Beyond Main Street: Franchising Strategies for Indigenous Business Development Cary Di Lernia Lecturer The University of Sydney Business School The University of Sydney Sydney Australia
[email protected] Andrew Terry Professor of Business Regulation The University of Sydney Business School The University of Sydney Sydney Australia
[email protected] Presented at the Economics and Management of Networks Conference Agadir, Morocco 21-23 November 2013 1 Abstract Australia’s Indigenous population today faces disparities which tarnish Australia’s image as ‘the lucky country’: a life expectancy of 10 years less than non Indigenous Australians, lower education standards, poorer health, greater unemployment. The list goes on. Having developed a culture which enabled them to survive, and, indeed thrive, for over 60,000 years in all areas of Australia’s massive landmass and challenging climate and conditions, Indigenous culture has foundered upon the rock of european invasion and settlement just over two hundred years ago. Successive Australian governments from both sides of the political spectrum can claim precious little success in effectively dealing with the challenges faced by Indigenous Australians living within, and alongside, modern europeanised and increasing asianised Australia. With over $25bn in services being spent in 2010 – 2011 for Australia’s 575,000 reported indigenous people ($44,128, or about €30,000, per capita), yet without the attendant results one would expect of such expenditure, government indigenous policy cannot be regarded as a success. There is increasing recognition from Indigenous leadership that there is a need to find a way out of welfare dependency and that economic empowerment is likely to be a more effective strategy: ‘We need to be participants, rather than bystanders… we need to develop Indigenous businesses and entrepreneurs’.