Archive for September, 2009

Use Positioning Strategy To Demolish Competition

September 25th, 2009

Find a product attribute which captures the customer’s imagination. Look at the problem with fresh eyes and fresh data. Find a new attribute customers can get excited about and focus your positioning around it.
Market share gains are expensive. Market share comes at a heavy cost and your product planning and positioning must reflect this or [...]

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How Good Are Economic Forecasters?

September 25th, 2009

Economists come under pressure from investors when their forecasts miss the mark. And justifiably so. Aust analysts CommSec have looked at the performance of economic forecasters in estimating 77 indicators over 2009. The top five forecasters over 2009 so far are UBS, Westpac, CBA, Goldman Sachs JB Were and ANZ. But the rankings change dramatically [...]

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Management - How Apple Manages To Win

September 25th, 2009

Over time, Apple has built a seasoned management team optimised to support bold new product initiatives (and recover from the occasional flop). Here are a few of the techniques Apple’s management uses to make the magic happen.
1. Ignore fads. Apple has held off building a cheap miniature laptop to respond to the “netbook” fad, because [...]

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Treasury Says Recession May Be Over

September 25th, 2009

In a piece of huge positive news, Treasury says the recession may be over and unemployment is not likely to reach previously expected heights. Its prediction is based on the international recovery, positive migration figures, rising business and consumer confidence and an improving housing market.
Treasury expects the June quarter to be “the last quarter of [...]

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Will Bollard Buckle On Rates Promise?

September 18th, 2009

Foreign-exchange traders are betting Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard will abandon his promise to keep interest rates at a record low. Bollard has hit back, saying the markets have difficulty accepting the fact interest rates can stay stable and they are frequently wrong.
But the evidence for a shift is compelling. With the Kiwi dollar appreciating [...]

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Oil - THE 4th Pillar For NZ’s Economy

September 18th, 2009

Oil production is becoming a fourth pillar of the NZ economy, behind dairy, meat and tourism. Latest figures show in 2008 oil export earnings ranked third behind dairy and meat in merchandise trade.
Crude oil and condensate production rose 57% to 2.5m tonnes in the year to December 2008 from 1.6m tonnes in 2007. The [...]

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Brownlee Proposes Mining On Conservation Land

September 18th, 2009

What Gerry Brownlee proposes as far as mining on conservation land goes can be summed up in three sentences: “We are going to be far more pragmatic and supportive than the previous administration towards exploration and mining activity. Of course we must be cognisant of our responsibility to the environment. But mining and the environment [...]

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NZX’s Trading Supervision Role To Go?

September 11th, 2009

Commerce Minister Simon Power is hinting the Govt is likely to move supervision of market trading away from the NZX. Power points to a recent Aust decision to move supervision and enforcement of Aust’s domestic licensed financial markets from the Australian Securities Exchange to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. This is the equivalent of [...]

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Small Firms Start To Bust Recession

September 11th, 2009

A new business confidence survey shows the engine room of NZ business, the SMEs are starting to come out of recession, but they’re upset with the Govt’s response to their sector’s suffering. The Research NZ Business Confidence Report for July shows some strong positive sentiment, with half of those surveyed predicting better conditions within six [...]

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Regions Say ‘No’ To Big Trucks

September 11th, 2009

Regional transport committees for most of the upper North Island - including Auckland - oppose allowing heavier trucks on main roads despite Govt and industry predictions of productivity gains and fuel savings. Local Government NZ has also raised concern about the costs for ratepayers of fixing local roads, as diesel road user charges cover only [...]

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Brownlee Proposes Mining On Conservation Land

September 8th, 2009

The Govt has ignited a new storm with hints it will push forward NZ’s game of catch up with Aust in the economic stakes by opening parts of the Conservation Estate to mineral exploration. Aust’s ability to withstand the current recession has been down in large part to the Asian driven resources boom, which, apart [...]

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Older Staff - Still Worth Having

September 4th, 2009

Figures from Britain show the value of having older workers. They show over-sixties employed by McDonald’s are making the fast food chain more profitable than their younger colleagues.
Data from its 400 British outlets shows customer satisfaction is 20% higher where older people are on the staff. About 60% of McDonald’s UK’s 75,000-strong workforce are under [...]

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Be Ready When Recovery Arrives

September 4th, 2009

Dennis Laundy business advisory director at Adelaide firm William Buck says businesses need to be ready to ramp up production when the economic recovery takes off and recent indications suggests it is not too far away. Laundy says the upswing, when it arrives, is likely to happen very quickly.
Consumer optimism is rising, and Laundy says [...]

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Cadbury Caves In On Chocolate Change

September 4th, 2009

Cadbury is to get rid of palm oil from its chocolates after a public outcry. The firm started using the oil recently as part of a cost-cutting exercise which also saw the 150g and 250g bars shed about 20% of their weight. Replacing a portion of the cocoa butter ingredient with palm oil raised the [...]

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Demographic Change Will Affect Your Business

September 1st, 2009

Most societies are ageing rapidly and simultaneously facing a dramatic decline in the number of births. What are some of the main implications of this demographic change? Japan is ageing so quickly it is investing in robotics, especially for childcare and aged care. Another spin-off from ageing is bio-technology; in short, a race is on [...]

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