Report finds regional businesses focused on growth and innovation

Cec Busby - Startup Daily - 19 July 2018

Commonwealth Bank’s latest Regional Business Insights report has revealed almost half of Australia’s regional businesses (49 per cent) see the potential for growth.

The report canvassed 470 regional businesses about the opportunities and challenges they face and discovered strong markets, growing populations and improved infrastructure is spearheading the charge for change.

CommBank Executive General Manager for Regional and Agribusiness Banking, Grant Cairns, says Australia’s regional businesses seem to be underpinned by optimism and suggested this is creating a knock-on effect across a range of industries.

Yet while nearly half of all regional businesses saw the potential to grow, a significant number – one in five – thought there was no opportunity or were unsure of what the opportunity might be.

“The research suggests regional Australia could achieve even better results with greater clarity around how to achieve meaningful growth,” Cairns says.

While regional businesses tend to think broadly about potential opportunities, they have much sharper insight when it came to challenges, with competition, input costs and red tape topping the list. Read more