News

Australia’s largest franchise, Jims Group, has signed a partnership with LivingSocial to deliver deals on its various services to the daily dealers’ hyper-local, citywide and national audiences.

Michelle Gamble blogs about successfully introducing QR codes into your business.

“From a marketing perspective, it’s a way to add value and enhance your customer experience, and connect to your audience instantly on another level.”

Nick Gabrielidis blogs about using the new financial year to consider 2011-12 HR requirements.

“Finding and sourcing the best talent is causing a major constraint on the expansion plans of many organisations, and workforce planning has never been more important as a result.”

Lady Danielle Di-Masi blogs about how undervalued the simple “thank you” has become.

“Being polite, gracious and building rapport is never pointless; it is actually time very well spent.”

A new plugin is allowing jobseekers to easily submit their LinkedIn profile for job opportunities on an employers website, as the business networking site attempts to better its ability to connect talent with opportunity.

Australians can now swap, buy or sell unwanted or unused group deals or vouchers for free, thanks to the launch of a new online marketplace, Swapdeals.

The retail industry received the surprise news yesterday that Premier Retail will close 50 of its stores in Australia and New Zealand and cut staff numbers, as part of new CEO Mark McInnes’ efforts to return the business to profitability.

Maria Pantalone offers tips to ensure you don’t commit ‘Death by PowerPoint’ in your business.

“Nowadays PowerPoint is a common tool used to assist in presentations & the slides should provide your audience with an at-a-glance understanding of the material to support your main points.”

The Victorian Small Business Festival kicks off on 1 August, promising to celebrate the role of small business in the state with its month long program of dedicated small business events.

Small businesses see little difference between the Big4 major banks and regional bank brands such as BankWest, BankSA and St George, new research has found.

Danielle MacInnis has some tips for using podcasts to market your small business.

“Podcasting has emerged as one of the best ways to show your expertise to potential customers – it’s simple and offers a great way to reach large audiences.”

Rick Mapperson blogs about the risks to business of a heavy reliance on technology.

“Ask yourself an obvious question: ‘If the technology that I use in my business were to suddenly become unavailable, for whatever reason, would it affect my ability to do business?’”

Gloria Jeans has collected two honours in the 2011 Australian Business Awards, being named alongside a number of big businesses recognised for being progressive and innovative.

Despite a slight improvement in business conditions during the June quarter, the NAB Quarterly Business Survey has found conditions remain soft and further weakness is likely in the near term.

Brad Smith’s story is a classic example of a passionate hobby unfolding into small business success. From quiet beginnings in the backyard shed with his Dad, his passion, drive and energy have helped him build a retail chain of braaap stores.

Each Friday, you can now look forward to Dynamic Business bringing you a must-read interview with a well-known or up-and-coming Australian entrepreneur.

Your Friday Entrepreneur Fix this week features Will Young, the man behind cult coffee brand, Campos.

Tim Wolfenden blogs about effective management of the multitude of business costs.

“Integrating fixed cost management into your business planning process is the key to keeping these costs down.”

Over 1 million users around the world have downloaded Apple’s OS X Lion, the operating system being hailed as a step forward in the merger of PCs and smart devices, in just 24 hours.

Australia will soon have its first carbon neutral business precinct, with the Grote Business Precinct working alongside the Energy Efficient Building Australia to become carbon neutral by 2020.

COSBOA has raised concerns about the culture of the superannuation industry, where it believes many director positions appear to be “sinecures” for people from unions and big business associations.