Special Reports

The inability to attract and retain good staff, and the combination of rapidly escalating commercial rents and a shortage of warehouse and office space, are hurting small business in Western Australia.

The Western Australian government has called on its federal counterpart to beef up its Trade Practices Act (TPA) to help protect small business against predatory pricing by big business.

Small business accounts for 97 per cent of all businesses in Western Australia, but an estimated 40 per cent do not have a strategic business plan.

The role of the banks in Australia’s small business sector is crucial and will remain so. No single topic generated more discussion at the recent WA Business News SME forum than the big banks, their service, or lack of it, relationships with them and thei

Running a small business can take a horrendous toll on family and private life.

Adelaide-based Futuris Corporation Ltd this week announced its intention to compulsorily acquire West-Perth based company Integrated Tree Cropping Ltd, after attaining a relevant interest in 93 per cent of the company.

Just as one battle ends, it may well be that another is beginning. Last week, Australian Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo made a submission to a federal parliamentary inquiry into tax issues, stating that 98 per cent of some 42,000 cases involving tax-

It has been another big year for managed investment schemes, but the experts warn the industry is consolidating rapidly.

Indian sandalwood company TFS Corporation has announced that revenue sales from its 2006 Indian sandalwood project in Kununurra totalled $19.8 million, up 62 per cent on last year’s sales of $12.25 million.

Despite a 10-year high in business confidence, more than half of businesses in Western Australia believe another interest rate rise will take a toll on the state’s bustling economy, according to the CCI-BankWest survey of business expectations for the Jun

Despite recent fluctuations in the market nationally, the resources-led Western Australian economy continues to demonstrate its resilience.

Market jitters and cost pressures are prompting the question: is the current boom sustainable?

Having ridden the crest of a seemingly endless wave of positive sentiment and upward movement, the Australian Stock Exchange recently showed its first major signs of vulnerability in more than three years.

With the rapid rise of base metal prices during the first half of 2006, it wasn’t a question of if there would be a correction, but when.

There has been an almost unparalleled number of floats and other capital raising in the past six months, with nearly 30 Western Australian companies raising more than $130 million and accumulating a combined market capitalisation of more than $290 million

Western Australia’s highest paid public servant, health supremo Neale Fong, has suffered the kind of year most people would like to forget.

Two of the most significant figures in Western Australia’s property and construction industry, Multiplex founder John Roberts and Wyllie Group chairman Bill Wyllie, died during the past year.

The momentous changes inside the Labor state government over the past six months have left Premier Alan Carpenter in a stronger position than his predecessor Geoff Gallop ever enjoyed.

It may just be coincidence, but the two men judged to be the most powerful chief executives in Western Australia are from the US.

Julie Bishop and Senator Ian Campbell rank as the two most powerful Western Australians in the federal government, and both have the potential to take their careers further.

Critics of the Carpenter government fond of sporting analogies say that his ministerial team doesn’t bat very deep.

The editor of Perth’s only daily newspaper, The West Australian, is one of the most influential people in the state.

What is the common link between metalworkers’ union boss Jock Ferguson, Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive John Langoulant and recent BHP Billiton recruit Ian Fletcher?

The University of Western Australia’s Business School board ranks as the bluest of blue chip boards in Perth.

The big changes at the top of the state government over the past six months have put the new premier, Alan Carpenter, firmly at the head of WA Business News’ fifth annual ‘Most Influential’ survey.

Most company directors would consider joining the board of global mining giant BHP Billiton the peak of their career, but for Michael Chaney it was a mere stepping stone.

Loyal Fremantle Dockers supporters will know that Premier Alan Carpenter is an avid fan but they probably don’t realise he is regularly accompanied to games by his chief of staff, Rita Saffioti, and his principal media adviser, Guy Houston.

The West Perth of yesteryear, with its avenues of leafy vistas and sprawling mansions housing some of Western Australia’s wealthiest families, was always destined to become the burgeoning business centre of the 21st century.

Winter is a perfect time to visit the Margaret River wine district.

Mining may dominate but there are plenty of other players in West Perth.

Potential tenants may have to look beyond West Perth’s ‘golden mile’ as the dearth of property sales and record low vacancy rates stymie those eager to position themselves in the West Perth market.

West Perth has long had a mining link, but as a hub for junior resources firms worth a collective $16 billion, it really is WA’s other ‘golden mile’.