ARE YOU GETTING PAID OVER A $1000 a week for your employee to be absent? 

—You can if your employee is an ADF Reservist.

Do you need to conduct research or looking for demographic data and don’t know where to begin?

Bill Hovey asks just how prepared are you for your exit and succession from the business?

With so many grants on offer, how do you pick the best one for you?

Every business needs a plan to survive in a crisis. Along with generic and industry specific risks, contingencies should be in place for unexpected disasters such as floods, terrorist attacks, and computer hacking issues.

Innovation in business is about new ideas, products, services, marketing and distribution methods, but it’s also about the culture of an organisation. Success isn’t just about satisfying a desire in the market but also creating growth for that desire. So, what are the necessary characteristics of a business that will encourage innovation?

Innovation may be the key to running a successful business, but ideas need finance to get them to market. Here is a guide to government and private industry grants and awards programs, for SMEs in need of funding.

Increasing productivity and performance to grow your business doesn’t just happen, and it certainly doesn’t happen overnight. Market research and benchmarking will be vital tools to capitalise on opportunities and adopt best practice techniques.

The recent share market downturn is likely to force many SME owners who are approaching retirement age to seek higher prices when selling their businesses to compensate for the reduced value of their superannuation investments.

Customer loyalty programs in the marketplace today all compete for the same thing— new and repeat business. The key to running a successful program is to plan wisely for it.

About 80 percent of all businesses in Australia are run by families, so the trends that affect them are likely to come your way. They’re facing skill shortages and corporatisation, but with the potent combination of love, power, and money in the mix.

This is the first in a regular series by Bill Hovey, who shares his extensive knowledge and expertise with SME owners to help prepare the way for your inevitable departure from the business.

What do you think the change in government means for SMEs? What will be the key impacts and how should small business owners adapt to the new government?

There's a gap in the market but is there a market for the gap? Here’s how niche businesses can find and maintain a corner of a market while fending off competition.

Managing a fleet of cars goes beyond just the car itself. We sift through some of the tools needed to build an efficient fleet, and save on the price.

While it’s important to take a close look at the mechanics of your business, to keep improving you also need to be aware of what’s going on in the industries around you and how to improve your foothold in the marketplace. Barry Urquhart shows us some keys to innovation, even offering lessons on what businesses can learn from Australian farmers

Importing can give a business a unique niche at home, and can also be necessary to manufacturing products for export. Adeline Teoh looks at the crucial steps for setting up for import, and where you can find specific answers to particular questions.

From standard business mail to bulk freight, businesses are distributing items every day, adding costs to the bottom line - Rebecca Spicer explores distribution options and how to develop a cost-effective strategy to meet individual needs

A business plan is to a business what a game plan is to an athlete, or a map is to a bushwalker - It’s essential to get you where you want to be - It reflects a structured approach to thinking strategically about the future of the business, while considering the present situation, writes Charisse Gray.

A study into small and medium enterprises conducted by accounting firm RSM Bird Cameron reveals seven critical success factors for these businesses, writes John Heggie.