21 October 2004

The Business Council of Australia has called on federal and state governments and the private sector to consider a range of measures to counteract excessive short-termism in Australia.

The recommendations are part of a BCA paper, Beyond the Horizon: Short-Termism in Australia, which examines the prevalence and types of short-termism in Australia’s public and private sectors.

The  paper, which is part of the BCA 2004 Annual Review released this week, highlights a number of areas where short-termism has the potential to create major problems in sustaining growth. These include:

• The lack of policies to address a growing shortfall in superannuation savings to fund an ageing population.
• The satisfaction of immediate electoral wants at the expense of longer-term needs.
• Excessive short-term focused regulation on companies.
• Acute community pressure on company CEOs to perform within ever-shorter timeframes – or exit their posts.

The Beyond the Horizon paper incorporates the views of senior Australian business leaders. Those interviewed expressed concerns that an excessive focus on short-term returns in the market was creating a climate of risk aversion and less focus on long-term sustainable value creation.

Read the full news release or download the paper using the following links. 

Sustainable Growth at Risk Through Excessive Short-Termism (news release)

Beyond the Horizon: Short-Termism in Australia