Gary Kleyn

SOME may call it crazy, others may call it entrepreneurial, but for an Armadale family more than three years of pain-staking and expensive research and development work has been a matter of survival.

INSURANCE companies must bring profitability back into their core business or risk facing the wall, delegates at an insurance industry conference in Perth were told last week.

UNIVERSITY of WA Master of Business Administration graduates still command the highest completion salary, according to data from the Good University Guide to MBA and Graduate Management Programs in 2003.

CORPORATE collapses and the fairly new buzzword of triple bottom line accountability are changing the face of MBA programs.The fallout from the collapses in Australia and abroad has raised the question of responsibility.

THE long awaited changes to the Motor Vehicle Dealers Act will come into effect from next week.

PROPOSALS from Federal Treasury for a major overhaul of Australia’s international tax system could have a fundamental impact on WA’s ability to attract business investment and talented individuals.

AN Islamic superannuation fund has been launched in Australia to cater for the estimated 500,000 Muslims living around the nation.

THE energy costs associated with running a business are among the biggest overheads an operation faces. However, for many businesses it is viewed as a fixed cost and a necessary evil.

AUSTRALIA is aiming to tighten its treaty making process with other countries or international bodies so as to provide greater transparency and public accessibility.

BUNNINGS is understood to be narrowing its options in the search for a new warehouse site in Armadale, in Perth’s south-east metropolitan area.

A RESERVE Bank analysis of the housing market has high-lighted the rapid growth in lending to investors.

RESEARCH undertaken by psychologist and socio-analyst Allan Shafer has suggested a clear link between the culture of an organisation and the health of the men who work in it.

THE jitters left in the wake of the multi-billion collapse of HIH is fostering a new idea to create a pooled fund to compensate customers in the event of another financial services institution’s collapse, well beyond the insurance sector.

OF the 800,000 passengers travelling internationally through Perth airport for the first half of 2002, less than 200 came from the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai.

THE Australian economy is strong enough to withstand a fall in the US stock market, according to a leading Australian economic forecaster.

THE Middle East is being promoted as an exotic forgotten kingdom and that has helped fuel a growing interest in the region as a tourism and commercial destination.

CONSUMER sentiment may have fallen for the second month in succession, but consumers are showing no signs of pulling back from lending finance commitments.

THE City of Perth has approved a $14.5 million redevelopment of the CTA building on The Esplanade despite concerns about the provision of $25,000 by the developer to improve the public amenity of the area.

PRAWNS, fine wine and fresh cheese produced in WA may be in demand in the Middle East, but it is the more mundane, staple foods such as meat and wheat that are supporting WA exports.

VOLATILITY in the stock market can provide lucrative opportunities for options traders.An option strategy known as a ‘strangle’ works well in volatile markets as downside risks can be minimised while leveraging the upside.

AS in any part of the world, understanding the local customs is a useful way to open doors in new markets. A solid grasp of the political situation and the conflicts between the Arabian Gulf States is just as important.

THE worldwide insurance industry prepared itself for a rocky ride in the aftermath of last September’s events in New York and Washington.

THE Claisebrook Apartment Hotel has been sold for $5.3 million to a Perth property developer, opening the way for a new apartment development at the Nile Street property.

COMPLAINTS to the Superannution Complaints Tribunal have jumped beyond 2,000 in the year ending June 30, com-pared with 1,800 the previous year.

REGIONAL businesses face all the problems of those in the city but also deal with the added pressure that comes with their location;

GOVERNMENTS have been doing it, large corporations have been doing it, and small enterprises are now following suit.

WHILE unions such as the militant Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, have borne the brunt of accusations regarding misconduct in the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction industry, similar

A UNIFIED approach was the best way for WA’s regions to capitalise fully on the tourism dollar, according to delegates at the inaugural Regional Chamber of Commerce conference held recently.

THE process of producing annual reports is a $250 million drain on Australian companies that had passed its use-by date, according to the National Institute of Accountants.

WHILE maintaining the supply of a skilled workforce has always been an issue for regional businesses, industrial relations laws have often served to impede that goal.

THE Federal Government’s assumption that superannuation or the age pension will provide future retirees with a suitable standard of living is based on poor accounting, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.

INVESTA’S purchase of $570 million of Telstra properties early this month reflects a trend by Australia’s corporations to free their balance sheets of low-yield assets.