Todd Gammel
Businesses can no longer afford to simply ‘wait and see’, and must instead position themselves to handle both short-term blips and longer-term structural issues, says Todd Gammel, business recovery partner at HLB Mann Judd Sydney.
“The past six to 12 months have seen wave after wave of changes and challenges that create significant uncertainty for businesses, including the recent Federal Budget, rising fuel prices, and the growth of AI,” Gammel says.
He says that when talking with business owners and managers, there is sometimes a sense of ‘once everything returns to normal, we’ll be OK’, but with economic and political uncertainty on the agenda for the foreseeable future, this attitude is no longer viable.
“The current challenges facing businesses – economic, political, and technological – have no end date in sight so managers and owners must ensure their business is able to respond to this new environment, and take advantage of opportunities for growth.”
Gammel says when looking at successful businesses, there are some common threads that help them to survive and thrive.
“I call this the three Rs – resilience, relevancy and resourcefulness,” Gammel says.
Resilience means being able to deal with uncertainty and absorb the impact of external factors such as interest rate rises.
Relevancy means having a strong value proposition for clients and customers, and being able to meet their needs.
Resourcefulness means adapting to changing circumstances and being able to turn them to an advantage.
“Those organisations that display all three of these qualities are in a strong position to continue to grow, regardless of the broader economic landscape.”
Gammel says there is a lot of “information-driven fear” in the economy at the moment and even businesses that are tracking well are still concerned.
“Being worried is understandable, but at the same time, it is essential to tune out the unnecessary noise and just focus on the drivers for your business,” Gammel says.
“There are always options and opportunities that arise if you have the three Rs in place, and currently there are almost unlimited levels of funding via private credit for businesses that can show strong growth plans, whether organic or via acquisition.
“There’s no doubt we will see consolidation and some business failures over the next six months, particularly in sectors such as retail and construction, but the survivors will be those that display resilience, relevancy and resourcefulness.”
