INTHEBLACK November 2023 - Magazine - Page 22
F E AT U R E
“Building or rebuilding sovereign
capability in certain industries like
pharmaceuticals, national security
and renewable energy is something
many governments are pursuing, or
pursuing with greater vigour.”
GAVAN ORD, CPA AUSTRALIA
Above: Patrick
Lammers (left), chief
sales officer of energy
supplier EON, with
Andrew Forrest,
founder of Australian
company Fortescue
Future Industries,
after signing a
memorandum of
understanding on
the supply of green
hydrogen from
Australia to Germany,
Berlin in March.
22 INTHEBLACK November 2023
into renewable energy, transport and
manufacturing in the US.
“The sheer size and scale of this policy is
attracting capital, people and expertise to
the US manufacturing sector and away from
other places.”
WITH CHANGE COMES OPPORTUNITY
High-performing businesses will be
considering how to take advantage
of various government decisions,
policies and incentives, Ord says.
“That could involve moving part of
their production to those markets,” he
says. “For suppliers of materials essential
to the success of such policies, such as
lithium, which is used in batteries, it’s
a significant opportunity to grow.”
Businesses must also keep in mind the risks
along the way. Incentives can be removed as
quickly as they were introduced, particularly
with change of leadership or government.
Ringer believes certain aspects of free trade
agreements, which are far more difficult
to repeal, will be leveraged strongly as
organisations and governments play to their
own strengths. Each must be careful and
nuanced as they go about the onshoring of
certain skills and capabilities. Relationships
will develop or potentially be damaged
around those decisions, he says.
“Thinking of the climate piece, that opens
up opportunities around new energy,” Ringer
says. “Australia is wanting to play there, and
you see many reports about how Australia
could be a great energy exporter. Globally,
people are looking at all sorts of new mixes
of energy, including nuclear, hydrogen,
renewables and so on.”
“Similarly, when you look at the
geopolitical uncertainty, there’s an amazing
amount of defence spending going on right
now across Europe, Asia and North America,
and among the global defence ‘primes’. Their
order books are fairly full.
“Finally, having just come out of a
pandemic, as we’re all fairly certain another
health catastrophe will be around the corner,
opportunities are created around health
research and mRNA.
“There are opportunities everywhere, but
they require a shift in how organisations do
business and a shift in how well they know
their supply chains.”
Coldrick agrees, saying that in every sector
outside of food and beverage there is an
excellent chance that most components will
come from overseas. Even if the business
has a local supplier, that supplier is likely
sourcing their parts or materials offshore.
“You can’t sell something for which you
only have eight out of 10 components,”
Coldrick says. “So there’s no longer an excuse
to not know every detail about every one of
your suppliers.”
