Although Australian courts have not yet considered this prohibition, in overseas jurisdictions, a concerted practice often involves competitors sharing commercially sensitive information.
Anti-competitive information exchanges may occur either directly between competitors or through an intermediary such as an industry association.
Industry associations can provide valuable support and guidance to businesses particularly new and inexperienced operators in relation to costs of doing business and pricing. Where an association provides advice or guidance to its members about standard business costs — for example, about wages and entitlements arising under an enterprise agreement, award or other industrial instrument — this is unlikely to breach the Act.
See: Anti-competitive conduct. Price fixing is a serious criminal offence. Associations should make it clear to members that businesses must set their own prices for goods and services independently. This includes making their own allowances in their pricing for overheads and margins.
It is also sensible for industry associations to communicate specific cautions to their members that by sharing, discussing or agreeing upon prices with other members or competitors they could risk committing a serious criminal offence. Associations should ensure that members understand they must then independently determine the final prices they charge for their goods or services, including margins for profits and overheads.
The group may choose to appoint a representative, such as an agent or industry association, to negotiate on their behalf. There can be many benefits from negotiating as a group rather than individually.
These associations offer some information and services for free, but, in most cases, you need to become a member and pay a fee to access their full range of information, resources and services.
In many industries, becoming a member of the peak body can give your business credibility as your membership proves to customers that you have met strict criteria and have certain qualifications and experience.
Searching online is a good place to start to find industry associations relevant to your business. General enquiries: 13 QGOV 13 74 Home Starting a business Planning a business Market and customer research Research resources for business and industry Industry associations. Market and customer research. There are numerous ways that this could be accomplished e.
Many professional industries have an association e. It is possible to join these associations while you are still at University or after graduation, however, fees are reduced for students who are still studying.
Some of the great benefits of joining professional associations are listed below:. Many industry associations offer their members access to job listings which may not be available on other websites such as LinkedIn and Seek. Events also provide a good venue to discuss developments within association initiatives as well establish new networking affiliations.
Association events are one of the best venues to gather impartial information about an industry or subject area. When evaluating associations for your company to join, it is best to first determine your company and individual objectives — as well as whether or not you have the resources to apply to membership initiatives if that is your goal.
Then, pick the associations whose issues most closely align with your goals and objectives and join the team. In many cases, it makes sense to join multiple associations in order to ensure all of your needs are addressed. At the Mobile Marketing Association, we work with member companies to identify their goals and objectives and seek to match association participation against these goals. All associations will do this to ensure that member needs are being addressed, both short term and long term, and members are satisfied with their participation in the organizations.
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