figure 12 Impact of the GFC on Markets.............................................................................. 29 Figure 13 Number of Home-based Business in each Turnover Range .......................... 31 Figure 14 Satisfaction with infrastructure for all sectors ..................................................... 32 Figure 15 Advantages of doing Business in Wagga Wagga.............................................. 35 Figure 16 Disadvantages of doing Business in Wagga Wagga ........................................ 35
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Executive Summary This report presents an in-depth analysis of a survey of the business community in Wagga Wagga carried out by the Wagga Wagga City Council in late 2009. A total of 409 businesses began the survey. The response rate decreased significantly over the first 20 questions of the survey. In total, 245 of the initial 409 respondents completed the survey. The number of responses for each question was also variable. On average, about 60% of respondents from each industry sector completed the survey. The key findings from the survey are presented below. Business Performance
- The public sector had the most businesses that gained employees over the last two years (32% of respondents), while ‘Franchise’ and ‘Locally owned’ businesses had similar (to each other) employee change profiles with a greater proportion of static employee patterns. Overall, 92 businesses (36.6% of total respondents) said that they gained staff in the last two years. In the next two years, just over 30% of all business types predicted that they would gain employees.
- Over half of businesses that said they were expecting a gain in employees in the next two years employed less than 20 full time staff.
- 145 out of 254 businesses who responded either have plans to expand or will potentially expand in the future. 55 businesses with less than 19 employees are planning on expanding, and 5 out of 9 businesses with more than 100 employees have expansion plans.
- Over the short-term, i.e. less than one year, franchises and locally owned businesses tended to be much more optimistic about business conditions than government organisations. Franchises/Branch Offices were the most optimistic respondents, with just under 80% expecting improvements. A similar trend is shown for expected long-term business conditions, with ‘Franchises/Branch Offices’ and ‘Locally owned businesses’ having more respondents expecting growth or significant growth. In all categories, at least 60% of respondents expected some growth in the long term.
- Sectors showing the highest gains in staff numbers over the last two years and for the next two years were: ‘Education and Training’, ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’. Those with the smallest gains in staff were ‘Mining’ and ‘Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services’.
Constraints to Business Growth
- In terms of business constraints, ‘finance’, ‘lack of skilled staff’ and ‘lack of suitable premises’ were significant for almost all industry sectors.
- On average, about 60% of respondents intend taking on apprentices/trainees in the future. ‘Construction’, ‘Wholesale Trade’, ‘Retail Trade’ and ‘Manufacturing’ were four of the sectors most likely to take on an apprentice or trainee. The sectors least likely to take on an apprentice / trainee were: ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’; ‘Arts and Recreation Services’, and ‘Information Media and Telecommunications’.
- A clear majority of respondents had no plans to sell or close their business. A small number of respondents from the ‘franchise’ and ‘locally owned’ categories were planning on selling or closing. ‘Information, Media and Telecommunications’ was the sector with
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the highest proportion of respondents planning to sell or close their business (about 22% or 3 businesses)
- For most sectors, a minority of respondents sold to an international market. - On average there was a moderate perceived level of competition across all sectors.
‘Government and Public Administration’ and ‘Arts and Recreation Services’ had the lowest rated competition (mid-intensity), while ‘Mining’ and ‘Retail Trade’ had the highest.
- Businesses with local and regional markets appear to have been least affected by the GFC, while businesses with more international exports seem less optimistic about sales in the near future.
- ‘Skilled Trades’ was easily the most important worker shortage amongst respondents. Sales people and Business Administration workers were in shortage for a high number of respondents.
Attractions of Wagga Wagga for Business
- When all sectors were put together there was a wide spread of satisfaction/dissatisfaction over individual aspects of the infrastructure in Wagga Wagga. The most satisfactory was ‘Access to electricity supply’, with almost every business being at least satisfied and more than 40% rating it as good or excellent. Other items highly rated by businesses overall were ‘Access to gas supply’, ‘Water Supply’, ‘Access to airport facilities’ and ‘Access to highway/roadway’.
- The least satisfactory (with more than 50% dissatisfaction and about 25% rating it as very poor) was ‘Development application process’. Other services showing more than 30% poor rating were ‘Availability of appropriately zoned land’ and ‘Availability of conference/convention facilities’ and ‘internet services’.
- ‘Local customer loyalty’ was rated as very significant or critical by almost 80% of respondents. ‘Being close to distributors and markets’ had the smallest number of respondents that rated it as very significant or critical.
- ‘Lack of council support’, ‘planning restrictions and/or delays’ and ‘slow local market growth’ all had a high number of respondents that rated them as critical and very significant.
A number of implications for the continued economic development of Wagga Wagga have been drawn from these findings. In summary: - Generally, respondents were satisfied with infrastructure and services in the city of Wagga
Wagga. However, notwithstanding the differences amongst industry sectors, there was a relatively high level of dissatisfaction with Council processes.
- Overall, businesses in Wagga Wagga seemed positive regarding employment and growth prospects, with gains in employment and growth over the next two years expected by most respondents. Having said this, ‘lack of skilled staff’ was a constraint to development identified by many businesses.
- The survey responses demonstrate that Wagga Wagga’s lifestyle, local markets and proximity to larger centres makes it a highly attractive place for business.
- The above attributes should be enhanced by building on the current levels of business support in the improvable services identified by the survey. These areas include ‘internet access’, ‘conference facilities’ and general council support services.
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1 Introduction This report presents an in-depth analysis of the survey of the business community in Wagga Wagga carried out by the Wagga Wagga City Council in October 2009. The aims of the survey were to:
Engage with the Wagga Wagga business community so as to provide an enhanced economic development service
Understand more about the capabilities of, and issues for, businesses in Wagga Wagga Identify areas for Council action to promote economic development Increase the competitiveness of local businesses.
Wagga Wagga City Council published a Preliminary Report on the survey results on 25 February 2010. This report is designed to complement the Preliminary Report and provides a deeper analysis of the survey data with a focus on economic development strategies and actions. This report has been prepared by Strategic Economic Solutions Pty Ltd. The support of the survey from Wagga Wagga businesses has been very positive and Council sincerely appreciates the time that business people took to record their responses. The survey information on areas such as infrastructure, enterprise development, training in work skills and location decisions provides substantial insight into Wagga Wagga’s economy and the experiences of businesses operating in Wagga Wagga. This is being used to inform the development of the Council’s economic development initiatives.
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2 Survey Methodology
2.1 Survey Background The survey was carried out in Wagga Wagga in October 2009. The aim of the survey was to identify areas for Council action to promote economic development in Wagga Wagga, and to increase the competitiveness of local businesses. The survey was distributed by email to 3,371 businesses, and responses were received from 409 businesses. The overall response rate was 12%. The number of responses is considered reasonable, particularly as the survey was a lengthy one. The survey was long as it was designed to provide benchmark data for future comparisons and trend analysis. There was a significant dropout rate for those who began the survey, particularly over the first 20 questions (see below for more details). The survey comprised 73 questions and took between 20 to 30 minutes to complete. It was organised under the following sections:
Your Business Profile Your Employees Your Business Environment and Outlook Business Development and Opportunities for Wagga Wagga Current and Local Issues.
The survey was only available for completion online.
2.2 Survey Analysis The survey has resulted in a large amount of data, providing substantial information about Wagga Wagga’s business sector and economy. This data provides a major resource for the Council’s Economic Development Team, as it can be readily accessed and analysed on an ad hoc basis to inform business and economic development issues. For example, the question relating to recruitment has provided data on the areas in which there are skill shortages in the local workforce, including a detailed list of actual occupations for which respondents have had difficulties in finding suitable personnel. As mentioned above, the survey was initially analysed in a Preliminary Report that summarised the results of the survey questions. An in-depth analysis was then carried out and is presented in the following report. The in-depth analysis involved several stages. First, the data was assessed to identify what kinds of analysis were most suitable (given that the data is incomplete in places). Second, data was organised into key themes and where appropriate tabulated against industry and business size to highlight trends across several variables. Finally, the results were analysed to provide general strategies for the continued economic development of Wagga Wagga.
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.
2.3 Survey Results The response rate for the survey is shown below in Figure 1. The response rate decreased significantly over the first 20 questions of the survey, after which it levelled out. In total, 245 of the initial 409 respondents completed the survey. The number of responses for each question was also variable. Table 1 shows the response rates by industry sector. It can be seen that on average about 60% of each industry respondent group completed the survey. In addition, businesses that were locally owned or that originated in Wagga were more likely to finish the survey. Overall, the response to this survey is considered to be good, and the overall findings can be generalised for most industries. However, in refining the analysis and ‘drilling down’ to perform correlations by sector and other parameters, the sample sizes are in some cases small and therefore some of the analysis provides more illustrative results than robust inferences. Nevertheless, even in cases such as these, the information provides insight for the purposes of economic development. Figure 1 Survey Response Rate
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Table 1 Respondent mix by industry
Industry No.
Started
% of started
responses No.
completed Completion
rate
% of completed
surveys (n=245)
% of completed responses (n=384)^
% in Wagga
Wagga**
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 36 9% 22 61% 9% 6% 17.70%
Manufacturing 44 11% 27 61% 11% 7% 4.70% Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 18 4% 12 67% 5% 3% 0.00%
Construction 60 15% 39 65% 16% 10% 16.50%
Wholesale Trade 30 7% 20 67% 8% 5% 3.80%
Retail Trade 87 21% 56 64% 23% 15% 12.80% Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 30 7% 21 70% 9% 5% 3.40% Transport, storage and postal 28 7% 14 50% 6% 4% 6.30% Information media and telecommunications 24 6% 12 50% 5% 3% 0.90% Financial and insurance service 36 9% 23 64% 9% 6% 4.30% Rental, hiring and real estate services 22 5% 11 50% 4% 3% Professional, scientific and technical services 50 12% 34 68% 14% 9% (Property and Business Services)^^ 72 18% 45 63% 18% 12% 18.60% Government Administrative and defence 14 3% 9 64% 4% 2% na Public administration and safety 9 2% 4 44% 2% 1% na Education and Training 44 11% 21 48% 9% 5% 0.60% Health care and social assistance 31 8% 19 61% 8% 5% 5.00% Arts and recreation services 23 6% 13 57% 5% 3% 1.90% Personal and other services 38 9% 23 61% 9% 6% 3.40% Total Responses to Industry Question (q2) 632 384^ Total Survey Respondents 409 245 60% 156.70% 100.00% 100.00%
*Respondents could nominate more than one industry. Data in this table is based on the number of responses (n=632) and not the number of respondents (n=409).
**Based on number of locally-registered businesses on the ABS/ATO Australian Business Register at June 2007
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^ Total responses to the Industry question (question 2) for respondents who completed the survey. Respondents were able to nominate more than one industry type for their business and thus there were more responses according to business type (384) compared to individual respondents (245).
^^ This Category is an amalgamation of the two rows above (‘Rental, hiring and real estate services’ and ‘Professional, scientific and technical services’) The table shows that the respondent pool overall includes similar proportions of businesses in most industries to those which are thought to exist in Wagga Wagga. The table shows that the respondent pool includes slightly higher proportions of businesses in industries like manufacturing, retail, accommodation/cafes/restaurants and many of the service sectors than are present in Wagga Wagga, while it has an under-representation of respondents from agriculture. These divergences are not large enough to cause difficulties in interpreting the survey data. Also, most industries have more than 15 respondents, forming a reasonably broad base and a solid foundation for analysis and interpretation. In terms of employment size as well, the respondent pool generally reflects the mix of sizes of business in Wagga Wagga, though more larger businesses completed the survey relative to the mix of larger businesses in Wagga Wagga. Table 2 Respondents by employment size
Business Size (Perm Full-Time) Respondents
Wagga Wagga business counts
<5 60.8% 80.4% 5 to 19 22.2% 14.4% 20 to 49 10.8% 3.7% 50 to 99 2.5% 0.9% 100 to 199 1.3% 0.2% 200 plus 2.5% 0.3%
Source: ABS/ATO Australian Business Register (ABR) as at June 2007, ABS Cat 8165.0.
Note that the ABR counts the number of locally-based businesses rather than all businesses in the LGA as it counts the number of businesses using the Wagga Wagga LGA as their registered place of business. The respondent mix in terms of turnover shows the same slight bias towards larger businesses. Table 3 Respondents by annual turnover
Annual turnover Respondents Wagga Wagga business
counts Over $10 million 7.6% 0.9% $5 million to $10 million 7.3% 1.2% $1 million to $5 million 22.9% 9.5% $500,000 to $1 million 14.3% 11.5% Under $500,000 47.8% 76.9%
Source: ABS/ATO Australian Business Register (ABR) as at June 2007, ABS Cat 8165.0.
Note that the ABR counts the number of locally-based businesses rather than all businesses in the LGA as it counts the number of businesses using the Wagga Wagga LGA as their registered place of business.
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3 Wagga Wagga Business Profile The following sections provide an overall assessment of Wagga Wagga’s business community, showing the survey results relating to industry structure and business type Respondents gave feedback on how well their businesses are performing and how well they expect to perform in coming years. They also gave details about particular constraints to their businesses, within their industry sectors, and whether they plan to sell up or move location. Employee and apprentice/trainee numbers are given, again for past and planned periods of time. Other results shown include the importance of different geographical markets, competition intensity levels and the impact of the ‘global financial crisis.’
3.1 Business Performance The financial performance of businesses in Wagga Wagga was one of the prominent themes of the survey. This section examines employee trends and business conditions as indicators of how well businesses are performing. For employee trends, respondents were asked to comment on the previous two years and future two years, at the time of the survey. For business conditions, respondents were asked to assess the short-term and long-term scope for growth improvement, with respect to their business.
Employee trends
Figures 2 and 3 show the change in staff numbers by business type, the predicted change by business type, and the change in staff numbers by industry. Overall, 92 businesses (36.6% of total respondents) said that they gained staff in the last two years. It can be seen that the public sector had the most businesses that gained employees over the last two years (32% of respondents), while ‘Franchise’ and ‘Locally owned’ businesses had similar (to each other) employee change profiles with a greater proportion of static employee patterns. In the next two years, just over 30% of all business types predicted that they would gain employees. No staff loss was predicted by franchise businesses, with very little loss expected among the local and government businesses. As for the past two years, ‘Franchise’ and ‘Locally owned’ business types were shown to expect a large proportion (approximately 30%) of static staff patterns. The static proportion for Government businesses was much less (approximately 15%). However, the Government sector had the highest ‘Not stated’ proportion (40%) for this question.
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Figure 2 Employee change by business type over the last two years
Table 4 Employee change by business type over the last two years
Gain in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Static in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Loss in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Not stated (nos. of
businesses)
Grand Total in
Employees (nos. of
businesses) Franchise/branch office 18 24 4 23 69 Locally owned 65 94 29 89 277 Government body 7 4 2 9 22
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Figure 3 Predicted staff change by business type over the next two years
Table 5 Predicted staff change by business type over the next two years
Gain in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Static in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Loss in Employees
(nos. of businesses)
Not stated (nos. of
businesses)
Franchise/branch office 22 23 0 24 Locally owned 94 83 4 96 Government body 7 3 1 11
By industry, it can be seen below that most sectors have had and expect a gain in full-time and casual staff (‘Government and Public Administration’ is a notable exception with a loss of casual staff). Sectors showing the highest gains in staff numbers are: ‘Education and Training’, ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’. Those with the smallest gains in staff are ‘Mining’ and ‘Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services’.
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Figure 4 Change in employee numbers (sum of full-time, part-time and casual) by industry (Combined last two years and predictions for next two years)
Table 6 and Figure 5 (below) show the expected employee changes for the next two years by business size and for small to medium businesses, respectively. It can be seen that 97 businesses are expecting to gain employees, over half of which employ less than 19 people. Only 6 businesses are expecting to lose fulltime employees in the next two years, and most of these have less than five fulltime employees. In addition, the percentage of businesses with less than 5 fulltime employees who are expecting to gain employees is much less than the percentage for businesses with 5 to 19 employees and those with 20 to 49 employees. Table 6 Expected change in Employees by Business Size
Business Size (full time staff)
Gain (no. of businesses)
Static (no. of businesses)
Loss (no. of businesses)
Not answered (no. of businesses)
Total (no. of businesses)
Less than 5 40 75 4 42 1615 to 19 33 18 1 6 5820 to 49 15 11 0 2 2850 to 99 3 0 0 1 4100 to 199 3 0 0 1 4200 to 499 1 1 1 1 4More than 500 2 0 0 0 2Total 97 105 6 53 261
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Figure 5 Employee Change by Business Size (number of employees)
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
Gain Static Loss NA
% of Repondents
Employee Change
Employee Change by Business Size for the next two years ‐ Small to Medium Businesses
Less than 5 Employees
5 to 19 Employees
20 to 49 Employees
Expansion Plans
Table 7 below shows the expansion plans of respondents by business size (in terms of fulltime employees). 145 out of 254 businesses who responded either have plans to expand or will potentially expand in the future. 55 businesses with less than 19 employees are planning on expanding, and 5 out of 9 businesses with more than 100 employees have expansion plans. Generally, as business size increases, so does the proportion of expected expansion.
Table 7 Expansion Plans by Business Size
Expansion Plans?
Business Size (full time staff)
Yes (no. of businesses)
Potentially (no. of businesses)
No (no. of businesses)
Total (no. of businesses)
Less than 5 35 48 73 1565 to 19 20 14 23 5720 to 49 10 9 9 2850 to 99 2 1 1 4100 to 199 2 1 1 4200 to 499 1 0 2 3More than 500 2 0 0 2Total 72 73 109 254
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Business Conditions
The next two figures show the short-term and long-term predictions of business conditions by respondents; the accompanying table shows how many respondents did not answer these questions. In all categories, at least 60% of respondents expected some growth in the long term. Over the short-term, i.e. less than one year, franchises and locally owned businesses tended to be much more optimistic about business conditions than government organisations. Franchises/Branch Offices were the most optimistic respondents, with just under 80% expecting improvements. A similar trend is shown for expected long-term business conditions, with ‘Franchises/Branch Offices’ and ‘Locally owned businesses’ having more respondents expecting growth or significant growth. Figure 6 Expected business conditions in the next 12 months
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Figure 7 Expected long term business conditions i.e. longer than 1 year
Table 8 Expected long term business conditions i.e. longer than 1 year
Shrinking (nos. of businesses)
Steady (nos. of businesses)
Showing some growth (nos. of businesses)
Growing strongly (nos. of businesses)
Not stated (nos. of businesses)
Franchise/branch office 1 15 22 12 19
Locally owned 12 74 91 45 55 Government body 2 2 9 0 9
Government businesses showed the highest proportion of expected shrinkage, and none expected strong growth; however a large proportion of slow growth was expected. In addition, as mentioned in the previous section, larger businesses, based on their number of employees, are more likely to have plans for expansion. For additional information on how the ‘Global Financial Crisis’ has affected business in Wagga Wagga, please see section 3.8. In summary, businesses in Wagga Wagga appear to be optimistic about the potential for business growth and expansion. Franchises/branch offices and locally owned businesses are expecting good growth, and Sectors showing the highest gains in staff numbers are: ‘Education and Training’, ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’.
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3.2 Constraints to Business Growth Figure 8 below shows the constraints to development and expansion by industry sector. While each industry sector has a unique combination of constraints, it can be seen that ‘finance’, ‘lack of skilled staff’ and ‘lack of suitable premises’ were significant for almost all industry sectors. Other constraints commonly identified across sectors were ‘local regulations’, ‘problems with development applications’, and ‘identifying / accessing new markets’. Tables A and B in Appendix 1 show the constraints to development for Wagga Wagga businesses, expressed for each sector by both per cent and number of respondents. Finance is by far the most commonly cited constraint. As an example of one sector’s constraints, those of the Arts and recreation services sector were shown to be: finance (42.1% or 8 respondents); lack of suitable premises (15.7% or 3); water availability (10.5% or 2), and other constraints (15.7% or 3). Many respondents also identified ‘Other constraints’ as important (9 sectors, ranging from 11% to 24% of respondents). Respondents to the survey have listed specific constraints, and a number of these reflect issues with the Development Application process. For a breakdown of identified constraints by sector, refer to Tables A and B in Appendix 1. Figure 8 The top six constraints to Development for Wagga Wagga businesses
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3.3 Employee Numbers Tables 9 and 10 below, and figures A and B and tables C and D in Appendix 1, show the change in employee numbers (percentages in Appendix) by sector in the last two years and for the next two years, respectively. Overall, employee numbers increased over the last two years and most respondents expect increases in the next two years. By sector in the last two years, of those who responded, ‘Education and Training’ had the highest proportion of respondents that gained staff, followed by ‘Health Care and Social Assistance’. A high number of ‘Public Administration and Safety’, ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Government Administrative and Defence’ respondents also indicated gains in staff. ‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate’, ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’ and ‘Manufacturing’ had the largest proportion of respondents (of those who answered) that experienced a loss of employees in the last two years. A relatively small number of ‘Education and Training’, ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Construction’ respondents indicated loss of employees. Most sectors showed large proportions of respondents indicating unchanged employee numbers, ranging from 26.3% (Education and Training) to 66.7% (both Mining and Wholesale trade). ‘Mining’ and ‘Health care and social assistance’ respondents showed no losses in numbers employed. Table 9 Change in employee numbers by industry for the last two years
Gain Unchanged Loss Not answered
Sector (nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 9 10 1 10 Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 5 15 4 12 Arts and recreation services 3 8 2 10 Construction 15 25 3 17 Education and training 13 5 1 25 Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 3 9 2 4 Financial and insurance service 7 12 3 8 Government Administrative and defence 4 4 1 5 Health care and social assistance 11 8 12 Information media and telecommunications 3 7 2 12 Manufacturing 10 13 6 15 Mining 1 2 5 Personal and other services 9 12 4 13 Professional, scientific and technical services 8 17 7 18 Public administration and safety 2 1 1 5 Rental, hiring and real estate services 5 5 4 8 Retail trade 18 30 11 28 Transport, storage and postal 7 11 3 7 Wholesale trade 3 14 4 9 Total 136 208 59 223
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Table 10 Expected change in employee numbers by industry sector for the next two years
Gain Unchanged Loss Not
answered
Sector
(nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
(nos. of businesses)
Retail trade 26 31 2 28 Construction 21 18 0 21 Professional, scientific and technical services 20 13 1 16 Education and training 13 7 0 24 Manufacturing 13 14 0 17 Personal and other services 12 9 0 17 Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 11 9 0 10 Health care and social assistance 11 7 0 13 Transport, storage and postal 11 8 0 9 Financial and insurance service 8 12 0 10 Government and Public Administration ^ 8 3 1 11 Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 6 15 1 14 Rental, hiring and real estate services 6 6 0 10 Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 5 7 0 6 Wholesale trade 5 15 0 10 Arts and recreation services 4 6 0 13 Information media and telecommunications 3 7 0 14 Mining 1 2 0 5
Total 184 189 5 248^This Category includes ‘Government Administrative and Defence’ and ‘Public Administration and Safety’ from the previous table In the next two years, 49% of respondents are expecting to gain employees. ‘Government and Public Administration’, ‘Education and Training’ and ‘Health care and social assistance’ are the sectors that most expect to gain employees (about 65% of respondents in each of those sectors). Other sectors in which a large (over 50%) proportion of respondents expect a gain in employee numbers include: ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’; ‘Construction’; ‘Health Care and Social Assistance’; ‘Personal and Other Services’; ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’; ‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Service’, and ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’. About 10% of respondents from the ‘Government Administration and Defence’ sector are expecting to lose employees. Respondents of three other sectors expect small losses: ‘Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’; ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’; and ‘Retail Trade’. The majority of sector’s respondents do not expect any loss in employee numbers. Overall, for full time staff, there was a net gain of 100 staff amongst respondents. For the next two years there is an expected net gain of 233 full time staff for all respondents.
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3.4 Apprentices and Trainees Table 11 (below) shows the number of businesses currently employing apprentices and trainees, the number of apprentices now employed in each industry, the number of respondents intending to employ trainees or apprentices in the future and the share of each industry in the respondent pool. Table 11 Apprentice and trainee numbers
Sector count data: apprentices and trainees employed October 2009
Sector count data: intentions to employ apprentices and trainees
Num
ber
resp
ondi
ng
Num
ber
empl
oyin
g
% E
mpl
oyin
g of
to
tal e
mpl
oyin
g
*Adj
uste
d nu
mbe
r em
ploy
ed
Num
ber
resp
ondi
ng
Num
ber
inte
ndin
g to
em
ploy
% In
tend
ing
empl
oy o
f tot
al
inte
ndin
g
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 22 7 4.6 15.3 23 14 5.8Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 25 1 0.7 5.1 25 11 4.6Arts and recreation services 15 13 8.6 0.5 15 5 2.1Construction 46 4 2.6 57.6 47 35 14.6Education and training 23 20 13.2 **267.5 19 12 5.0Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 14 10 6.6 5.5 14 7 2.9Financial and insurance service 27 25 16.6 18.0 27 9 3.8Government and Public Administration 13 9 6.0 20.0 13 7 2.9Health care and social assistance 21 9 6.0 13.5 20 9 3.8Information media and telecommunications 15 2 1.3 5.0 14 5 2.1Manufacturing 34 10 6.6 11.9 34 22 9.2Mining 4 6 4.0 1.5 4 2 0.8Personal and other services 26 6 4.0 12.3 26 13 5.4Professional, scientific and technical services 38 3 2.0 11.1 37 12 5.0Rental, hiring and real estate services 13 10 6.6 13.0 14 7 2.9Retail trade 70 8 5.3 54.1 68 39 16.3Transport, storage and postal 22 1 0.7 32.9 22 15 6.3Wholesale trade 24 7 4.6 9.2 24 16 6.7Total count of sector data 452 151 100.0 446 240 100.0 Total number of apprentices employed 554 Total number of businesses 291 95 285 152*Adjusted number of apprentices/trainees employed in a sector is calculated from the sum of (number in each business)/(number of sectors in which that business operates). So if the business nominated just one industry then all their apprentices/trainees are counted in that industry. Where a business nominated 2 industries then the number of their apprentices/trainees are split between the two industries. Same for those nominating three or more industries. **Includes 250 from an employment service, employed through that sector and placed in other industries
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On average, about 60% of respondents intend taking on apprentices/trainees in the future. ‘Construction’, ‘Wholesale Trade’, ‘Retail Trade’, ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’ and ‘Manufacturing’ were the five sectors most likely to take on an apprentice or trainee. The sectors least likely to take on an apprentice / trainee were: ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’; ‘Arts and Recreation Services’, and ‘Information Media and Telecommunications’. A respondent’s likelihood to take on an apprentice or trainee does not appear to correlate with expected employee changes over the next two years, and is more dependent on the normal recruiting process for that industry. For example, the construction sector was most likely to take on trainees, but had an average expected number of employees over the next two years. With regard to the number of apprentices or trainees currently employed in each sector, respondents of most sectors gave a range of numbers. The majority of respondents employ four or less trainees. Some respondents in ’Government Administration and Defence’, ‘Construction’, ‘Retail Trade’ and ‘Transport, Storage and Postal’ intended to take on a larger number of trainees. None are expected to be taken on by respondents from ‘Public Administration and Safety’, and less than 10% of respondents from ‘Arts and Recreation Services’ intend taking on only one apprentice / trainee. Figure 9 shows the number of respondents who identified a given shortage of particular employee types. It can be seen that ‘Skilled Trades’ was easily the most important worker shortage amongst respondents. Sales people and Business Administration workers were also scored relatively highly. Figure 9 Workforce Shortages all Respondents
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3.5 Plans to move or close business Figures C, D and E in Appendix 1 show the proportion of respondents who plan to move or sell/close their business in the near future. A high proportion (80% or more) of all business types had no plans to move from the region. About 20% of franchise and branch office businesses had plans to move within the local area. No Government body respondents reported planning to leave Wagga Wagga. A majority of respondents had no plans to sell or close their business. A small number of respondents from the ‘franchise’ and ‘locally owned’ categories were planning on selling or closing. ‘Information, Media and Telecommunications’ was the sector with the highest proportion of respondents planning to sell or close their business (about 22% or 3 businesses). However, qualitative comments were not indicative of why this may have been the case and the small number of respondents means this may not be indicative of a significant trend. A similar proportion (20%) of respondents from ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ and ‘Retail Trade’ also had plans to sell or close. For the 37 businesses planning to move, some of the common reasons given were: - For a stronger customer base or elimination of transport costs - Too many companies producing similar products - Family decisions or not happy with the lifestyle in Wagga Wagga - For a more proactive Council or better planning/regulatory conditions. For the 30 businesses considering selling or planning to sell, some common reasons given were: - Retiring or looking for a different career - Lack of support from Local Council - Downturn in economic conditions or lack of markets/customers. There were no plans for business closures in five sectors: ‘Arts and Recreation Services’; ‘Health Care and Social Assistance’; ‘Mining’; ‘Public Administration and Safety’, and ‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services’.
3.6 Importance of Markets Figure F in Appendix 1 shows the proportion of market share identified by each respondent for each industry sector for local, national and international markets. Each graph in figure F represents one industry sector. While the variable number of respondents in each industry makes comparison difficult, it can be seen that there is a marked similarity in the market share trend for each industry. In general, it can be said that each industry is likely to have a core of respondents whose market share is entirely local, with gradual differentiation into respondents who have a mix of regional and national markets, to finally a small proportion of respondents who deal mostly with national and/or international markets.
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Rental, Hiring and Real Estate has an almost entirely local market focus, with no international market share. Mining respondents also indicated no international sales; however, there were only five respondents in this sector. For most sectors, a minority of respondents sell to an international market. For some, e.g. Manufacturing, the entire market share for several respondents is national or international, with no local sales. Overall, 191 businesses (out of 318 responses) have less than 20% sales outside Wagga (including national and international).
Import Replacement
Figure 10 shows the products and services that respondents indicated that they sourced from outside of Wagga Wagga. Among the most common were IT services including hardware and software, construction materials, and specialty materials relating to a particular business including medical supplies and machinery parts. In the “other" category were a number of other specialty services including gourmet food and hospitality supplies, labour and specialty contracting services. Respondents were also asked if the believed there were any services/infrastructure that were not well represented in Wagga Wagga. Some of the common responses to this question were:
- Medical Specialists and Health Services - Tourist Attractions and Facilities - Manufacturing Businesses - Restaurants and Cafes - Public Transport - Broadband - Conference Facilities
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Figure 10 Products and Services Sourced from Outside of Wagga (n=204)
3.7 Competition Figure 11 below show the level of competition in each industry as rated by respondents and the numbers of local businesses within each rating, respectively. On average there was a moderate perceived level of competition across all sectors. ‘Government and Public Administration’ and ‘Arts and Recreation Services’ had the lowest rated competition (mid-intensity), while ‘Mining’ and ‘Retail Trade’ had the highest. Overall, the competition rating of local business was similar to that of other business types; locally owned business gave an average score of 3.4 compared to the overall average of 3.5.
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Figure 11 Competition Score by Industry
The next pair of tables shows the number of businesses (by industry) interested in different types of cooperation with other businesses. The responses show that the practical issue of ‘referral of work’ tops the list, followed by ‘discussion groups’ and ‘joint training of staff’. The businesses services industries and construction were the most interested in cooperation, indicating there could be scope for Council to take a lead on initiating some industry-specific networking and dialogue.
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Table 12 Number of businesses interested in aspects of closer cooperation with other businesses, by industry (part 1)
Co-operative
marketing Joint
tendering Referral of
work
Joint participation in business
managementLearning activities
Discussion groups
Group purchasing of
inputs
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 3 1 4 2 2 6 1
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 9 1 2 4 5 3 8
Arts and recreation services 3 1 3 2 3 4 1
Construction 4 10 18 1 4 7 3
Education and training 5 4 13 1 5 11 1
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 2 4 4 3 3 4 1
Financial and insurance service 2 13 1 7 9 2
Government and Public Administration 3 2 7 0 5 4 0
Health care and social assistance 4 2 9 5 7 3
Information media and telecommunications 2 5 5 1 1
Manufacturing 5 4 11 1 3 3 3
Mining 1 1 1
Personal and other services 9 5 17 3 7 9 3
Professional, scientific and technical services 8 8 19 10 7 8 2
Rental, hiring and real estate services 3 5 1 3 4
Retail trade 9 4 17 4 13 8 7
Transport, storage and postal 2 3 5 1 3 4 1
Wholesale trade 4 2 6 2 5 3 4
Grand Total 78 57 159 36 81 95 40
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Table 12, part 2
Staff sharingJoint training
of staff
Buying and/or sharing
equipment
Sharing distribution
services
Infra-structure
improvements Other
Not interested in
closer cooperation
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 3 5 3 2 2 3
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 6 3 5 2 4 5
Arts and recreation services 2 4 2 1 1 2
Construction 7 7 1 3 5
Education and training 1 6 2 3 2 2
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 5 4 2 1 2
Financial and insurance service 4 1 1 6
Government and Public Administration 1 7 6 0 6 1 0
Health care and social assistance 5 6 2 2 3 2
Information media and telecommunications 3 1 1 4
Manufacturing 7 4 4 5 5 7
Mining 2 2
Personal and other services 3 6 3 2 5 1 4
Professional, scientific and technical services 3 10 4 1 3 2 3
Rental, hiring and real estate services 1 5 1 2
Retail trade 12 8 5 8 6 13
Transport, storage and postal 3 3 1 1 1 3
Wholesale trade 7 5 3 5 3 3
Grand Total 68 90 42 31 50 8 66
The next pair of tables show the importance given to a range of factors that, if addressed, would support business growth. The rating numbers are based on the responses which rated the factors as ‘significant’, ‘very significant’, or ‘critical’ in importance, added for each business nominating the factor. The tables show that the practical issues of ‘marketing’ and ‘improved management skills’ are seen as far more important than other factors. Behind these two in the ratings are ‘greater community support’, 'improved business strategic planning’, and ‘internet know how’. The tables show some factors relevant to particular industries, which could be used as a catalyst for the networking activities noted above. A ‘management skills’ information session would appeal to construction industry businesses, for example, while ‘marketing’ help would appeal to the professional businesses services industries.
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Table 13 Rating of importance* of factors supporting business growth (part 1)
Better industry
information Better
technology
Better web site and internet
know-how
Greater community
support
Improved business and
strategic planning
Improved employee
skills
Improved labour
relations
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 15 4 7 16 10 2 8
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 8 9 11 11 12 9 13
Arts and recreation services 3 0 9 11 9 1 5
Construction 23 4 8 19 26 16 22
Education and training 19 4 17 20 9 1 13
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 3 3 3 4 12 5 9
Financial and insurance service 7 4 8 11 13 1 6
Government and Public Administration 14 8 11 10 12 1 21
Health care and social assistance 8 4 8 13 10 2 4
Information media and telecommunications 3 5 5 7 4 9 3
Manufacturing 9 2 10 14 20 6 10
Mining 3 3 2 0 6 2 1
Personal and other services 21 13 15 28 19 7 15
Professional, scientific and technical services 15 13 30 20 25 8 9
Rental, hiring and real estate services 8 4 8 7 13 7 8
Retail trade 26 13 42 57 43 18 23
Transport, storage and postal 8 0 6 13 9 9 13
Wholesale trade 12 1 13 12 16 9 12
Grand Total 205 94 213 273 268 113 195 * Aggregate score, by sector, of the factors listed that would be most useful in helping your business improve its performance. Based on significant = 1, very significant = 2, critical = 3
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Table 13, part 2
Improved management
skills Marketing More staff
New machinery or equipment New products Other factors
Other selected
employee skills or
technology
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 13 35 11 6 12 0 0
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 18 19 6 10 7 4 4
Arts and recreation services 10 12 4 1 5 0 0
Construction 35 22 17 14 9 1 3
Education and training 18 28 9 11 12 2 0
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 20 11 6 3 3 0 3
Financial and insurance service 17 18 12 5 8 0 0
Government and Public Administration 12 12 20 8 10 0 0
Health care and social assistance 14 17 5 5 10 2 0
Information media and telecommunications 8 13 4 0 7 0 0
Manufacturing 17 35 8 15 12 1 3
Mining 6 1 0 3 0 0 0
Personal and other services 26 36 16 8 6 0 2
Professional, scientific and technical services 25 46 19 4 10 2 2
Rental, hiring and real estate services 8 15 11 3 5 0 0
Retail trade 39 58 25 21 34 1 3
Transport, storage and postal 14 29 12 4 6 0 3
Wholesale trade 16 21 13 3 12 1 3
Grand Total 316 428 198 124 168 14 26 * Aggregate score, by sector, of the factors listed that would be most useful in helping your business improve its performance. Based on significant = 1, very significant = 2, critical = 3 The next pair of tables shows the number of businesses in each industry which nominated each factor. These tables give an idea of the scale of demand for and support for initiatives which might address these factors.
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Table 14 Number of businesses nominating factors to support business growth (part 1)
Better industry
information Better
technology
Better web site and
internet know-how
Greater community
support
Improved business and
strategic planning
Improved employee
skills
Improved labour
relations
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 8 2 5 8 5 2 3
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 3 3 7 5 5 4 5
Arts and recreation services 1 0 5 4 5 1 3
Construction 9 2 5 10 13 8 11
Education and training 8 3 8 9 5 1 6
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 1 1 2 2 6 3 4
Financial and insurance service 5 2 6 5 6 1 3
Government and Public Administration 5 6 6 5 7 1 9
Health care and social assistance 4 4 7 8 7 2 2
Information media and telecommunications 1 2 2 3 2 4 1
Manufacturing 5 2 4 7 11 4 6
Mining 1 1 1 0 3 1 1
Personal and other services 9 5 8 13 8 4 7
Professional, scientific and technical services 7 6 15 9 13 4 5
Rental, hiring and real estate services 4 2 4 3 6 5 4
Retail trade 13 7 21 26 22 9 11
Transport, storage and postal 4 0 3 7 5 5 6
Wholesale trade 5 1 6 6 8 4 5
Grand Total 93 49 115 130 137 63 92 Table 14, part 2
Improved management
skills Marketing More staff
New machinery or equipment New products Other factors,
Other employee skills or
technology
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 7 16 5 4 7 0 0
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 9 9 2 6 4 2 2
Arts and recreation services 7 5 2 1 2 0 0
Construction 20 10 11 8 5 1 1
Education and training 11 13 6 5 7 1 0
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 12 5 3 2 1 0 1
Financial and insurance service 9 11 5 4 5 0 0
Government and Public Administration 6 6 10 4 4 0 0
Health care and social assistance 9 11 3 3 5 1 0
Information media and telecommunications 5 7 2 0 3 0 0
Manufacturing 10 16 4 8 8 1 1
Mining 3 1 0 1 0 0 0
Personal and other services 13 19 8 4 4 0 1
Professional, scientific and technical services 15 21 13 4 6 1 1
Rental, hiring and real estate services 6 6 5 3 3 0 0
Retail trade 20 28 13 10 20 1 1
Transport, storage and postal 7 13 6 3 3 0 1
Wholesale trade 8 10 5 2 6 1 1
Grand Total 177 207 103 72 93 9 10
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Note: numbers are counts of respondent businesses within scoring the factors listed below would be most useful in helping your business improve its performance
3.8 Global Financial Crisis Figure 13 shows the impact of the GFC (Global Financial Crisis) on respondents’ businesses according to their geographical markets - local, national and international. Figure 12 Impact of the GFC on Markets
Table F in Appendix 1 reflects in more detail what is shown in the above charts, and provides numbers of respondents in each business condition category, by geographical market. International markets appear to have been hardest hit by the downturn (25% of respondents have a sales decline). They also show the smallest proportion of respondents who expect business to improve in the next 12 months, compared with the previous 12 months. A larger proportion of respondents exposed to the international market than those in national and local geographical markets also expect to experience worse business conditions. Around a third each of local and regional market respondents expect business conditions to remain similar in the coming year, with smaller proportions expecting conditions to improve. For the national market businesses, however, a larger proportion of respondents (28%) expect business conditions to improve, compared with those (17%) who expect similar conditions. Businesses with local and regional markets appear to have been least affected by the GFC, while businesses with more international markets seem less optimistic about sales in the near future.
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3.9 Specific Business Types The following information provides information from the survey that is specific to franchise and home-based business respondents.
Franchises and Branch Operations
Figure G in Appendix 1 shows the reasons why franchises or branch operations establish themselves in Wagga Wagga. A great majority of respondents said they started a franchise because it was a large market (76%) or for the quality of life (58%). ‘Little to no competition’ and ‘Proximity to transport and other infrastructure’ were also popular reasons. Around a third of respondents marked ‘Other reasons’ in their answer. The following statements are representative of the answers given in this category: ‐ “Wagga Wagga was selected as a progressive area with the opportunity to expand. It Is
close to the three Major client bases of NSW, QLD and VIC.” ‐ “A desire to operate regionally.” ‐ “[We] moved for lifestyle reasons.” Commercial reasons and family in the area were also mentioned often in the ‘Other’ category.
Home-based Businesses
Figure H in Appendix 1 shows the number of home-based businesses by industry sector. Some sectors showed a high proportion of respondents with home-based business, including ‘Construction’, ‘Information media and technology’, ‘Agriculture fisheries and forestry’ and ‘Personal and other services.’ Figure 14 (below) shows the percent of home-based business in each turnover range and Figure I in the Appendix shows expectations for relocation. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the proportion of home-based business also rises markedly as turnover decreases. A large number of home-based businesses in most industry sectors saw potential for moving to commercial premises in the future. Overall, ten home-based respondents in the survey said that they would definitely move to a commercial premises. Those industries with a majority who would not move appear to be restricted by the industry type, e.g. Agriculture businesses that operate from the farm. Respondents with home businesses gave a number of comments on their key challenges, including: ‐ Communications and marketing
‐ Attracting customers with no shopfront
‐ Keeping up with industry growth and technology
‐ Managing business growth and life-balance
‐ Lack of facilities for meetings, storage etc.
‐ Reliability of internet services and power.
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Figure 13 Number of Home-based Business in each Turnover Range
3.10 Attractions of Wagga Wagga for Business This section presents the survey results that relate to how businesses view services and infrastructure in Wagga Wagga. As well as looking at specific advantages and disadvantages, it covers satisfaction with services and infrastructure needs by industry sector.
Satisfaction with Services in Wagga Wagga
Figures J and K in Appendix 1 show the satisfaction of industry sectors with various services in Wagga Wagga. It can be seen that the response rate was relatively low, compared to total respondents, across all sectors. For this reason, the results should be generalised with caution. Figure 15 shows the total satisfaction rates based on the 632 responses (this is higher than the total respondents because more than one answer was allowed). When all sectors were put together there was a wide spread of satisfaction/dissatisfaction over individual aspects of the infrastructure. The most satisfactory was ‘Access to electricity supply’, with almost every business being at least satisfied and more than 40% rating it as good or excellent. Other important items highly rated by businesses overall were ‘Access to gas supply’, ‘Water Supply’, ‘Access to airport facilities’ and ‘Access to highway/roadway’. The least satisfactory (with more than 50% dissatisfaction and about 25% rating it as very poor) was ‘Development application process’; others showing more than 30% poor rating were ‘Availability of appropriately zoned land’ and ‘Availability of conference/convention facilities and internet services’. Some of the common suggestions by participants for improved services were:
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‐ Wagga Council needs to improve its encouragement and support for small business. A significant number of respondents were dissatisfied with services, including the time frame for processing of development applications, provided by Council. A typical comment was “WWCC should be more positive and encourage small business in Wagga, not make it impossible for them.”
‐ Better roads and road maintenance, as well as more parking in the CBD ‐ Improved waste management and recycling facilities for small business ‐ Improved broadband access ‐ A Conference Centre ‐ Improved availability of residential and industrial land. While the comments above are typical of all industries, Figure K is a coarse measure and could hide considerable dissatisfaction or satisfaction within a particular industry. Figure 14 Satisfaction with infrastructure for all sectors
Note: This graph is based on individual businesses rather than sectors (not all responses rated all infrastructure components, there were 172-201 responses over the range of infrastructure components) Infrastructure Needs Figure L in Appendix 1 looks at infrastructure needs by industry.
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It should be noted that the interpretation is highly dependent on a number of subjective judgements around how much dissatisfaction is acceptable or even inevitable. For example, there will always be a tension between the regulators and the regulated (clearly shown in the development application question). There will also be industry specific needs that enter little in the thoughts of businesses that only have rare or no need for that facility (shown well in the conference facility question). Key results from these graphs are shown in the table below: Table 15 Views of components of infrastructure by industry
Infrastructure Component
Sectors with least satisfaction Sectors with most satisfaction
Availability of warehousing
‘Transport Storage and Postal’ ‘Government Administration’
‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’ Availability of conference facilities
‘Financial and Insurance Service’
‘Government Administration’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’ ‘Mining’
Access to roadways
‘Transport Storage and postal’ ‘Government Administration’
‘Wholesale Trade’
Infrastructure services
‘Healthcare and Social Assistance’
‘Transport Storage and Postal’ ‘Mining’
Access to airport facilities
‘Healthcare and Social Assistance’
‘Education and Training’
‘Manufacturing’ ‘Electricity, Water, Gas and
Waste’ Access to markets ‘Information Media and
Telecommunications’ ‘Government Administration’
‘Transport, Storage and Postal’
Access to suppliers ‘Government Administration’ ‘Wholesale Trade’
‘Transport, Storage and Postal Services’
Availability of road transport services
‘Accommodation, Café and Restaurants’
‘Healthcare and Social Assistance’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’
Rail transport services
‘Wholesale Trade’ ‘Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’ ‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate
Services’ Access to gas supply
‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Rental Hiring and Real Estate’
‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’
Access to electricity supply
‘Government Administration’ ‘Rental Hiring and Real Estate’
‘Personal and other services’ Overall very high rating across
sectors Disposal of waste material
‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Retail Trade’ ‘Arts and Recreation Services’
Recycling services ‘Mining’ ‘Accommodation, Café and
Restaurants’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’ ‘Public Administration and
Safety’ Inspections (e.g. for licensing)
‘Mining’ ‘Accommodation, Café and
Restaurants’
‘Financial and Insurance Services’
Development ‘Mining’ ‘Arts and Recreation Services’
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approvals process ‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’
Internet services ‘Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Manufacturing’ ‘Arts and Recreation Services’
Telephone services ‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Information Media and Telecommunications’
‘Personal and other services’
Availability of appropriately zoned land
‘Construction’ ‘Rental Hiring and Real Estate’
‘Government and Public Administration’
‘Arts and Recreation Services’ Access to water supply
‘Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry’
‘Government Administration’
‘Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services’
Sewerage services ‘Arts and Recreation Services’ ‘Government Administration’
‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’
3.11 Advantages and Disadvantages Figures 16 and 17 (below) show the ratings of all respondents to a number of advantages and disadvantages of doing business in Wagga Wagga. In Figure 16, it can be seen that ‘local customer loyalty’ was rated as very significant or critical by almost 80% of respondents. Being close to distributors and markets had the smallest number of respondents that rated it as very significant or critical. It can also be seen that the ‘other’ category received a high percentage of critical ratings from respondents. Some of the common additional ‘other’ advantages of Wagga Wagga listed by respondents in this category included: ‐ Family ties in the area ‐ Access to Charles Sturt University ‐ Business history in Wagga Wagga ‐ Reliable internet and broadband services ‐ Relatively low business costs. Figure 17 shows the respondent ratings of disadvantages to doing business in Wagga Wagga. ‘Lack of council support’, ‘planning restrictions and/or delays’ and ‘slow local market growth’ all had a high number of respondents that rated them as critical and very significant. In the ‘other’ category, common responses were: ‐ Slow remote internet services and difficulty getting broadband ‐ Lack of skilled employees ‐ Low average disposable income ‐ High rent on industrial and business properties ‐ Infrastructure problems.
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Figure 15 Advantages of doing Business in Wagga Wagga
The responses showed no significant variation in the hierarchy of these responses by industry. Some specific disadvantages for different industries are highlighted below. Figure 16 Disadvantages of doing Business in Wagga Wagga
The results above are made up of a diversity of responses within industry groups. As well as the general trends above, some of the key results by industry were:
‐ ‘Lack of Council Support’ and ‘Planning Restrictions/Delays’ were critical or very significant for a majority of respondents in the ‘Construction’ industry
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‐ ‘Lack of Council Support’ was critical or very significant for a majority of respondents in the ‘Healthcare and Social Assistance’ and ‘Wholesale Trade’ sectors
‐ ‘Slow Local Market Growth’ was a critical issue for the ‘Manufacturing’ and ‘Personal and Other Services’ respondents
‐ ‘Small Local Market’ was critical or very significant for a majority of ‘Professional, Scientific and Technical Services’ respondents
Internet With regard to internet usage, 39 respondents said that their business had an online shopping facility. Of these, 14 were from the retail industry (the highest number from any one industry), with the rest of respondents spread fairly evenly across the other sectors.
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4 Implications for Economic Development in Wagga Wagga
4.1 Business Development
‐ Home-based businesses made up a high proportion of small business respondents in the survey. Wagga Wagga City Council will need to take into account the services relevant to this sector (for example, availability of internet services and business support facilities or incubators) in their strategic planning.
‐ ‘Finance’, ‘lack of skilled staff’ and ‘lack of suitable premises’ were significant for almost all industry sectors. Other constraints commonly identified across sectors were ‘local regulations’, ‘problems with development applications’, and ‘identifying / accessing new markets’. Wagga Wagga Council should base their development strategies on addressing these constraints where possible.
‐ Competitive intensity was rated as similar across all sectors and business types.
‐ In most sectors there is a proportion of businesses that sell into national and international markets. Scope exists to encourage and facilitate those businesses that currently do not sell beyond regional markets to expand their further into national and international markets. Some support is available from NSW and Australian Governments for businesses looking to expand their markets – especially those looking to export – and Wagga Wagga City Council could take an active role in promoting these services to suitable businesses.
‐ The comments from respondents reveal some dissatisfaction with the approvals process and with the interaction between local business and Wagga Wagga City Council. Many respondents saw ‘lack of council support’ as a significant disadvantage of doing business in Wagga Wagga. It is difficult to verify bias in these claims, but the development of an open and positive relationship with the businesses of Wagga Wagga will be beneficial for all parties. There are a number of initiatives by Council’s Commercial and Economic Development Directorate aimed at developing excellent working relationships with businesses, including the regular Mayoral Breakfasts, the National Manufacturing Week Business Ambassador program, regular newsletters to the business database, active involvement of stakeholders in strategy development such as in the Retail Growth Strategy and ongoing support of new businesses investing in Wagga Wagga. Current strategic planning work being undertaken by Council also provides an opportunity to address aspects of these concerns, and communicate a plan for action to improve relationships in the next few years.
‐ Small businesses (less than 5 fulltime employees) were less likely to have expansion plans into the future and can be targeted for support.
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City of Wagga Wagga
4.2 Import Replacement ‐ The survey has identified the opportunity for improvement in the availability of IT services
and construction materials in Wagga Wagga. Other services/infrastructure that are not currently being sourced in Wagga Wagga by local business are:
o Medical Specialists and Health Services o Tourist Attractions and Facilities o Manufacturing Businesses o Restaurants and Cafes o Public Transport o Broadband o Conference Facilities
Wagga Wagga City Council should consider strategies that improve the availability of these services.
4.3 Training and Education
‐ Overall, businesses in Wagga Wagga seemed positive regarding employment and growth prospects, with gains in employment and growth over the next two years expected by most respondents. Having said this, “lack of skilled staff” was a constraint to development identified by many businesses. The identified optimism of the survey respondents is a promising signal of willingness to participate in strategic actions of the Council to minimise constraints.
‐ Skilled tradespeople were identified by a vast majority of respondents as lacking in the workforce of Wagga Wagga. Council should seek to address this shortage in its strategic planning.
4.4 Infrastructure
‐ Generally, respondents were satisfied with infrastructure and services in the City of Wagga Wagga. However, notwithstanding the differences amongst industry sectors, there was a relatively high level of dissatisfaction with some Council processes, and the availability of broadband internet. It should be noted that broadband internet wireless is now available from a new provider at competitive rates. While this may help address the problems identified in the survey, Wagga Wagga Council should continue to monitor access to broadband internet services.
‐ The need for conference facilities was identified by a significant number of respondents.
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City of Wagga Wagga
4.5 Investment Attraction
‐ The survey responses demonstrate that Wagga Wagga’s lifestyle, local markets and proximity to larger centres make it a highly attractive place for business. Building on the current levels of business support should enhance these attributes.
‐ ‘Lack of council support’, ‘planning restrictions and/or delays’ and ‘slow local market growth’ all had a high number of respondents that rated them as critical and very significant. Wagga Wagga City Council’s strategic planning needs to address these issues.
‐ A great majority of respondents said they started a franchise because it was a large market (76%) or for the quality of life (58%). ‘Little to no competition’ and ‘Proximity to transport and other infrastructure’ were also popular reasons. These advantages should continue to be promoted to the wider business community.
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Appendix 1— Additional Figures and Tables Table A: Constraints to development for Wagga Wagga businesses, expressed by more than 10% of those responding in the sector—figures in brackets are the % of those responding for that sector Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
Finance (47%) Lack of skilled staff (17.6%) Lack of suitable premises (11.7%) Broadband access (11.7%) Other constraints (11.7%)
Arts and recreation services Finance (42.1%) Lack of suitable premises (15.7%) Water availability (10.5%) Other constraints (15.7%)
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants Finance (38.4%) Lack of suitable premises (23%) Manufacturing Finance (36.6%) Problems with Development
Applications (16.6%) Information media and telecommunications
Finance (34.4%) Lack of skilled staff (13.7%) Identifying and accessing new markets (10.3%)
Government Administrative and defence Finance (33.3%) Lack of skilled staff (16.6%) Other constraints (11.1%)
Personal and other services Finance (29.4%) Lack of skilled staff (17.6%) Lack of suitable premises (14.7%) Other constraints (11.7%)
Professional, scientific and technical services
Finance (28%) Lack of skilled staff (32%) Lack of suitable premises (12%) Identifying and accessing new markets (12%)
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing Finance (28%) Other constraints (16%) Health care and social assistance Finance (25.9%) Lack of skilled staff (11.1%) Lack of
suitable premises (18.5%) Problems with Development Applications (11.1%) Local regulations eg zoning (14.8%)
Retail trade Finance (24.5%) Lack of skilled staff (13.2%) Lack of suitable premises (16.9%) Identifying and accessing new markets (13.2%)
Education and training Finance (24%) Lack of skilled staff (16%) Lack of suitable premises (12%) Other constraints (24%)
Construction Finance (24%) Lack of skilled staff (14%) Problems with Development Applications (12%) Local regulations eg zoning (14%) Other constraints (12%)
Financial and insurance service Finance (23.5%) Lack of skilled staff (17.6%) Lack of suitable premises (17.6%) Identifying and accessing new markets (11.7%) Broadband access (17.6%) Other constraints (11.7%)
Rental, hiring and real estate services Finance (23%) Lack of skilled staff (15.3%) Problems with Development Applications (15.3%) Local regulations eg zoning (23%)
Wholesale trade Finance (23%) Lack of skilled staff (11.5%) Identifying and accessing new markets (15.3%)
Transport, storage and postal Finance (19.2%) Lack of skilled staff (11.5%) Identifying and accessing new markets (11.5%) Broadband access (11.5%) Other constraints (19.2%)
Mining (only 2 in sector) Energy reliability (50%) Water availability (50%)
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Table B: Number of respondents within each sector identifying specific constraints to development for Wagga Wagga businesses
Sector
Fin
ance
Lack o
f skilled staff
Lack o
f suitab
le prem
ises
Pro
blem
s with
Develo
pm
ent
Ap
plicatio
ns
Lo
cal regu
lation
s eg zo
nin
g
Iden
tifying
and
accessing
n
ew m
arkets
Tran
spo
rt/freigh
t
Ro
ads
En
ergy co
sts
En
ergy reliab
ility
Water availab
ility
Wareh
ou
sing
Bro
adb
and
access
Oth
er con
straints
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
8 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2
Arts and recreation services 8 1 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 Government Administrative and Public administration
5 0 3 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
11 3 3 5 3 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1
Manufacturing 10 4 1 2 2 3 0 0 1 2 0 1 1 2 Information media and telecommunications
6 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 2
Personal and other services 10 6 5 1 1 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 4 Professional, scientific and technical services
7 8 3 1 0 3 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
7 1 2 2 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 2 4
Health care and social assistance
7 3 5 3 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2
Retail trade 13 7 9 3 4 7 2 0 3 1 0 1 1 2 Education and training 6 4 3 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 6 Construction 12 7 1 6 7 5 0 2 2 0 1 0 1 6 Financial and insurance service
4 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2
Rental, hiring and real estate services
3 2 1 2 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wholesale trade 6 3 2 2 2 4 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 Transport, storage and postal 5 3 2 2 1 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 3 5 Mining 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure A: Change in employee numbers by industry for the last two years
Figure B: Change in employee numbers by industry for the next two years
Change in numbers employed in last 2 years
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and rest...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, Water and W
aste...
Financial and insurance service
Government Adm
inistrative and d...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and telecom...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and techn...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate ser...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
unchanged
loss
gain
Change in numbers employed planned for next 2 years
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and restaur...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, Water and W
aste ...
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative and de...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and telecommuni...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and technica...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate services
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
unchanged
loss
gain
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City of Wagga Wagga
Table C: Change in employee numbers by industry for the last two years (% of those responding)
Single sector gain unchanged loss Education and training
68.4 26.3 5.3
Health care and social assistance
57.9 42.1 0.0
Government and Public Administration
46.2 38.5 15.4
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
45.0 50.0 5.0
Personal and other services
36.0 48.0 16.0
Rental, hiring and real estate services
35.7 35.7 28.6
Construction 34.9 58.1 7.0 Manufacturing 34.5 44.8 20.7 Transport, storage and postal
33.3 52.4 14.3
Mining 33.3 66.7 0.0 Financial and insurance service
31.8 54.5 13.6
Retail trade 30.5 50.8 18.6 Professional, scientific and technical services
25.0 53.1 21.9
Information media and telecommunications
25.0 58.3 16.7
Arts and recreation services
23.1 61.5 15.4
Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
21.4 64.3 14.3
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
20.8 62.5 16.7
Wholesale trade 14.3 66.7 19.0
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City of Wagga Wagga
Table D: Expected change in employee numbers by industry sector for the next two years (% of those responding)
Sector gain unchanged loss Government and Public Administration
66.7 25.0 8.3
Education and training
65.0 35.0 0.0
Health care and social assistance
61.1 38.9 0.0
Professional, scientific and technical services
58.8 38.2 2.9
Transport, storage and postal
57.9 42.1 0.0
Personal and other services
57.1 42.9 0.0
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants
55.0 45.0 0.0
Construction 53.8 46.2 0.0 Rental, hiring and real estate services
50.0 50.0 0.0
Manufacturing 48.1 51.9 0.0 Retail trade 44.1 52.5 3.4 Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services
41.7 58.3 0.0
Financial and insurance service
40.0 60.0 0.0
Arts and recreation services
40.0 60.0 0.0
Mining 33.3 66.7 0.0 Information media and telecommunications
30.0 70.0 0.0
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
27.3 68.2 4.5
Wholesale trade 25.0 75.0 0.0
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure C: Plans to Move by Business Type Figure D: Plans to Sell/Close by Business Type Table E: Respondents planning on taking Apprentices or Trainees
No Yes No
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
A franchise/franchisedbranch
Branch office Locally owned Government body
Not sure
Out of region
No plans to move
Local
Plans to sell
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
A franchise/franchisedbranch
Branch office Locally owned Government body
Yes
No
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure E: Plans to Sell/Close by Industry
response Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 9 14 7 Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 14 11 11 Arts and recreation services 10 5 8 Construction 12 35 13 Education and training 7 12 25 Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 7 7 4 Financial and insurance service 14 9 7 Government Administrative and defence 6 7 10 Health care and social assistance 11 9 11 Information media and telecommunications 9 5 10 Manufacturing 12 22 10 Mining 2 2 4 Personal and other services 13 13 12 Professional, scientific and technical services 25 12 13 Rental, hiring and real estate services 7 7 8 Retail trade 29 39 19 Transport, storage and postal 7 15 6 Wholesale trade 8 16 6
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure F: Market share by sector graphs The following graphs show the percent of market share indicated by each respondent in each industry sector. For example, in the first graph below, respondent number 1 for ‘Accommodation, Cafes and Restaurants’ indicated that their market share was 75% national and 25% elsewhere in NSW.
Markets share, accommodation, cafes and restaurants
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, arts and recreation services �
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share, construction
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%1 4 7 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 34 37 40 43 46 49 52
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share,education and training
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share,electricity, gas, water and waste services
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share,financial and insurance service
�
0%
10%20%
30%40%
50%
60%70%
80%90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, health care and social assistance
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share, information, media and telecommunication
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, manufacturing
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share, mining
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, personal and other services
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share, Retail Part1
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, Retail Part 2
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets, professional, scientific and technical services
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, rental, hiring and real estate
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Markets share, transport, storage and postal
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Markets share, wholesale trade
�
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Table F: Impact of the GFC on Markets
Our sales have declined as a result of a fall in demand for our products and/or services
We have had to lay-off some of our employees
We have had / are having difficulty sourcing capital for investment in our business
We expect that business activity will be flat in the next 12 months
We expect that our business will experience worse business conditions in the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months
We expect that our business will experience improved business conditions in the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months
We expect that our business will experience similar business conditions in the next 12 months compared to the previous 12 months
Other:
International
6 1 1 5 2 2 5 2
National 18 3 7 9 6 23 14 1 Elsewhere in NSW
8 1 5 8 3 16 21 4
Local – say Riverina region
37 11 8 22 9 31 60 6
Markets share, government and public administration
�
0%
10%
20%30%
40%
50%
60%
70%80%
90%
100%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Position of business in ranking of % sales in region
Sal
es
International
National
Elsewhere in NSW
Riverina region
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure G: Reasons for Moving a Franchise to Wagga Wagga
Figure H: Home-based Business by Industry
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure I: Expectations of Home-based Businesses for Relocation
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure J: Numbers responding to survey and number responding to question on infrastructure
Figure K: Overall satisfaction with infrastructure based on individual businesses rather than sectors (not all rated all infrastructure components, there were 172-201 responses over the range of infrastructure components) Note: It was necessary to reformat the data to gain some insight into the satisfaction with facilities on an industry sector basis as many businesses associated themselves with several different industry sectors. This was resolved by attributing their responses to each one of the industry groups that they listed, which results in a total of 632 responses rather than the original 406.
Responses to questions
0102030405060708090
Accomm
odation, cafes and rest...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Wast...
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative and ...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and telecomm
...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tech...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate ser...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Number of surveysector/responsesto this survey
Numberresponding tothese questions
Rating all sectors
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Access to airport facilities
Access to electricity supply
Access to gas supply
Access to highway/roadw
ay
Access to markets
Access to suppliers
Availability of appropriately z...
Availability of conference / co...
Availability of rail transport
Availability of road transport s...
Availability of warehousing
Developm
ent approval process
Disposal of waste m
aterial
Infrastructure / Service
Inspections (eg licensing)
Internet services
Recycling
Sewerage
TelephoneW
ater supply
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
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City of Wagga Wagga
Figure L: Views of components of infrastructure by industry
Availability of warehousing
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and r...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and W...
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative ...
Health care and social assi...
Information m
edia and tel...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and ...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Availability of conference / convention venues
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and...
Financial and insurance ser...
Governm
ent Administrative...
Health care and social assi...
Information m
edia and tel...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and...
Public administration and sa...
Rental, hiring and real estat...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
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City of Wagga Wagga
Access to highway/roadway
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s.. .
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Infrastructure / Service
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale t rade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
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City of Wagga Wagga
Access to airport facilities
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Access to markets
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 63
City of Wagga Wagga
Access to suppliers
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Availability of road transport services
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 64
City of Wagga Wagga
Availability of rail transport
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Access to gas supply
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assist...
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 65
City of Wagga Wagga
Access to electricity supply
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Disposal of waste material
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 66
City of Wagga Wagga
Recycling
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Inspections (eg licensing)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 67
City of Wagga Wagga
Development approval process
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Internet services
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 68
City of Wagga Wagga
Telephone
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and res...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Wa...
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative and...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and telecom...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate se...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Availability of appropriately zoned land
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and re...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and Was..
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative an...
Health care and social assistance
Information m
edia and teleco...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and tec...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate s.. .
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Wagga Wagga Business Survey Final Report – August, 2010
Page 69
City of Wagga Wagga
Water supply
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and ...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and ...
Financial and insurance service
Governm
ent Administrative ...
Health care and social assis...
Information m
edia and telec...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and ...
Public administration and safety
Rental, hiring and real estate...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor
Sewerage
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Accomm
odation, cafes and...
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing
Arts and recreation services
Construction
Education and training
Electricity, Gas, W
ater and...
Financial and insurance ser...
Governm
ent Administrative...
Health care and social assi...
Information m
edia and tel...
Manufacturing
Mining
Personal and other services
Professional, scientific and...
Public administration and sa...
Rental, hiring and real estat...
Retail trade
Transport, storage and postal
Wholesale trade
Excellent
Very Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very Poor