As Senior Editor at Business News, Mark Beyer has a wide-ranging brief to research, analyse and report on the issues, trends and personalities affecting the business community in Western Australia.
Mr Beyer has 35 years' career experience, primarily in business journalism. He joined Business News in 2002 and previously worked for The Australian Financial Review and The West Australian, and also has public relations and corporate affairs experience.
Before becoming a journalist, he was an economist with the Commonwealth Treasury in Canberra.
The short, sharp election campaign called by Premier Alan Carpenter makes it imperative that the major parties focus on the core issues that will affect Western Australia's long-term future.
Three major developments in the gas, iron ore and power sectors this week have once again highlighted the ability of big projects to insulate the Western Australian economy from the global economic slowdown.
Retail trading hours and major project development emerged as the top business issues in the first week of the state election campaign, with Labor and the Liberal opposition both claiming they have a better track record.
Many Western Australians, myself included, consider Ralph Sarich a household name, so I was surprised last week to discover that many people in Perth have little or no awareness of how he built his $1 billion fortune.
This week's landmark decision on the preferred developer for the Oakajee port project has reminded Western Australians that Japan still plays a very big role in the state's economy.
New treatments for flea infestations in sheep and for whooping cough were the winners of competitions run in Perth last week by the Australian Small Scale Offerings Board and Curtin University respectively.
Osborne Park-based Structural Monitoring Systems plc has become the latest WA technology company to hit the wall, announcing today that it would be terminating the employment of all executives and staff.
Many business people in Perth hanker for the days when Sir Charles Court ran the state with forceful conviction and a single-minded focus on development.
Fifteen years after establishing Perth's first internet service provider, iiNet boss Michael Malone retains a disarming honesty and humour that is rarely found in chief executives.
Australia is among the world leaders in broadband penetration and regular claims to the contrary are bad for business, iiNet managing director Michael Malone told a WA Business News Success & Leadership breakfast last week.
The debate over development of Western Australia's iron ore industry seems to have given rise to a number of myths that are distorting informed discussion.
More than two-and-a-half years after kicking off the process, the state government has finally been handed a final report on its infrastructure strategy.
German steel maker ThyssenKrupp has thrown its support behind Moly Mines Ltd's delayed $1.1 billion Spinifex Ridge project by signing a 10 year offtake agreement and agreeing to invest equity in the project.
While the world is full of brave people who try to predict the future, the fluctuating fortunes of Western Australian energy companies Alinta and The Griffin Group show how dangerous this practice can be.
During the past four years, Western Australia has experienced three major power crises, raising serious questions about management of the state's energy infrastructure.
Western Australia's two major industry lobbies, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy, have witnessed changes at the top during the past year, with new leadership taking the reins.
Outside of government and business, there is a wide array of people in science, media, the law and other professions who are highly influential in Western Australia.
There are two committees in Perth that can be considered centres of commercial and public influence - the University of Western Australia's Business School board and the Committee for Perth.
If opinion polls are any guide, Labor is set to retain power at the next state election, and if that happens we can expect big changes inside the Carpenter government.
There are two committees in Perth that can be considered centres of commercial and public influence - the University of Western Australia's Business School board and the Committee for Perth.
It's often said that true character is revealed in times of adversity, and in the past 18 months Perth has witnessed two enormous boardroom battles that have shone a revealing light on some of the state's most prominent company directors.
Labor's victory in last year's federal election has elevated Western Australians Stephen Smith and Chris Evans to two of the most senior roles in the federal government.
Premier Alan Carpenter has left many people confused and frustrated by his blanket rejection of the ambitious island development proposal announced last week for North Fremantle.
Perth-based petroleum executive Bret Mattes has broken new ground in Indonesia by becoming what is believed to be the first foreigner to be appointed chief executive of a national energy company.