Industry Insider: Social media has changed the rules for rumour

What a mess the past month was. Vega, Complete Print Solutions and, of course, Geon. It has been terrible for trade suppliers and worse for the employees. But it has also been an education and you had better be paying attention. The way things work in printing in Australia has changed.

Firstly, look at the paper companies’ withdrawal of support to Geon’s receivers. In a very public way, the paper houses said “no more phoenixes”. Chairman Mao believed “Shoot one, educate one thousand”. The lesson here is that if the suppliers were willing to pull the trigger on the biggest sheetfed printer in the country, they will do it to you should you be thinking about your own little pre-pack.

Secondly, the way money flows through the industry is going to change. I can’t be the only one to notice a bit more attention from the accounts department, and by and large I am a good payer. Terms are going to be different – how different will become apparent in the next few months as all the bad debts make their way through the industry.

Thirdly, the way information works in the industry has changed. Five years ago you had to use your network of reps, delivery drivers and business owner friends to find out who went bust, why and for how much. Now I get an email newsletter (from some forensic accountants) every morning listing who is in trouble.

It used to be that if you worked for a company that went bust or supplied them, you were wholly reliant on the directors or receivers for information. Not anymore.

Hour-by-hour, the Geon collapse played out in real time online on ProPrint’s website and those of its competitors. The rush of information was compelling. With the massive interest in the Geon collapse and the lack of accurate communications from the company to its employees, the internet became magnets for everyone in the trade. Geon workers broke the news of site closures, stock levels and management “communications”; industry identities provided advice, information and background; people who empathised with the Geon employees could leave messages of solidarity; and perhaps of the most significance, other print business owners left messages backing the stance of the suppliers in cutting off supply – even going so far as to threaten to sack any supplier who broke the embargo. If one of the paper companies had broken ranks and sold a ream of Reflex into Banksmeadow, they would have worn the opprobrium within the hour and they knew it.

The comments became as important a source of news as the articles themselves and from all accounts a more accurate record of events than the official blogs of the company involved.

Where does this leave us? In our small industry information has always travelled well. But has a new precedent been set? I hope so. If the next Geon thinks it can gain an advantage by keeping staff and suppliers in the dark, they should think again. Things have changed.

[Related: More Industry Insider columns]

Baden Kirgan is the MD of Jeffries Printing Services and Black House Comics

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