News
Overall consumer spending may be dropping, but ethical consumerism is on the rise. More than 90 percent of women look at a company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices before making a purchasing or employment decision, found a poll conducted by Heat, marketer to women. The environment and gender equality topped the list of important issues, […]
Queensland will host Carbon Market Expo Australasia 2008, Australia’s first expo wholly dedicated to carbon-related technology and services. The expo will be a mixture of conference and trade show featuring keynote speakers, panel sessions, workshops and a showcase of clean-tech specialists. “The new Australian Government’s commitment to the introduction of an Australian Emissions Trading Scheme […]
Apple is opening another retail store on August 9, this time, in Chatswood. The hands-on store will give users the opportunity to try out the entire Apple range, including the iPhone 3G, iPod touch and MacBook Air. Like every Apple store, it also offers personal training through the One to One program, alongside free workshops […]
More than 20 percent of managers do not respect their employees, or enjoy working with them, found a survey conducted by James Adonis, management consultant. And 39 percent don’t believe they’re good managers. “There are two main issues here,” says Adonis. “The first is that there’s a large chunk of managers out there who strongly […]
Energise Enterprise, the Brumby Government’s month-long festival for small business was launched today by Victorian Small Business Minister, Joe Helper. The event will host more than 360 state-wide activities and is expected to attract about 30,000 business owners. “Now in its third year, the festival highlights our small business calendar, and its success is shared […]
Businesses, across all industries, are making payments at least four weeks past the standard term. Private companies are averaging 60.9 days to settle accounts, and public companies are averaging 58 days. Big businesses with more than 500 employees are the worst culprits. “The impact of the credit crunch on business’ ability to access funds adds […]
Following in the wake of Starbucks job losses, meat-processing company Don KRC is set to make 640 staff redundant by January. The smallgoods manufacturer will close two plants in Melbourne and Perth and reopen in Castlemaine, central Victoria, to keep the business viable. “In the past few months we’ve investigated 20 different options to ensure […]
Trade talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO) have failed due to disagreements between the USA, China and India over farm import rules. The multilateral negotiations, called the Doha Round after the city in Qatar where the 2001 agenda began, have suffered repeated collapses over terms of access to markets. Developing countries asked for special […]
Sixty-one of the 84 Starbucks locations in Australia will be closed by August 3, due to underperformance. The closures are part of the new Starbucks structure, which will focus on profitable growth in three core cities; Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. “In January 2008, we developed strategies to transform the company for the future,” said Howard […]
Sleek and stylish, the BlackBerry Bold has made its way to Australian shores. Building on the previous BlackBerry platform, the BlackBerry Bold also supports tri-band HSDPA high-speed networks and includes built-in GPS and Wi-Fi support. The fashionable smartphone comes with an LCD display, a new design full-QWERTY keyboard, and its black exterior is finished off […]
While news of potential reductions to petrol prices is being welcomed by all, businesses are still changing the way they do business to subsidise increased costs. Findings from 3 Mobile research show petrol prices are impacting 93 percent of businesses. To solve the problem at hand, SMEs are turning to alternative approaches to doing business, […]
One third of Australians expect higher debt levels in the coming months, and as a result, are turning to credit. “Over the last four quarters we have seen fears of increased debt levels continuing to escalate across the board,” says Christine Christian, CEO of Dun & Bradstreet. “However the latest survey reveals that a clear […]
A two-week truck driver strike, beginning this morning, will virtually shut down Australia’s transport industry in a matter of days, says organiser Mick Pattell, from the National Road Transport Forum. The stoppage is a response to state and federal government changes including increased registration fees, fuel excise and new fatigue laws. “Hopefully the government will […]
Finally, after being available in the US for almost a decade, TiVo is coming to Australia and will go on sale on July 29. Interestingly, the television networks, which worked bitterly hard to keep Personal Video Recorders (PVR) off the shelves (due to their ability to skip advertisements), are now the ones releasing the products. […]
Labor should take responsibility for inflation says Deputy Opposition leader Julie Bishop, who believes the Federal Government has blamed the former Howard government long enough. June quarter results showed inflation rise to 4.5 percent. Bishop criticised Labor’s first budget. “They introduced $19 billion of new taxes and revenues, and that, inevitably, leads to an increased […]
Fees and other bank charges have added to the rising cost of living to become another burden on businesses and consumers. Among the increases are financial services costs, an almost 10 percent hike, and the cost of loans and deposit fees, rising by 16.2 percent. The banks justify the rise as an offset to higher […]
Apple’s MobileMe application is now available, so you can keep your iPhone, iPod touch, Mac, and PC up-to-date and in sync. The application stores emails, contacts and calendars on an online server, and when you make a change on one device, they’re all automatically updated. Visit https://secure.me.com/wo/WebObjects/Signup.woa to sign up for your free 60-day trial.
June quarter results are expected to show a consumer price index rise of about one percent, bringing the yearly rate to 4.3 percent: significantly higher than the Reserve Bank’s target band of two to three percent. Petrol prices contributed approximately 0.25 percent to inflation and are expected to continue in the September quarter. The rise […]
Rising petrol prices have seen consumer sentiment hit a 16 year low. Consumer sentiment, in July, is at 79 points; a drop of 6.7 percent from June, according to the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey. “The most probable explanation for the sharp fall in the index is likely to be petrol and oil prices,” says Bill […]
Walk confidently into the room; plug your USB key into your mobile professional projector and your presentation lights up for your waiting audience. Whether it’s sales, training, a conference, or a new business pitch, delivering high quality presentations has never been easier than with the new generation of mobile professional projectors. No need for road […]
