Business Development

This article examines how federal policy might shift to align with the new global economy. Three steps are essential in framing those shifts. 1. Federal programs are highly fragmented today, programs largely assume that all regions grow the same way, and that federal spending is focused heavily on physical infrastructure for an industrial econo ....

Regional business and industry are critical players in regional innovation systems, yet there is currently no reliable way to assess the actual makeup of these entities in regional Australia. This project set out to provide a comprehensive and current business audit for the Rockhampton region, and then to use that information to identify the pote ....

Public accounting firms provide a necessary and important service for rural and regional areas. However, the provision of high-quality services is hindered by a number of factors. This paper reports the findings from a large-scale survey of professional accounting firm practitioners located in rural and regional Australia, identifying factors cau ....

This report examines the socio-economic impacts of changing farm business structures in five case study communities. It highlights the positive and negative impacts of changing farm business structures, and makes a number of recommendations about how to maximise the benefits and minimise the potential problems. One of the key conclusions of the r ....

Grazing experiments are usually used to quantify and demonstrate the biophysical impact of grazing strategies, with the Wambiana grazing experiment being one of the longest running such experiments in northern Australia. Previous economic analyses of this experiment suggest that there is a major advantage in stocking at a fixed, moderate stocking ....

This paper provides an overview of the research on senior entrepreneurship focussing especially on the scope of the phenomenon, the specific barriers faced by older entrepreneurs, the advantages they may have over younger entrepreneurs and what policy currently does and what it could and perhaps should do. Report LocationClick here to view the ....

Small Towns, Big Ideas is the result of an intensive, yearlong effort to identify and document the stories of small towns that are surviving - and in come cases, thriving - as hubs of civic and economic activity. This publication includes stories about planning and implementing economic development strategies in 45 small towns with populations ....

The State Growth Outlook provides an integrated outlook on the basis of the development intentions and plans of the resource industry and government in WA. First published in April 2009, the main focus of the study is the demand for the key growth enablers of water, people and energy – critical inputs into the economic prosperity of WA. Repo ....

Much of Western Australia’s and the nation’s economy remain dependent on the export of minerals and energy products from the Pilbara and the Kimberley. Their ports play a vital role as international gateways. Forecasts for the continued growth of resource exports call for the assessment and strategic development of port infrastructure, requir ....

The 2012-31 Regional Roadmap provides both an overview of the Sunshine Coast economy in a State of the Region report and outlines the Priority Focus Areas that Regional Development Australia Sunshine Coast can implement, in collaboration with industry leaders and organisations. The priority focus areas have been developed over time in collaborat ....

The Surat Basin is a region comprising established and strong communities supported by a robust and productive agricultural economy. Significant growth is being experienced in the region due to mining and extraction of extensive deposits of thermal coal and coal seam gas (CSG). The Queensland Government has had a unique opportunity to anticipate ....

There is a lack of literature on the ecological sustainability issues specific to small and medium businesses operating in Australian regional areas. Although there are some isolated studies on attitudes to sustainability in Australian SMEs, they do not provide a comprehensive understanding of the actual sustainability environmental practices in ....

The author of this paper outlines the economic development problem that is faced by Indigenous people living on Aboriginal land in remote and regional Australia; describes the hybrid economy, made up of market, state and customary components, that is a distinctive feature of such situations; and argues that a big part of the develo ....

While modern telecommunications infrastructure and services have been recognised as important in stimulating regional economic development, significant disparities in their provision have been observed between metropolitan and regional areas. Some of the identified advantages of telecommunications services include the diversificati ....