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A splash of cash welcomes in the New Year as Commercialisation Australia officially launches

In a pre-Christmas treat, the Rudd Government uncorked $196 million of funding, to be delivered through Commercialisation Australia (CA).While most of us were busy opening presents and welcoming in the New Year, this one gift remained for many to discover after returning to work! So how does it work?

The Great Escape – How Australian exporters survived and even thrived in the GFC

It was widely predicted that 2009 was going to be the year that hit the first world economies the hardest when it came to the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). And for many it did just that. Australia, however, managed to weather the worst of it. Tim Harcourt reports on Australia’s strong export industry and showcases some shining examples of Australian exporters growing in these turbulent times.

Top 5 business tips for surviving the holiday slowdown

The December and January period is normally a slow time for small-to-medium sized businesses, with most customers on holidays, suppliers operating on skeleton staff and budgets on hold. The Interface Financial Group’s David Hechter offers his top five tips for surviving the Christmas slowdown.

Is your company culture driving talent out the door?

December is a time when many people pause to contemplate how fulfilled they are in their current professional role and size up a potential move in the new year. A decisive and often overlooked factor in this consideration is company culture -- a magic ingredient for employers and employees alike. Persephone Nicholas reports.

Fear and hope at Copenhagen – a Gen Y perspective (pt 2)

Last week Wendy Miller provided her first review of the proceedings at COP15 in Copenhagen. At the start of another week of tense negotiating, Miller reports on the current make-or-break state of the summit and reveals what is being lost and gained.

Five similarities between forming habits and deep customer development

I spend a lot of time thinking about new companies finding, nurturing and winning over their first lot of customers and I’ve realised that there are a lot of similarities with forming habits. Here are five...

Get rid of “Best Practice” Bingo once and for all

Yesterday I was in a meeting and the term “best practice” came up. It wafted across the table and went straight up my nose. The meeting was nearly over and I’d made a big enough menace of myself that day to launch into my tirade on “best practice”, so I’ll let you hear it now. It might change the way you think...

Creativity vs Innovation – A fool’s dilemma

To succeed, innovation needs to be more than a nebulous desire to foster creativity in an organisation. It needs to be a concrete business process driven from the top. Roger La Salle explains.

What makes women click?

The web and email content that women find interesting is radically different to the content that interests men. So it stands to reason that engaging men and women online requires fundamentally different strategies.

Are Australian businesses subsidising dirt cheap copies of Windows 7 in China?

How do you justify the price of $120 per copy of Windows 7 Home Premium in China against the price of around $300 in Australia without saying rich countries are subsidising the cost of Windows in poor countries?

Unsocial Media – What the hell am I doing here?

Communication is a fundamental human need. However, as Will Egan explains, Twitter and Facebook can become costly distractions from the main game if companies don't understand where their communities are coming from.

15 new year business resolutions you should start NOW.

The new year is a perfect time to clean out your desk, head and bad habits. Rowena Murray offers 15 tips for streamlining your business, renewing focus and retuning for a bumper 2010.

Fear and hope at Copenhagen – a Gen Y perspective

On Monday we published Dave Sag’s first post from Copenhagen. Today we received this diary entry from 26-year-old Australian Wendy Miller, who is attending the Copenhagen COP15 climate change summit as a member of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.

Vision and Focus, the Capulet and Montague of business strategy

Some quick thoughts on one of the hardest things to do as an entrepreneur (or intrapreneur) -- holding both a big vision and a brutal focus in your mind at the same time. They sound like contradictions and in many ways they are the endlessly feuding families of a new venture. You need to make them happy neighbours though.

Can you keep a secret? Protecting your intellectual property from pirates

Brands such as Coca Cola are worth hundreds of millions of dollars and rely on secrecy to protect their secret formulae. Rumour has it that only four people know the formula for Coca Cola. It is also alleged that only four people know the secret to the finger licking good taste of Kentucky Fried Chicken. If companies like Coca Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken can rely on secrecy, is that enough?

Diary of an entrepreneur raising capital: Life’s a pitch

Week 6: For me, whether it’s speed dating or a business proposition, a great pitch should help others understand your vision and get them excited about it as quickly as possible. For some reason my spiel has never generated that much enthusiasm in the speed-dating world, but the business environment is different (I hope). Generally speaking, my pitches usually follow a formula, which explains (in order) the following...

All atwitter at Copenhagen

Dave Sag is in Copenhagen this week covering the COP15 climate change summit for Anthill. This is his first post in the series.

Creating big success in small business

Small businesses are big business in Australia, with the vast majority of all companies coming into this category. While they may not have the resources and manpower of larger organisations when optimising efficiency, their small size and all-hands-on-deck ability means that they have the competitive advantage when comes to their most important asset: human capital. Tony Wilson explains.

The Creativity Formula: 50 scientifically-proven creativity boosters for work and for life

Dr Amantha Imber, Anthill’s Creativity Corner blogger, recently published a book entitled The Creativity Formula: 50 scientifically-proven creativity boosters for work and for life. We asked Amantha to hand-select an excerpt from the book to share with Anthill readers. Here is her selection. If it leaves you wanting more, please consider grabbing a copy of the book, which has earned praise from the likes of Seth Godin.

Six tips to boost employee engagement

With one in five Australian workers admittedly unhappy at work, those companies that can keep their employees engaged have all sorts of advantages. Here are some tips to help your staff get the most out of themselves.
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Three easy wins when using LinkedIn with David Hobson [FREE REPORT]

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New Zealand’s Xero eyes US IPO, further disruption as subscribers increase...

Xero recently held its annual meeting in Wellington, during which the company revealed some interesting details about its future. As has been widely suspected, the...

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