Articles

As a business owner, competition can be intimidating.  However, it can also drive to achieve impressive results. The important factor is knowing how to beat the competition. With this sentiment in mind, for business owners and advisors, gathering intelligence on a business’s competitors in a systematic and rigorous format is critical to success.     What are [...]

Many businesses are ‘mixes’ of basic revenue models – and in particular, are a mix of ‘retail’ and ‘labour-based’ models.  So to analyse it effectively, you might need to think differently about each part of the business, using a different ‘model’ in the process.   Here are a few examples to prove the point:   [...]

At different stages during the process of Benchmarking a firm, your mindset needs to change. Here are the key stages that you’ll need work through as you help a client to devise concrete plans for a better, stronger business: 1. At first, your role is essentially a clerical one: converting the financial data about the [...]

As Featured in the Australian Financial Review on 19/6/19. Amidst the protest of taxi drivers against ride-sharing, the headlines of more manufacturing companies closing and uproar over telecommunications jobs moving overseas, the mature accounting industry is quietly undergoing a dramatic innovation transition. And, the $1Billion Australian FinTech Industry is not the only one to blame. [...]

In case you didn’t know there’s a $30,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses If businesses are wanting to purchase assets, now may be the time given recent changes to the instant asset write-off (IAWO) thresholds. The IAWO was first introduced in 2015 as a means to help small businesses through a period of economic […]

One point that can be made about ‘Business Benchmarks’ is that they are a tool. They are not the ‘complete answer’ to every possible question a client might ask you.   It’s not the one tool that will fix absolutely every problem that you are going to run across.  But they will enable you as an [...]

Feedback loops are seen everywhere, from biological systems where they are used to achieve a stable environment to sports where performance is measured and used to make enhancements. No matter the application, the process is simple: production occurs, measurements are taken and the information is used to make improvements. The surprising thing is that despite [...]

Franchises are often considered, and sold as, a win-win business-model by both franchisors and franchisees. However, the recent Fairness in Franchising Report by the Federal Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, released in March 2019, highlighted that franchisors are currently winning at the expense of their own franchisees. The scathing report has recommended [...]

Competition in business can be challenging, but it also drives innovation and growth. The secret to thriving in a competitive market lies in understanding your competitors and using that knowledge to refine your strategies. This is where competitor benchmarking becomes invaluable. Competitor benchmarking is the process of systematically comparing your business to others in the [...]