2007 BUSINESS SURVEY
Introduction
Metropolis Research Pty Ltd was commissioned by the Economic Development and Tourism Unit to conduct a survey of business in the municipality. The survey aims to:
- Provide insight into the overall business environment and performance
- Characteristics of the business community in Port Phillip
- Local business confidence
- Measure satisfaction with Council’s business related service and facilities and overall satisfaction
- Examine the business communities need for Council information and preferred methods of receiving information from Council.
Methodology
Trained Metropolis Research Pty Ltd staff conducted telephone interviews of approximately ten to fifteen minutes duration over five weeks in February and March 2007.
The survey consisted of 20 questions provided by officers of Port Phillip City Council in consultation with Metropolis Research Pty Ltd.
Response rate
A total of approximately 2,068 businesses were contacted by Metropolis Research Pty Ltd staff in conducting the survey. Of these, there were 645 refusals and 370 completed survey providing a response rate of 36.4%.
Suburb of operation
The following table displays the suburb of location of surveyed businesses. An attempt was made to distribute surveys relatively evenly between suburbs. There were more businesses surveyed in St. Kilda than in other suburbs, mainly due to a higher response rate in that suburb.
Business profile
Main area of business
Respondents were asked:
“How would you describe your main area of business?”
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Retail trade (20.6%) and property and business services (19.2%) were the most common industries identified in the sample.
Period of operation
Respondents were asked:
“How long has your business been in operation? and period of operation in Port Phillip?”
- More than half of all surveyed businesses had been in operation for more than ten years (53.5%) and 43.3% had been operating in Port Phillip for more than ten years.
Reasons for operation location
Respondents were asked:
“Why have you chosen to operate in this location?”
- Close to Melbourne CBD (28.8%) and close to managers’ residence (28.5%) were the two most commonly identified reasons for locating at current premises.
Home based business
Respondents were asked:
“Is your business home based?”
- 17.6% of surveyed businesses were home based.
Number of employees
Respondents were asked:
“How many employees (full-time equivalent) does your business have?”
- The overwhelming majority of surveyed businesses employed less than 20 EFT employees (83.6%).
Turnover
Respondents were asked:
“What was the business’s approximate turnover for 2005-2006?”
- More than half of all surveyed businesses had an annual turnover of less than $500,000 per annum in 2005/2006.
Export
Respondents were asked:
“Does your business currently export?”
- 13.2% of surveyed businesses currently export - main export markets including Asia, New Zealand and the United States.
Export markets
Major export markets included Asia (20.5%), New Zealand (17.9%) and the United States (12.8%). Many businesses exported to a number of different markets.
Respondents were asked:
The following graph displays the average result by industry. It is clear from the graph that there is very little variation in expectation of future business performance between various industries as each industry rated expectation on average at between 8.18 and 6.39, but within the 95% confidence intervals.
Respondents were asked:
The following graph displays the variation in these results between the various industries. Some caution should be exercised in interpreting variation between industries given the relatively small sample sizes for some industries. That said, cultural and recreation service businesses (57.1%) and manufacturing businesses (45.5%) appear to have significantly lower expectations of business growth in the coming two years than all other business sectors.
Respondents were asked:
Respondents were asked:
Respondents were asked:
Respondents were asked:
Respondents were asked:
There was some variation in satisfaction with Council by industry as shown in the following graph. The graph displays the average score as well as the 95% confidence intervals for each industry. Some industries had a small number of participating businesses such as manufacturing and wholesale trade and consequently the 95% confidence interval is larger. It would appear that construction (3.33) and retail trade (4.51) are the two industries reporting lower than average satisfaction with Council’s overall performance.
There was relatively little variation in overall satisfaction with Council across the municipality with the range of 4.66 for St. Kilda Road to 5.97 for Elwood. It would appear from these results likely that business located in Elwood was slightly more satisfied with Council’s overall performance than the average for the municipality and that business located in St. Kilda Road was slightly less satisfied.
Satisfaction with Council’s overall performance varied depending on the turnover of the business. The variation is clearly identified as declining levels of satisfaction the larger the businesses turnover.
Respondents were asked:
Respondents were asked:
“Is there anything you would like to see Council do to support local business in the coming year?”
Respondents were asked:
“How do you normally find out about services Council offers for business?”
Respondents were asked:
“Do you believe there is a role for Council in assisting local business with issues arising from climate change or other environmental issues?”
“It yes, what role do you believe there is for Council?”
Like to export
- Just 7.8% of the businesses that currently do not export reported that they would like to. This reinforces the view that the majority of businesses located in Port Phillip are operating locally or at most into the wider metropolitan or Victorian markets.
Future performance
Business performance expectations
Respondents were asked:
“On a scale of 1 (much weaker) to 5 (much stronger), what are your expectations for the performance of your business over the next 12 months, compared with the past 12 months?”
- Surveyed businesses on the whole had a positive expectation of future performance (7.26 out of 10).
The following graph displays the average result by industry. It is clear from the graph that there is very little variation in expectation of future business performance between various industries as each industry rated expectation on average at between 8.18 and 6.39, but within the 95% confidence intervals.
2 year business growth
Respondents were asked:
“Do you see your business growing in the next 2 years?”
- More than three-quarters of surveyed businesses expected to grow in the next two years (78.1%).
The following graph displays the variation in these results between the various industries. Some caution should be exercised in interpreting variation between industries given the relatively small sample sizes for some industries. That said, cultural and recreation service businesses (57.1%) and manufacturing businesses (45.5%) appear to have significantly lower expectations of business growth in the coming two years than all other business sectors.
Reasons for business growing
Respondents were asked:
“If your business is going to grow in the next two years, what are all the reasons why?”
- The main reason for the business growing was an expectation of increased sales (80.3%).
Reasons for business not growing
Respondents were asked:
“If your business is not going to grow in the next two years, what are all the reasons why?”
- The main reason for the business not growing in the next two years was that the business was already at its optimal size (42.9%).
Government regulation
Respondents were asked:
“Do you believe that any of the following areas of government regulations place an unreasonable burden on your business?”
“If yes to any area, which area of regulation places the greatest burden on your business?”
“If yes to any area, which area of regulation places the greatest burden on your business?”
- Petrol prices (40.3%), taxation (40.0%) and the GST (37.3%) were the three areas of government regulation most commonly identified by surveyed businesses as placing an unreasonable burden on their business.
- Taxation (31.2%) was most commonly identified as the area of regulation placing the greatest burden on business.
Council services and facilities
Awareness of Council services and facilities
Respondents were asked:
“Please indicate whether you are aware of the following services provided by Council”
- Awareness of business related Council services and facilities varied dramatically from a high of 82.5% for waste management to a low of 24.2% for advocacy on behalf of business to all tiers of government.
Satisfaction with Council services and facilities
Respondents were asked:
“Please indicate on a scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest) your level of satisfaction with those services you have used in the last twelve months”
- Satisfaction with Council services and facilities also varied dramatically from a high of 6.54 out of 10 for delivery of food inspection and health services to a low of 4.29 for the delivery of planning and building services.
- Overall satisfaction with Council was rated at 5.13, which is likely to be somewhat lower than resident satisfaction with Council.
Satisfaction by industry
There was some variation in satisfaction with Council by industry as shown in the following graph. The graph displays the average score as well as the 95% confidence intervals for each industry. Some industries had a small number of participating businesses such as manufacturing and wholesale trade and consequently the 95% confidence interval is larger. It would appear that construction (3.33) and retail trade (4.51) are the two industries reporting lower than average satisfaction with Council’s overall performance.
Satisfaction by suburb
There was relatively little variation in overall satisfaction with Council across the municipality with the range of 4.66 for St. Kilda Road to 5.97 for Elwood. It would appear from these results likely that business located in Elwood was slightly more satisfied with Council’s overall performance than the average for the municipality and that business located in St. Kilda Road was slightly less satisfied.
Satisfaction by business turnover
Satisfaction with Council’s overall performance varied depending on the turnover of the business. The variation is clearly identified as declining levels of satisfaction the larger the businesses turnover.
Business assistance
Respondents were asked:
“On a scale of 1 (least assistance) to 5 (most assistance), please rate how much each of the following would assist your business to grow?”
- Parking access for customers (6.31 out of 10), marketing skills (6.09) and parking access for staff (5.99) were the three aspects rated highest in terms of assisting the business to grow.
Future Council support for local business
Respondents were asked:
“Is there anything you would like to see Council do to support local business in the coming year?”
- Parking (8.1%) was the requested support from Council.
Information from Council
Receiving information from Council
Respondents were asked:
“How do you normally find out about services Council offers for business?”
- Council’s website (29.3%), mail (28.3%), local newspapers (25.1%) and email (21.2%) were the most commonly utilised means of receiving information from Council.
Preferred information from Council
Respondents were asked:
“On what topic/issues would you like to receive more information from Council?”
- A wide range of topics for information required from Council were identified (51 topics), with the highest being business planning with 7.6%.
Environmental issues
Respondents were asked:
“Do you believe there is a role for Council in assisting local business with issues arising from climate change or other environmental issues?”
“It yes, what role do you believe there is for Council?”
- Almost two-thirds of respondent businesses felt there was a role for Council in assisting business regarding climate change and other environmental issues (60.8%).
- The most commonly identified form of assistance was education (30.7%), water/energy conservation (11.1%) and advice and communication with business (9.3%).