The outer suburbs of Sydney have become a vibrant and growing community and a true economic powerhouse. While it’s easy to make such statements, the facts speak for themselves. In Greater Western Sydney we have:
• The third largest economy in Australia (after Sydney & Melbourne) with 600,000 jobs.
• One of the fastest growing regions in the nation which is home to one in ten of all Australians.
• The home of 150 of the nation’s top 500 companies.
• Some of the largest commercial centres in the country – Parramatta, Penrith, Liverpool, Blacktown and Norwest.
• A current population of almost 2 million (being around 45% of Sydney’s total population) with a projection to double to 4 million by 2050.
• A land-area of approximately 9000 sq km which is 13 times the size of Singapore.(1)
It’s for these reasons that KPMG has expanded its professional services network to support the region’s rapidly-growing and diverse economy by opening a new office in Parramatta.
In Greater Western Sydney we also have an enormous pool of talent. In addition to the larger companies based here, many organisations in GWS are second or third generation SMEs (small and medium enterprises).
While many may have started as small companies run by one or two people, they have grown to businesses which generate revenue in the millions.
In many cases, management has passed onto the second or even third generation and while running profitable successful businesses, they can experience difficulties achieving growth aspirations in such a highly competitive market.
While a company may have all the fundamentals right - strong cash flow, good products, good market reputation and a name for providing high quality service to clients, its likely that management is so focused on day to day operational issues that they have little time to consider the longer term picture.
In the short time this is sustainable but in the medium and longer term the business is likely to lose market share, cash flow will be restricted, and the company could slide into decline.
Businesses can be categorized on a growth curve based on five stages:
• Start-up – characterized by new ideas and made to order products.
• Build – owner directed, business plans and budgets established.
• Accelerate – owner steps back and manages by exception.
• Sustain – consolidation and renewal strategies.
• Thrive – customer led innovation and continual review.
To build a business to $1m, $5m or $10m is a tremendous achievement. But it’s not enough. To break through to the next stage will probably require different approaches and different structures to those which have been very successful in the past.
External advice is often necessary to have a fresh look at the business and bring different experiences to a company.
Our team in Western Sydney can provide you with specialist advisory, tax and audit services to help you achieve your growth aspirations.
Whether that is with the development and commercialisation of ideas, improvement projects to increase operational efficiency or strategy development we can assist.
Equally, we can help remove barriers to growth such as operational inefficiencies, restructuring which can improve cash flow plus process improvement or finance function efficiency.
David Pring is managing partner KPMG Western Sydney. Contact the Parramatta office on 9455 9996 or email davidpring@kpmg.com.au
1. (http://www.urbis.com.au/think-tank/general/unlocking-greater-western-sydney)
2. Informed from the Greiner Growth Model, Larry E Greiner
