Cost-cutting focus as trade barriers vanish

PETER BROWN

Managing director, Amcor Fibre Packaging Australia


What did the CEO Apec Summit mean to you?


For us, it was a great opportunity to get close to some of our customers in the fibre packaging business, which is essentially boxes and cartons.

We have a very wide range of customers - people who are exporting kiwifruit, apples, meat and seafood, for example. Many of our customers were represented at this conference, and it was a great opportunity to talk to some of those people.

We have a lot of business, for instance, with the Dairy Board. We are putting some joint ventures together. The relationship there is one of mutual assistance. They have a very strong export focus and because our company's well represented around thee world with various packaging for instance, we can link in and help them develop some of that focus. So it's from that point of view as well.

What makes your day at work?


It sounds trite, but obviously doing business is a big part of it and managing a well-run business with high morale in the management team. Commercial success gives me my biggest buzz.

How did you get where you are today?


I started with engineering and an MBA and came up through sales and marketing, then into general management. Then a couple of positions in various locations in Asia.

We had a very happy four years living here in Auckland and now currently live in Melbourne, where I manage this overall business.

What was the most important lesson you learned on your way up?


People are absolutely critical in the process and you ignore people at your own peril, no matter what sort of business you have. You must put a tremendous emphasis on developing and communicating with your staff.

What advice would you give to a young person starting out in business?


In terms of developing people, what I look for is a sense of drive and urgency. I see over and over again with successful people that that's a common theme that they have. Some of them do it hard and some of them do it not so hard, but at the end of the day drive and urgency can actually compensate for if you like natural skills and ability.

Enthusiasm is a better word.

What's the biggest challenge to your organisation in the present economy?


The challenge for this part of the world [is that] trade barriers have fallen. There is a strong emphasis on globalisation. And the days of having a business protected by the fact that we are down in the South Pacific have gone and we have to be internationally competitive. Our customers expect us to be that and that means we have to have modern manufacturing equipment and we've got to be fixated by getting costs out of our operations.

What ambitions do you have?


My main ambition is to work within an organisation that is commercially successful, that's growing and where people are really satisfied and happy with the way the business is performing without detracting from the urgency of the work.

How do you relax?


That's an excellent question because in business today at all levels in any business there is increasing pressure on all individuals and one of the things we are starting to do now within our corporation is to make some comment about the importance of home life and family. There is ample evidence that business pressures can disrupt people's lives and it is just a responsible thing to do.

It's indicative of the environment we live in that in fact we have to do that. There is a lot of pressure on individuals in business today.

Again, I think because our culture is relatively new, with only a couple of hundred years of experience, in more established and traditional cultures that's probably built into the process better than it is into ours.

* Peter Brown talked with Susan Jennison.