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.

Once your business has outgrown its home or serviced office, the choice to lease or buy a commercial property will be crucial. Rebecca Spicer weighs the options, taking into account financial and practical considerations.

Getting extra cash into your business can mean anything from a quick top-up from your bank, to involving investors and taking the business to another level. Cameron Bayley considers cash injection options.

A lot of the analysis a business owner does is retrospective, but a marketing plan is all about the future. And it begins with thinking big. Rob Hartnett examines the many small steps needed to bring big ideas to fruition.

As a way of developing your business, franchising has a lot to offer - But, Cameron Bayley finds there’s a lot involved before and after you hand over your processes to a franchisee.

Don’t dismiss branding as a multinational phenomenon - Look at what they do, and adapt it to your SME situation - Cameron Cooper looks at the important steps in building a brand, and vehicles for promoting it.

If you’re looking for ways to ease the start-up phase or grow your business through innovation, technology parks and business incubators are a good place to start.

Innovation is key to survival in business to keep financial services relevant and stay ahead of the competition - Just like business, financial services need to evolve to stay in the game - The latest innovation in financial services is Individual Managed Accounts (IMA), which provide a synergy between service and product.

South Australia is a smaller market compared to many other states - and that’s the point - While it may not lead the way in the country’s exports, Cameron Bayley still finds exporting to other markets is vital to many South Australian businesses, and hugely important to the state’s economy.

Travelling the world to write about it sounds like a dream job (especially for us journalists), but Tony and Maureen Wheeler insist it is hard work. Sixty million books later, they talk to Rebecca Spicer about how they’ve used their passion for travel to build one of the world’s most renowned brands, Lonely Planet.

She’s not exactly reinventing the wheel, but Ann Cummings is certainly trying to make sweet-tooths see an old favourite in a new light.

Charity begins … with a business plan! Monica Higgins takes a look behind the scenes at some successful charities and finds that many commercial business structures are crucial to their survival, too.

After succeeding as a chef and restaurant owner, Victor Pisapia came up with the idea of Cheeky Food Group, teaching people to cook and present food in teams. Hannah Tattersall visits this dynamic entrepreneur’s kitchen to find him cooking up another successful career.

If you are serious about exporting, it’s important to take the right steps in the right order - It begins with research, develops into an export plan, and gets off the ground with help from various sources - Charisse Gray considers the crucial steps and looks at the help on offer.

The New Year offers opportunities to up the ante in that only constant in our lives: change - What will we change, to improve our business as well as life in general? We surveyed some of Australia’s top business minds to get their resolutions for 2006.

E-commerce sounds great in theory, but many small businesses get bogged down in the practicalities. Angus Kidman talks to three business owners who have taken the plunge, and learns from their experiences.

Work experience and motherhood gave Victoria Lewis the idea for Freckles, a colourful and fun homewares range for kids. But she had no idea when she made the first sale that she’d soon be supplying several international markets, as well as a seemingly insatiable home market. Rebecca Spicer reports.