Last month, Professor Roy Green of the University of Sydney (UTS) released a report on manufacturing productivity entitled: "Management Matters in Australia: Just how productive are we?" The report was referenced widely in the media by Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr.
This report is based on the results of a qualitative survey of 439 medium and large-sized manufacturing firms in Australia, with an extension to a smaller sample of services firms. These firms were contacted in early 2009 and taken through a structured conversational interview to examine their management practices across eighteen different dimensions, corresponding to three categories of management capability: people, performance and operations.
The result is a wealth of data from 16 countries that participated in the research. On the face of it, Australia rated well – 6thoverall and is on par with the likes of other countries such as France, Great Britain and Italy, however these 'second-tier' countries lag behind those in the first-tier, which includes the US, Germany, Japan, Canada and Sweden. Importantly, the top performing countries, the US and Sweden, are also amongst the top four competitive economies in the world, indicating that improving management performance is a key opportunity to drive sustainable growth for Australia.
The report shows that Australia's strengths lie in operations management, while people-focused management needs improvement. The research confirmed that the level of education and skills among both management and non-management personnel impacts performance, and that well-managed firms tend to exhibit superior innovation capabilities. Additionally, good management is positively correlated with various measures of success including sales, productivity and employee numbers.
Certainly the companies QMI has worked with have experienced some great results. Through our programs and services, QMI helped Queensland industry achieve $32.5 million in increased sales, $1.1 million in increased exports, $6.8 million in costs savings and the creation and retention of 6900 jobs last financial year.
The best first step any company can take to improve its overall performance is to benchmark itself. This objective process rates your company's performance against others in the same industry sector, locally and internationally. It also highlights areas for improvement which provides the basis for an action plan and the way ahead.
QMI Solutions offers a number of benchmarking tools that can assess all parts of your business. Given that the Green report highlights the importance of improving industry's management skills, the most relevant starting point is to undertake our People and Leadership benchmark, which is fully subsidised for eligible companies under the Enterprise Development Program.
Once the benchmark is completed, there is a stake in the ground to identify which areas of the business need improvement and an opportunity for eligible companies to undertake government-subsidised programs through QMI Solutions and its third party providers. For example at the enterprise level, our Performance and Innovation Division improves operational performance by assisting companies in the uptake of the latest manufacturing processes and technologies, our Skills Division helps manufacturers utilise skilling strategies that develop and retain staff and our Capability Division helps Queensland industry win work on major projects and build sustainable businesses. Altogether, this gives Queensland industry access to the necessary knowledge and expertise to increase competitiveness and create an environment that fosters growth.
With the New Year upon us, now is better time than ever to start thinking about how to drive organisational improvement in 2010. Contact us at info@qmisolutions.com.au for more information or to get started.
For more information or advice, please contact:
Consultant: Jim Walker
Phone: 07 3364 0700
Email: info@qmisolutions.com.au