Hagop Tchamkertenian, national manager for policy and government affairs, PIAA told Australian Printer, “You cannot plan and implement initiatives if you don’t have the background information or data to help quantify what you try to address. The Association has been working on succession planning and exit strategies for more than a decade. These are critical for the industry.”

The PIAA will use the information from the survey to support and redefine its succession planning and exit strategies.

He says, “The Association wants to make sure that when a member decides to sell or exit the industry, they do so in the most profitable terms possible. Having worked in the business for all or most of their lives, it should be seen as only a minimum prerequisite.”

Tchamkertenian says, “The printing industry has a significant proportion of businesses that are family owned and operated. For these businesses wishing to continue the family ownership of the business they must pass on the businesses to the next generation which means they must consider and address the issue of succession planning.”

He says having succession plans also provides business owners with exit strategies from both their businesses and the industry.

He says, “Business owners who do not have a succession plan could complicate their exit strategy. Some may simply decide to sell the business to a non-family member or simply exit the industry by closing the shop.”

Tchamkertenian says having exit and succession plan strategies is becoming important because many business owners are reaching retirement age.

He says, “The phenomena is not just confined to the printing industry but it is an economy wide phenomena. There is a downside risk associated with people placing their businesses up for sale as they reach the age of retirement. The law of economics that of supply and demand dictates that unless there is a sufficient demand (purchasers of businesses) to meet the supply (sale of businesses) than the price of businesses being offered for sale will decline. Furthermore, if sellers outnumber buyers than the bargaining power also shifts to buyers who can then choose the best performing businesses to purchase. This is why it is crucial that printing businesses that are offered for sale have satisfactory rates of return in order to commend appropriate prices.”

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