Starting out thinking BIG?
Business without borders appealing?
Convinced that the WORLD is your oyster?

Then watch this space.

Australian engineering technology businesses are starting up with the world in their immediate sights.

There may not be many (yet), but even now, they are not alone...

Not often does a brand new company establish an international network of production facilities very early in life. Technico Pty Ltd now has one that includes Australia, China, USA, Mexico and India. From R&D beginnings in the Southern Highlands of NSW in the mid 1990s, Technico has internationalized its TECHNITUBER® seed potato enterprise to be a major player in the US$100 billion pa international potato industry. Customers now include Frio Lay, McCain Foods, Simplot...

The Australian Business Foundation, an independent business research think tank, is currently undertaking a research project into Australian based ‘Born Global’ enterprises that have established ongoing foreign activities soon after their birth. The project is being led by Peter Liesch, Professor of International Business at the University of Queensland Business School, and managed by the Foundation’s Research Analyst, Dr Matthew Steen.

The project explores businesses – both large and small – that started with a global perspective, have already penetrated foreign markets, and are now deepening their international presence. The Foundation is also investigating the contribution Australian Born Globals make to the national economy (through repatriation of profits, paying tax to Australian governments, employing Australian nationals, diffusing advanced business knowledge at home, and establishing resident firms in global business networks etc).

Technico established its own production facilities to produce economic volumes near its markets, and produces early generation seed potatoes using a rapid multiplication technology that overcomes time constraints and disease challenges that plague the conventional ways of producing seed potatoes.

The company has successfully retained its leading-edge intellectual property through the deft management of these overseas facilities, leveraging its strong alliances with key global potato products manufacturers to return economic benefits to Australia.

In an industry that some may not see as being particularly technologically sophisticated, Technico has indeed injected considerable advances through leading edge technology that is delivered through an international network of facilities managed to strategically capture advantages from rapidly developing markets that some may see as difficult to enter, let alone win.

The Australian Business Foundation seeks to capture the experiences and lessons of such Australian ‘Born Globals’ and share insights in such a way that will prove useful to companies in similar circumstances.

The Foundation’s study will examine 16 ‘Born Globals’ active in NSW, Victoria, SA and Queensland, in order to shed light on the experiences and methods of those companies in deepening their international activities beyond exporting.

As the project develops, it is expected that Professor Liesch will conduct workshops to discuss his findings and receive feedback. The conclusions of the final report will be presented in a special July Edition of the Business Review Weekly.

Australia is, of course, famous for spawning organizations with a global footprint – ranging from BHP Billion, Qantas, CSL, Orica etc to brands and business empires like Kylie Minogue and The Wiggles. But smaller and lesser-known businesses are quietly leaving their mark, too.

The businesses in this study started out thinking global and have already ventured overseas. ‘Going global’ is a fundamental ongoing competitive strategy.

It’s all about recognizing the reality of a global, knowledge-based economy, seizing opportunities and finding imaginative ways to overcome obstacles and better meet customer needs. Often, serendipity plays an important role, but more important still is the ability of firms to turn unexpected events to their advantage.

Another example is TNA Australia, a food-packaging company based in Homebush in Sydney. Beginning in 1982 as a small-scale producer, it created the prototype ‘ROBAG®’ Vertical Form Fill and Seal System the following year. This incorporated a unique stripping action using rotary continuous motion jaws, to generate an output of bags more than double the industry average. With the support of a large customer (Smiths Snack Foods), TNA was able to produce the ROBAG® in significant numbers, and by 1990 the company entered a period of rapid growth (30% compound pa), which culminated in offices in the UK (1991), the USA (1995) and Mexico, South Africa and China (2001).

While technical ingenuity has obviously been key to TNA’s success, it could not have competed with larger rivals in foreign locations without a definite plan of international expansion or the determination to see it through. In addition, TNA eschewed conventional wisdom by launching its international expansion in a mature, familiar market. For TNA, Great Britain, and not the USA or Asia, was a deliberate first step along a path of least resistance.

Advanced engineering applications (like those of TNA and Technico) can underpin born global enterprises; and so the Foundation’s research project is including technology-based enterprises as well as those who pursue non-technological forms of innovation.

A good idea travels well – and far and wide. Born Global enterprises feel comfortable in the global space – that is their natural habitat.

The Australian Business Foundation was founded as an independent, non-profit organization in 1997 by Australian Business Ltd. (now the NSW Business Chamber), in order to advance knowledge and foster fresh thinking about making Australian businesses more internationally competitive and capable.

Further information on the Born Globals Research Project can be obtained by visiting http://www.abfoundation.com.au/ext/Frame.nsf/pages/Research or by calling Matthew Steen on (02) 9458 7342.

Dr Chris Nicol presents the 2007 Innovation Lecture in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney,
5–7 June.  Click here for information and here to register.

Disclaimer: The Warren Centre publishes articles relating to new technology and innovation that are often based on information supplied by third parties. While an editorial process is applied, we make no exhaustive investigation into the accuracy of the information, thus no liability will be accepted for its accuracy. Please note that in providing this information, The Warren Centre is not supporting or promoting any technology or company, merely seeking to inform. Interested readers should take their own steps to verify the information prior to relying on it in any way.

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