Sam Tom

@ Sammy - I did give the statistics proof but it wasn't approved before. Australian Bureau of Statistics gives the actual unemployment rate at 13% - was given middle of last year. If want more Australian economic statistics, try tradingeconomics.com where can find for the whole world. Worldeconomics.com is another one. Automotive manufacturing sector has been busted and Toyota is the last one that might be remaining though question mark too there as it might vanish in 2018. Just in the last 1 week or so, there have been articles on that itself. Holden and company leave before. Business Insider article Joe Hockey Says Toyota Might Leave Australia After A 'War' With The Manufacturing Union is 1 proof. Can go through the others. See the Australian Unions Page under Facebook itself and can see the whole lot of events occurring in Australia (90% of the businesses in Australia are small to medium sized - anywhere between 1 to 15 or 20 employees and that's why Australia is a small business nation by McCrindle). Few days back, the Government has decided to privatise Australia Post, Medicare, etc (have a look at Australian's reactions). David Jones, Myers and most online retailers faces global competition as they don't have much innovation and their IT is way behind. Competitors are Costco, Aldi, etc. So many research materials there and these are case studies at business schools within Australia itself. 'Customer service satisfaction survey' - can type those keywords or even check through 'customer service satisfaction index' via Google, Optus, Telstra, Myer, DJ, etc would have the bad side. 2 more innovation proof sources - Australia lifts ranking in Global Innovation Index, but still lags behind New Zealand written by Gavin Lower of Startup Smart (Startup Smart is a leading Australian business blog). GE is the 1 that said Australia is not an innovation leader through a global survey in 2012. Are Vegemite and Timtam Australian owned brands? Sorry they aren't anymore. ABC article is 1 of them - Vegemite turns 90: what's your favourite iconic Australian brand? This article would list some of the foreign owned Australian brands. Some to most of the others can see under 'Ownership of food brands' under Dick Smith's Foods. Even few days back, another Australian resource was taken over by a foreign firm. Coming to properties and land, check the article 'foreign ownership of land' by the Greens or the article 'Foreign ownership of Australian farmland' by Crikey (many more there showing these are foreign owned). Which foreigners mostly own them? US, China and UK. 1 of the proof is the article 'Australia: owned and operated by the USA and China'. Some to most Australians are aware of these facts and if want more proof, can look at the Australian finance forums including Hotcopper. Australians discuss there as well.

Sorry but it's all true. Here are some of the proof. Well, might want to check http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/unemployment-rate as well as http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/indicators. Those 2 are the unemployment and economics information for Australia. What is Australia's actual unemployment rate? ABS or Australian Bureau of Statistics gives it at 13% (July 2013 - http://barnabyisright.com/2013/07/11/true-unemployment-at-13-new-abs-measure-reveals/). Australia's automotive manufacturing finished - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/hard-road-ahead-for-rd/story-e6frg6z6-1226807123313# (Hard road ahead for Research & Development in automotive sector). http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/toyota-workers-warned-20140123-31bsj.html - Toyota workers warned and they too are deciding whether to leave by 2018 as all others leave by 2017. http://delimiter.com.au/2014/01/08/myer-fail-displays-appalling-business-incompetency/ - DJ, Myer & most retailer's incompetency due to which they are all failing. Coles and Woolworths play a duopoly in Australia. As mentioned before, there was a survey done by GE in 2012 if I'm right and it showed that Australia is no innovation leader (Article is Australia is no innovation leader: GE). It's also connected to another article, Australia lifts ranking in Global Innovation Index, but still lags behind New Zealand. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/vegemite-turns-90-whats-your-favourite-iconic-australian-brand/5046112 shows some of the Aussie brands that are foreign owned while http://www.dicksmithfoods.com.au/ownership-food-brands shows most of the Aussie brands that are foreign owned. Even recently, Australian resources have been sold off (just few days back). Medibank, Australia Post, etc are headed for privatisation which may or may not go into foreign hands again - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/medibank-and-australia-post-are-candidates-for-privatisation/story-fng7vg0p-1226796091065#. http://www.crikey.com.au/foreign-ownership-of-farmland/ is 1 article dealing with foreign ownership of the land and properties within Australia - there are others as well. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3816204.html - Australia owned and operated by China and USA. UK will also be there as largest foreign owners of Australia as US, China and UK. More sources if like with all the proof.

Well, might want to check http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/unemployment-rate as well as http://www.tradingeconomics.com/australia/indicators. Those 2 are the unemployment and economics information for Australia. What is Australia's actual unemployment rate? ABS or Australian Bureau of Statistics gives it at 13% (July 2013 - http://barnabyisright.com/2013/07/11/true-unemployment-at-13-new-abs-measure-reveals/). Australia's automotive manufacturing finished - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/hard-road-ahead-for-rd/story-e6frg6z6-1226807123313# (Hard road ahead for Research & Development in automotive sector). http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/toyota-workers-warned-20140123-31bsj.html - Toyota workers warned and they too are deciding whether to leave by 2018 as all others leave by 2017. http://delimiter.com.au/2014/01/08/myer-fail-displays-appalling-business-incompetency/ - DJ, Myer & most retailer's incompetency due to which they are all failing. Coles and Woolworths play a duopoly in Australia. As mentioned before, there was a survey done by GE in 2012 if I'm right and it showed that Australia is no innovation leader (Article is Australia is no innovation leader: GE). It's also connected to another article, Australia lifts ranking in Global Innovation Index, but still lags behind New Zealand. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/vegemite-turns-90-whats-your-favourite-iconic-australian-brand/5046112 shows some of the Aussie brands that are foreign owned while http://www.dicksmithfoods.com.au/ownership-food-brands shows most of the Aussie brands that are foreign owned. Even recently, Australian resources have been sold off (just few days back). Medibank, Australia Post, etc are headed for privatisation which may or may not go into foreign hands again - http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/opinion/medibank-and-australia-post-are-candidates-for-privatisation/story-fng7vg0p-1226796091065#. http://www.crikey.com.au/foreign-ownership-of-farmland/ is 1 article dealing with foreign ownership of the land and properties within Australia - there are others as well. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3816204.html - Australia owned and operated by China and USA. UK will also be there as largest foreign owners of Australia as US, China and UK. More sources if like with all the proof.

@ Pom Queen - just mentioning the reality of Australia. @boganbear - Yes, I agree that some to many people are aware though others may not be.

Sorry this is very long though next message after the line is the point for this message (haven't included some of the other weaknesses like recruitment agencies which can be seen under - 'The confessions of a recruiter' [ex Hays employee] and http://advertisers.careerone.com.au/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/screening-job-candidates/beware-resume-racism.aspx - 'beware resume racism' as well as statistics of horrible customer service that exists within a lot of firms within Australia [can be found under Google while typing keywords such as 'customer service satisfaction survey australia' and so on]; examples of jobs that can be found under Seek, MyCareer, CareerOne that relate mostly to customer service and sales; healthcare issues including waiting times as well as not being as good as some of the healthcare systems found in Europe, Singapore, Oman and so on, etc). Currently, Australian businesses whether small or big lack technical and innovative skills and that includes the automotive manufacturing that has been busted and other sectors that are just surviving. It's easier to get in IT graduates or ones with business and IT backgrounds (qualifications, skills and experience) and train them like the rest of the world for those jobs (Easier for IT people to learn business skills or get business qualifications rather than the other way round). US, Canada, UK, China, India, etc does that but no Australia still thinks relationship building is most important (SEEK, MyCareer, CareerOne and other Australian job sites would show that). Backward and 30 years behind as innovative approach took over from relationship approach then which was started by P&G, IBM, etc and which now continues due to Google, FB, Tesla, etc. That's why the world's leading firms have innovation and technology, as those 2 are most important even though relationship building is also there. Reality of Australian marketers/marketing, logistics and supply chain and other areas too: Australia is a country that has lost out in many areas and will continue to do so due to 3 main reasons-innovation, technical skills and education (all way behind). Retail and manufacturing aren’t the only industries that have faced challenges due to these 3 reasons; other sectors too. Add the niche strategy that Australia has used for decades via agriculture, mining, etc and that would be the 4th failure-putting all its eggs into 1 basket for decades instead of using the diversification strategy. Let’s start with the tertiary education sector which few years back was Australia’s 3rd largest export sector (now 4th). How does it survive? Foreign students especially from China and India though lately South Americans, North Americans and Europeans too. How many Australians have a university qualification? Australia population represents 0.3% of the world population and just 25% of that have a university qualification. How many have a Masters qualification? Not many. Some to most firms in Australia consider Masters overqualified. Well, sad news for 90 to 99% of the businesses in Australia that represent small to medium sized ones – rest of the world have people who have either 2 Master qualifications or PhDs and professional certifications. Unless, good at entrepreneurship, not needed to study. Sadly, for Australia, that has gone behind especially when it’s niche strategy also got busted because Australia has been behind with innovations and technologies since World War 2. Also, how many foreign exchange students from Australia land in Asia? Not many compared to ones from US, Canada, UK, etc. So, those countries are learning about Asian cultures where as most Australian foreign students land in US, UK, etc (psychically close countries instead of the psychically distant countries as well). US, UK universities are still the best in the world and most are cheaper than the Australian ones nowadays as Australia’s become expensive for that so the universities that are on the same level as Australia are now the challengers. Which are those countries? Canada, Germany, Japan, Singapore, China (mainland and HK), etc. Addition to those, there are the blended learning (online) and MOOCs that are challenging the educational landscape, starting from primary education right unto tertiary one. Where is Australia for innovations and technologies? The country doesn’t encourage much of both including funding which is the reason why Australian startups end up in USA. Australia gets 75% of its GDP through services as it’s a developed nation though it has come out with some innovations but not that many compared to the rest of the world even with the basic innovations. Others have gone for coopetition like Apple, Samsung, Google,etc;Netflix and Amazon;Tesla and various automobile firms and so many others where rivals don’t just work together but innovate as well. Australia has zilch there. Then there is the blue ocean strategy as well where not only low cost innovations occur but a whole new market segment comes up. Rest of the world so many while Australia hardly any. Even New Zealand is above Australia when it comes to innovation. Taking marketing technology/digital marketing as the industry, here is the reality of Australian marketers/marketing - some weaknesses including reasons why Australia has failed (they’re all genuine articles that have come up in the last few weeks to couple of months-these are the titles of those articles): 1) Marketer study warns of skills shortages in digital marketing in Australia 2) Two-thirds of Aus marketers ‘aren’t effective at digital’ 3) Aussie brands failing to embrace digital real-time customer service 4) Lack of skills a threat to projects 5) Is Australia That Far Behind in the Digital Market? 6) Big data policies lacking in Australian and New Zealand organisations: survey 7) Australian firms lagging behind 8 ) Australian retailers are digital-relationship laggards: Capgemini & Sydney University study reveals 9) Australian SMEs not meeting consumers on social media: statistics from Yellow Pages report 10) PayPal: Only 14 Percent of Australian SMEs Are Taking Advantage of Online 11) Latest ABS statistics: many Australian businesses still not engaging online 12) Australian businesses struggling with cross-channel marketing 13) Australian manufacturers are failing to invest in productivity raising IT: study 14) Average of 44 small businesses closing their doors each day, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data 15) Experts say Australian business being left behind 16) Small Business Left Behind As Australian Business Confidence Lifts: NAB 17) Australian small businesses are late to the online marketing party 18) Too little, too late: Is Australia losing the online retail game? Some of the reasons for the above could be seen from the following articles with titles: 1) Can Australia’s education system meet demand for digital marketers? (Even top universities of Australia are way behind compared to counterparts from US, UK, Canada, etc where students can take subjects from different schools like Arts, Engineering, Business, etc. Additionally, some Australian universities still teach traditional subjects at universities [The two university comparison examples can be University of Sydney via Commerce degree and WUSTL of US both via Marketing major]). 2) Aussie women lag behind men in numeracy skills 3) Aussies spend big on technology, but don’t know how to use it 4) Small Business Nation 2013 – Around 90 to 99% of the businesses in Australia are small to medium sized ones though most are neither innovative nor have much of technology (not tech savvy) 5) Australia is Well Behind Other OECD Countries in Pre-School Education 6) University rankings show Asian rise and Australian slip 7) Australian students slipping behind in maths, reading: OECD report 8 ) If Australia Could Get Over Its ‘Fear of Failure’ Tech Startup Firms Could Contribute $109B to Economy by 2033, Create 540,000 New Jobs – Google Study 9) Australia is no innovation leader: GE (connected to Australia lifts ranking in Global Innovation Index, but still lags behind New Zealand) 10) Australia at risk of squandering expat expertise as brain drain hits reverse 11) Is Australia Less Tech-Savvy than We Thought? (More of the marketing weaknesses in last 1 year and a bit on the logistics and supply chain in relation to Australia can be found under http://loveroftechnologyandbusiness.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/reality-of-australian-marketers-and.html . It also has the components or landscapes of Marketing Technology and Digital Marketing). As mentioned under that, Brand valuation could be seen via BrandZ of WPP as well as Interbrand of Omnicom and brandirectory.com that is part of Brand Finance. The top brand from Australia would be Woolworths ranked in the 100s way behind the ones from US, UK, Canada, India, China, etc. Woolworths and Coles duopoly in the supermarket sector though IGA, Aldi and Costco are 3 other players there ( https://theconversation.com/factcheck-is-our-grocery-market-one-of-the-most-concentrated-in-the-world-16520). Zara as well as others are knocking DJ and Myer ( http://www.fool.com.au/2013/08/14/clothing-retailers-be-afraid-very-afraid/ ). All of them have failed with innovation and technology (just like most Australian industrial sector) which can be seen underhttp://www.afr.com/p/australian_retailers_stumped_by_meuCL7di6LxiZG4VotdITL . US at least did something with 3D and 4D printing-part of disruptive innovation that could challenge emerging and developing nations;what has Australia come out with.US manufacturing also fell into recession 30 years back but came out 10 years later with innovation-Intel is 1 proof of that and that video is ‘Made in USA’ under America Revealed under PBS.org. Innovation took over 30 years back from customer centric approach started by P&G,IBM,etc that went on to Google,FB,etc and that’s world’s top firms and ones that survive depend on innovation and technologies. Also, if going to say robotics, well most jobs that exist today won’t exist in 10 years time thanks to technologies-need to adapt and change. China, Japan, etc have robot chefs. Self service revolution has existed for more than a century-ATMs, kiosks at airports, etc as well as retail sector are proof of that. 3D and 4D printing also there. Blended learning that has gone online as well as MOOCs which includes Coursera and Udacity are changing educational landscape from primary to tertiary education [uS,UK and Australian top unis have their courses there and it can be done for free without certificates but if want certificates, they are cheaper than traditional education though not all courses are under the MOOCs]. There are more including hybrid trade shows. DVD rentals are backward technologies that rest of the world came up with a decade or 2 ago as there are Netflix, Hulu,etc. Australia’s way behind in technology and innovations-both marketing and supply chain + also transportation as it’s just got on to mobile payments which rest of the developed world have been on for about a decade-some of the emerging nations have been on it for 5 to 10 years also. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Point for above is thanks to the weaknesses, the governments have been selling Australia out. Who owns Australia's top brands? Foreigners. Who owns Australian properties and lands? Foreigners. Australian innovation as mentioned before isn't much even compared to emerging countries-1 of the reasons why automotive manufacturing got busted and others are somehow surviving. Technical skills even amongst management way behind the rest of the world as shown under the articles mentioned before. Education low amongst locals - again mentioned before. Australia is being SOLD for free sadly. In 10 years' time, most jobs that exist today won't exist due to the shifts in technologies. Technology and innovation more important than relationship building though latter also needed. This has been going on for centuries. Taking self service revolution, that has been going on for a century at least via ATMs, retail sector, kiosks and so on even at airports, etc. Chef robots another example-already exists in China, Japan, etc. US manufacturing fell apart 30 years back but rose 10 years later and 1 of those firms is Intel-can be seen under 'Made in USA' under America Revealed under Pbs.org (there under Youtube). So, if need to survive, need to change and that includes businesses training people who have the skills within the country instead of all being outsourced (there are new migrants and migrants of the past who have the initial skills and/or qualifications, etc). All these mentioned before. US, India, Canada, UK, China, etc train their people including graduates and if they're good, recruit them as well - technical and other areas (like Softpath.net,NIIT,etc). Australia not much.