Business Profile of Australian Nurseries
We surveyed 22 Australian nurseries in 1995 to: 1) develop a profile of Australian nurseries from a production, management, and profitability perspective; 2) compare the data to relevant U.S. benchmarks; and 3) identify trends and potential areas of improvement in the management of Australian nursery enterprises. The study confirmed that Australian nurseries incur high labor costs (38.8% of sales) that are comparable to United States nurseries, while costs of materials and supplies were lower than their U.S. counterparts. Overall, the costs of the surveyed nurseries appeared lower than their U.S. counterparts. Concerns of managers were directed towards recruiting and keeping labor and marketing rather than increasing capital investment to increase production efficiency. Capital expenditures tended to be funded from internal cash flows rather than external borrowings. Many of the nursery managers used relatively simple performance indicators and most business objectives were stated in general terms. Australian nurseries carried more diverse product ranges than the U.S. nurseries. Many of the nurseries adopted quite vigorous marketing strategies with a stronger emphasis on marketing than in those in the U.S. Concerns about the viability of the industry included oversupply, the growth in chain stores business, factors eroding the demand for nursery products and greater regulation.