After spending 10 years getting an education and working in Europe, I returned to Australia last year for family reasons. In Europe I worked my way up the food chain and was on the verge of launching a startup. I now intend to do this in Oz and blog once or twice a week to give my thoughts, hopes and aspirations about the process.
I suppose it's the level of sophistication that I developed in Europe which has opened my eyes to how backwards the Australian business market is. Granted there are a few successful multinationals, but they exist in industries where there are huge barriers to entry limiting the numbers of competitors.
Instead of enterprising people creating a company and selling what it produces to the world, they follow several low rent strategies.
1. They buy and sell property on bank funded debt in an ever increasing bubble.
2. They import something.
3. They open an overpriced retail unit (be it a small bar or fashion boutique).
4. They offer a personal service (dog walkers and movement concierges are my current favourites).
Whilst there is no problem with a section of society doing this, we need the best and brightest to create and export. We need mighty mittelstand, the backbone of a successful economy. Mittlestand sell a single line of prducts to the world and they do it well. They compete successfuly when their currency is sstrong and when their currency is weak. I know this as we have german hinges in our kitchens, we climb with French harnesses and we ride in Finnish lifts.
In Germany, they are funded by banks who take shares in the company. One could argue that it is the German banking sector that trains and molds the companies to ensure they are financially literate and remain competitive. This is a major problem in Australia as banks only lend to property. Thankfully it is a problem that I can avoid as I have cash for a startup. But on a national level, government mandated regional banks would be a good stary
Ta for now
J
