Analysis of Entrepreneurial Activity in Australian Disability Sector

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of entrepreneurial activity within the disability industry in Australia. It begins with a brief description of the sector, defining disability and highlighting the growth of the industry since the 1950s. The report then identifies significant issues faced by entrepreneurs, including self-employment preferences among people with disabilities, capital challenges, hiring difficulties, and limited government compensation. It examines the level of entrepreneurial activity, noting the presence of numerous organizations, social enterprises, and profit-making businesses in the sector. Finally, the report discusses factors influencing the probability of new venture success, such as resource availability, good management, and the quality of the product or idea. The report references key studies and statistics to support its findings, offering a detailed overview of the challenges and opportunities within this important sector.

Entrepreneurial activity in the
disability industry in Australia.

Contents
Entrepreneurial activity in the disability industry in Australia.....................................................................3
Brief description of the sector......................................................................................................................3
Significant issues facing entrepreneurs in this sector...................................................................................4
Level of entrepreneurial activity in this sector.............................................................................................5
Factors influencing the probability of new venture success in this sector....................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................8

Entrepreneurial activity in the disability industry in Australia.
Brief description of the sector
Disability can be defined as a condition which in one way or another hiders a person from
performing the required day to day activities. The extent and level of disability varies from one
person to the other. For instance, a person several people may have disability in their eyes.
However, one can deal with the disability by use of spectacles while the other may have no way
to overcome it thus rendering them blind. 18.5 percent of the total population in Australia, about
4 million people, were classified as people with disability in the year 2009 (Australian Bureau of
Statistics, 2009). However, their disability varies from one person to the other. Having such a
great number of people with disability brought about the need for strengthening the Australian
disability industry.
This sector was established in Australia in the 1950s and back then, most people referred to
enterprises under this sector as sheltered workshops. Many disabled children from various
homesteads did not get a shot at formal employment as most companies thought it was not wise
to work with people with disability. They thought they would be slow and impact for jobs. As a
result, families with disabled children and adults started enterprises which their disabled family
members could participate in. the Commonwealth Sheltered Employment Act which was enacted
in 1967 gave opportunity for more organizations to participate in this industry since funding was
provided. The Disability Services Act enacted in 1986 also helped as it encouraged the
mainstream employment of the people with disability. The Australian government keeps on
changing rues relating to disability industry so as to give room to more people with disability to

showcase their talents. This has led to growth of his sector to greater level (Hopkins, Wands,
Bresnan, Waterson, & Hackett, 2013).
Significant issues facing entrepreneurs in this sector
Entrepreneurs who choose to venture into the disability sector in Australia face several issues
which affect their business to a large extent. The first issue is self-employment preference for
people with disability. Most people with disability prefer to engage in self-employment other
than mainstreaming or even looking for jobs in organizations that are set up in the disability
sector of the economy. Entrepreneurs thus face the challenge of having adequate personnel with
disability to work in their established organizations. This is because they prefer employing
themselves thus dictating the terms of work as well as how often they get to work. (Yamamoto,
Unruth, & Bullis, 2011)
Moreover, the issue with capital is another important issue that entrepreneurs who seek to work
in the disability industry. Cash flow is required for every business to be successful and this also
applies to businesses established in the disability industry. However, this sector faces a lot of
challenges when it comes to maintaining cash flow (Shane, Locke, & Collins, 2003). For
instance, the people with disability work within flexible schedules and most of the time they do
not manage to do what is required of them each day. Entrepreneurs thus fall behind on schedule
when they have such employees and this affects the business to a large extent.
Furthermore, the compensation they receive from the government is minimal. For instance, in the
year 2014- 2015 financial year in Australia, the National Disability Insurance Scheme only gave
2 percent of the income which organizations in this sector require (Gilchrist & Knight, 2016).

They are left to find the rest something that is tedious and does not pay off the entrepreneurs at
times. Another significant issue which entrepreneurs in this sector faces is hiring employees.
Entrepreneurs from this sector have a hard time deciding which employees to hire and which
employees not to hire. This is not just attributed to the fact that they are disabled but also to the
fact that the entrepreneur cannot gauge their quality of work or determine how well they will fit
into the company. This is because different people with disability require different needs and the
entrepreneurs are faced with the difficult decision to decide who to hire given their list of
applicants. They are also faced with the challenge of catering for their requirements and
conditions which the entrepreneur must put into consideration to enable them become
comfortable and work well (Pavey, 2006).
Level of entrepreneurial activity in this sector
The fact that people with disability have various hindrances does not mean that they cannot
manage to be entrepreneurs and thus participate in entrepreneurial activities. It means quite the
contrary especially in Australia where there are various people who have disability. So many
Australians living with disability have ventured into self-employment. There has also been so
many entrepreneurs without disability who have decided to venture into this sector thus boosting
the level of entrepreneurial activity in this industry. According to a report by National Disability
services in 2015, the number of organizations that were established under Australia’s disability
enterprises were 194. These organizations operate approximately 600 businesses. In their
businesses, these organizations combined employed about 19000 people living with disability
(Hopkins, Wands, Bresnan, Waterson, & Hackett, 2013). This is a good number though more
entrepreneurial activity needs to be encouraged so as to employ the many people with disability
that are still unemployed or who are underemployed.

Other than these organizations, there are other entrepreneurs who have ventured in this sector.
Some do so through establishment of social enterprises. This enterprises are concerned with
solving the problem of unemployment among people with disability. They are not profit earning
enterprises but thus seeks to provide employment to the many unemployed people with
disability. Others are charity organizations. They aim at providing the needs and wants of the
people with disability. They do through donor funds as well as government support. Others are
profit making businesses aimed at producing what people with disability needs. A good example
is production of wheelchairs which are to be used by people with the disability to walk or any
other disability.
Factors influencing the probability of new venture success in this sector.
There are various factors which influence the success of new ventures in this sector. The first is
resources availability. For every business to operate successfully, there are those resources which
they require to have. For instance, every business require to have money so as to begin their
operations. Without money, no business can prosper and be successful. Finances allows the
business to market themselves for customer to be aware of their products and services. They also
allows them to purchase necessary goods and services. Without finances, therefore, a company
cannot succeed. Other resources include labour and technology employment (Fels & Gedeon,
2011).
Good management is the other factor that influences the success of any new venture in this
sector. When a business, new venture or not, is properly managed, it is deemed to be successful.
The vice versa is also true. Poorly managed business are deemed to fail. Good management aims
at proper and efficient utilization of available resources. It also helps businesses take the
appropriate steps towards dealing with competition through making the right decisions on what

ought to be done. This helps business to become successful and have a competitive advantage
over their competitors leading to their success (Sarah, Renko, & Caldwell, 2014).
Another important factor that influence the success of a new venture is the idea or rather the
product they bring to the market for sale. Whenever a business brings a great product to the
market, the venture is deemed to succeed. This is regardless of the kind of competition they face.
As long as the product I s good and it caters for the needs and requirements of the people, the
highest possibility is that the business venture will succeed. However, having a great product is
not enough. There is so much competition for each business that enters the market. They should
thus be prepared to market their products very well so as to gain a percentage of the market share
and eventually enjoy competitive advantage over their competitors (Maija, Harris, & Caldwell,
2016).

References
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2009). Disability, Ageing and Carers, Austratlia: Summary of
Findings. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Fels, D. I., & Gedeon, S. A. (2011). Understanding motivations of entrepreneurs in the assistive
technology market. Technology and Disability 23 (2), 53-64.
Gilchrist, D. J., & Knight, P. A. (2016). Australia’S Disability Services Sector 2016: Financial
Sustainability - Summary of key findings. Sydney, Australia: National Disability Services
and Curtin University.
Hopkins, J., Wands, M., Bresnan, A., Waterson, C., & Hackett, M. (2013). Australian Disability
Enterprises: Building Better Business Opportunities. Canberra: The Australian
Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
(FaHCSIA).
Maija, R., Harris, S. P., & Caldwell, K. (2016). Entrepreneurial entry by people with disabilities.
International Small Business Journal 34 (5), 555-578.
Pavey, B. (2006). Human capital, social capital, entrepreneurship and disability: An examination
of some current educational trends in the UK. Disability and Society 21 (3), 217-229.
Sarah, P. H., Renko, M., & Caldwell, K. (2014). Social entrepreneurship as an employment
pathway for people with disabilities: exploring political–economic and socio-cultural
factors. Disability and Society 29 (8), 1275-1290.
Shane, S., Locke, E., & Collins, C. (2003). Entrepreneurial motivation. Human Resource
Management Review 13 (2), 257-279.

Yamamoto, S., Unruth, D., & Bullis, M. (2011). The viability of self-employment for individuals
with disabilities in the United States: A synthesis of the empircal-research literature.
Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 25, 117-127.