To execute our purpose, we have developed a long-term business strategy that articulates a consistent, shared understanding of the direction and priorities of the organisation.

There are a number of factors that feed into our strategy: our purpose, our strategic imperatives and pillars, our culture and values, and the strategic activities we need to focus on.

Strategic imperatives

Our strategic imperatives highlight the essential ingredients to our success. They are:

• The best portfolios to achieve our Investment Mandates.
• A well-managed organisation with a talented, motivated and engaged team.
• Efficient, effective and fit-for-purpose processes and technology.
• The trust and respect of the Australian Government, Parliament and the investment community.

Culture and values

This is how we go about doing what we do – the character and behaviour we embed into the way we act and interact:

• We focus on what matters. Everything we do is focused on achieving our purpose, we don’t get sidetracked by distractions.
• We always do the right thing by our country, our organisation and our team.
• We work together to achieve the best outcome every time and ultimately to achieve our purpose.

Strategic pillars

There are three key pillars to our business strategy:

• One team, one purpose – we work as one team, striving to find the best possible solutions. Combining a breadth of experience and skills into a collaborative whole creates a meaningful competitive advantage.
• Nimble and flexible – we are broad and creative in our search for opportunities to improve the portfolio, the organisation and ourselves. We believe that being flexible, nimble and opportunity-driven will add substantial value.
• Leveraging the best in the world – we have access to the best investment thinkers in the world through our peers and partners. We leverage the best in the world, building strong and enduring partnerships.

Strategic activities

To deliver our business strategy, we continue to focus on, and are making good progress in, three priority areas:

1. A multi-year program of work to materially upgrade our investment data, systems and analytics capability.
2. Driving greater efficiency and productivity improvements across the business.
3. Ongoing investment in our people and culture, through the provision of training and development and a well-structured employee environment that attracts and retains high performers.

The strategic activities we have chosen to focus on reflect the context we are operating in. The number of funds we manage, and the value of these funds, has grown over the years. At the same time, the investment environment has become more complex, and the increasing sophistication of institutional investors has led to a growing level of competition for attractive investment opportunities. Adding to that, significant improvements in technology are disrupting traditional investment models and creating new opportunities to generate returns and monitor and manage risk.

Upgrading our investment data, systems and analytics capability, and using technology to drive greater efficiency and effectiveness across our business and investment processes, will give us more insight into our portfolio exposures in real time and in turn help us to generate strong returns and monitor risk. We are also investing in our people and culture because we recognise that the capability of our staff is at the heart of our success.

Our business strategy

During the year we deployed new data and analytics tools that have improved the quality and speed by which data gets to our investment teams, and how they access it. The application of tools like DataShare, which allows investment teams to access and publish data sets, frees up our Analysts’ time, which they can now spend on value-add activities, leading to real productivity gains.