THERE are many big issues facing family businesses. For a start, the family members are not only the shareholders and the board of directors, but the management of the company too. But of everything they face, the most thorny issue is how to deal with the kids when they either want to join the business or cash out. According to Terry Rowney, chairman of Family Business Australia, one of the worst things a family business can do is expect the […]
Tag: Management
Profiting from piracy
From In The Black: In the trenches The likes of actor Johnny Depp, with plenty of help from Hollywood, have in recent times romanticised the image of pirates and privateers. There he was charging about as Jack Sparrow in the blockbuster movie Pirates of the Caribbean, causing many a swoon and coining around US$2.7 billion worldwide at the box office. However, truth can be much stranger than fiction. According to some leading academics, pirates and privateers were not only very […]
Putting out the garbage
From The Australian, Entrepreneur An online questionnaire can help employers sort the chaff from the grain when it comes to recruiting workers, writes Ed Charles Article from: The Australian THE internet is a wonderful thing for job hunters. Once an online resume is created, it can be sent almost effortlessly to as many potential employers as the applicant wishes. The SME recruiter, however, is fast becoming overwhelmed by resumes — many from people who are inappropriate for the job. According […]
Small screen’s big picture
The Australian, Entrepreneur AUSTRALIA is behind the rest of the world with online shopping. According to online researcher Hitwise, just 6.75 per cent of Australian internet traffic last month was for shopping and classifieds. In the US, 9.54 per cent and Britain 9.61 per cent of traffic was in this category. In the DVD market, 10 per cent of US households have rented online; in Australia it’s under 1 per cent. The good news is that this means there is […]
In the trenches: marketing in China
IN THE BLACK: In the trenches Cool customers: the growing Chinese consumer goods market may give us the greatest lessons about understanding the customer. By Ed Charles Knowing your customer is essential to the success of any business enterprise. China is the market that many multinationals are concentrating on. So how does one begin to understand this rapidly expanding and complex market? The scale and the nuances of China are bewildering. Nearly 80 per cent of the country’s people are […]
Putting out the garbage
The Australian, Entrepreneur An online questionnaire can help employers sort the chaff from the grain when it comes to recruiting workers, writes Ed Charles. THE internet is a wonderful thing for job hunters. Once an online resume is created, it can be sent almost effortlessly to as many potential employers as the applicant wishes. The SME recruiter, however, is fast becoming overwhelmed by resumes — many from people who are inappropriate for the job. According to Carolyne Burns, managing director […]
The world of long working hours
From The Australian, Entrepreneur: The independence flowing from having your own business can come at a high price, Ed Charles discovers | August 31, 2007 MEN work longer hours than women, and self-employed men work longer still. The problem for the entrepreneur is to take control of the hours worked. “The self-employed just work a lot more and are a lot more likely to work long hours than the non-self-employed,” says Mark Wooden, professorial research fellow and deputy director of […]
INTHEBLACK: Caught in the middle
Big 4 firms have traditionally aimed high. But now that they’re turning their attention to the middle market, just where does that leave mid-tier firms? Something’s in the air. First Big 4 firm Deloitte swooped on the Melbourne office of mid-tier firm BDO. Not long after it scooped up the Sydney business of Horwarths, also a mid-tier firm. And at the end of 2006 the remaining BDO and Horwarths networks in Australia announced a merger. What gives? The big end of […]
INTHEBLACK: In the trenches with animal trainers
‘Come into my office.’ Now there’s an expression to make everyone’s pulse quicken. Even if your boss is a good sort, you are likely to become all defensive. ‘What have I done wrong?’ you ask yourself. In fact the adrenaline in your system has kicked in because you have become conditioned to act that way. It all started in your school days when your principal called you in for that first telling off. The feeling is the ‘fight or flight […]