Opinion

Tailoring your sales pitch to specific customer needs can help you win business.

Cash flow can be a make or break issue for many small businesses.

A recent report on R&D spending in Australia sheds interesting light on the perennial debate over this country’s competitive future.

Followers of Fortescue Metals Group and its mercurial chairman, Andrew Forrest, have been on a roller-coaster ride during the past five years; but if the current bout of optimism is well-founded, FMG could be heading back to its record price of $12 a share reached in 2008, and Mr Forrest heading for a $12 billion fortune.

Perth is well behind world-leading cities when it comes to supporting tech start-ups.

Across-the-board commitment is vital if state Labor is to achieve much-needed reform.

The Abbott government may be on the right track with plans to axe the carbon and mining taxes, but after that it’s anyone’s guess.

Good news is hard to find in the resources sector, and even harder to find in the case of assets that are offered for sale but fail to attract an acceptable bid.

Accounting for nearly 20 per cent of economic activity in Australia, retail sales are critically important to fill the gap left by the slowdown in mining investment.

As acquisition opportunities become scarce, Perth ISP wants to sell more to its existing customers.

Making a good first impression can be as simple as getting your spelling right.

Google’s latest update is aimed at ensuring users follow best practice guidelines.

Company directors must be getting nervous after watching the voting patterns at recent annual meetings.

Amateur investors are continuing to buy shares in Australia's big four banks, which is easy to understand given the eye-catching profit of $6.3 billion reported earlier today by ANZ Banking Group.

A Perth start-up has developed an app to aid in decision making.

WA Labor is hoping to rediscover its mojo on the back of the recent federal leadership contest, and the Barnett government’s inertia.

The social costs of Perth’s sprawling new suburbs is there for all to see, but little is being done to address the problems.

Governments the world over seem to think they have some skin in the game when it comes to the business of business.

Weak performance in emerging economies is causing a world economic slowdown this year, but the advanced economies should step it up next year.

John Hughes has convinced a lot of people to buy his cars over the years, but will investors be similarly enthused about his plan to float the business?

While many business owners understand the importance of customer loyalty, not all know how to get it.

If managed effectively, businesses can emerge from a downturn stronger for the experience.

A global business executive provided a good perspective this week on two perennial issues – dealing with change and coping with high costs.

Karl Simich and his team at Sandfire Resources could be calling for the Dom Perignon in a few days if the local copper mining favourite achieves the once unthinkable and overtakes the stock market value of its potential predator, OZ Minerals.

Being essentially nerdy, I have always loved those lateral thinking puzzles, whose answers seem obvious when explained, but frustratingly hard otherwise.

Faced with a financial test partly of its own making, the Barnett government may deliver tough medicine now in the hope of a quick fix.

Our society must take care of its most vulnerable, but political motives have shifted the pendulum on ‘need’ and developed a sense of entitlement.

Investors are betting the experts have got it wrong when it comes to forecasts for the price of iron ore.

With the RBA hinting at sub-trend growth, there’s little chance of a change in interest rates in the near term.

What was done decades ago as common business practice is increasingly fraught these days.

Targeted preparation is the only way you can be confident you’ll make the sale.

The health of the hospitality sector is a good barometer of the state of the overall economy.