Well, the share market has taken another battering today, but it resisted dropping below the support level of 4,900. After many attempts, it seems that the 4,900 level is hard to break. I still can’t help but feel that there is more trouble to come. Businesses in Australia need to re-examine their processes and to identify waste in their businesses sooner rather than later. It is my view that companies have had a good run for some time now, evidenced by comments that inventory is cheap and companies are filling warehouses.

There is no doubt Australia is in for some tough times in the next couple of years. The price of oil, the fall out from the credit crisis (which in my view still has some way to play out here in Aussie) and the fear of resulting inflation (along with the perception that the current Government simply does not have the economic credentials to handle this issue) will feed into a slowing economy. This is something many managers have not had to handle before. We almost have a generation of managers who have not known tough times or inflation and this begs the question of how will they handle the situation.

As the economic cycle turns and money becomes more expensive, capital becomes harder to come across and sales start to drop - my view is that companies that have set the platform for waste elimination will be in a far better place than those who don’t.

If they don’t identify this waste, companies might find themselves servicing large overdrafts which have financed inefficient practices, and trying to unload inventories in an environment of slowing sales.

Add to this the Federal Governments recent legislation requiring companies to start reporting carbon emissions as of July 1 this year, and companies are facing a significant increase in the cost of doing business in Australia. It seems that before long, every company in Australia will be required to report their carbon emissions.

In response we are rapidly developing a product that will assist companies to comply with this requirement.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2008 at 2:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.