Business confidence is up, for the most part

THE findings of Commerce Ballarat’s recent business confidence survey have been released, and they are indicating an overall positive outlook for the region’s enterprises.

Covering last financial year, survey is the third of its kind conducted by Commerce in partnership with Federation University, and the City of Ballarat.

FedUni’s lead researcher Dr Shoaib Riaz said overall the results indicate a sense of positivity and optimism in the region.

The findings suggest that business confidence in the Ballarat region is at a higher level than it was in the 2020/21 financial year, which was the last time this survey was conducted.

Overall, the business confidence index which is measured by a range of factors increased from 0.33 to 0.54.

The survey also indicated that businesses are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Factors like overall business performance, profitability, sales performance, return on business investment, investment in the business, recruiting employees, running costs and expectations about the region’s economy were all taken into account.

Mr Shoaib said he was expecting a rise of confidence in the next survey as the previous investigation had been conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That would mean businesses responding to next survey are either new or made it through the pandemic period.

“Businesses who didn’t survive the pandemic aren’t part of the survey as they aren’t businesses anymore,” said Mr Riaz.

However, the survey also highlighted current challenges faced by business, with the largest being staff shortages.

Participants suggested ways of improving hiring opportunities including attracting more skilled migrants to Ballarat and greater cooperation between stakeholders.

Mr Riaz said the business confidence survey is crucial information that should be available to the public.

“It’s important to track the level of confidence so we can reflect on what is needed because if confidence is going down key stakeholders can jump in,” he said.

“We need to know what businesses are thinking about in terms of opportunities in the future and what is needed from key stakeholders.”

Responses to the survey came from more than 150 enterprises, and a further 15 in depth interviews with business leaders and owners.

Chair of Regional Development Australia Grampians, Stuart Benjamin, said he found survey results to be mixed, however, was surprised they weren’t more negative.

“While in general confidence was slightly up, I think a lot businesses are a little hesitant about what the future looks like with varying economic conditions,” he said.

“I thought the results would show a lot less confidence, I was quite surprised.”

Mr Benjamin said the results would be different if businesses were asked to take the survey today, due in most part to the worsening economic climate.

“The survey results are a few months old, and I think if we were taking that survey now we would get a less positive result,” he said.

James Robson, director of OTL Consulting Group and member of the Commerce Ballarat board echoed a similar sentiment – that the survey results would be different if it was conducted today.

“It’s been very very up and down,” he said. “In 2020 we saw very significant drop of in business, but things did sort of steady.

“When this latest version of the survey was done things were looking up and there was an increase in confidence.

“I think if the survey was to be done today, in particular with interest rate rises and that sort of thing, I think confidence might look lower than what it does with the outcome of the survey.”

However, Mr Benjamin also said he believes the survey had some positive stories to tell.

“One of the strong factors of the Ballarat economy is because we are a diverse economy with construction, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, it means when one sector comes back a little bit hopefully the others prop up the economy,” he said.

Mr Benjamin also agreed with Mr Riaz that conducting surveys like this are crucial.

“Too often in our community and our political system we only want to talk about the good news stories,” he said.

“This survey allows business to speak very openly and honestly about the experiences they’ve had.

“It allows us all to plan for our investments and our businesses.”

With so many businesses making time to take part in the research, Mr Benjamin acknowledged the effort.

“I think it’s really impressive that businesses, who have a lot of things to do, filled out the survey,” he said. “It shows a lot the esteem in which business hold Commerce Ballarat.

“It’s a really positive reflection our business community.”