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Australian Manufacturing Business: entrepreneurship or missed opportunities?
Author(s) -
Hutchinson Diane
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8446.00078
Subject(s) - entrepreneurship , business , marketing , criticism , production (economics) , manufacturing sector , focus (optics) , industrial organization , economics , finance , labour economics , art , physics , literature , optics , macroeconomics
In the light of criticism of the performance of Australian business, this article surveys the mounting array of firm and industry evidence to assess the performance of Australian mass production manufacturers. The focus is on lower technology sectors of food and drink, packaging, rural and consumer chemicals, and building materials because these are sectors where Australian firms faced fewer constraints. The article evaluates whether the large firms that emerged in these industries demonstrated entrepreneurship by responding to opportunities, developing their technical capabilities and learning how to manage their growing businesses effectively.