HI6008 Business | Impact of Fitness Industry on Australian Economy

Introduction

The fitness industry is dynamic and vital to Australia’s economy. The expansion of the fitness industry in the past decade has led to the growth of fitness centres with several chains securing essential markets locations across the nation. Now, more than 1.73 million Australians are using fitness centres (Fitness Australia, 2015). As a result, the impact of the fitness industry extends beyond health and wellbeing of people to improve the economy (Kocarey, 2016). The social and economic implications of fitness establish stronger workforce and better household economy through income generation (Kain, 2014). On the contrary, physical inactivity is considered as the fourth leading cause of death worldwide (Rutson & Kent, 2010). As such, this paper proposes to carry out a research study to establish the impact that the fitness industry has on Australia’s economy.

Project Objective

The primary objective of the study is to research and show the importance of fitness industry to the economy of Australia. The specific objectives of the research are:

1. To evaluate the impact both direct and indirect and how they play a part in the development of Australian economy
2. To ascertain how the fitness industry has contributed to the life of Australians and the economy in general for the last decade.
3. To develop and improve knowledge, such as competitive intelligence about the economic status of Australia.

Project Scope

The following table (table 1) presents the scope of the project.

Table 1: The Project Scope Statement

Project Scope Statement
PROJECT NAME	IMPACT OF FITNESS IN AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY
PROJECT SPONSOR
DATE OF PROJECT APPROVAL
SCOPE DESCRIPTION	Determination of the role of the fitness industry in the economy Illustration of the transformation to the economy as a result of the fitness industry
ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA	The project will be accepted when the team agrees that it meets the specified needs of economic assessment in the fitness industry
ASSUMPTIONS	All fitness companies have been registered and follow the requirements of the law

Literature Review

Introduction

The human body ought to be subjected to some dynamic physical development or exercise to be physically fit and have the capacity to be beneficial to the general public. As indicated by Gallego (2017), Australia is positioned fifth on the planet with a level of 21.3% of the populace experiencing heftiness. The wellness business in the nation has a critical impact on the economy. The wellness business has encountered a development spurt as of late because of government endeavors urging Australians to embrace a sound way of life which has brought about higher interest for wellness item and administrations. The wellness business has both immediate and aberrant advantages to the economy which can be characterized by two noteworthy gatherings: the more extensive financial effect and the direct monetary effect.

 

The more extensive financial effects of wellness organizations essentially concern its part in enhancing the well-being and prosperity of the group hence prompting a lessening in the social insurance cost and improving the capability of individual commitment to national wage. Then again, coordinate monetary effect frets about financial measures, for example, the span of the business and work and expansion of its esteem and commitment to national wage (GDP).

Actual/Direct Economic Impacts of the Fitness Industry

The wellness business makes openings for work. Research demonstrates that the wellbeing wellness focuses create roughly one billion Australian dollars for every annum, in income to the Australian economy (Cheung et al., 2016). As per the Australian Fitness Report (2012), the industry utilizes Approximately 30,000 individuals, and this populace has been expanding consistently in past years (see Appendix A and B) (Fitness Australia, 2012).

In spite of the fact that the work of the health specialists and fitness coaches, the nation has possessed the capacity to produce a gross residential pay of up to $ 374.2 million which was utilized as a part of installment of wages and roughly $112.3 million being come back to capital proprietors (Wickramasinghe, 2018). The primary parts of pay age being charge gotten from enrollment and losses. As per the 2016 budgetary years report, the work rate of people in this area has seen critical improvement in its progress.

The interest for products and enterprises made by the wellness focuses in the business showcase make different organizations in the market win wage in this way influencing the net wage in the administration's income. Additionally, Gallego (2017) signifies that the wages earned by workers and the information used to produce salary prompt an aberrant commitment to the economy through purchasing of wellness hardware from different organizations.

Besides, the effect of the wellness business goes past its direct financial commitment. It assumes a pivotal part in guaranteeing the change of the wellbeing and wellness of the Australians. Along these lines, conveys a more extended term of social and monetary advantages to the group.

Indirect Impacts of the Fitness Industry on Australia’s Economy

Katzmarzyk, Gledhill, and Shephard (2011) made an effort to estimate the economic burden of physical inactivity in Australia and also calculated the impact of a 10 % increase of physical activity on the national health care System. For this purpose, they obtained the relative risk (RRs) attributable to physical inactivity from different studies for stroke, hypertension, type 2 diabetes and osteoporotic fractures. Simmons and Kutz (2018), studied population-attributable fractions (PAFs) and estimated the proportion of chronic diseases and premature death if physical inactivity could be eliminated. The ultimate result showed that there is $2. 1billion costs related to physical inactivity representing 2.5 % of the overall costs of the healthcare system in Australia. According to these numbers, a 10 % increase in physical activity would equate savings of $150 million each year (Simmons & Kutz, 2018).

Improvement of the health of the community acts as the underlying or primary channel in of the indirect or the broader effect of the fitness industry in the nation. Jimnez (2018) mentioned earlier that Australia is the fifth in rank with people suffering from obesity; fitness industry has greatly led to a reduction of this percentage. The potentiality of preventing health-related diseases with measures such as the provision of fitness centers has helped reduce the burden of illness directly in addition to lowering the health care cost and enhancing employee participation and productivity.

A person’s health and the state can affect their level of physical activity and his/her prospects of employment. In the past few years, worker health care costs have rapidly increased (Freudenberg, 2017). Most of the companies are aware of this development and have tried to implement specific interventions to promote improved health of employees. The reduction of predominant or more significant use of passive entertainment like cinema, television, and computers in addition to a lifestyle that courses health-related problems diseases such as obesity and diabetes mellitus have dropped significantly due to the promotion of exercise and a more active lifestyle brought by fitness enterprises.

From the study by Begg (2017), physical inactivity was the fourth most significant risk factor accounting for 6.6 percent of the disease burden. The exercises in fitness centers provide help to citizens especially by reducing incidences of chronic diseases, thus resulting in a healthy lifestyle and increased workforce productivity. The estimated benefits from reduced physical inactivity resulted in a potential opportunity cost savings of AUD96 million to the health sector, AUD12 million in workforce production, AUD71 million in home-based production and AUD79 million in leisure-based activities (Romero & Lopez, 2018). This represents approximately 14% of the total production cost losses attributable to this risk factor (AUD1, 135 million). The most significant component of these total potential opportunity cost savings would occur in household production and leisure, followed by the health sector and workforce. AUD in 2008 can be converted to US dollars, using the purchasing power parity of AUD1.48. This indicates the indirect economic benefit and impact of the fitness industry in the economy of Australia.

When employs are fit, they become more creative and more competitive because of reduced absenteeism and stress leading to enhanced self-image (Simmons & Kutz 2018, p. 89). The growth spurts in Australian economy has also been as a result of improved decision-making capabilities of people who are involved in regular workouts as it also increases the ability to make complex decisions. Therefore, fitness programs help to boost the production level of the business.

Research gap

Australia's primary force going into the global retreat has engaged it to keep up a vital separation from a 'particular' retreat. Despite the fact that the perspective stays more favorable than in various diverse countries, the conditions are as yet powerless. Thus, consumer spending could tumble, making families pull back on spending. These conditions are presumably going to show into working troubles for the health business. A downturn in the wellness business may influence its general commitment to the economy.

Justification

There are a couple of longer-term monetary and factual elements that are most likely going to give essential opportunities to the wellbeing business. These relate to designs in the people event of corpulence and Australia's changing age profile. Both an extended regularity of huskiness related therapeutic issues and Australia's developing people are depended upon to incorporate noteworthy weights on government accounts, requiring extraordinary expenses for advantages and prosperity related consumption. Unsurprising with improvements in the business over the span of the latest decade, it is ordinary that the business will continue having a fundamental impact in upgrading the prosperity and success of the Australian individuals and adding to Australia's advancement prospects (Simmons & Kutz, 2018). In that capacity, the discoveries of the investigation will be useful to financial specialists, business researchers, and governments inspired by the wellness business.

Research Question/Hypothesis

The project will be guided by the following research questions:

Primary Question

1. What is the importance of fitness industry to the economy of Australia?

Secondary Questions

1. What are the direct and indirect impacts of the fitness industry in the development of Australian economy?
2. How has the fitness industry contributed to the life of Australians and the economy in general for the last decade?
3. How can the fitness industry develop and improve knowledge, such as competitive intelligence about the economic status of Australia?

Research Design and Methodology

The research design is the outline of the project (Bryman & Bell, 2015). The project will use the positivism philosophy to allow the researcher to gain information regarding the fitness industry and its implications for the Australian economy (Saunders et al., 2015). A deductive approach will be used to explain the relationship between the research variables, fitness, and the economy. According to the Saunders et al. (2015), the approach allows the project to measure variables quantitatively. The essence of the research design is to enable the project to derive information from answering the research questions.

Research Instrument

The research will apply a desktop study implying that secondary data will inform the project. A desktop study was chosen because of the limited ability of the research to collect significant primary data as the project requires big data. Therefore, data from previous reports on the fitness industry in Australia will be used to determine the current and future implications of the fitness industry on Australia’s economy.

Reliability and Validity

Reliability and validity refer to the precision and correctness of research (Zikmund et al., 2013). Secondary data considered to be relevant to the project study will be used. The irrelevant material will be eliminated to ensure reliability and validity of data used in this research. Moreover, only recent data, not older than ten years will be used to increase reliability.

Data Collection and Analysis

Quantitative data will be collected from relevant secondary material and will be helpful in the retrieval of statistical information regarding the impact of fitness on Australia’s economy. The income rate of any nation can be measured using two different ways; the GDP and GOP. Therefore data on fitness and its contribution to the gross domestic product and gross operating profit will be collected. Inferential Statistics will be used to analyze data and to summarize it into meaningful information (Zikmund et al., 2013).  

Research Limitations

The main limitation of the study is that there are very few significant reports on the fitness industry in Australia and its implications on the economy. Therefore, the researcher may experience challenges in getting a significant amount of data for the project.

Time Schedule

The schedule represents the research plan, indicating the steps to be taken from the start of the project to the presentation of research findings. The researcher projects that the study will last for a period of up to two and a half months as outlined presented in the Gantt chart in Appendix B.

Conclusion

The wellness business in Australia is an essential portion of the economy as it contributes fundamentally to the GDP. In any case, the industry faces different difficulties, for example, a diminished number of customers because of the monetary shortcoming as of now. Be that as it may, there is still hope after relentless development in the foreseeable future. The significance of concentrating the financial status of the country gives a reasonable perspective of the present circumstance of the nation, therefore, going about as a guide to what ought to be done to enhance the economic status of the country. The esteem included or contributed by every industry in the esteem tie can be summed up without the danger of twofold including crosswise over businesses. The salary rate of any country can be estimated utilizing two diverse ways; the gross domestic product and gross operating profit.

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