Survival at the Intersection of Government and Business: The Unique Case of the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade)

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) is a government organization whose responsibility is to promote Australian exports and investment facilitation in global markets. It has a unique position of being a government agency and at the same time working alongside and with business in assisting exporters enter overseas markets. This relationship is often strained both for reasons of changing government preferences in terms of assisting exporters as well as pressures on the government budgets. Yet Austrade has been able to remain a steadfast intersection between government and business despite the competing strategies of its two main stakeholders – government and business. This paper assesses Austrade as a case of organizational survival maintaining its equilibrium through sound management and serendipity.
This paper examines the survival factors which have made the Austrade organization to survive and even thrive despite attempts by the Productivity Commission and the fiscal dries of the National Commission of Audit to shut it down.