Doing Business Overview
Much of Australia's economic activity is centred around Melbourne as it is
home to half of the nation's ten largest corporations: BHP, Coles Myer, Telstra,
National Australia Bank and ANZ. It also provides headquarters or the R&D
base for international companies such as Cadbury-Schweppes, BP, NEC, Orica,
Ericsson, Glaxo Wellcome and Kraft. Melbourne has excellent multilingual
capabilities, as over 30% of the population speak another language at home,
making it attractive
to foreign companies.
Australia is one of the leading users of information and communication technologies
and eight of the 12 major international organisations operating in Australia
have manufacturing or research activities in Melbourne, including IBM, Hewlett
Packard, Nokia, Philips, NEC, Fujitsu and Siemens. The state government avidly
encourages technology development and the high-tech industry based in Victoria
has a strong export orientation with total exports growing at double the national
average.
Victoria is home to 40% of Australia's pharmaceutical industry, 65% of the
automotive industry and 50% of the aerospace sector. Companies such as Bosch,
Kodak, Olivetti and Siemens have seen dramatically increased export figures
during the 1990s. The Australian head office and manufacturing operations of
Toyota are Melbourne-based and General Motors recently announced that its new
V6 engine plant will be located in Melbourne.
Melbourne is also Australia's research capital, and it hosts more than 38%
of total R&D undertaken by business in Australia. In particular, Melbourne
is an acknowledged world leader in biomedical and health research.
In the CBD, smart Collins Street is the prime business address. In April 2001,
unemployment in Melbourne was 6.3% compared to a national rate of 6.8%.
Business Etiquette
Suits are a must when conducting business in well-dressed Melbourne and all
appointments must be arranged in advance. Like much of Melbourne life, business
is conducted over coffee. Breakfast meetings or drinks at a stylish bar are
also favoured, although long business lunches are a thing of the past. Australian
businesspeople are very approachable, quite informal and quick to use first
names. Academic or professional titles do not impress them nor do over-zealous
sales presentations. Business cards are used. Normal business hours are 0830-1700
Monday to Friday but many executives work longer hours. If invited to someone's
home, a bottle of wine as a gift will almost always be appreciated.
Greeting someone in Melbourne
On the whole, people in Australia are informal and greet each other with a
handshake.
Tipping advice
In general it is not customary to tip in Australia though this is slowly changing,
particularly in larger cities. In some restaurants it is standard practice
to leave a gratuity. The usual amount is between ten and fifteen percent. Discretionary
tips to hotel staff, taxi drivers and other service personnel are also on the
increase. It is certainly a friendly gesture to pay a little on top of the
bill if the service has reached the required standard.
Melbourne dress code
Formal attire is usually worn for business purposes although the warm summers
have led to some flexibility allowing shorts with smart shirts, with or without
a tie. Casual smart attire is perfectly acceptable everywhere else with perhaps
a tendency towards slightly unconventional dress in the most fashionable restaurants,
bars and clubs.
Local Customs
Melbourne is a hive of social interaction. From summer carols by candlelight
to the frantic football season in the winter, each season has its own series
of events. Football has to be the most popular, well-supported pastime with
several local leagues, competitions and national affiliations. Other sports
are also important and are prominent fixtures on Melbourne's calendar: the
Australian Open Tennis Tournament is held here as is the Australian Grand Prix
and horse racing's Melbourne Cup. Non-sporting annual events include the Chinese
New Year celebrations, a Summer Music Festival the Moomba Family Festival and
a three-week long gay and lesbian Midsumma Festival, which brings thousands
of visitors from Australia and beyond.
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