Scenic World Blue Mountains on their business and what keeps it on track

Family business case study: Scenic World

Success from out of the blue.

Fast facts

Located	1 Violet Street, Katoomba NSW 2780.
History	Established in 1945 by Harry Hammon. David Hammon joined the firm in 2006 and became Joint Managing Director with sister Anthea, in 2011.

Converting a disused mining site into a bustling tourist attraction took a lot of foresight in 1945. Today, family-owned Scenic World is staking its claim to being one of Australia’s most popular attractions. Featuring the steepest passenger railway in the world and a glass-bottomed cable car, they know how to capitalise on what the Blue Mountain’s have to offer. David Hammon, Joint Managing Director for the company (with sister, Anthea), enthusiastically spoke with us about being a three-generation family business.

Has being a family business helped with your success?

We’re a third generation family business, so we’ve been running this site for 68 years now. After you’ve been somewhere for that long you get pretty good at it. I also think, as a family business, you tend to be a bit more dynamic and willing to try new things, and because we have that ‘freer’ perspective we can react faster. Our Facebook page is a really good example; we looked around and saw that nobody in our industry was doing it and we were able to react very quickly and gain an advantage. Because we have a flat structure and the board of directors was happy to let us run with it – we were able to set everything up quite fast – and we now have over 300,000 more ‘likes’ than the next best.Do you promote being a ‘family business’?

It is something we’re doing more and more. We’re finding that our Asian customers respond really well to our being a family business; though it doesn’t seem to have quite the same emphasis with Australians.

 

Do your family values let your employees feel they’re a part of your business?
We decided about 5 years ago to be the ‘employer of choice’ in the mountains. I believe we look after our staff really, really well and they see all that.
As a family business we’ve taken the philosophy that they are part of our family and that up here on the mountains, we need to take better care of them than anyone else.

 

What governance do you use?
We have an internal board of directors with an external chairman. Above the board we’ve got a family council, which is there so that family who aren’t working in the business day-to-day, know what’s going on and can give suggestions. It’s really important that they maintain their connection.
And governing the family council there’s a family constitution that helps us be clear on how everyone relates to the business and, if we hire someone from within the family, keeps it an arms-length transaction.

 

Do you have any future plans for growth?
We do… and that’s part of the reason we now have an external chairman… we know how to make Scenic World the best it can be because we live and breathe it all the time, but sometimes you need that external person to come in and look at it and say well, you could do this… or diversify into that.

 

Family business case study: Brown Brothers

Delivering wines that are always in fashion.

Fast facts

 

Located	239 Milawa Bobinawarrah Road, Milawa, Victoria, 3678.
History	Established in 1889 by John Francis Brown. Ross Brown joined the winery in 1970, eventually working as CEO until taking on the role of Executive Director in 2011.

 
Founded by John Francis Brown in 1889, Brown Brothers Winery has handcrafted an enviable reputation for quality wines throughout Australia, and increasingly, the world.

 

One of Australia’s oldest family wineries, they have vineyards throughout Victoria and most recently in Tasmania. Offering an extensive variety of wines, the family has worked hard to stay on top of trends within their industry. It’s an effort that continues to yield success.

 

Ross Brown, Executive Director, spoke with us about their strengths and challenges.

 

What do you feel are Brown Brothers’ key strengths?
Vision, strategy, and our ability to make decisions quickly.
How does being a family business assist in developing these key strengths?
As a family business, you’re intimately involved. You’re basically living and breathing the business all the time. This closeness is essential when it comes to risk-taking and developing a long-term view.
85% of respondents indicated that being a family business assisted them in coping with the ongoing economic challenges. Has this been your experience and if so, why?
Absolutely. We’re able to look beyond the ‘here and now’ and not answer to a shareholder review in terms of our immediate profitability. I also think that being low in debt has meant that we’re not immediately threatened once the banks change their lending behaviours. Without a big debt, you can actually be very resilient.
And without a doubt, our employees – 30 percent of whom are part of our 10 Year Club – are also a big factor in coping with challenges.
What are the values you consider important?
Trust, respect and pride. The important thing is that you have to live the values. They need to be identified, understood and reflected. I think the values of a business are too important to treat them informally. The real success of a family business is in recognising the informal things that work and in making them formal.
Do you find it useful communicating that Brown Brothers is family owned?
Yes. It’s something we communicate at every touch point. It’s identified in our logo, our branding, and our behaviour; family members are visually in the market place, and our cellar door is all about family and location.
Has there been a significant challenge Brown Brothers has recently overcome?
We lost substantial export revenue through high exchange rates and were suddenly dealing with a smaller business with all the inherent costs of a big business. Part of our move into Tasmania was about re-shaping our business to cope with this challenge. It’s important that you can change your business model to suit a dynamic business environment.

 

Family business case study: Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

A refreshing passion for quality and innovation.

Fast facts

 

Located	147 Bargara Road, Bundaberg QLD – home of the new Bundaberg Barrel.
History	Established in 1960 by the Fleming family. Son-in-Law, John McLean, has been CEO and Managing Director since 2007.

 
Since 1960, Australian family-owned Bundaberg Brewed Drinks (BBD) has grown from its home in Bundaberg, Queensland to become a true success story throughout Australia.
Today they export their unique range of premium quality, naturally brewed, non-alcoholic beverages to over 30 countries.
With around 150 employees, BBD is a strong innovator that doesn’t take past success for granted. They’re active in social media, have recently changed their advertising agency, and are very involved in their community.

John McLean, CEO and General Manager for the company, took the time to discuss how some of this report’s findings affect his family business.
What do you feel are BBD’s key strengths?
Our vision, family culture and values, and customer focus.
Our vision ‘to be a leader in naturally brewed non-alcoholic beverages’ ensures we stay focused and don’t get distracted, while our family values unite us. We’re all from a diverse range of professional and cultural backgrounds, yet we all strive to achieve excellence together.

As for our customer focus, we actively listen to what our customers say. That’s why we always innovate and use real ingredients in the brewing process to extract the genuine taste and create a unique flavour profile with superior taste.

Is growth important for BBD? What about future/international growth?
Yes. Coming from a small regional town, we’ve always been outwardly focused on national and international growth.

This helps reduce our risk exposures while also buffering us from changes between markets.

Our global growth has been genuinely organic with visitors to Australia trying and loving our drinks. Of course, when they go home they want them there too, and let us know. We plan to grow strongly into the USA, UK, South Africa and Asia over the next couple of years.

What are the values you consider important? How do they affect the way BBD operates?
Our family values are formally defined around being honest and ethical in all our behaviours and business dealings, working as a team, valuing quality, caring, learning, innovating and growing to meet our customer’s needs. These values have built a unique, strong culture and flexible team.

Do you find it useful communicating that BBD is family owned?
Without a doubt being family owned and Australian is a great point of difference, especially as our market is dominated by huge global brands. That’s why every bottle we produce has a small kangaroo with ‘Australian Family Owned’ printed on it.