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1. Wall Street rallies on Obama stimulus plans, Newspaper group

Wall Street has enjoyed a 4% rise after reports president-elect Barack Obama plans to inject billions into new infrastructure spending to help spark economic growth and new jobs.Wall Street has enjoyed a 4% rise after reports president-elect Barack Obama plans to inject billions into new infrastructure spending to help spark economic growth and new jobs.Companies associated with construction projects helped lead the rally, sending the market upwards for the second day in a row.

2. 25 corporate collapses – and the lessons learnt

There have been some high-profile corporate failures over the past year, and the evidence suggests that the bloodbath isn’t over. We take a look at 25 more prominent cases to draw salient lessons for every business. It’s getting ugly out there. Credit agency Dun & Bradstreet believes one in nine compa...

3. 7 ways to get rich before age 40

The trend, when making multiple millions before you hit 40, seems to be to find your niche and stick to it. JAMES THOMSON reports on how this year’s Gen-Next have changed the way they found their fortunes.By James ThomsonThis story first appeared 29 September 2008

4. The Tax Forum: 10 ways to build a better tax system

The supposedly dry world of tax has been at the centre of two of the biggest political bunfights in as many years: the carbon tax and the mining tax. Throw in the controversy over the Government largely ignoring a lengthy review of the system led by former Treasury head Ken Henry and it’s clear bean-counting can be a taxing topic for our political leaders. When the Govern...

5. South Australian MP considers bill to weed out franchising r

South Australian Labor MP Tony Piccolo says he will consider introducing a private members' bill into South Australian Parliament if Federal Labor Small Business Minister fails to reform the Franchising Code. Late last week, the South Australian parliament unanimously voted in favour of Piccolo's private members' motion, calling on the Government to respond to an inquiry into the Franchising Code conducted last year by a joint Federal Parliamentary committee. The Joint Sta...

6. Australia’s 25 best business blogs

Did the great corporate blogging revolution ever happen? It seems only a handful of years ago that, inspired by US automaker General Motor’s FastLane blog, nascent social media pundits (and this writer) were predicting that corporations would open up and begin a two-way dialog with customers. But in the ye...

7. eBook Library

Welcome to the SmartCompany eBook Library. You can access all the eBooks here and keep an eye out for new titles. Now that you are a SmartCompany member you can join in on the conversation by participating in forums, commenting on articles and networking with other like-minded Australians who want to build bigger better businesses.    

8. Australia’s biggest 10 companies

For the fourth year in a row, BHP Billiton is Australia’s largest company by revenue, according to the BRW Top 1000, compiled by IBISWorld. The top 10 – with the exception of Coles, NAB and Telstra –enjoyed strong revenue growth thanks to the mining boom and the strong economic conditions of the past year.Currently, the top 10 looks like this:

9. Our top female entrepreneurs

Meet Australia's top female entrepreneurs – they are smart, focused and generate more than $3.6 billion in sales. In a special feature to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8, SmartCompany has compiled a comprehensive list of 48 of Australia's best business women (see ...

10. Construction industry grows during October, Stevens says rat

The construction industry has continued to grow during October, but at a slower pace as the recovery in the apartment building sector has been impacted by a decline in new orders, according to a new survey. A survey of 200 firms by the Australian Industry Group and the Housing Industry Association has found overall construction activity rose just 0.1 point to 50.9, just over the 50-point level separating expansion from contraction. Ai Group associate director public policy, Peter ...

11. 30 hot entrepreneurs aged 30 and under

They are young, smart and come from industries as diverse as IT, fashion and agriculture. BRAD HOWARTH profiles 30 hot young entrepreneurs aged 30 years and under. By Brad Howarth    

12. Five top business ideas that made millions

According to Paul Graham, investor and founder of Y Combinator, the best way to get a winning business idea is to not think of any. Instead, you should be looking at which problems you can solve. “The very best start-up ideas tend to have three things in common: they’re something the founders themselves want, that they themselve...

13. Five lessons from the collapse of Storm Financial

Storm Financial’s stumble into administrator’s hands wasn't just a result of the financial crisis – its strategy left it badly exposed and distracted. JAMES THOMSON picks over the remains and looks at the salient lessons for every entrepreneur. By James Thomson

14. The 10 richest Australian celebrities

It's the great challenge of every celebrity supermodel, sportsperson, actor or performer - how do you get fame to translate into fortune? It's not easy, but there is a rare breed that has been able to combine their natural ability and star power with a happy knack for business. In Australia, golfer Greg Norman, model Elle Macpherson and s...

15. 10 secrets of the stinking rich

Short of the dream lottery win, breaking into the ranks of the mega-rich seems unattainable. But the stinking rich have betrayed clues to their success – consistent traits that we can learn from. Here are the top 10. By JAMES BENNETTBy James Bennett

16. Australia’s best super funds for 2010

The task of trying to select the best super funds is filled with traps for uninformed consumers. Take the potential minefield for anyone who focuses solely on trying to hunt down the best performance or extremely low fees but fails to compare premiums for fund-provided insurance. "The differential between the highest price insura...

17. The Young Rich: Top 10 myths exposed

Reaching the über-rich ranks before you turn 40 has generated several urban myths about what it takes to get there. JAMES THOMSON reveals the truth about our young stinking rich entrepreneurs.By James Thomson

18. Australia’s best super funds for 2011

An almost certain way to become highly depressed is to look at the returns of the big super funds' balanced portfolios over the five years to September. Almost all of the annual returns – even of the top 10 performers – failed to match inflation. The median annual return of the hundreds of funds surveyed by s...

19. The best of the best iPhone apps

It's almost impossible to think of a faster growing industry than the mobile application sector. In just 12 months the market has been transformed from virtually non-existent to a sector worth billions of dollars.   The undisputed leader of the sector is Apple. In the last 12 months, its App Store for the iPhone and iPod Touch has recorde...

20. Australia's secret billionaire unmasked

The richest person in Australia isn't billionaire property developer Frank Lowy or gaming mogul James Packer - it is a little-known former school teacher living in the NSW regional town of Scone.   Forbes magazine ranked US immigrant Blair Parry-Okeden as the world's 110th richest person with a fortune of $US4.5 billion (just over $7 billion in Au...

21. Five questions to ask before making an offer on property

We all want to buy our house or investment at the lowest price possible, or at least get good value for our money. On the other hand the vendor wants the highest price he can get, yet you now know that the asking price quoted by the selling agent will usually be more than the owner is willing to take for their home. It's just part of the real estate game - vendors know the price will come down as part of the negotiation process. So ho...

22. Five lessons from NAB’s “bank break-up” marketing camp

NAB’s huge attempt to differentiate itself from Australia’s other big four banks has quickly become an early candidate for marketing campaign of the year – and with good reason.   In today’s media-saturated world grabbing consumers’ attention for more than 30 seconds is hard enough and extending a campaign over four or five days is no mean feat. The bank’s campaign started on Friday with what looked like an errant tweet from one of NAB’s corporate Twit...

23. Our property markets are down but not out

With so many mixed messages in the media about what's going to happen to property I thought I'd take a look at the latest property statistics to see what's going on and look for clues as to where market is headed. Recently Residex released its growth figures for our capital cities for the 12 months to May. As you can see from the table below, Melbourne was the outstanding performer over the last year:

24. Our mystery billionaire?

As a man who doesn't mind the odd flutter on the horses, my eye was drawn this morning to a small story about Zeljko Ranogajec, a reclusive figure who is considered to be one of the biggest gamblers in the world. According to the story in the Australian Financial Review, Ranogajec and his business associate David Walsh, who is best known as the owner of one of Australia's best private art collections, have lobbed a bid to buy Tote Tasmania, the State Government's gambling...

25. Wealthy power-tool entrepreneurs watch empire collapse

Australian power tool empire Global Machinery Company – better known to those handy around the home as GMC – has been placed in receivership by its main lending banker Westpac Banking Corporation. GMC was owned by Melbourne-based entrepreneurs Peter Hosking and Tony D’Antonio. The pair were valued on this year’s BRW Rich 200 at $270 million and were praised for the way they built their fledging tool company into a worthy rival for global companies such as Black & Decker an...

26. Re-inventing a cottage industry

Serial entrepreneur Ryan Trainor, 35, has spent the last year turning a cottage industry into a national, scalable business called Franklyn Scholar.  It has attracted a high profile board and has revenue of $20 million. Amanda Gome talks to Trainor about how ...

27. Commonwealth Bank attacked after posting $6.1 billion profit

The Commonwealth Bank recorded a 42% increase in full-year cash profit to $6.1 billion this morning, and said it remains cautious about prospects for the next year as economic conditions remain uncertain. But the bank, and the financial industry altogether, has been accused of being run by a group of "greedy thieves" by Family First senator Steve Fielding, who says the Government and Opposition should be questioning the size of the banking sector's profit. Commonwealth Bank said i...

28. 2012's Hot 30 Under 30

They are young, smart and hungry for success. Meet SmartCompany's Hot 30 Under 30 class of 2012 – a group of entrepreneurs aged 30 years and younger, drawn from 30 of Australia's fastest-growing SMEs. These 30 young people are well on their way to becoming Australia’s next generation of top entrepreneurs.

29. Why Gina Rinehart is on her way to being the world's richest

Gina Rinehart hates the label “Australia’s richest person”. So how will she and the rest of the country react when - not if - she ranks as the “world’s richest", as can be forecast using the latest research. Citigroup Global Markets, a division of the big US banking group Citibank, provided a glimpse into Rinehart’s future in a major report on worldwide resource projects called Generation Next. The 60-page document looks at 400 mining projects around the world cl...

30. Australia's top female entrepreneurs for 2011

There’s a strong argument that the past year has been a landmark one for Australia’s female leaders.  There’s a woman (Julia Gillard) in the Prime Minister’s office. A woman (Gina Rinehart) has become Australia’s richest person. Two women (Kristina Keneally and Lara Giddings) have become State Premiers, a ...

31. US retailers Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch scout out Australian l

A number of US retailers are scouting locations for future stores in the latest wave of international companies to try their hand in the Australian market, new reports suggest. But international businesses must carefully consider how they will set up their stores and learn from the mistakes of others, one retail expert claims. As reported in the Australian Financial Review, several large clothing retailers including Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch and Forever 21 are currently i...

32. The secrets to Specsavers' super growth

The recently released Sunday Times Rich List of Britain's wealthiest 1000 people contained the usual group of Australian money-management stars, led by Michael Hintze (valued at $837 million on the list), Greg Coffey ($383 million) and Hilton Nathanson ($280 million). But there were also some surprises. Co...

33. Small Business Software and Tools

Starting a business is always difficult, and trying to start one in the middle of an economic crisis be even harder. To add to the problem, many small businesses are unaware of the internet's power when it comes to free business advice. So we've compiled a list of simple small business software applications and tools to help small business managers setup and grow their businesses for little or no...

34. Australia's wealthiest recluses

It's been a bad start to the year for Australia's richest entrepreneurs. While 2010 looks like being a big year for our wealthy business people, the $700 million collapse of Ric Stowe's Griffin Coal mining business has started things off on a poor note. The sheer size of the collapse and Griffin Coal's importance to the West Australian economy have ...

35. Australia's top 30 female entrepreneurs 2012

First she took on Australia, then she took on the world. Mining and media magnate Gina Rinehart is already Australia’s richest person, and word is spreading that she will become the world’s wealthiest individual within years. So it’s no surprise that Rinehart tops SmartCompany’s third annual top female entrepreneur list and drags its...

36. Zara launches in Melbourne, but flow-on effects to surroundi

Zara's second Australian store is set to open in Melbourne this morning, ending months of speculation and anticipation for eager fans who are lining up in droves to attend the first showing of the boutique fashion retailers' newest location. However, some retail experts say the launch isn't necessarily as high-profile as other stores that attract a more wealthy demographic, such as Apple, and may not result in as much extra foot traffic due to the overall weak retail environment.

37. Four more US franchises heading to Australia

Four new US franchises are set to enter Australia, including burger chain Carl's Jr and restaurant group The Melting Pot, lured by the strength of the local franchising sector. It comes just days after clothing chain Gap announced it would be opening an Australian store following years of speculation, with its first Melbourne location set to open its doors before June. Burger chain Carl's Jr, restaurant The Melting Pot, the sports store Golf Etc and elderly assistance group Righ...

38. Why invest in property?

In a recent blog I opened the debate - which is a better investment – property or shares? Of course, this is an age old debate with both sides pretty entrenched in their views. I concluded by saying that if you were still not convinced I would give you 11 reasons why property is a great investment and that's what I'm going to discuss today. Now let me just say that although I s...

39. Revealed: Australia’s top 50 highest earning suburbs

More of the country's wealthiest suburbs can now be found in Western Australia, new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found, with the mining boom displacing traditionally well-off suburbs in New South Wales in favour of the resource-rich west. The latest data shows four Western Australia suburbs were included in the top 10 richest areas in 2008-09, compared to just one suburb five years prior. While the New South Wales suburb of Mosmon takes the top spot, followed by Wool...

40. ATO reveals targets for FY2012 – the wealthy, contractors

The Australian Taxation Office has revealed its targets for the 2011-2012 financial year, with small business benchmarks, wealthy individuals, sham contracting, work-related expenses and employer obligations for SMEs in the tax man’s sights. Releasing its compliance program, the Tax Office says fields as diverse as real estate, hospitality, carpentry, medicine, football and aviation will be in focus for the year to June 30, 2012. Here are some of the key targets the ATO ha...

41. Australians swell the ranks of Britain's richest

The list of the 1000 richest people in Britain, released last week by The Sunday Times, includes no less than 14 entrepreneurs with connections to Australia, including eight who have appeared on BRW's Rich 200.

42. The wealthy women list

On International Women's Day, debate is still raging over whether women have truly cracked through the glass ceiling of the corporate world. But there is still one area of business where women are undeniably under-represented – on the world's rich lists. There are just six women in the top 100 of BRW's Rich 200 list, just ...

43. How the rich made their money

It's the question that has plagued young people and would-be entrepreneurs for years: how do you figure out your path in life when you are not sure what you want to do? In order to find to try to find the answer, who better to ask than Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, who sat down ...

44. Where are we in the property cycle?

Although the Australian property downturn of 2008 came as a shock to many investors, recessions are not a new concept. They are an inevitable part of the economic cycle; intermittent periods of growth and decline that have occurred throughout history. They impact all markets and industries including property. While well-located properties in Australia have doubled in value every eight to 10 years, capital appreciation is obviously not constant each year. Property values tend to rise and...

45. Australia’s best super funds: 2009

Low fees plus exposure to less volatile unlisted assets have cushioned industry super funds from the worst of the global financial crisis and helped secure their near dominance of the short list for super fund of the year, to be announced next month by SuperRatings. Eight of the 10 finalists for the award are public-offer industry funds with...

46. My life, my way, my pubs

The entrepreneur behind Pubboy, Mark Alexander-Erber, is living the Aussie blokes' dream: he owns a dozen pubs.By Amanda Gome Mark Alexander-Erber, 39 and pictured right, is living out the fantasy of many Aussie blokes. He ...

47. Australia's housing market most over-priced in the world –

Housing bubble, affordability crisis, over-inflated markets, growing million dollar medians... the list of less than flattering descriptions for Australia's housing market continues to grow, as both local and overseas media outlets fuel speculation as to the state of our residential real estate sector. Some suggest we are heading for a price crash comparable to that experienced in the US during the GFC, or more recently in Ireland, where the housing bubble caused a monumental collapse in ...

48. 10 big rich mistakes

Believe it or not, our richest entrepreneurs have actually made some mistakes on their way to fame and fortune – and some of them are dooseys. Here are the top 10. By JAMES BENNETT.By James BennettLast month SmartCompany bought you 10 secrets of the stinking rich. Now it’s time to take a look at the other side of the coin. Believe it not, occasional...

49. The new members of the wealth club

One of the best parts about reading any new rich list is looking at the newest members. Despite the dire state of the economy - or perhaps because of it, given the cut-off for inclusion on BRW's Rich 200 has fallen from $200 million to $150 million - there are 15 newcomers. It's an eclectic group. While there are a number of new members ...

50. The 12 most influential people in Australian ICT

The information and communication technology industries underpin almost every facet of our working lives, and increasingly our personal lives too. For many of Australians, it is only when we sleep that we are not "connected" via a mobile phone, PC, notebook or tablet. But who wields power in this increasingly importa...