Latest News
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Australia’s small medium size enterprise threat
Lindley Edwards | March 21, 2011In current times, the truism for most economies is that job growth and future economic prosperity lies in thriving small to medium size enterprises (SMEs).
Generally large corporates are operating more efficiently, outsourcing globally and using greater amounts of technology – all of which shrink employment.
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Booking affordable boutique hotels
Helen Hull | March 17, 2011Finding the right travel accommodation to suit your company and its budget can be a challenge for any business.
There are endless opportunities in the marketplace from high end large five star hotels, those catering for the business traveller and budget hotels.
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Conference to explore social media
Helen Hull | March 17, 2011
Many businesses are struggling to keep up with social media and are failing to integrate it into their overall marketing strategies despite Australia leading the social media revolution in terms of usage.
To help marketers understand the importance of the medium, communications company PMP Limited is hosting international and national experts to provide best practice and insight on the subject through the Schmart marketing conference. -
Intuitive management or logical management?
Anne Fritz-Cohen | March 17, 2011An intuitive manager must first learn to be a logical manager.
Over the years much has been made of the right-brain/left-brain dichotomy, identified by Barnard a long time ago – in 1936. Intuitive vs logical dominant brain halves, feminine vs masculine ways of thinking, artistic or systematic minds are some of the terms that are still used in populist literature to describe ways in which our brains operate.
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Know-how: tips to manage your information load Part II
Rodney Coyte | March 17, 2011
A few weeks ago I discussed the importance of business relationships as the first key to effectively managing knowledge.
This time I will explore how knowledge capture was incorporated into internal processes and business practices to align offerings with customer needs and reduce the SMEs’ cost structure.
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Custom Fluidpower safety program delivers
Helen Hull | March 9, 2011Workplace safety is a high priority for companies and many are developing programs to ensure their record remains unblemished.
Fluid power solutions company, Custom Fluidpower developed a Zero Harm Safety program for employees 18 months ago as part of a plan to achieve no lost hours to injury.
Custom Fluidpower HR & OHS manager Gary Brewer said the company has created a Zero Harm Safety Philosophy which outlines safety requirements for every job.
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Diversification key to success
Helen Hull | March 9, 2011
A great way to take your company to the next level is to have a diverse board with an independent director.
Claire Braund, executive director of Women on Boards, told First 5000 that it is important for medium-sized companies to step out of their comfort zone and appoint someone from outside the fold.
“The reason that you have diversity on boards is because most companies thrive and benefit under a regime of diverse views.”
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NAS vs SAN
Simon Sharwood | March 9, 2011Learn the difference between NAS and SAN scalabale data storage devices.
The IT industry has a deserved reputation for confusing people with jargon, but never more so than in the world of storage where it has adopted the competing-but-similar terms “NAS” and “SAN” to describe large-scale data storage appliances.
To understand NAS and SAN, you first need to get your head around “DAS”, or direct-attached storage. DAS refers to disks installed inside a server. Every server needs some DAS, in order to store its operating system and other vital data. But DAS can only scale so far to store all the data a business generates, a server would need space to house many, many disk drives. If servers could do so, they would quickly become untenably large and power-hungry.
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HOW TO: make the most of trade shows
Virginia Harrison | March 8, 2011
Tempted by a trade show but not sure it’s worth the investment? Or perhaps you exhibit every year – same stand, same crowd. But if you aren’t getting solid results, it might be time to rethink your approach.
Sales and marketing consultancy Revealed Resources advises SMEs on how to get more out of business expos.
“Trade shows can be a great lead capture mechanism. It comes down to your market. Is the market you’re going for likely to be there? What traffic is going to come by your stand?” Principal Consultant Rashid Kotwal says. -
ASIC – Companies ‘hide bad news’
Les Pickett | February 24, 2011
A number of top 200 listed companies fail to properly report their profit results in an effort to “hide bad news” from investors.
This comes in a landmark survey by the corporate regulator. Late last year, The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) for the first time reviewed the quality of the disclosures contained in the “Operating and Financial Review” section of the annual reports of 50 of the top 200 listed companies with June 30 balance dates.
ASIC found that a number of companies had disregarded warnings by the regulator in the lead-up to the August annual profit reporting season not to report misleading profit figures that focused on more favourable-looking numbers.
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How the weak win deals: A theory of asymmetric negotiation
Peter Fritz | February 24, 2011Negotiations tend to favour the powerful.
This is never clearer than in war and battle. We expect the strong army to defeat the weak army. Yet, as is beautifully articulated in a terrific article by Ivan Arreguin-Toft titled How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict, some 30 per cent of the time the weaker army will win a war.
Of course, it is not really the case that weaker armies win wars; for if they were truly the weaker army they would have lost. Instead, we are surprised when our judgement of which army was stronger is proved incorrect. When the weak win wars it is normally said that they “had a better strategy”. The army with the better strategy is simply the one who’s General has done a better job of accounting for all the variables at play when formulating his strategy.
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AIM SURVEY: Women in the workforce
Les Pickett | February 9, 2011The Australian Institute of Management is conducting a SURVEY seeking views on how can we retain more women in the workforce and increase their representation in senior management positions in Australia.
Australia’s escalating skills shortage is hitting the profits and performance of organisations in this country. In this environment, organisations are embarking on new programs to stop the female ‘brain drain’ from the workforce and to ensure they gain full advantage from the skills of all the women and men they employ.
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HOW TO: write a strong value proposition
Virginia Harrison | February 6, 2011
You probably think you have a good handle on what your business does. But could you outline exactly what you offer customers in a few sentences? And does it matter?
Principal Consultant of Revealed Resources Rashid Kotwal says nailing the value proposition is a crucial element of success.
The sales and marketing business consultancy has advised mid-size companies on business expansion for more than a decade.
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How about Azerbaijan?
Marc S. Ellenbogen | February 4, 2011Why SMEs need to think about emerging markets.
People who are experts would say there’s no way a SME can operate in Azerbaijan or Kurdistan, or in any centralized economy where a pseudo-dictator is controlling. They would say these are just pipe dreams.
I disagree.
My argument is these people want their economies to grow. Like Dubai, Qatar and the Emirates they see value in slowly bringing in know-how and growing their economies. And they would rather foreigners brought in that know-how, people they don’t feel threatened by politically rather than their own people who might become a counterbalance.
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Gut instinct due for a comeback
Virginia Harrison | January 25, 2011
In an advertisement for her reality television show, business owner Kelly Cutrone explains there’s no crying in her office. If you want to cry, go outside.
The Kell on Earth star is probably not alone in the view that emotion is something best left at the office door.
But according to interdisciplinary education expert Dr Anne Fritz-Cohen, managers need to rediscover their feelings in order to be more effective.
