Hagop Tchamkertenian, national manager for policy and government affairs at Printing Industries says that having relevant and timely industry data was critical for both business decision making and strategic planning.
He says, “This survey seeks to confirm the specific data needs of industry members and identify any gaps in industry data availability by comparing what is being sought to what is currently available.”
Tchamkertenian adds that at present industry data was provided by both official and non-official sources, “At the official level data is provided by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and covers sales and profit data; gross value added; capital expenditure; employment; industry related expenses; trade data; and the number of establishments. Some of this information is also available on a geographical basis.
“Non-official data is produced by a number of sources including Printing Industries. Our economic surveys cover industry indicators such as production and sales; employment and overtime; capital expenditure; production costs; debtors; capacity utilisation; and production barriers.”
According to the Association, unlike official data, Printing Industries’ data can be segmented on the basis of industry process and product.
Tchamkertenian continues, “There are also some shortcomings with the official data, for example the aggregation of industry conditions. While some official data is released on a regular basis, other official data is released less frequently which compromises its usefulness.
However, the non-official data also had shortcomings including the inability to provide market size estimates of industry sectors.
Tchamkertenian adds, “While this can often be addressed by special industry commissioned studies, these tend to be irregular because of the associated high costs of research.”
The short survey will close on Friday 28 October 2011. It can be accessed on Printing Industries website.
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