Management Matters

Even in these tight economic times, the task of getting financial support from a bank can be greatly eased if a business owner learns how to speak a bank’s language and use similar risk-management tools and techniques.

Five fingers and a raised hand could be all that’s required to add an extra $2 billion to the Australian economy each year. That’s the money that would be saved if even only half of Australian businesses that find themselves in financial strife put their hands up for help earlier.

So, it’s 2011. Don’t you love all those articles about New Year’s resolutions that give you hope that your business can achieve anything (and now)? But exactly how do you go about it? Here are some suggestions.

Possibly the least sexy aspect of running your own business, backup and data security are nonetheless fundamental to the operation of any enterprise. Think about it: what would happen if you lost all your files and contacts? Catastrophe, for sure – but this won’t ever happen to you, right?

In this podcast, Leon and Garry talk about Treasurer Wayne Swan’s raft of bank reforms while the Senate economics committee has hearings into the banking business, Australia’s super system is to be manipulated, new figures show that despite the mining boom, the real economy is struggling with vehicle sales down, personal credit shrinking, dwelling commencements falling, low business confidence and more businesses expected to call in corporate undertakers and consumer confidence edges up.

Over the past fifteen years, outsourcing has been an increasingly common practice allowing businesses to reduce costs and therefore pour resources into growth. However, with the upheaval of the last eighteen months, business as usual has seen its foundations shaken and reshaped. Is outsourcing still the best option, or should businesses be trying to claim more of the value chain for themselves? Should they still be offshoring, or will nearshoring bring greater profits in the future?

Over one hundred climate and energy-focused shareholder proposals have been put before shareholders of 88 U.S. and Canadian companies in 2010. Interestingly, this phenomenon has yet to rise to the top of shareholder concerns in Australia. 2011 would be a good year to change this.

A 'who's who' of leading Australian entrepreneurs and business builders gathered last night at Melbourne's 24 Moons Bar in AC/DC Lane to celebrate Anthill Magazine's 2010 Cool Company Awards. Winners were presented with as Australia's biggest award in business -- a 1.2 metre personally branded trophy bean-bag. In addition to the formal accolades, attendees were treated to party games for entrepreneurs, such as 'Pin the Idea on the Venture Capitalist'.

Freelancer.com has a long, long reach. Headquartered in Sydney, the web-based company connects business and individuals who need a task done with those who have the talent do it. Freelancer.com has more than 2 million users. The company describes itself as a marketplace of talent -- an eBay of people, if you will. The company so impressed our august panel of Anthill Cool Company Awards judges that it took top honors in two categories: Global Growth and Online Business.

Vulture Street combines a virtual. web-based conference room with smart, energetic consulting and a lean, mean company profile to help business develop innovative ideas in a short time. Its signature tool is the jam session, an web-based event that gathers online all the key players a client needs to hammer out new ideas and directions.

Australian online retailer eStore.com.au is in acquisition mode for 2011 with plans to grow its already significant business through the acquisition of local online companies. In a statement to Anthill, eStore founder Lorenzo Coppa says he is keen to speak with owners of online businesses selling technology products looking to exit the market or explore opportunities to leverage their products with eStore.com.au.

Leon and Garry talk about Telstra’s shares soaring with the Government getting the NBN legislation through parliament. What’s next, and how is the business model shaping up? Plus, a look at the new anti-siphoning laws and why they provide wins for both free-to-air TV and pay TV.

How easy is it to do business in Australia? Apparently, it's easier than doing it in Germany, Japan and Portugal. And it's a damn sight easier than in Argentina or the Solomon Islands. That's the assessment by The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation in their latest rankings of the world's economies. On the other hand, Australia crawled in at 63rd for "dealing with construction permits" and 59th for "protecting investors". Ouch!

The recent problems experienced by one of Australia's top four banks shows just how much people rely on their money 'being there' when they want it. This problem could have occurred at any of the financial institutions (and will surely happen again). So, how do you protect yourself from banking blunders like this?

Remember when your parents said, “Money doesn't grow on trees” or “A penny saved is a penny earned”? Employees and business owners need to re-visit these old truisms. Carelessness, complacency and failing to ask the right questions of staff and customers has resulted in Australian companies paying dearly in both time and money, according to Catherine DeVrye.

Commonwealth Bank raises its mortgage rate on top of the RBA’s interest rate hike. Meanwhile the inflation index for Australia is picking up. And Joe Hockey appears to be on a winner with his plans to control the banks: he and the Government are now in a game of one upmanship to bring the banks into line. Leon and Garry discuss all these headlines and more in this news podcast.

The insights from Tom Wujec's design exercise are what makes this video worth watching. For instance: Kindergarten students are among the best builders, while recent graduates of business school are among the worst. Oh, and CEOs perform better if executive administrators are added to their team (somehow, that's not even remotely surprising).

Not even a sore throat can keep Garry away from the news desk this week. He and Leon discuss the near-certain likelihood of an interest rate rise before the Melbourne Cup, as well as James Packer's surprise sharemarket raid on the Ten Network and its consequences, plus all the latest business news in this episode of Talking Business.

The whole concept of a unionism depends on having a 'crowd' and harnessing the power of that crowd to gain collective bargaining power. Therefore, it might seem slightly strange to describe ThePoint's online service, designed to help office workers anonymously organise with their coworkers, as 'crowdsourced unionism'.

Last week, I posted a story that asked Anthill readers to suggest new revenue streams. The post was triggered by a theft (and the loss of some expensive equipment). The surprising flood of responses to this post, received by phone, email, tweets, Facebook messages and, of course, your comments had me both thrilled and alarmed. It also got me thinking.