Armen Arakelian outlines how entrepreneurship contributes to a wider community, and the values that underpin it

The very definition of entrepreneurship is based on a broad range of personal background experiences such as education, social standing, income, political and geography; influential factors that shape the individual entrepreneur’s ideals, ambitions and psychological approach. Nevertheless, there are a series of collective traits that link the entrepreneurs’ business culture; a cohesive blueprint that forms the very genesis of entrepreneurial scope and success at any business or social level.

Entrepreneurs are ‘optimistic, hard-driving, committed individuals who drive great satisfaction from being independent’ (Frederick, Allan & Donald 2016, p. 43). By this definition, there is a level of consistency, motivation, perseverance, competitiveness and self-determination that entrepreneurs possess; characteristics that lead individuals to put into practice their personal business principles through innovation and intent on viable opportunities they’ve seized.

The assortment of factors is varied however opportunity, necessity and their pathway to freedom are the main drivers of the entrprenrial force. Within this drive there can be both existing entrprenrial characterises and characteristics that have been theoretically identified as entrepreneurial; that can develop over the course of their enterprising lives. This makes up the core functions of entrprenrial cognition. This is supported in principal that ‘entrepreneurship is a function of the entrepreneur’ (Frederick, Allan & Donald 2016, p. 43) and an ‘entrepreneurial function implies the discovery, assessment and exploitation of opportunities’ (Carland et al. 2007, p.1) that subsequently stimulate and grow the economy.

To help draw on entrprenrial conceptions case studies of two different entrepreneurs was conducted. An Australian of the year recipient Ronni Kahn and Business mogul and philanthropist Kirk Kerkorian. There was a commonality between the two in their early life experiences; both ethnic minorities living at a time where persecution and intolerance was rife. Their early life developed a fundamental trait of habitualness and self- efficacy; through necessity they evoked dreams and by determination they identified opportunities. Their pathway principals developed their lives in two very contrasting dimensions.

Ronni Kahn founder and CEO of OzHarvest Australia’s largest food rescue organisation was first exposed to entrepreneurship through her necessity-driven mother. When her father was hospitalised for 2 years her mother R. Kahn (personal interview, 15 March 2016) ‘had to become very entrepreneurial to manage the household’. She had grown up in South Africa during the apartheid era and made the best of every situation modelling off her mother’s ventures.

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Chris Rath outlines how the rise of China came about as a result of market liberalisation and the move away from the Mao era policies.

When Chinese Leader Deng Xiaoping commenced liberalisation of the Chinese economy in 1978 neither he nor a single foreign policy analyst would have predicted four decades of remarkable economic growth.

Comments attributed to Deng Xiaoping, that “to get rich is glorious” was a clear break with the economic communism of Mao Zedong which left China weaker and more poverty stricken in 1978 than it had been at the time of the communist revolution in 1949. China has not experienced its recent huge economic growth in spite of Western capitalism but rather because it has appropriated Western capitalism.

I have recently been fortunate enough to participate in a bipartisan political delegation to China, selected by Federal Director Tony Nutt to represent the Liberal Party. The program was an endless saga of economic and political meetings and decadent banquets with high-ranking Government and Party officials in Beijing, collaboration with the Australian Embassy, and briefings by South China Sea foreign policy analysts and academics in Hainan. Needless to say that it was a jammed packed seven days and an amazing opportunity of which I am deeply honoured to have participated.

This article is a response to the unfair criticism China has received by certain quarters in Australia and America, especially in terms of trade and foreign investment. China is no longer an economically communist country. It’s not just that its shopping malls are bejeweled with the omnipresent glowing lights of Louis Vuitton, Apple, McDonalds, and Nike, but the fact that they have legalised Uber before most Australian states is a salutary reminder of how far they’ve come. The widespread competitive Chinese capitalism I viewed far exceeds that of Australia and would certainly leave Chairman Mao turning in his grave. Indeed perhaps the rampant materialism and consumerism in China has problematically become a substitute for religion and spirituality, the vacuum left behind from the communist era.

In any case “to get rich is glorious” and China has become very rich very quickly. Instead of admonishing China we should celebrate what I call the three cheers for China.

The first cheer for China is humanitarian; you know the things the left pretend they care about with their good intentions but never suggest anything practical. The positive humanitarian impact of capitalism on the Chinese economy is incredible. The World Bank argues it best:

“Since initiating market reforms in 1978, China has shifted from a centrally-planned to a market-based economy and has experienced rapid economic and social development. GDP growth has averaged nearly 10 percent a year—the fastest sustained expansion by a major economy in history—and has lifted more than 800 million people out of poverty.”

When you put into perspective that Australia is only a nation of 23 million people, the fact that 800 million Chinese people have been lifted out of poverty as a result of economic globalisation and liberalisation since 1978 is unfathomable.

And how was this colossal humanitarian feat achieved? It wasn’t through foreign aid or twitter hashtags. It wasn’t through the United Nations or NGOs. Nope, it was almost entirely the result of Western multinational corporations acting out of their self interest by lowering their business costs and maximising profit through employing cheap Chinese labour. It’s a shame the supposed guardians of equality and human rights on the left have not embraced this undeniable fact. It is also a win-win situation as western corporations have become more profitable meaning higher dividends and higher returns on our superannuation.

The second cheer for China is that consumer goods are now relatively cheaper for all Australians, resulting in a better quality of life and higher disposable incomes in real terms. We should celebrate rather than recoil when we see ‘made in China’ as we may not have been able to afford a comparable item in the 1950s when such consumer goods were made in high cost developed economies. Unsurprisingly, Australia’s main imports from China are telecommunications, electronics, computers, furniture, prams, toys, games, sporting goods, textiles, clothing and footwear. The Institute of Public Affairs published research in 2014 outlining how consumer goods are bigger, better and cheaper today than in the 1970s, a direct result of capitalism and trade with low cost economies like China. The average Australian would have to work 194.9 hours to buy a television in the 1970s but now a mere 9.7 hours. A microwave would have cost you 83.8 hours of hard earned cash back then and now only 2.7 hours, and a refrigerator 86.4 hours in the 1970s but today only 21.8 hours of labour. Indeed if China has become rich then certainly as a result so have we.

The third cheer for China is that Australia more so than any other Western nation has directly benefited from its huge economic growth due to its purchase of our exports. Australia has a comparative advantage in our largest exports such as iron ore, coal, natural gas, education, gold, copper, wool, wine, beef, dairy, and tourism. We’re not just the quarry and the food bowl for China but we’re now also its university and its holiday destination. Australian exports to China now account for over $98bn per year, making China not only our largest export market but also larger than our next three highest ranking markets combined- Japan, the USA and South Korea. We were weathered from the global financial crisis in part because of China. We have experienced 25 years of continuous unbroken economic growth in part because of China. No doubt those Australians who attack Chinese trade and investment must either be mislead by shock jocks or are happy to see a poorer Australia if it means their xenophobic concerns are alleviated. Figures from the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) show that contrary to the view that Chinese investment is taking over our farms, the largest investment sources in agriculture in Australia are from developed Western nations. However, we should want more Chinese investment in agriculture, not less, because more investment means capital flowing to Australia, it means jobs, growth, productivity and economic development.

The trade unions are wrong to attack the free trade agreement with China. Donald Trump is wrong to argue for a 45% tariff on China. Faux conservatives who support Trump and the CFMEU are wrong. Indeed you could easily argue that the most important reform and achievement of this Government has been the free trade agreements with China, Japan and Korea together with the transpacific partnership, brokered by Andrew Robb and never delivered under Labor. Certainly it is a huge motivating factor behind my zeal to campaign this election.

However, this article shouldn’t be viewed as hyperbolic praise for China. As a staunch Anglophile and a defender of Western Civilisation I’m still very concerned about several issues facing China. Of course China is an authoritarian single party state which still has a lot of work to do in improving its basic freedoms and liberties. Too often we hear of human rights abuses, censorship, and political prisoners. Similarly China’s position on the South China Sea and disputed “islands” is aggressive, inflexible and nonsensical. Furthermore, the 1,600 missiles pointed at Taiwan does not play well on the world stage.

But again the solution here is more trade, more globalisation, more economic integration and more capitalism. The statement ‘nations that trade together don’t go to war together’ might not be a truism, but it’s pretty close. Similarly remarkably close to being a truism is the golden arches theory that ‘no two countries with McDonald’s have ever fought a war against each other’. China of course has 2,200 McDonalds restaurants and recently announced plans to add a further 1,300 restaurants over the next five years, a positive sign for the future.

There are indeed many positive signs for China in the future. It is upon us to embrace the huge economic opportunities ahead and to educate Australians of these opportunities. The best days for China and Australia are still ahead of us. Together we can get rich and it will be glorious!

Christopher Rath is a member of the State Executive of the NSW Liberal Party and a Young Liberal Branch President. He has a Bachelor of Economics and a Master of Management from the University of Sydney and currently works as the Government Relations Manager at IAG, Australia’s largest general insurance company.

By Dean Hamstead

In a sea of non-sense and articles from punters with no technical, no financial and, possibly no life experience – the SMH quietly published perhaps the most sensible article on NBN to date.

“The original vision of the NBN, “FTTP everywhere”, was laudable. Private monopolies are notoriously bad at deploying new technologies and have been in the USA and most other countries. That seems to have been the case in Australia as well. In frustration, the government launched the NBN to fix the problem.

But government monopoly programs are rarely any better than private ones — especially in dynamic sectors like telecom. True to form, it seems that execution of the original NBN did not measure up to the admirable vision. But the new government appears to have kept the flawed execution mechanism (government monopoly) while discarding the admirable all-fibre goal. Seems like the worst of both worlds to us.

It doesn’t have to be that way. There is no need for monopolies of any kind to build state-of-the-art FTTP infrastructure. In fact, contrary to common mythology, economies of scale are small in this sector and need not be a barrier to FTTP development. Profitable companies as small as 1000 customers are being built entirely with private capital in circumstances more difficult than you have in Oz…

“Nor are these networks rocket science. As we look around, we see plenty of people in Australia with the energy and talent to build them. If you are smart and enterprising enough to build and run a farm or small business in rural Australia you are smart enough to build and run a local FTTP network as well.”

My personal view has been near complete regulation and handing powers back to residents to decide what cabling is run in their street. With the pits and poles owned by councils, then access leased to any and sundry to run broadband services, pipe gas or whatever they can dream up.

Sadly, in Australia we have embraced that Canberra knows best. Got an idea that might work in your area? Are you willing to risk your own money or someone willing to back you? Too bad it’s illegal.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/removing-nbns-artificial-barriers-could-stop-our-system-being-worst-of-both-worlds-20160427-gog22i.html