business & Leisure: Frankston | Mornington Peninsula | Dandenong
november 2013 | $4.95 (GST inc.)
lesson from a master
KATE McINTYRE of moorooduc estate is one of 312 masters of wine in the world
GIFT GIVING THE BLURRED LINE BETWEEN A ‘THANK YOU’ AND A BRIBe
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East West Link ire: Money may be better spent on public transport.
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Father to son: Malcolm Prior’s new factory supplies his son’s business.
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Networking: Ivan Misner Health: Mike Ellis Markets: Richard Campbell Managing: Hamish Petrie
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MOOROODUC RS YRE OF 312 MASTE KATE McINT IS ONE OF ESTATE IN THE WORLD OF WINE
ING A GIFT GIV BETWEEN ED LINE THE BLURR AND A BRIBE YOU’ ‘THANK
r amber ER PRIOR R ForeVeCS IS ANOTHSS BUILDE PLASTI AMBER FOR BUSINE OPPORTUNITY
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COVER: Kate McIntyre, whose parents Richard and Jill started Moorooduc Estate winery, is one of just 312 Masters of wine worldwide. P11.
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the region
Ire over 18km East West Link Greater Dandenong Council has told the state government that the proposed East West Link across Melbourne is being funded at the expense of public transport in the south-east. With infrastructure issues looming large on the horizon, the council sees the 18-kilometre cross-city connection as being “not in the best interests of the community”. It wants the state to reconsider the $15 billion project. However, the East West Link is seen as vital to the proposed “megaport” being planned at Hastings. Port of Hastings Development Authority CEO David Lean last month told members of Western Port Catchment Committee that a tunnel was vital for containers to travel eastwest across Melbourne. He said Hastings would be handling up to three million containers a year by 2035, rising to nine million by 2070-2080.
The number of containers coming to and from the port would require Western Port Highway to be widened to six lanes with a railway line to Dandenong along the centre median strip. In a letter to the state government Greater Dandenong says money spent on the East West Link will “deprive resources to the south east suburbs for desperately needed public transport infrastructure, including signal upgrades and grade separations; transport projects such as Melbourne Metro and the Dandenong Rail Capacity Program, as well as bus service improvements to outlying areas, create opportunities for employment and spread benefits more broadly amongst the community”. Copies of the letter were sent to the City of Yarra and the Eastern Transport Coalition. At the same 14 October meeting that agreed to oppose the East West Link, planning, design and amenity director Jody Bosman said the government’s proposed Metropolitan Plan-
ning Strategy, Plan Melbourne, was “built on good planning principals and good planning philosophy”. He said the 175-page document “has been long awaited and it will take us through to the year 2050”. “The plan has, among its many other approaches, a central approach ‘making economic needs and productivity central to planning strategy and decisions’,” Mr Bosman said. “Greater Dandenong and the region feature prominently in the plan, particularly in the areas of economy and jobs, with the delivery by the plan of a new integrated economic triangle and we form part of that. “We are one of the corner points of that integrated economic triangle and the identification of Dandenong South as a national employment cluster. “Transport is another area of significance affecting the City of Greater Dandenong, in
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BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
particular with the development of the Port of Hastings and by investing in the south-eastern rail link to provide a dedicated rail line between Dandenong and Dynon. “There is also a proposed airport for the south-east and I think again that will add to the economic dynamics of the area. “The government will establish five subregions, a central subregion and then four regions being north, south, east and west. It is not very imaginative and we fall within the southern subregion of councils made up of Bayside, Cardinia, Casey, Frankston, Glen Eira, Kingston and Mornington Peninsula.” Mr Bosman said the Department of Environment and Primary Industries was assessing the capacity of existing landfill and waste management sites and identifying potential sites. (Plans for a new tip on the side of Arthurs Seat near Dromana were abandoned last month after concerns raised by EPA Victoria and a well-orchestrated anti-tip campaign.) Mr Bosman said the plan foreshadowed a permanent metropolitan urban boundary to replace the existing urban growth boundary.
He said any changes to the boundary “might have some significance for the work that we are undertaking at the moment on the Green Wedge Management Plan, given that about a third of the city falls under Green Wedge or within the Green Wedge area”. Drilling is about to start in the water and on the land to sample the site chosen for an expanded Port of Hastings. Once built, the container port could become the largest in Australia with thousands of ships a year coming in and out of Western Port. Bore samples will be taken from 25 sites on land owned by BlueScope Steel as well as private owners around the Whitneys Rd area in Tyabb Construction of the port north of Long Island Point is expected to start in five years after three years of detailed scientific studies. Planners see Hastings as beginning to take the overflow of containers from the Port of Melbourne by the mid-2020s. Expanding port facilities at either Stony Point or Crib Point has been ruled out through lack of land and the necessity for containers to be
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carried by road through Hastings township. Although the state government is determined to build the new port, the Port of Hastings Development Authority is using the label “feasibility” for its next phase of operations. “Geographically, we have no other options,” Mr Lean said, adding that the state would have a “crippled economy if we don’t have a gateway to the world”. Mr Lean showed graphs to demonstrate how the Port of Melbourne was reaching its capacity and said Port Phillip could not be navigated by ships carrying 18,000 containers. These megavessels were not yet coming Australia “but it won’t be long before they do”. Mr Lean described a computer-driven port, with containers being loaded onto trucks and trains for transport to inland ports, such as the one planned at Lyndhurst. A “very high degree of automation” would reduce the amount of light and noise usually associated with port operations. “You only need white light for the safety of humans and the best ports are 80 per cent automated.”
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November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 5
BUSY BITES
omegamite on coles’ shelves
Safety first Businesses selling goods are legally bound to comply with mandatory Australian safety standards developed by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) with public and industry consultation. Mandatory standards are law and there are penalties and consequences for selling products that do not comply. Businesses must use quality control measures to make sure products: • meet mandatory levels of safety • will not cause harm when used in a reasonable manner, including reasonable misuse. There is no legal requirement to test products, but it’s a good way to confirm the safety of a product, and that it complies with the law. Visit the ACCC website for details.
Omegamite yeast spread made by Chelsea Heights company Natures’s Blend has been showcased over the past month in the New Health Food Range section of Coles supermarkets across Australia. Marketed as a tasty and convenient way for kids and adults to get their omega-3 oil, Omegamite was awarded most innovative product at the SIAL Shanghai 2012 food expo in China. Also on Coles’ shelves are Nature’s Blend Omegahoney and Omegamayo, both with omega-3 and gluten free. Omega Peanut Butter, also gluten free and without added sugar, has been trialed at Coles’ East Burwood supermarket. Brenda Robinson, of the family-owned Nature’s Blend company (BusinessTimes, October 2012) said research indicates that omega-3 helps promote heart health, eye health, brain health and brain development in children.
Carnival licences Wittingslow has been granted extended licences for its Rosebud and Rye foreshore carnivals. Next summer’s carnivals will be extended to Easter 2014 while Mornington Peninsula Shire Council considers alternative locations for the Rosebud carnival. Fees and charges will be $41,454 for the Rosebud carnival and $176,226 for Rye, a slight increase over the previous year.
Brenda and Mark Robinson, of Nature’s Blend, are winning recognition for their innovative Omega-3 health food products.
free online ‘reality check’ Small businesses can assess the health of their enterprise through a free portal launched by business software company MYOB. The Business Reality Check identifies issues then
offers a range of resources to help solve them. Business operators are taken through an easy-to-navigate survey and the results are used to provide tailored advice based around common areas of pressure they are facing. Reality Check covers 10 key areas: keeping on top of debtors, time management, budget, tax, cash flow, technology, job costing, stock, advertising, and HR. By answering simple questions, portal users rank themselves on the 10 key areas, with results showing what needs improvement. They are then given access to a range of guides and tools appropriate to their needs.
SURVEY finds we’re ambitious Seventy-seven per cent of Australian workers with managers have not dished out compliments to get on the good side of their bosses when they don’t mean it. The online study, conducted by Harris Interactive for The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated, surveyed 1041 Aussies ages 18 and older, among whom 583 are employed full-time/part-time and have managers. The 2013 Kronos Boss’s Day Survey also finds Aussie workers are an ambitious bunch. Given the choice between a manager who is a high-achiever but demanding, and a manager who is nice but ineffective, 71 per cent of those employed full-time/ part-time who have a manager would choose the high-achiever. “The results from this survey challenge the stereotypical Aussie reputation of being a ‘relaxed’ nation. Results indicate most Aussies actually prefer managers who will push their limits,” Peter Harte, vice president, Asia-Pacific, Kronos said. Results also caution managers to avoid tiresome jargon in the office. As long-suspected, most employees with mangers - a full 83 per cent - find business jargon annoying.
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The phrases that irritate employees most are: • “I don’t care how, just get it done” came out on top with 34 per cent of the vote • 28 per cent of workers with managers found it annoying when managers asked them to “think outside the box” • An equal proportion (28 per cent) of respondents didn’t like it when their bosses begin a conversation with “At the end of the day...” • 25 per cent dislike it when their managers say “I need you to be more proactive” In other feedback, Aussie workers rank honesty (76 per cent) as among the most important attributes of a good manager. Overall, a majority of employees who believe their managers demonstrate this value alongside others such as ethics, collaboration, creativity, empowerment, innovation, dedication, and trustworthiness (89 per cent) believe their manager does this on a regular basis. “It’s fantastic to see the majority of employees view their manager as honest, collaborative, and dedicated – all very positive workplace behaviors. But it comes as no great surprise that the common phrases we use at work really don’t establish rapport between coworkers. In fact, they create tension. Employees want to work with people who can achieve great results, even if their management skills are a little rough around the edges,” concludes Harte.
depreciation rates ‘on the go’ BMT Tax Depreciation has released a handy new app to help accountants calculate the effective life and depreciation rate for plant and equipment assets. Bradley Beer, managing director of BMT Tax Depreciation, said Rate Finder allows accountants to search by industry or asset to find out the effective life of any asset as well as the depreciation rate for the asset using both the prime cost and diminishing value methods of depreciation. Available for free, the Rate Finder app can be downloaded for either iPhone or Android phone by
SUMMER CELEBRATIONS
visiting www.bmtqs.com.au/rate-finder-app-support. Alternatively, Rate Finder is available online for use on the BMT Tax Depreciation website by visiting www.bmtqs.com.au/depreciation-rate-finder. A residential version of the App called BMTresirates, designed specifically for use by property managers, has also been released for iPhone and Android phone and can be downloaded by searching for BMTresirates on the App store.
what i want to know is... Small and medium enterprises (SME) operators now have free access to answers to thousands of business and management-related questions. Everything SME employers need to know but don’t know where to ask can be accessed online at 10,000answers.com The free online website advice and resource centre for employers is backed by Employment Hero’s team of lawyers, HR specialists, payroll and safety experts. Organised under relevant employment categories, 10,000 Answers.com can be a first stop for Australian legal and HR information. Employers may also submit questions at no cost. Responses, from an employment lawyer, HR specialist, payroll or safety expert, will be emailed within a few days and posted on the site to add to the ever-growing reference centre. More than 300 questions have already been answered. Employers may ask questions anonymously. Information on the site can’t be taken as legal advice and is not intended to act as – or replace – legal advice taking into account an individual’s specific circumstances. For each new question submitted, Employment Hero will donate $1 to True Blue Dreaming, supporting young people in rural and remote communities Employment Hero is a subsidiary of Employment Innovations, servicing small businesses in Australia for more than 20 years.
Avoid spamming E-marketing messages sent to Australians must comply with the Spam Act 2003. The Act applies to messages that are commercial in nature (such as messages that advertise goods or services) and sent by email, short message service (SMS or text messages), multimedia message service (MMS) or instant messaging. The Act states: • recipients must have consented to receive the message • the message must clearly identify your business as the sender • the message must include a way for the recipient to unsubscribe from further messages. The Australian Communications and Media Authority can give formal warnings to businesses that do not comply. Visit ACMA’s website for details.
Shoes that fit A Melbourne racehorse is sporting a set of titanium shoes custom made with the help of a 3D printer. CSIRO scientists scanned the hooves with a handheld 3D scanner and printed the shoes within a few hours. CSIRO’s titanium expert John Barnes said 3D titanium printing was being used to help companies create new applications “like biomedical implants and even things like automotive and aerospace parts”.
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November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | BusinessTimes | 7
NETWORKING gallery
1. Michelle Peters, of the Department of Justice, Greg Hilton, of Bendigo Bank Mt Martha, and Nicole Van Krieken, building designer, at the Business Network breakfast on 1 October at Barmah Park, Moorooduc. 2. Racing writer and publicist Roy Aspinall (left) with Greater Dandenong councillor Matthew Kirwan, of Red Gum Ward at Dandenong Retail Traders Association monthly meeting at Ramada Encore Hotel, Dandenong, on Tuesday, 1 October.
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3. Glenys Cooper, chairperson of Dandenong Retail Traders Association, with guest speaker Sgt Mark Redley, of Victoria Police, and Leanne McCready, of the City of Greater Dandenong, at the Dandenong retailers’ meeting.
5. Sharafath Yoosuf (left) and Shafeek Yoosuf, of BarterCard Mornington, with entrepreneur Brad Tonini (centre) at the 2013 Sales and Marketing Super Conference. Hosted by Brad and Paul McCarthy, the conference was held over two days (9 and 10 October) at The Hilton on the Park, Melbourne. 6. Geoff Coombs, Carly Gray and Gordon Tansey, of the Bank of Melbourne, at Greater Frankston Business Chamber’s golf day on Friday, 18 October, at Peninsula Country Club. 7. Marg Harrison, sales director of BusinessTimes, Julie Kent, Karin Hann, executive director of Greater Frankston Chamber and Jim Schaefer, The Schaefer Group, played as a group at the golf day. 8. Terri Carroll, Peninsula Access Support and Training, winner of the Allan Richards Award in the community partnership category presented at Greater Frankston Business Chamber networking meeting in Frankston on Wednesday, 16 October.
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Photo: Daryl Gordon, 0412131492.
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4. TV and film celeb Paul Mercurio and Linda Morris, of Mt Eliza Rotary, at Rotary’s Fun Day at Morning Star Estate on 6 October.
9. Rachael Man, of Maxworks, Beverly Unitt, Beyond Success Coaching, and Wade Farnsworth, Nepean Industry Edge Training, at Greater Frankston Business Chamber’s networking meeting. Photo: Daryl Gordon, 0412131492. 10. Sandra Sever, AMF Bowling and Mary Bruce, Mary Bruce Beauty Boutique, at the chamber networking night. Photo: Daryl Gordon, 0412131492.
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11. Wayne Taylor (left), of Compliance Services Australia, Norm Whiteside, Total Essential Service Group, David Extance, Sign A Rama, and Gareth Wyatt, Telstra Business Centre Frankston, the chamber networking night. Photo: Daryl Gordon. 12. Rahman Ymer, of creative art room, and Marion Beaman, Frankston Ladies Choir, networking at Greater Frankston Business Chamber. Photo: Daryl Gordon, 0412131492.
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13. Ken Warburton, of Interim Executive Management, at the 2013 Sales and Marketing Super Conference at Me;bourne’s Hilton on the Park on 9 and 10 October.
14. Helena Bates, of Strategic Events, with super conference host Paul McCarthy and Suzi Bamford, of Pack Media, packaged marketing solutions. 15. Super conference MC Warwick Merry with Dianielle Storey, both partners in the Exhibiting and Sponsorship Institute.
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16. Michael Drew, Colin Lowe, Ron Kasputtis and Chris Kasputtis, all of Le Manns Go Karts, Dandeong, at Greater Frankston Business Chamber golf day on 18 October.
For more photos check our
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Latest Networking Galleries www.businesstimes.net.au
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NETWORKING
Collaborate with your competitors? You bet During my years as a management consultant, I would regularly participate in management organisation “hubs” made up of other consultants, many of whom could be considered my direct competitors. However, each of us also had specialised skills in addition to general management skills. Someone would have much stronger skills in reading a financial statement; another would be a technology guru; someone else would be a true master of closing large sales. Depending on the needs of the client, I could call in any one or more of these competitors for particular projects with my clients – and they could also pull me in at times to help with theirs. We had a clear delineation and understanding of whose client it ultimately was, but we all became better providers of knowledge for our clients by occasionally using this “collective” – or collaborative – approach. I further developed this concept in my book The World’s Best Known Marketing Secret. For my management consulting approach with my clients, I was the “hub” who brought in other professionals with specific talents as needed. This approach made me a better consultant than I could be on my own. I was doing a seminar many years ago on networking and was talking about the value of collaborating with your competition from time to time, and how it is actually possible to increase your business by collaborating and cooperating with people who might be your competitors. A man in his early 20s sitting in the
Dr lvan Misner*
Networking specialist
audience raised his hand and argued passionately about how he didn’t think it was a good idea to consort with the competition. We were having a pretty lively debate when an older member of the audience stood up to weigh in. The story he told made a believer out of everyone else in the room: “I’ve been in the investment business my entire professional career. A few years ago, I was courting a company for a gigantic investment package that included retirement, investments, insurance, and more. It was huge – one of the biggest projects I had ever worked on. I spent weeks getting to know the client’s intricate needs and putting together a comprehensive package. I was so close to closing the deal that I thought it was a done deal, but literally days before I thought it would close I got called in by the client. He told me that they were going with someone else. I was gobsmacked, completely shocked. After I caught my breath, I asked him if I could know who he had chosen. It turns out he was giving it to a competitor in his mid-20s. This kid had no experience and yet, here they were giving him this monster project. I felt like I had spent enough time with the client to ask him why he would
choose this person over me and my package. He looked at me and said: “You want the honest-to-goodness truth? It’s my brother-inlaw, and my wife will go crazy if I don’t give him the business. I do trust him, but I know he hasn’t got the experience you have.” In my entire professional life, I had never done what I did next. In my area of business it’s usually dog eat dog, but I called the kid and congratulated him. I told him I knew a lot about the company and if he ever needed anything I was happy to help. The kid’s voice literally jumped out of the phone. “I’m from a wealthy family,” he said, “but I really have no idea how to manage a project this big. I’m connected and I have four more deals just like this one, and I don’t know how I’m going to get it all put together. Could we partner up? I know I can get even more deals like these, but to manage it well, I could really use your help.” We did just that: partnered up. And that kid is a rainmaker – we have worked on so many deals, all of them the same size or bigger than that original one I thought I had lost. I made more money than I had ever made before by calling up my competitor and offering good will and advice if he ever needed it. As you might suspect, the young man in the audience had a change of heart after hearing this story. Does something like this happen every time you try to work with a competitor? Of course not. But it will never happen if you don’t reach out. *Dr Ivan Misner is a New York Times bestselling author. He is founder and chairman of Business Networking International (BNI), the world’s largest networking organisation. Dr Misner is also senior partner for the Referral Institute, an international referral training company.
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10 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
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COVER STORY
wine
a master of BY KEITH PLATT
s
The view over Kate McIntyre’s laptop takes in Mt Eliza and Mornington East. In the foreground is row on row of grapevines, their new leaves bright with spring energy. Closer inspection reveals clusters of tiny green balls, the vine’s flowers, or inflorescences. It’s spring and the vines are progressing from the bud break that signalled an end to the dormancy of winter.
November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 11
COVER STORY: master of wine
‘For me, making wine to try to win a medal is a waste of energy. I believe you should make a wine that is delicious to drink and reflects where it is grown.’ – KATE McINTYRE, MASTER OF WINE
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McIntyre’s “office” is a large room, a couple of tables and a grand piano. It is the main dining room at Moorooduc Estate, where her father Richard McIntyre first planted vines in the early 1980s. The room, once the dining room of Jill’s Restaurant, is now used 10 times a year for “dining experiences”, where courses – using local produce where possible – are matched with wines. About 35 diners attend each lunch and they are entertained by musicians playing classical music. “Mum always said she would run the restaurant for 10 years,” Kate McIntyre says. “She did that and now those who loved Jill’s food can come on Sundays.” The luxury accommodation provided as part of an extended visit to Moorooduc Estate now serves as “very comfortable” lodgings for family members. The changes of what is on offer at the estate have led to an increase in wine sales from the cellar door. “We were concerned that people would stop coming when the restaurant closed, but different people have started coming to the cellar door for wine. It’s been an interesting but good transition,” McIntyre says. Moorooduc estate produces 4000-5000 dozen bottles of wine a year, a far cry from the 1000 dozen bottles from its original five acre vineyard. This year’s output will be twice as much pinot noir as chardonnay as well as 400 dozen bottles of pinot gris and 150 200 dozen shiraz. The oldest vines have been producing fruit for 30 years and McIntyre remembers spending much of her early years working at the estate alongside her parents. In those early years the family would travel from home at Middle Park – “we lived there before it was cool and exclusive” – before settling at Moorooduc in 1999.
ABOVE: Kate McIntyre with her parents Jill and Richard McIntyre, of Moorooduc Estate.
12 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
“Probably as a result, I was not involved in the business until 2008,” she says. McIntyre initially aimed to be a playwright, after studying languages and theatre. She started a journey that would eventually lead her back to the family business by taking a job as fine wine manager at Phillip Murphy’s in Toorak. “I knew a bit about wines and with support from co-workers and my bosses, who put me through a few wine courses, I developed a passion for the industry and revised my plans very quickly.” After five years Murphy’s was sold to Vintage Cellars and McIntyre moved into wholesaling Italian and Spanish wines. But she didn’t enjoy selling to “those who really don’t want to buy”. “That’s the difference between wholesale and retail. The lovely part of the job [retailing] is dealing with people who come into the shop and want to buy wine.” After three years wholesaling McIntyre came back to the family estate part time and then, in 2010, committed herself full time to Moorooduc Estate as marketing manager. It was also the year that cemented her reputation in the wine industry: McIntyre’s passion saw her attain the title Master of Wine. While the title is “not well known” outside of the wine industry, it has made McIntyre one of just 312 Masters of Wine in the world. “It’s a rare and special title to have,” she says. After finishing her arts degree (honours in French) at Monash University, McIntyre had looked for courses in Australia on marketing wine or winemaking. “I wanted to find out about its place in the world. What makes it so interesting, why do wines taste different, what makes it special?
“A friend was studying to be a Master of Wine so I went along to an information session at the George Hotel in 1999 and thought ‘these people get so much out of a glass of wine’. So I signed up for a six-day summer school in Sydney, which included a practical exam.” In those days the course had no time limit and McIntyre offers that there were “a few tourists aboard who enjoyed tasting pretty incredible wines”. The United Kingdom-based Institute of Masters of Wine was established in 1955 and promotes “excellence, interaction and learning across all sectors of the global wine community”. A Master of Wine is described as being “someone who has demonstrated, by way of rigorous examination, a thorough knowledge of all aspects of wine and an ability to communicate that knowledge clearly. They actively encourage others in the pursuit of knowledge as well as seeking to bring wine communities together”. Being a Master of Wine gives McIntyre a status recognised throughout the world, with invitations to join judging panels and, this year, chances to join celebrations for the diamond anniversary of the first Masters of Wine graduates. In 1953 there were six graduates, now there are 312 Masters of Wine spread across 24 countries. McIntyre agrees an appreciation of wine is subjective, but says studies and experience allow for the formation of a “common language”. “There are characteristics of wine – it’s about breaking down its accepted elements which then becomes a common language.” McIntyre speaks about fruity characters, minerality and knowledge of what can be expected of a wine from a certain area.
“I did judging before I became a master, but it has since made me more analytical,” she says. McIntyre says Moorooduc Estate does not often enter wine shows. She sees flaws in the judging process – “judges taste too many wines in a day; the judging system misses a lot of good, subtle wines” – but concedes things have improved over the past 10 years. “For me, making wine to try to win a medal is a waste of energy. I believe you should make a wine that is delicious to drink and reflects where it is grown. “Medals lead to more sales, that’s the commercial reality of today, but I think it’s a flaw. It’s all about medals and wanting to sell wine.” Another flaw is that wine reviewers can also be judges: “Shows are a great way of getting your wine noticed; there are a lot of people involved in buying wine and the media. “We don’t show our wines, although we did put our toe in the water a few times. We didn’t do brilliantly, but we don’t need medals to tell me that we make good wine. We don’t make wine to follow trends. “Ours is a subtle wine, shy on first tasting but moreish. The first glass gets better and better in the glass. I like to leave them wanting more. “Judges sniff through 60 wines and our wines don’t play that way. I like people to go on a journey through the bottle.” Despite these reservations, McIntyre believes “most winning wines deserve their trophies”. However, she praises the different judging style of Argentina where tastings are limited to the morning. “It was a very expensive way to run a wine show, but a good way. They stopped before the judges’ palates got fatigued.” These days, Moorooduc Estate wines are usually entered in overseas shows “if our distributors think it’s a good idea”. But even then McIntyre has her doubts, citing an example where a Moorooduc pinot won a trophy one year but the following year “only got silver when I thought it was a better wine; results are very random”. She believes sending wine to reviewers “we know are interested” results in more sales than entering wine shows. As marketing manager McIntyre is also spreading the word about Moorooduc Estate across the spectrum of social media. A website carries information about the winery’s history and products; Facebook carries week-to-week news and events including links to You Tube; and twitter is “little bursts of information and maybe a picture that will also be on Facebook”. “I’m working out how to use all these different vehicles.” One of the strongest “vehicles” remains keeping contact with Moorooduc Estate’s overseas and Australian distributors. Just back from a trip that included the United Kingdom and the United States, McIntyre clearly relished a major part of the marketing: spending days with sales staff and selling wine to their customers.
Master tips for identifying good wine
1
Buy it from someone you trust - cellar door or a retailer you have had a conversation with. Quality wine retailers love good wine and love to recommend to others. Get yourself talking to an enthusiastic wine retailer.
2
Look at the colour - wine should be any shade of yellow or red, but never brown (unless you are drinking an old muscat, or other fortified). It also should not have bits floating in it.
3
Smell it before tasting it. Sometimes wine that tastes good smells weird, but often, if you like the smell, you will like the taste.
4
When you taste the wine, assuming it tastes good, the longer the flavour remains in your mouth after swallowing it the better quality the wine is. This is what wine people mean when they talk about length. Length is good.
5
A good wine is a wine you want to share with another person. It is a wine you will taste and your eyes will meet and you will share a moment. It will make your food taste more delicious and your food will make the wine taste even better too. And when you go to pour another glass only to find the bottle is empty ... that’s a great wine.
November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 13
manufacturing
A Prior concern for starting businesses
M
alcolm Prior, his wife Bonita and their baby daughter Sharon arrived in Australia with $16, the upper limit that they were allowed to take out of India in 1969. They arrived on a Thursday, Malcolm went for a job interview on the Friday and started work as a sales rep for a plastics factory the following Monday. The Priors have hardly looked back since. Son David, born in Australia, runs the five:am yoghurt company, a brand taken up by market heavyweights Coles and Woolworths (‘Organic flow from yoga to yoghurt’, BusinessTimes June 2012). In the 10 years before making yoghurt David and his father ran their Baroda Manufacturing packaging factory at Braeside (mother Bonita and sister Sharon also worked there) before selling to Visy Industries. Malcolm stayed on at Baroda for four and a half years while David took a year off: surfing, meditating
ABOVE: Malcolm Prior started Amber Plastics from scratch ... and his biggest client is his son David’s company five:am yoghurt.
WORDS & PICTURES BY KEITH PLATT
14 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
and setting up a business plan for five:am. Father Malcolm then set about building a factory and buying machinery for Amber Plastics, whose biggest client is son David’s five:am yoghurt company. The two businesses are within a stone’s throw of each other at Carrum Downs. In keeping with the “hallmark” of his business career – “always trying to be ahead of the pack” – Malcolm had machinery purpose-built in Taiwan to make thin-walled, lightweight plastic packaging. “This type of manufacturing is not new, but it does improve all the time,” Malcolm Prior says. Amber Plastics is Prior’s third foray into manufacturing, following Priority Plastics, which he ran for 20 years from 1976 until it was sold to Amcor and the family business, Baroda. In the early days with Priority Plastics, Prior realised the value of being flexible and servicing customers. “There was competition, but no one could compete.
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past 35 years have been “massive”, including the When Malcolm Prior started Amber Plastics “enormous growth” in the use of plastic packaging. his son, David, was The He estimates that technological improvements over Gift Sp a $1 million a year the past 30 years means today’s output by the 35 customer. Now five:am employees at Amber 100 Plastics% would have once required Quality Australian Food & W yoghurt is closerSupplying to more than 100 workers. a $3 million a year customer. The Priors regularly visit relatives in India and each
Order your Christmas Gifts & Hamp time provides a reminder of the past. ForFamily Malcolm Prior, Staff, Customers, & Frien a memory of his schooldays in Mumbai (then Bombay) provided the name for Amber Plastics: the 1944 romantic novel Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor.
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The others were large companies and we were small enough to service customers and were willing to be innovative.” An early innovation saw Prior buy injection-moulding machines that could add labels to containers as part of the process. Prior went to Israel to see the in-mould labelling machines and then Switzerland to have them made. The sale contract of Priority to Amcor allowed him to immediately move back into plastics manufacture, which led to Baroda, and a decade long partnership with son David. “David is my biggest customer because there wasn’t anyone else who can supply what he needed. We are mutually dependent,” Prior says. “I set up Amber Plastics with him in mind. We came online at a very similar time, but he’s now totally leapfrogged me in turnover. “He’s 40 per cent of my business. When we first started he was a $1 million a year customer, now he’s a $3 million customer and introducing new products all the time.” Prior says changes to the plastics industry over the
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November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 15 HW BUSINESS MAG.indd 1
content marketing
Social media,websites most used in online marketing
We’re here ...
BY TONY MURRELL
to help you achieve your business goals.
Businesses favour social media and website articles as their main online marketing strategies. An email survey about content marketing by BusinessTimes reveals that 80 per cent of respondents use social media while 75 per cent write and publish articles on their website. The most popular social media sites are LinkedIn (87 per cent) and Facebook (80 per cent). Fifty two per cent use Twitter. Twenty five surveys were completed, more than three quarters by business owners. Content marketing is the technique of creating and distributing relevant information to attract and engage a target audience with the objective of driving sales. Content marketers argue that consumers are already bypassing traditional marketing , relying increasingly on internet searches for product and service information. Sixty per cent of respondents to BusinessTimes’ survey indicate they will increase their online marketing budget by 10 per cent or more over the next year. Of those 30 per cent will up the budget by more than 50 per cent. While 54 per cent of respondents rely on in-house efforts to generate content, 56 per cent say the biggest barrier they face in delivering effective content marketing is producing enough content. Other barriers include producing engaging content (30 per cent), producing a variety of content (30 per cent) and lack of budget (30 per cent). Seventeen per cent say the inability to measure the effectiveness of content marketing and finding trained content marketing professionals are problems. Forty six per cent of respondents use a mix of in-house and outsourced content Effective content marketing engages customers and prospects without making a sales pitch. Instead of promoting products or services, business use their websites and social media to deliver information that attracts and entertains their potential buyers while broadening their knowledge. At the heart of the content strategy is the belief that businesses delivering consistent, ongoing valuable information to buyers, will ultimately be rewarded with their business and loyalty. In efforts to engage buyers, content marketers are using blogs, webcasts and podcasts, magazines, websites, microsites, and online communities, social media, events, newsletters, videos, mobile apps, infographics and interviews. • Australian marketers are beginning to invest significantly in content marketing, according to research report Content Marketing in Australia: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends, produced by The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) and The Association for data-driven marketing & advertising (ADMA). The report found that just over 60 per cent of marketers will increase their content marketing budget over the next 12 months. The marketers themselves see their biggest hurdles as producing engaging content and the lack of buy-in/vision by owners and managers of businesses.
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news & contributions
CITY AT THE SHARP END OF PRINTING It seems the dream of a paperless office is still a way off for Greater Dandenong Council, which has just signed a five-year $414,170 deal with Sharp for in-house printing. Other bidders for the contract included Canon, Fuji Xerox, Konica, Minolta, Ricoh and Toshiba. Sharp had the lowest price for the contract which had a budget of $900,000. The previous contract with Fuji Xerox ended 31 August. The leasing contract with Sharp Australia includes 28 multifunction devices (which support wireless printing from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones) and 10 printers. Councillors were told at their 14 October meeting that there will be 15 multifunction devices and no printers in Dandenong’s new municipal building. “Council wishes to utilise ‘follow-me printing’ technology to improve document security and allow users to pick up their documents from any MFD or printer on the network,” a report stated. “This will
also lead to savings due to a reduction of the number of unwanted printouts as the print queues will be cleared regularly of unwanted print jobs.”
FURNITURE FIT-OUT FOR CIVIC CENTRE Workshops, design consultants and an independent ergonomist have all been involved in designing new workstations for Dandenong’s new $50 million civic centre. Haworth Australia has won the $828,591 contract for the workstations, associated mobile units and shelving. The budget allocation was $1m. Dandenong Council’s call for expressions of interest in July drew responses from 13 companies ranging from $828,000 to $1.083 million.
the most, 7.8 complaints for every 1000 people compared to a national average of 6.8. The most common complaints involved mobile coverage, disputed bills or poor information about contract terms. “A clear commitment from telcos to do better by their customers, an improved industry code and a focus on compliance are paying dividends,” Ombudsman Simon Cohen said. Carrum Downs with 233 complaints was in the Top 10 Victorian postcodes with the highest number of complaints. There were 12.2 complaints a 1000 people in Carrum Downs, with most being about mobile coverage, contract terms and mobile dropouts.
TELCO complaints falling Over the past year Victorians complained 41,542 times about phone and internet services to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. While complaints were down nationally Victorians protested
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November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 17
HEALTH
Catalyst for change of heart Anyone who watched the ABC’s science program Catalyst (Heart of the Matter) in late October and did not immediately bin their cholesterol lowering medication may not have been paying attention. OK, I’ll be responsible. Consult your GP first. There is a counter argument and the debate is cranking. But if you missed the program, watch it on iView before you go. I thought Catalyst laid bare some great medical myths – examples of the false assumptions upon which our medical system is based. These myths and assumptions are so entrenched in popular culture as to be like oil in flour – impossible to separate. In fact Catalyst concludes that it may not be until this generation dies out that the health paradigm can change to reflect the truth. The program should have carried a health warning: this will raise your blood pressure. Some people (including this column) have been arguing the case for a while. But Catalyst put it compellingly. It exposed the entire fat-cholesterol-heart disease connection for what it is: a 30-year fraud perpetuated by an ambitious medical scientist, Ancel Keys – a powerfully influential figure in the USA until his death in 2004 – who in cherry-picking data to fit his argument that the rising rate of heart disease was due to dietary fat and high blood cholesterol put his own confirmation bias, ego and political considerations ahead of science. That’s being kind. Now I’ll be unkind. I cannot think of a single person indirectly responsible for more human suffering, illness, premature death (and cost to economies) in human history. Such has been the impact of his advice that the present generation of children has a lower IRD LYB EAR CIALS SPE
Michael Ellis*
Chinese Herbalist
life expectancy than their parents for the first time ever. It is utterly disgraceful and, in my view, the biggest scandal of our age. As for the worthy clowns at the Heart Foundation and elsewhere clinging to the “insufficient evidence” line, obviously it’s going to take a mountain of overwhelming data before anyone involved in dispensing flawed dietary advice for 30 years will admit to their fault. But perhaps they could start by conceding the dubious evidence for the 30 years of advice they have been dispensing. (I mean, on present trends, a quarter of our kids will end up with type 2 diabetes.) I’m not questioning people’s intentions, but fair dinkum, this is the same medical system that dares to lecture others on their lack of evidence-based foundation. In 1982 in the USA, the American Medical Association and the US Food Administration implored the US population to reduce their fat consumption from 40 per cent to 30 per cent of food intake, in order to reduce heart disease. In the ensuing years, Americans did so. But what happened to heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome and the rest? They went up. It’s not the fat! All the “diet lite” this and “99% fat free” is utter bulldust. Studies show that reduced-fat diets make you fatter than full-fat diets. Why? Because you eat more
THE LONG LAZY LUNCH WITH
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carbs. Clearly, to the extent that diet causes heart disease, sugar is the culprit. And as for cholesterol, it is an essential substance for cell repair, manufactured by our livers. As one of the cardiovascular specialists interviewed by Catalyst put it, in heart disease it is often found “at the scene of the crime”. We falsely assumed it was the murderer. Looks like it was the good guy all along. Let me tell you something about biomedical research into disease. We don’t understand nearly as much about human health as we think we do. I subscribe to news feeds that report the latest research. A lot is interesting. A lot is a waste of time and money, mostly because it is asking the wrong questions in the wrong places. Chinese medicine understands more about cardiovascular health than Western medicine has learned in a century of trying to find biochemical explanations for it, of peering into test tubes, allowing pharmaceutical companies to run drug trials and lobby governments, and of standing by while the food advertising industry propagates erroneous health messages to sell products. In fact, instead of lecturing us about our lack of science, Western researchers into areas like heart disease could do worse than to see first what Chinese medicine has learned on the subject in its 20 centuries of empirical observation and to proceed from there. (Yes, we think it is about “inflammation”, and it’s not overly about diet – apart from the insidious effect on the metabolism of a diet overloaded with fructose – and it is a great deal about emotional health. That’s a story for next issue.) Now, where’s my blood pressure medication? *Michael Ellis is a registered Chinese herbalist in Mt Eliza. Visit www.mtelizaherbal.com
ANOTHER PROUDLY FRANKSTON EVENT
MARKETS
Woodside and the world of gas You need to be nudging 70 to recall that Woodside was once a micro-cap shunned by conservative investors. Richard Campbell* Stock Analyst
only for a breadth of geological skills, but a shrewd grasp of geo-politics. Finding gas is less of an issue than finding accessible, undisputed gas. The WA government is livid, for example, that Woodside and partners have chosen a floating plant rather than a landbased LNG facility north of Broome. As the government has a 15 per cent interest in the Browse gas it could delay the entire project. Then there’s Sunrise, one third the size of Browse, but discovered almost 40 years ago. The arguments have dragged on for the past decade about how it should be developed. Timor-Leste demand an onshore plant: Woodside says a floating plant will be several billion dollars cheaper. Leviathan, a field the size of Browse off the coast of Israel, shows signs of similar issues. The development partners invited Woodside in for its LNG expertise, but now as stress spreads across the Middle East, they appear to be backing away and may simply pipe the gas directly to energy-poor Turkey. Woodside still has development opportunities in Myanmar and even off the coast of Ireland if Sunrise and Leviathan never eventuate, but it is all symptomatic of the uncertainties of the energy game. While global demand is expected to rise by 50 per cent in the next 20 years, the balance of energy “haves” and “have nots” is changing. The US was a gas importer for two decades, but development
* Richard Campbell is Executive Director of Peninsula Capital Management, Tel. 9642 0545. rcampbell@peninsulacapitalmanagement.com.au
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Expecting to find the source of oil seeps near Lakes Entrance, the promoters drilled in 60 m depths off Ninety Mile Beach. This was a record depth for the time, but it was not to be. After a decade of exploration in the Bass Strait they quit, realising that Esso-BHP held the better permits. It was a steep learning curve. Esso-BHP soon discovered the giant Barracouta field, but Woodside persisted and shareholders finally got a consolation prize: first Scott Reef far out towards Indonesia, but then North Rankin, Angel and Goodwyn. It had opened the door to one of the world’s great gas provinces – the North West Shelf. Today, at a $30 billion cap Woodside may not be in the league of energy giants Shell, Exxon and Chevron, but it has built a world reputation for discovery, complex “completions” and LNG technology. The consortium it leads has supplied 3200 LNG tanker loads with scarcely a hitch and manages six LNG trains. Its low debt and thundering cash flows have allowed a doubling of dividends in the past four years and more when specials are included. As a mature energy company cash is high and gearing is just 13 per cent. Earnings are expected to lift next year as Pluto grows along with gas and condensate from the redeveloped North Rankin. Woodside is much admired by fund managers and investors, but not unreservedly since it shares the problem of all resource companies: production is depleting. Every ton of gas or oil shipped must at some point be replaced if it is to survive. This calls not
of deep fracture technology has led to a glut. This threatens Russia. Putin, an expert on gas markets, is well aware that US LNG could arrive in Europe by the end of the decade and so Russia is on a PR drive, claiming it has vast reserves and will be a a reliable supplier. Europe could be as large a market as the UK section of the North Sea gas fields are now in sharp decline. Big outlays were expected to hold production after steady falls over the past 25 years, but now the end is in sight after 40 years of production. This explains Woodside’s interest in the Mediterranean and Ireland. Europe, with only minor gas, becomes attractive, but a friendly Russia is also a threat to Woodside’s close relationships with the energy poor of our region – Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. Siberia’s big gas fields are just across the Sea of Japan. This is not to say that the “Asian premium” which Woodside and its partners enjoy will be punctured quickly, but there is more gas arriving. The recent East Africa discoveries are reminiscent of Woodside’s own discoveries. There are also projects close to home like Chevron’s massive Gorgon LNG project on Barrow Island. The other threats are European shale, nuclear and renewables. Britain’s Geological Survey was sceptical about UK shale resources but now says these beds may contain (not produce) 70 Leviathans as they are virtually the same as the shales of the US north east. Recently the UK has agreed on the pricing of power from a new nuclear plant in Somerset. This is the first new nuclear plant in the UK for 20 years.
November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 19
‘Virtual CFO’ is a term getting more exposure but it can leave business owners confused – will their accountant suffice as their advisor on all matters financial, or is a Virtual CFO vital to the next phase of growth? Historically a Chief Financial Officer managed the financial risks of the business, but today a CFO can add value far beyond simply analysing risk. An experienced CFO puts more sophisticated systems in place, locks in a strategic plan and focuses not just on ensuring that ther business is compliant, but looks to increase profits in a sustainable way. There is a misconception that a CFO is for the ‘big guys’. The CFO should be, and needs to be, available to all levels of business – particularly the SME space where the decision to get this strategic guidance can make or break the business. A virtual CFO can deliver: • Business health checks • Financial budget and KPIs • Management reporting systems including financials, forecasts and KPI’s • Strategic advice and recommendations covering business performance, operational advice, sales and marketing, systems and technology, and HR • Mentoring and training for your business accountant
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Virtual CFO can bring peace
20 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
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CONTRIBUTIONS
The challenge for any small or medium business wanting to grow is having the right financial management disciplines in place as well as a strategic plan. This is when a virtual CFO or chief financial officer can be advantageous. A virtual CFO can deliver peace of mind. High Street Partners offer a Virtual CFO service. For details and case studies go to www.prioritycfo.com.au
TIME TO CONSIDER A NEW PRINTER Eventually all office printers need to be replaced. Here are some common reasons for deciding to upgrade: Difficulty finding toner: Your favorite toner company doesn’t carry supplies for that model anymore. Employees are frustrated: Employees stand nervously by to load each sheet in the tray manually to prevent a paper jam, or dig into the machine’s innards to fish out bits of paper. It’s probably time to realise the printer is on its last legs. Change in printing needs: In the beginning you were only printing the occasional invoice. Now you’re printing company brochures, employee newsletters, and other graphics-heavy documents. It’s time to make a decision to move forward with a printer that is made to handle colour printing on card stock and better paper. Company growth: It’s not just you and your laptop anymore, you have other employees. You need a printer you can network to multiple computers. Printer network issues: Your office is growing to the point that your printer can’t handle being networked to the increased number of computers. People are losing their jobs and having to reprint because it went missing. Aging equipment: If you’ve had your printer for longer than two or three years, there is a model out there that works better, networks more smoothly, prints faster, uses less toner or ink and has less expensive cartridges. Newer printers are more environmentally friendly . Increased printing costs: Ink and toner spending has gone up because you are printing more. Your current printer was cheap, not necessarily cost-efficient.
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TRANSFER PRICING FINALIST Mornington-based Transfer Pricing Solutions is a finalist in the 2013 Thomson Reuters Tax Accounting Excellence Award for the ‘Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year’. “The recognition comes as fantastic news and reaffirms Transfer Pricing Solutions as a unique firm specialising in transfer pricing services with a commitment to offering top quality consulting services in the transfer pricing field,” said director Shannon Smit The Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting Excellence Awards recognise excellence across firms and individuals in tax and accounting throughout Australia. The awards ceremony was due to be held on 31 October as part of the Annual Synergy Conference organised by Thomson and Reuters. For transfer pricing advice contact Shannon Smit, director of Transfer Pricing Solutions www. transferpricingsolutions.com.au, 03 5911 7001. Check LinkedIn.
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November 2013 | Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong BusinessTimes | 21
MANAGING
There’re no free lunches Well, it’s that time of the year when we think about the festive season and sharing some of our joy with others. While giving and receiving of gifts and favours is very appropriate in our personal world, there are some real dangers to be navigated when translating this to the business world. For the small business owner or manager, there are many potential individuals or groups that you could consider to give a gift, either as a reward for past behavior or as an incentive for future behavior. The main targets are usually customers or suppliers and it is usually your sales team that will take the lead in designing your gift program. From a macro viewpoint, the giving of gifts may be seen as generosity by the giver, but considerable judgment is needed to ensure that the gift is not seen as being so significant as to be considered a bribe. Bribery is often defined as the giving of gifts or favours that change the behavior of the recipient. Well, that sounds a lot like the intention of the small gifts that businesses give at this time of year. The difference is in the scale of the gift or favour and can be very subtle when judged by the eye of the beholder. When making a choice about what sort of gift or activity that you do this year, it is always wise to test it with an interested third party before committing to a course of action. Particularly in this age of electronic communication, you should always assume that all aspects of your gifts could be made public. This may mean that you could have to defend your actions publically to interested parties. If this could be difficult for you, then take some time out to redesign your plan and avoid this potential embarrassment. While giving is an issue that needs careful judgment, the receiving of gifts has even more risks. In its simplest form, the acceptance of a gift can be seen as a willingness to think kindly about the giver. If the receipt of a gift could be interpreted as an incentive for you to change your future behavior, then it is risky. Again, the real test is how a third party could interpret it. It is very easy for gifts to be seen as excessive and there are frequent examples of this in the public eye. Whenever bribery stories are made public, it is usual for them
Hamish Petrie*
Business Consultant
When making a choice about what sort of gift or activity that you do this year, it is always wise to test it with an interested third party before committing to a course of action. to be over-emphasised to the extent that both parties are seen as potentially corrupt. To avoid this public embarrassment, most large companies have strict guidelines on the acceptance of gifts but, strangely, they often lack guidelines on the giving of gifts. The general rule defines an upper dollar value on a gift that can be received and some companies take it to the extent that people in higher risk position have to sign a statutory declaration every year declaring that they have not received gifts outside the company guidelines. This is fairly extreme, but it is a growing practice that may ultimately extend across all companies to help to ensure that there is full compliance with company guidelines. Small businesses often prefer to use a function as a way of saying “thank you” to their key supporters. These are often a great way of bypassing the complexities of gifts, providing that you can design and schedule your function to attract a high turn up of the targeted people. This can be difficult as there are often too many opportunities for these sorts of functions, and it can be very difficult to design these in a way where you can manage the collateral risks. This is particularly true if you have a function where alcoholic refreshments are provided as you then have some liability to ensure that no one leaves the function by driving after too many drinks.
22 | BusinessTimes Frankston / Mornington Peninsula / Dandenong | November 2013
Traditionally, these functions were often a “blokes affair”, but in today’s world they need to cater for a diverse crowd of mixed gender, religions, and ethnicities where there is a greater risk that you can upset or offend some of the guests by your choices of food, beverages, or entertainments. When I was working in New York, I was initially surprised that no one labelled their end-of-year functions as Christmas functions, because of the significant proportion of people that were not Christians. In Australia, the percentage of non-Christians has risen to almost 40 per cent and hence many organisations have dropped the use of the Christmas label and are now labelling these functions as “end of year” or “festive season” functions. Another key group for gifts or functions is obviously your own people. This is a great time to provide recognition and appreciation for the efforts that they have made during the year and to share some the profits with them. All the same cautions apply to the design for them, particularly in regard to functions. This is a great time to thank your key stakeholders and to show some generosity. However, this can be a minefield for well intentioned business owners and managers. Instead of the positive results hoped for, the actual result can cause controversy, upset and misinterpretation to the extent of accusations of bribery. So, be careful and remember: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. Action Planning Questions: 1. Do you intend to give gifts to key stakeholders like customers or suppliers this year? 2. Has your business owner approved the detail of your gift program/function to ensure that it is well though out and appropriate? 3. Have you adjusted your design to recognise the characteristics of your target group and any specific risks? 4. Have you carefully considered how you will label your gift program/function this year? *Hamish Petrie had a 37-year corporate career including 25 with Alcoa Inc. His latest position was VP People and Communications for the Global Alcoa Corporation based in New York. He can be contacted at hamish@nitroworld.net or on 0404345103. © Hamish Petrie 2013
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