Capitalising on the Asian Century
It’s widely accepted that we are living through the first decade of the Asian Century – a period when Asia is predicted to continue its rise as a global economic power.
Australia is well placed to be part of the region’s growth story, but we must move beyond selling commodities and raw materials. Instead we...
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Bridging the cultural gap in business
Billions of people in China and around the world celebrated Chinese New Year recently. This year of the snake (revered in China for quickly pouncing on opportunity) is expected to bring about more modest growth for our neighbour to the north. I must say growth of 7-8% looks pretty good when compa...
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Last week’s announcement by the Rudd Government of their intention to streamline eligibility criteria for the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT) on salary sacrificed employee cars, which avails the Government of approximately $1.8b, was met with a tidal wave of conflicting opinion from Australian business.
Those who shouted the loudest – in particular, ...
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A letter to our new PM
After the election I penned this letter to our new Prime Minister outlining all the things I hope he’ll consider on behalf of our clients and the broader business community.
The Hon Tony Abbott MP
Prime Minister
Parliament House
...
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Welcome to 2014 and a happy new year to those celebrating Chinese New Year, the year of the Horse.
I’d like to start by sharing with you an interesting conversation I had at the start of the New Year with a friend of mine - let’s call him Bill. This is how the conversation went.
Bill: “How are things?”
Doug: “I’m optimistic.”
Bill: “You’re ...
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Last year, you may recall that I wrote about the importance of moving beyond selling resources- the foundation of our economic relations with China to date - to take advantage of vast opportunities to provide services to the growing middle classes.
It’s fair to say entrepreneurs and small to medium businesses had little chance of getting in on ...
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