Opinion

Evaluating your strengths and weaknesses is the first step in setting your sales direction for the year ahead.

Few people are better placed to understand the changes taking place in health insurance than HBF managing director Rob Bransby.

One of the joys of being a business reporter in this state for the better part of 25 years is that the background to a story is often more obvious to me than others with less time in the field.

The problems for BHP Billiton’s management team didn't start with the South32 proposal, but that plan has brought things to a head.

Walk down many major city streets these days and there seems to be a renewed sense of vibrancy and excitement. This is particularly true of Perth, where once shady, unloved laneways are being brought back to life with fashionable new bars, restaurants and shops springing to life on an almost-weekly basis.

Western Australian gold producers are enjoying a bright start to 2015 as the domestic price of the precious metal surges higher.

The Barnett government is in a catch-22 position ahead of the 2017 state election, needing to get the books in order without alienating voters.

Australia’s latest political crisis, the potential dumping next week of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, is masking a far greater threat to the country – a fresh outbreak of the GFC caused by the dramatic build-up of private and public debt.

There was a welcome rebound this week with reported activity up 25 per cent which takes sales back to their highest level for two months and similar to the beginning of December 2014.

With US and Australian investigators’ enthusiastic assistance, China is tracking down corrupt officials’ ill-gotten gains; but the playbook calls for a familiar ending.

Gold prices have fallen, as hopes for an imminent resolution between the new Greek government and its creditors temper demand for the haven metal.

Oil prices have surged higher for a third straight day, hitting late-2014 peaks on hopes of rebounding global energy demand and production cuts that could curb the supply glut.

To be successful in sales, you need to cover all the bases when it comes to building networks.

Mutual health funds including Western Australia’s market leader, HBF, have launched their combined push to take on the private players, which now dominate the sector following the listing of Medibank Private, as well as the growing threat from online aggregators.

WA’s tourism treasures often seem to be doing it tough, so why can’t the locals be more involved in deciding their region’s future?

Cost wins out above all other considerations in the search for efficiency, which is why a strengthening US dollar could pose challenges for Caterpillar.

Western Australia’s isolation has always made the state’s business sector innovative.

According to recent figures, bankruptcies across Australia fell almost 13.7 per cent in the three months to December 2014, to 4,179 from 4,844 for the corresponding period a year earlier.

Industry groups are at the vanguard of a renewed push for workplace reform following Productivity Commission issues papers released as part of a broad review of the labour market.

Succession remains an issue for the state government, with none of the contenders to take over from Colin Barnett the finished product.

Fortescue Metals Group surprised investors earlier today with a better-than-expected December quarter production report, but that should not stop speculation that it could be a key player in Western Australia’s deal of the decade.

Not surprisingly, sales activity dipped this week due to the long weekend which based on REIWA’s historic data does not happen when Australia Day falls between Tuesday and Thursday.

As often happens when politicians try to legislate lobbyists, it’s what’s not included that’s most compelling.

Local cost structures mean Australian manufacturers must be technically advanced and efficiently structured to succeed.

Without effective communication, and a message worth hearing, you’re in for a tough time in sales.

Technology will be at the forefront of changes in the workplace in the near future, but an economy-wide shift in attitude is needed.

Interest rates are likely to remain low, in the medium term at least, as the machinations of the world energy market play out.

State Labor is taking the fight to the government over its economic performance.

As is the case with most wars, there’s never agreement on who fired the first shot; not that it really matters in a hot war or the currency front, which is rapidly engulfing the world and should soon involve action by Australia.

Sales activity continues to climb after the festive break, but still remains down 13 per cent on the same time last year.

Voter sentiment has turned against the Abbott government because of its inability to make tough decisions.

Like a sportsman warming up before a big game, some of the world’s most successful businesspeople have morning rituals that set them on course for the day ahead.