Special Reports

THERE is an air of confidence around HHG Legal director Simon Creek.

THE Chooks Fresh & Tasty concept began with ‘chief chook’ Steve Hansen, who started out in franchising 27 years ago when he invested in a Chicken World business with his father-in-law, Colin Manuel.

The federal government’s planned resource super profits tax overshadowed all else at the annual APPEA oil and gas conference in Brisbane last week.

WESTERN Australia’s first liquor store franchise has achieved considerable growth since opening five years ago, after initially attracting fierce opposition from the sector’s bigger players.

ONE of Western Australia’s fastest-growing surveying companies has successfully navigated through the economic downturn, increasing its annual turnover by almost 375 per cent and tripling its staffing levels in recent years.

ENVIRONMENTAL consultancy Outback Ecology is one of the 2010 Rising Stars award winners.

THE recruitment industry may have felt the effects of the global economic downturn more than most, as evidenced by the number of local businesses to fold in the past year, but Marble Group presents a different story.

Concerted investment in people has helped Rising Stars award winner Datacom Systems WA maintain strong growth despite challenging market conditions.

BOUTIQUE homebuilder Averna Homes has made an almost-instant impact on Western Australia’s residential building sector since its inception in 2007.

IN just over a decade in the market, Peard Real Estate Group has established itself as one of Perth’s most successful locally owned and operated real estate groups.

IT has been a huge year for Western Australians with fortunes in private companies, amid big changes in the top 10 ranking.

THE federal government has come under fire amid claims its new industrial relations laws leave some workers worse off, and prevents some Western Australian businesses from growing.

YOU can take the boy out of small business, but you can’t take small business out of the boy.

The ranks of rich directors have swelled, as has the paper wealth of those already on the list.

Western Australian businesses are still struggling to understand what the new IR laws mean for them.

ANTHONY Wooles’ foray into energy infrastructure paid off handsomely late last year when the company he founded and listed five years earlier, PearlStreet, was taken over.

WA’s up-and-coming iron ore miners are not the two-bit juniors of times past, but serious players planning billions of dollars of real investment.

THANK goodness the cold weather is here. It’s the perfect time for Western Australian wine lovers to cuddle up with a tasty tipple and help stave off the winter cold.

PEARL farmer and retailer Willie Creek Pearls has enhanced its land-based touring business with the acquisition of an established Broome tour operator.

Developers are ditching troublesome tourism projects in favour of residential developments. Russell Quinn reports.

The next generation of iron ore barons has plenty to fight for following the federal government’s planned 40 per cent ‘super profits’ tax on miners.

WESTERN Australian sailing legend Skip Lissiman hopes increased corporate support for an event he says is the “Melbourne Cup of match race sailing” will help elevate Perth’s international reputation

TWO significant feature film projects progressing towards production in Western Australia highlight the growing international prominence of the state’s film and television industry.

FOR Victorians eyeing Western Australia’s resources boom with envy, oil and gas giant Woodside Petroleum must represent the most frustrating case of the one that got away.

John Akehurst has been at the centre of two momentous takeover battles in WA and says a personal transformation has been instrumental to his success.

THE change management program implemented during John Akehurst’s time as Woodside Petroleum chief executive broke new ground both inside the company and for McKinsey as a consulting firm.

Housing affordability could become the victim of Western Australia’s economic growth.

NDUSTRY has praised the state government for attempting to streamline the planning process, but is concerned reform won’t come in time to avert a land supply shortage.

IT’S fair to say that Western Australians have traditionally been a pretty generous bunch.

Property developers rarely get mentioned in the same breath as the phrase ‘corporate social responsibility’.

REGARDLESS of the rhetoric of corporate responsibility and the greater good, most corporations and business people become involved in arts bodies and foundations due to a personal interest in the arts.

While the arts’ role in shaping society is well understood, the benefits of its partnership with business is growing, but not widely appreciated.