Business Perceptions. Results from a phone survey October 2013

Transcription

1 Business Perceptions Results from a phone survey October 2013 CATALYSE empowering decision makers 2013

2 Contents Strategic Insights 3 The Study 5 Business confidence 8 Business perspectives 10 Business priorities 16 Suggestions for supporting business and economic growth 18 2

3 Strategic Insights 3

4 Strategic overview % of businesses satisfied with the City of Albany as a: Place to operate Governing a business organisation Strengths Waste removal Food, health, noise & emissions City s website Education & training Business confidence (most expect their economic situation to improve over the next 12 months) 69% 50% % of businesses agreeing that the City of Albany has: Developed and A good understanding of communicated a clear the issues and challenges vision for the area facing businesses 29% 33% Business priorities Primary: Tourism and marketing Secondary: Road maintenance Parking in commercial areas Marketing Albany as a desirable place to do business Other needs: Employment and job creation, safety and security, and broadband internet services Addressing priorities Better support business and economic growth by supporting small and local businesses threatened by larger competitors, encourage tourism and assist in the reduction of business costs such as rent, rates and waste services. Improve planning and building approvals Better maintain the appearance and cleanliness of the area. 8+ out of out of 10 Other Strongly agree Somewhat agree 4

5 The study 5

6 Introduction and research method In September 2013, CATALYSE conducted business perceptions research to understand and monitor business priorities and to evaluate business perceptions of Council s performance to report against key performance indicators in the Strategic Community Plan. In total, 51 businesses completed a survey. Surveys were administered by the ECU Survey Research Centre using computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) Businesses were randomly selected The study was administered with businesses operating in commercial property Councils contributing to the Industry Standards include:* * Industry Standards are provided when three or more Councils have asked the same question in the past three years 6

7 Business sample % of respondents Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Mining Manufacturing 6 8 Male Female Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services Business owner - manager 67 Construction Wholesale Trade 2 4 Managing Director / CEO / General Manager 20 Retail Trade 16 Other senior management position 14 Accommodation and Food Services Transport, Postal and Warehousing employee 6 Information Media and Telecommunications 2 to 5 employees 49 Financial and Insurance Services Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services 4 6 to 19 employees 35 Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 8 20 to 199 employees 10 Administrative and Support Services Public Administration and Safety employees 0 Education and Training 6 Albany Central 55 Health Care and Social Assistance Arts and Recreation Services Other Services Albany suburbs Rural (East & West)

8 Business confidence 8

9 Economic expectations Business confidence in the City of Albany is strong. Most local businesses are expecting their economic situation to improve, similar to the rest of the country. Although business confidence is lower for the economic situation in the City of Albany most predict steady performance or some improvement over the next 12 months. Over the next 12 months, what is your expectation for the economic situation? % of respondents Strong decline Some decline No change Some improvement Strong improvement For Australia For the City of Albany For their organisation Q. Over the next 12 months, what is your expectation for the economic situation in Australia / the City of Albany / for your organisation? Do you expect a strong decline, some decline, no change, some improvement or strong improvement? Base: All respondents providing a valid response, excludes don t know (Businesses Australia n = 50; City of Albany n = 50; their organisation n = 51). 9

10 Business perspectives 10

11 Overall satisfaction with City of Albany location to operate a business Satisfied (6+) Delighted (8+) 29 % of respondents 69 Overall satisfaction with the City of Albany as a location to operate a business is moderate. 29% are delighted (8+ out of 10) 69% are satisfied (6+ out of 10) Neutral (5) 25 With a delighted rating below the Industry Average, there is room to improve satisfaction among businesses. Dissatisfied (0-4) 6 INDUSTRY STANDARDS Council Score 29 Industry High 68 Industry Average 53 Q. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is totally satisfied and 0 is totally dissatisfied. Overall, how satisfied are you with the City of Albany as a location to operate your business? Base: All respondents who provided a valid response, excludes don t know (Businesses n = 51) 11

12 Overall satisfaction with City of Albany as a governing organisation Satisfied (6+) Delighted (8+) 14 % of respondents 50 Overall satisfaction with the City of Albany as a governing organisation is moderate. 14% are delighted (8+ out of 10) 50% are satisfied (6+ out of 10) Neutral (5) 34 There is room to improve satisfaction with performance below the Industry Average. Dissatisfied (0-4) 16 INDUSTRY STANDARDS Council Score 14 Industry High 49 Industry Average 39 Q. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is totally satisfied and 0 is totally dissatisfied. Overall, how satisfied are you with the City of Albany, the organisation that governs the local area? Base: All respondents who provided a valid response, excludes don t know (Businesses n = 50) 12

13 Perceptions of leadership Overall, there is room to improve perceptions of leadership. 29% agree v 37% disagree that the City has developed and communicated a clear vision for the area. 33% agree v 49% disagree that the City of Albany has a good understanding of the issues and challenges facing business. Strongly agree Somewhat agree Neutral Somewhat disagree Strongly disagree Don't know % of respondents who agree The City of Albany has developed and communicated a clear vision for the area - I am fairly clear about what the area is going to look and feel like in 10 years time High Industry Standards Council Ave score Compared to average The City of Albany has a good understanding of issues and challenges facing business Q. I m going to read out a few statements. For each one, please let me know if you strongly disagree, somewhat disagree, feel neutral, somewhat agree or strongly agree. Base: All respondents (Businesses n = 51) Total agree may be +/- 1% of sum of somewhat + strongly due to rounding errors 13

14 Satisfaction with services and facilities % of respondents Delighted (8-10) Satisfied (6-7) Neutral (5) Dissatisfied (0-4) High % respondents delighted (8-10) Ave Industry Standards Council Score Compared to average Waste removal services* = The City's website* Enforcement of local laws relating to food, health, noise and emissions* = Safety and security^ = Education and training opportunities^ = Access to broadband internet services^ Industry Standard: Economic development, tourism and job creation Tourism marketing and support^ NA *Measures satisfaction with areas that the City of Albany is responsible for. ^Measures satisfaction with areas that are the shared responsibility of State Government, private organisations or people in the community. Base: All respondents who gave a valid response, excludes don t know (n = varies). Total satisfaction may be +/- 1% of sum of delighted + satisfied due to rounding errors 14

15 Satisfaction with services and facilities % of respondents Delighted (8-10) Satisfied (6-7) Neutral (5) Dissatisfied (0-4) High % respondents delighted (8-10) Ave Industry Standards Council Score Compared to average Ease of establishing a business in the City of Albany^ NA NA 13 NA Retail trading conditions^ NA NA 12 NA Parking in commercial areas* Marketing of Albany as a desirable place to do business* Road maintenance* Industry Standard: Economic development, tourism and job creation Employment and job creation^ NA *Measures satisfaction with areas that the City of Albany is responsible for. ^Measures satisfaction with areas that are the shared responsibility of State Government, private organisations or people in the community. Base: All respondents who gave a valid response, excludes don t know (n = varies). Total satisfaction may be +/- 1% of sum of delighted + satisfied due to rounding errors 15

16 Business Priorities 16

17 SATISFACTION (% delighted) Business Priorities CELEBRATE ENHANCE Waste removal 40 Website 30 Food, health, noise & emissions Safety & security 20 Education & training Broadband internet Tourism marketing & support Ease of establishing a business 10 0 MONITOR Retail trading conditions Employment & job creation Parking in commercial areas Marketing of Albany as a desirable place to do business Road maintenance FOCUS PRIORITY (% of mentions) Q. How satisfied are you with: Base: All respondents who provided a valid response (Businesses n = varies) Q. Which areas would you most like the City of Albany to focus on improving? Any others? Base: All respondents (Businesses n = 51) 17

18 Suggestions for supporting business and economic growth 18

19 Supporting business and economic growth Spontaneous mentions To support business and economic growth in the region, businesses would like the City of Albany to focus on improving support for small or local businesses, encouraging tourism and providing assistance in reducing costs. Support for small or local businesses, particularly when threatened by larger multi-national competition: I think that the City of Albany could say yes more to small business and no to the bigger companies like big Woolworths, as it makes it hard for the local businesses. I think that we could have a bit more support in advertising for the small businesses that are struggling. Not let through so many large companies which can then take over from smaller businesses. Promote "Buy Local" more. Protect small business in regards to allowing multi national businesses too much access. They could support small local business as apposed to the big national companies e.g. support local bottle shops instead of larger liquor stores. Encourage tourism and bringing more people to the area: I guess more tourism and the attractions in Albany. Put some advertising out across the whole of WA, saying Albany is a great place to come to, great climate and healthy life style. They should put more requests to royalties for regions. There is so much money been spent in the north of WA, need more funding for Albany. There should be more tourism promotion by the City of Albany. This can be done by improving the access, availability and affordability of flights from Perth to Albany and vice versa. Cheap flights would mean more influx of tourists and that would I feel help the economic growth in Albany. They could promote tourism more. We need some attractions to bring people to the area. Keep the cost down. E.g. sporting events. More money needs to be spent on tourism. Q. How could the City of Albany better support business and economic growth in the region? Anything else? Base: All respondents (Businesses n = 51) 19

20 Supporting business and economic growth Spontaneous mentions Provide assistance to reduce costs for businesses: I feel that we should be able to rent places at lower costs. The rent is so high it would be good to offer cheaper rates to encourage new business. I think that the city should discount the cost of waste facilities. I think that they could cut down land rates. Reduce the amount they charge for the leases in the area, they are very expensive, people cant afford to lease them, lots of empty properties. Improving planning and building approvals and reducing bureaucracy: The City of Albany could remove some of the rules and regulations in regards to building and development plans and approvals. There needs to be relaxation of the rules and regulations on the planning and building approvals and allow us the business owners to proceed with our building plans and developments without hindrance. We get a hard time when we want to build or extend. We are rural. Special rural zoning. They need to make it a bit more friendly for business. Make it easier with the application and appeal process. More user friendly. There is too much red tape and delays. The City of Albany's planning and building dept is very slow in responding to queries and to get sub division approvals to us as a business. The entire process to get an approval from the building and planning dept needs to be revised so that the process is far more quicker than it currently is. These concerns may relate to other perceptions of overly bureaucratic processes, such as signage approval: Streamlining bureaucracy in relation to small things like signage approved. Improve the appearance and cleanliness of the area: Do something about the esplanade as it looks terrible. Focus on beautifying the landscapes. Rubbish clean up when rubbish dumped on the side road. The rangers are not concerned about rubbish dumped on the road side. Q. How could the City of Albany better support business and economic growth in the region? Anything else? Base: All respondents (Businesses n = 51) 20

21 Supporting business and economic growth Spontaneous mentions Allow more flexible retail trading hours: I think that we should look at Denmark and forget the opening hours and allow people to open whenever they can. They need to look at extended trading hours like on Sundays, be more aware of what businesses around need. Continue to strengthen and improve consultation with business: I think doing little surveys like this one helps. Allows people to express views. More research and opinions from locals and other towns about what needs to be done to improve business. Increased development of the area: I think should put some high rise places here to attract a younger generation. I think that the City of Albany could get behind more development in Albany, develop more infrastructure. Strengthen economic development: I think they could try to encourage people to come down to the plaza by speaking to the centre management. People are moving away as there is no work. Woollen mills. They sold them to Indonesia and they took every thing back to Indonesia and the building just stood there empty until they pulled it down. They did some bad overseas investment. They should have invested it back into Albany. They might need to have consultants come in to advise them on how to manages investment and projects. Other suggestions relate to parking, drainage, economic development, public toilets, signage and control of trail bikes. Improving parking facilities. I think that they could help with the drainage system as in Campbell Road we have a lot of blocked drain problems. I think we more public toilets. I think they could have more signage on the road to advertise where our boarding kennels are. Monitor some of the use of trail bikes in the area. Check that they are licenced to ride in this area. Around 41% did not provide any comments (answering unsure or nothing ) Q. How could the City of Albany better support business and economic growth in the region? Anything else? Base: All respondents (Businesses n = 51) 21

22 CATALYSE Pty Ltd ABN a: Office 3, 996 Hay Street, Perth WA 6000 p: PO Box 8007, Cloisters Square WA 6850 t: f: e: w: catalyse.com.au CATALYSE empowering decision makers 2013

23 CATALYSE is proud to support Indigenous artists. Fireworks is the exciting work of Yinjaa-Barni Artist, Maudie Jerrold. Yinjaa-Barni Artists are traditional owners from the Fortescue River region. Their paintings depict the remarkable country of the Pilbara in Western Australia's north-west. The contrasts of the harsh environment with the hidden gorges of cool water, the seeds and flowers bursting out after rain, are moments that belong to the great Creation stories of the Marrga. Other works may be viewed at the Japingka Gallery in Fremantle [