Introduction
This report aims to provide a comparative analysis of the Cumberland Council and the various other councils in the Sidney region. The report examines various facts and figures about the council, including geographical and demographic information about the Cumberland Council. Upon gathering the information and data, it is compared to what the Cumberland Council already has to highlight the areas where they have room for improvement. The primary objective of the Cumberland City Council benchmarking report is to assist the council in improving its targets, initiatives, and goals to attain sustainable business development within the Cumberland City Council. All the information obtained about each council has been reviewed and compiled from credible sources, and it is uniform across the board.
Methodology
It was necessary to conduct extensive research to find this information and locate the most accurate data. The most recent data came from individual councils’ websites, highlighting all statistics and information beginning in 2021. The websites contained a substantial amount of information that their users discovered.
The websites provided simple, concise, and accurate information for each council. They gave the matrix insight since they covered various topics to deliver educational reports on specific aspects of council life. Some of the information available on the websites, for example, includes the population, density, total number of employed residents, number of local businesses, and more.
As previously demonstrated, the subtitles chosen allow us to view the events in each Council area from various perspectives. The various benchmark alternatives presented in the matrices were chosen to provide a more accurate comparison of Cumberland to the other Sydney councils considered during the selection process. Each benchmark was chosen from Sydney to provide a more accurate and reliable result. Quantitative data were used to compare the appropriate councils during the research process. Furthermore, categorical data was required because it was critical to demonstrate how statistics developed during this period.
Discussion
Based on the findings of the research done on each matrix, it was clear that each council has its own standards since they are all different. Cumberland has a much more reasonable standard than other councils in the area, like Liverpool and Parramatta. Although the employment rate in Cumberland is 36.3% based on the population size of 236,996, the council’s target and initiative should be to increase the number of local jobs, currently at 25,566. (Health of Nation, 2022d: Cumberland City Council, no date).
It will allow the council to improve the employment rate while ensuring sustainable business development. Investors are hesitant to invest in the area due to the high crime risk caused by the low employment rate, which indicates that most people there do not have jobs. Cumberland will achieve economic development and sustainability by encouraging the creation of new jobs, as increased productivity among the working population lowers crime rates in any community.
The economy in the Parramatta City Council is flourishing, particularly compared to Cumberland. Despite having a population of 257,197 people, Parramatta has an employment rate of 53.7% (City of Parramatta, no date), even though the difference in population between the two councils is slight, less than 20,000 people. (Health of Nation, 2022c: Health of Nation, 2022d). Cumberland should model itself after Parramatta to ensure that its employment rate goes up significantly to improve its economic status while achieving its goal of ensuring a more sustainable economy, given business development.
The compiled data reveals that most councils’ Gross Regional Product (GRP) is lower, except for Parramatta and Blacktown. Cumberland City Council has a GRP of $13.16 billion, unlike Parramatta, whose GRP is $31.36 billion (Cumberland City Council, no date; City of Parramatta, no date). Cumberland needs to put more effort into establishing new businesses that significantly contribute to the revenue collection of the city council if it wants to raise its GRP to the level of the Parramatta council. By doing so, the council’s resources can be better used, and more people can find gainful employment. It implies that the council should put more effort into planning business events to inspire entrepreneurs to launch new ventures. The council should prioritize creating a more favorable business climate by enacting policies like providing businesses with grants and lowering startups’ taxes.
Recommendations
Participation from the community is necessary if Cumberland is to establish a lead over the city’s other councils and remain a viable option for investors to establish businesses in the city. The Cumberland Council holds regular meetings and maintains an online forum where public members can ask questions, raise relevant debate topics, and make suggestions. The meetings and forums contribute to the council’s goal of creating a more stable and encouraging business climate. To effectively promote its ideas and programs to the public, the council should design a marketing strategy to increase the number of people aware of the websites and other venues where they can contribute input. Only then will it be able to do so efficiently. As a result, the council will be able to communicate more efficiently.
Consequently, the council will inform the community by posting up-to-date information on new initiatives on its website. At the same time, it provides the public with a forum to express their views. To keep the community aware of the goal, the first step in executing this plan is to disseminate posters and booklets in prominent public places, such as bus stops and other community gathering spots.
These posters should identify all of the new and upcoming projects in the community. Then they should highlight where investors voice their opinions on new projects that will be developed within the community. As a result, entrepreneurs and residents keep track of upcoming events in their community. The business community of Cumberland will have its say after collecting all the comments and suggestions.
Another idea is for the council to hold a festival during which council members and volunteers circulate the grounds to disseminate information and collect feedback and ideas from the business community. The goal would be to give the Cumberland community a direct and hands-on role in developing these potential future ideas. These strategies may take several months to produce results from which the city can benefit.
When looking at Cumberland’s goals of increasing the number of new jobs and its GRP, it is evident that the two goals are complementary and should be approached similarly. Success is possible if the municipality’s leaders agree with these plans and goals. To design new jobs and business opportunities, and help GRP improve compared to the current GRP. The council needs to assemble a team that focuses on the commercial sector and ignores other parts of the problem. One way to handle this could be to focus on small businesses and shield them from stiff competition to enable their growth and contribution to better GRP for the city council.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is unmistakable that the Cumberland Council has implemented plans to enhance a sustainable business environment. The council still has a few areas to improve, such as motivating entrepreneurs to start businesses by giving incentives and working on policies that favor new businesses and startups. If the council knows where to improve, it will become one of Sydney’s most prosperous city councils. Some areas still have room for growth, but if they stick to their strategic plan, they will reach their long-term and short-term goals and keep the business community thriving.
Reference List
Blacktown City Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
Camden Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
City strategy (no date) City of Parramatta. Web.
City of Parramatta (no date) economy.id. Web.
Community Strategic Plan (CSP) (no date) Cumberland City Council. Web.
Cumberland City at the heart of Sydney’s growth (no date). Web.
Cumberland City Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
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Health of a Nation (2022a) Home | Blacktown City Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022b) Home | Camden Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022c) Home | City of Parramatta | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022d) Home | Cumberland City Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022e) Home | Fairfield City | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022f) Home | Liverpool City Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022g) Home | Penrith City Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022h) Home | Randwick City Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022i) Home | Sutherland Shire Council | Community profile. Web.
Health of a Nation (2022j) Home | Waverley Local Government Area (LGA) | community profile. Web.
Liverpool City Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
Penrith City Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
Randwick City Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
Strategy and resources (2021) Liverpool City Council. Web.
Sutherland Shire Council (no date) economy.id. Web.
Waverley Local Government Area (LGA) (no date) economy.id. Web.