How Australian organizations use global communications

Global communications technology offers those organisations that embrace it many strategic advantages in conducting business overseas. Despite this, it has not been a technology that Australian organisations have rushed to implement. This paper investigates several Australian organisations and looks at their use of global communications technology. The organisations chosen are a mix of those that are Australian owned and foreign companies. Some of the organisations have been exporting their products or services for a number of years, whilst others are new to business operations on a global scale. Whilst the number of organisations researched is small, there appears to be a clear indication that global communications is a technology that all the Australian organisations (included in the research) have investigated. However they have then only proceeded to implement the technology, provided that it offers some definable form of competitive advantage when conducting business overseas. The organisations included in the research may not have had a definite management strategy in place for global communications initially, but, as the technology has become more efficient, has proven to be advantageous or has been accepted by an organisation's competitors, it has been included in management's strategic planning. The results also show that the implementation of global communications has enhanced profitability. However, the additional profit is not always derived from an increase in revenue but often a reduction in costs. The research shows that those foreign organisations with headquarters overseas have been much quicker to implement the technology for one or more of the following reasons: • to increase their competitive advantage • to improve company reporting • to lower the costs of communication • to provide more efficient methods of sharing common information.