---

2008 June:   Business

---

Anchor:   Base Index
Other months:    May  July
Other areas:    Climate  computing  education  health  international  Internet  science  social  technology  Others
Topics:   Agriculture  banking  carbon  climate  competition  consumerism  copyright  corruption  economics  environment  fraud  free trade  freight  globalism  management  manufacturing  marketing  media  money  newspapers  outsourcing  pay  policy  politics  privatism  publishing  social  television  trademarks  wealth

---

Carbon

(see also in Climate)

last  down  top   back  on

Philip Hopkins, Forestry claims role in carbon trading, The Age, 2008 June 30 (Australian forestry is a net carbon sink and its inclusion in the national emissions trading scheme could help drive international greenhouse policy)
Emissions trading: Creditworthy, Economist, 2008 June 28 (a new rating agency aims to separate emissions reductions from hot air)
Mark Milner, The Friday interview: Taking concrete steps with no carbon footprint, Guardian, 2008 June 27 (trying harder is not enough, says the head of engineers Atkins, Keith Clarke—we have to change)
John Vidal, No smoke without ire, Guardian, 2008 June 25 (climate change activists are targeting coal-fired power stations and new opencast mines in a wave of direct action that echoes the protests of the 80s and 90s; but this time, their goals are global)
Philip Hopkins, Tax Office takes tree line on carbon, The Age, 2008 June 24 (a new Federal Government law that will enable money spent on planting trees as a carbon sink to be a tax deduction is likely to spur investment in carbon sequestration projects)
The Future of Energy: Dig deep, Economist, 2008 June 21 (carbon storage will be expensive at best; at worst, it may not work; part of a special report)
Technology and climate change: Computing sustainability, Economist, 2008 June 21 (how computers can help to cut carbon emissions)
Carrie Lafrenz, Industrial products are carbon tax 'weak link', The Age, 2008 June 20 (industrial product companies staring down the barrel of carbon crunch, with sector ill-prepared to deal with upcoming carbon trading platform, new research suggests)
Adam Morton, Cost to offset desal plant's carbon footprint hits $42m, The Age, 2008 June 16 (offsetting the Victorian desalination plant's contribution to climate change will add $42 million a year to its electricity bill, a new analysis shows)
Juliette Jowit, Cargo ships told to go green by slowing down, Observer, 2008 June 15 (speed limits in the world's shipping lanes will be proposed today by transport secretary, Ruth Kelly)
Chris Hammer and Adam Morton, Is it crunch time for coal?, The Age, 2008 June 14 (brown coal is cheap and abundant in Victoria but so high-polluting it may become prohibitively expensive once carbon trading begins; 'clean coal' is the industry's great white hope, but it may be wishful thinking)
Buttonwood: Let them heat coke, Economist, 2008 June 14 (how green taxes hurt the poor)
Mathew Murphy, New international standards organisation hopes for plenty of carbon copies, The Age, 2008 June 9 (eight leading carbon reduction and offset providers are set to announce a global alliance designed to build support around standards in the voluntary carbon market and promote credible carbon management strategies)
Mark Gregory, The great carbon bazaar, BBC, 2008 June 4 (evidence of serious flaws in the multi-billion dollar global carbon credit market is uncovered by the BBC)
Chris Hammer, PNG forest logging threatens emission scheme, The Age, 2008 June 2 (doubt has been cast on Australia's planned emissions trading scheme by research on Papua New Guinea forests)

Competition

(see also Marketing)

up  down  top   back  on

Carmel Egan, Aldi brands Coles, Safeway retail bullies, The Age, 2008 June 29 (Aldi accuses retail giants Coles and Safeway of muscling out smaller rivals by striking deals that prevent them from setting up business in suburban shopping centres)
Nassim Khadem, Inquiry as Goliaths muscle in on loans, The Age, 2008 June 6 (concerns about eroding competition in home loans market will be the focus of federal inquiry)
Intel fined by S Korean regulator, BBC, 2008 June 5 (Intel is fined 26bn won by South Korea's competition regulator after being accused of anti-competitive behaviour)
Elliot Fishman, Oil: they're not making it any more, The Age, 2008 June 2 (the usual supply-demand dynamics don't work with a commodity that is finite)

Consumerism

(see also Social and in Social)

up  down  top   back  on

Terry Macalister, Rising bills will pay for low-carbon economy, Guardian, 2008 June 27 (household gas bills could rise by 37% and electricity by 13% as consumers pay for green revolution)
Ari Sharp, Rising costs spark retail gloom, The Age, 2008 June 18 (fears of rising interest rates and petrol prices have trumped expectations of next month's tax cuts, driving down consumer sentiment to the lowest in the four-year history of a Sensis confidence gauge)
Mario Xuereb, Driving towards a changing world, The Age, 2008 June 15 (it's not just a matter of ditching the car and taking the train: rapidly rising oil prices are forcing an across-the-board shift in the way we live)
Daniella Miletic, Confidence crashes to 15-year low, The Age, 2008 June 12 (consumer confidence crashes to its lowest level in more than 15 years, as record fuel prices and high interest rates cast a growing pall over the Australian economy)

Copyright and Trademarks

(see also in Internet and Technology)

up  down  top   back  on

Rhapsody embraces MP3 music files, BBC, 2008 June 30 (US digital music service Rhapsody is the latest company to embrace MP3 downloads without copy restrictions)
Graeme Philipson, Imagine a world without copyright, The Age, 2008 June 24 (anyone can copy anything, anywhere with the latest technology)
Leonie Wood, Big stick waved at 'black balloon' use, The Age, 2008 June 20 (it was a powerful and highly successful public awareness campaign, one that two years after it was crafted the Victorian Government is desperately keen to protect)
AP, AP to hammer out deal with bloggers, The Age, 2008 June 18 (the Associated Press, following criticism from bloggers over an AP assertion of copyright, plans to meet this week with a bloggers' group to help form guidelines under which AP news stories could be quoted online)
Graeme Philipson, Teaching the world to sing, The Age, 2008 June 16 (a new Australian website called Song Central is designed to get songwriters in touch with musicians and others who might perform or even record their songs)
Mark Sweney and Richard Wray, 3 wins ad copyright case, Guardian, 2008 June 13 (corporate use of rival trademarks set to change as four-year legal battle ends in landmark court ruling)
Graeme Philipson, Digital copyright: it's all wrong, The Age, 2008 June 12 (a draft treaty proposes draconian measures to protect copyright)
Michael Geist, Trade agreement could hit privacy, BBC, 2008 June 10 (Internet law professor Geist examines implications of new anti-counterfeiting agreement)
Jewel Topsfield, Copycat barbs ignite new front in culture war, The Age, 2008 June 6 (cultural warriors Keith Windschuttle and Robert Manne again lock horns, with each accusing the other of plagiarism)
Michael Cross and Charles Arthur, Traditional census 'is obsolete', Guardian, 2008 June 5 (intellectual property rows over public-sector data stand in the way of an accurate population count)

Economics and Policy

(see also Money)

up  down  top   back  on

The Fed's fight to stop contagion, BBC, 2008 June 27 (details about the US Federal Reserve's decision to offer emergency loans to Wall Street banks earlier this year have been published)
Scott Murdoch, Inflation the key threat, The Age, 2008 June 27 (the Reserve Bank and the US Federal Reserve face similar challenges)
David Hirst, US banking system is doomed, The Age, 2008 June 25 (US banking won't survive in its current shape and its death will be painful)
Ross Gittins, The butterfly effect, The Age, 2008 June 18 (countries do not operate in a vacuum, hence the global consequences of growing economies in China and India)
Martin Feil, Foreign debt devil in the detail, The Age, 2008 June 16 (any attempt to explain away foreign debt needs more than some slippery statistical revisions and the mealy-mouthed view that it is private debt and has nothing to do with the government of the day)
Ross Gittins, Rational thinking and emotion: one without the other is a dangerous thing, The Age, 2008 June 9 (humans are emotional creatures, capable of great feats of reasoning and scientific discovery)
Ross Gittins, Dose of economic sociology helps unravel the theory, The Age, 2008 June 8 (if markets worked the way economists say they should, they would be more unstable)
Nassim Khadem, Foreign debt hits the trillion-dollar mark, The Age, 2008 June 4 (Australia's foreign debt topped $1 trillion for the first time in the March quarter, as the nation borrowed at record levels from the rest of the world to finance its spending habits)

Environment

(see also in Health and Science)

up  down  top   back  on

Xan Rice, Wildlife and livelihoods at risk in Kenyan wetlands biofuel project, Guardian, 2008 June 24 (controversial sugar cane plantation to occupy more than 80 sq miles of Tana river delta; plan approved in area prone to food shortages; farmers and fishermen say protests ignored)
Martin Flanagan, When the river runs dry, The Age, 2008 June 21 (acidity, salinity, depleted bird life—parts of the Murray are dying, says author and river campaigner Paul Sinclair, even if scientists want to call it "changing form"; what's also at stake is an intricate system of connectedness between all things)
David Rood, Pipeline dream for advocates of Lake Mokoan, The Age, 2008 June 20 (parts of parched Lake Mokoan area in north-east Victorian will be sold to help finance Brumby Government's $20 million restoration of soon-to-be decommissioned reservoir)
Danny Savage, Biologists call for balloon ban, BBC, 2008 June 11 (marine conservationists want a ban on mass balloon releases because of the damage they can do to wildlife)
Dobbers to net 18,000 litter bugs, Dobbers to net 18,000 litter bugs, The Age, 2008 June 1 (more than 18,000 people are set to be dobbed in for littering in Victoria this financial year, but the EPA does not want you to call it dobbing)

Fraud and Corruption

(see also in Internet and Social)

up  down  top   back  on

Kathryn Hopkins and Kit Davies, Debt helps to push business fraud up by 74%, Guardian, 2008 June 30 (report by accountants BDO Stoy Hayward reveals fraud has cost British businesses £705m in last six months)
Kate Lahey, Probe into CBD's 'phantom' voters, The Age, 2008 June 18 (a nine-level storage building, full of boxes and paperwork, is also the registered address for more than 200 voters for Melbourne City Council elections)
Glenn Kessler, Cronyism claim on Burma aid, The Age, 2008 June 14 (just seven days after cyclone Nargis devastated Burma last month, its rulers promised key sections of the affected Irrawaddy Delta to favoured tycoons and companies, according to a news magazine)
John Silvester, New rules aim to weed out crooked police, The Age, 2008 June 5 (Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon plans to scrap a discipline system that senior police claim shields corrupt officers and protects incompetent ones)

Globalism and Free Trade

(see also in International)

up  down  top   back  on

Capital inflows to China: Hot and bothered, Economist, 2008 June 28 (despite strict capital controls, China is being flooded by the biggest wave of speculative capital ever to hit an emerging economy)
John Legge, Ordinary people pay big price for free trade, The Age, 2008 June 27 (free trade is simply a mechanism to benefit a few at the expense of many)
Juliette Jowit, Biggest firms call for huge cuts in emissions to start green industrial revolution, Guardian, 2008 June 20 (political leaders called on to act by heads of 100 large global companies)
Daniella Miletic, Grass greener in US for Victa, The Age, 2008 June 5 (the unpretentious and iconic Victa lawnmower no longer Australian-owned after its sale to a US-based engine company)

Management

(see also in Computing)

up  down  top   back  on

Ruth Williams, Boards under scrutiny in MP report, The Age, 2008 June 25 (many company boards could "substantially improve" their system for choosing new members, a bipartisan report has ruled, warning that board patronage and dominance of an "entrenched few" directors was unhealthy and contrary to shareholders' interests)
James Adonis, Life lessons learned the hard way, The Age, 2008 June 24 (political scandals offer management many examples of what not to do)
Simon Caulkin, It ain't what you change, it's the way that you do it, Observer, 2008 June 22 (although management has achieved much, it has now ossified into a barrier to change)

Manufacturing

(see also in Technology)

up  down  top   back  on

The Future of Energy: Another silicon valley?, Economist, 2008 June 21 (the rise of solar energy, in one form or another; part of a special report)
Carrie Lafrenz, Industrial products are carbon tax 'weak link', The Age, 2008 June 20 (industrial product companies staring down the barrel of carbon crunch, with sector ill-prepared to deal with upcoming carbon trading platform, new research suggests)
Automotive technology: A baffling range of new types of car gearbox, Economist, 2008 June 7 (has broadened the choice far beyond manual and automatic; part of a Technology Quarterly)
Ian Porter, GM Holden planning to build smaller vehicle in Australia, The Age, 2008 June 9 (GM Holden has given the strongest indication yet that it will start producing a smaller car locally)
Ian Porter, Cast iron cast aside in quest for new and clean engines, The Age, 2008 June 7 (if conditions for local car makers were not so serious, yesterday's announcement of the closure of GM Holden's four-cylinder engine plant might have become something of a celebration)
Ian Porter, Production line stalling a bummer for Hummers, The Age, 2008 June 5 (soaring fuel prices force General Motors to shut four American plants that make sports utility vehicles and utilities, and consider selling its Hummer division)
Iain Carson, Only stiff rules will drive car makers to see past the petrol, Guardian, 2008 June 4 (throwing subsidies at biofuels is a waste of time; manufacturers will deliver improvements when they are forced to)
Kim Carr, Manufacturing decline is all made up, The Age, 2008 June 4 (the Federal Government has taken steps to boost manufacturing output)

Marketing

(see also Competition and in Internet)

up  down  top   back  on

Nick Miller, Paid doctors just drug spruikers, The Age, 2008 June 21 (pharmaceutical companies consider doctors in their pay to be little more than salespeople spruiking their products, drug industry whistleblower admits)
Behavioural targeting: Not necessarily a bad idea, Economist, 2008 June 7 (a new way to target online advertisements could do a lot of good; but only if it is handled sensitively)
Mario Xuereb, Well, latte-da—your coffee shop says things about you, The Age, 2008 June 1 (the next time you order a coffee, ask yourself what you're really after)
Laura Demasi, Trends in high places jump on the brand wagon, The Age, 2008 June 1 (the new frontier of the globalised world relies on the ability to spot and implement fashions)

Media and Television

(see also Newspapers and in Technology)

up  down  top   back  on

Ed Pilkington, The human search engines, Guardian, 2008 June 30 (investigative journalism has been one of the first casualities of a cash-strapped media climate—but a new website hopes to redress the balance)
Polly Toynbee, The miserablists need a politics they can believe in, Guardian, 2008 June 24 (the number one culprit in fostering gloom is the media, but politicians meanwhile give us little to be optimistic about)
Richard Wray, ITV seeks to cut public service output before digital switchover, Guardian, 2008 June 23 (ITV plans to reduce children's output and restructure regional news in order to focus on programmes that attract advertisers)
John Elder and Daniel Vigilante, Carefully screened, plugs can put wind in the sales, The Age, 2008 June 22 (the cunning placement of products on the screen, now banned in Britain, is going great guns in Australia)
Owen Gibson, Entire BBC archive to go online, The Age, 2008 June 12 (from Doctor Who to David Attenborough's finest, Hancock's Half Hour and Life on Mars, the BBC vows to create a home on the web for all its programs past and present)
Richard Wray, Welsh-language channel invests in TV-on-PC venture, Guardian, 2008 June 5 (S4C, the Welsh-language broadcaster, is investing in an internet television company backed by Wales's first billionaire, Terry Matthews)
Jesse Hogan, Moves afoot to switch off TV gambling, The Age, 2008 June 4 (Opposition communications spokesman Bruce Billson is seeking bipartisan support to overturn the recent introduction of pay TV gambling in Victoria)
Mathew Murphy, Messenger trusted if scientific, The Age, 2008 June 2 (Australians are more likely to trust information from scientists and environmental groups on global warming than views given from business, government or the media)
Katie Allen, Going the way of VHS: DVD industry braces itself for march of the download, Guardian, 2008 June 2 (Blu-ray's rise will only delay the eventual demise of digital discs for home viewing)
James Robinson, BBC accused of sexism on news flagship, Observer, 2008 June 1 (insiders on Ten O'Clock News speak out as number of reports from women plummets)

Money and Banking

(see also Economics and Wealth)

up  down  top   back  on

Banking: Tread carefully, Economist, 2008 June 28 (a credit downturn should be familiar territory for banks; think again)
Allan Hall, Bankrolling terror—the German company behind dictator's cash, The Age, 2008 June 28 (a German firm that grew rich under the Nazis is underwriting the terror in Zimbabwe by printing the banknotes Robert Mugabe needs to pay for his machinery of repression)
David Hirst, US banking system is doomed, The Age, 2008 June 25 (US banking won't survive in its current shape and its death will be painful)
Michele Hanson, They treated me like a criminal fraudster, so even the bank's £5,000 offer can't buy my goodwill now, Guardian, 2008 June 24 (I am going to cut my credit card into pieces and hurl it into a sewer—once I no longer need it for the holiday car hire)
Mathew Murphy and Jesse Hogan, Bank in crisis as shares collapse, The Age, 2008 June 13 (one of Australia's biggest investment banks, Babcock & Brown, is in crisis after a collapse of investor confidence that sends its share price plummeting)
India raises rates unexpectedly, BBC, 2008 June 11 (India's central bank unexpectedly raises its benchmark interest rate to 8% in a bid to counter inflation)
Investment banks: Out of the frying pan, Economist, 2008 June 7 (and into the line of fire of those keen to constrain Wall Street's free-wheeling ways)
Central banks: Playing politics with the Fed, Economist, 2008 June 7 (by refusing to confirm new governors, Congress is putting the world's most important central bank at risk)
The European Central Bank: Ten years on, beware a porcine plot, Economist, 2008 June 7 (the euro has been a success, but its biggest test is still to come)
Ashley Seager, Memo to central banks: stop cutting interest rates, Guardian, 2008 June 5 (Paris-based club of the world's 31 wealthiest nations warns of the inflationary perils from surging food and oil prices)
Joaquín Almunia, The euro is a triumph, Guardian, 2008 June 2 (ten years after it was launched, the single currency has proved the sceptics utterly wrong)
Tim Colebatch, Banks under fire over 'unfair' fees, The Age, 2008 June 2 (pensioners increasingly having to mortgage their homes to repay credit card debts they have run up, review commissioned by banks reports)

Outsourcing

(see also Pay and in Social)

up  down  top   back  on

AFP, Outsourcing life's tough or mundane tasks, The Age, 2008 June 30 (one woman outsourced the breaking off a relationship)
Ben Schneiders, Workers undermined by Qantas outsourcing, The Age, 2008 June 27 (Qantas will attempt to further undermine its licensed engineers by outsourcing work for 11 aircraft to local contractors John Holland and cancelling the maintenance work it does for a dozen overseas airlines)
Offshoring: So much for the scare stories, Economist, 2008 June 7 (new evidence shows that the gains outweigh the losses)

Pay and Wealth

(see also Outsourcing and in Social)

up  down  top   back  on

George Monbiot, Crime is falling—but our obsession with locking people up keeps growing, Guardian, 2008 June 24 (wealth, and the desire to preserve it, is what drives citizens of rich nations to demand an increasingly punitive justice system)
Say on pay in America: Fair or foul?, Economist, 2008 June 14 (shareholders in America want more influence over bosses' pay)
Executive pay in Europe: Pay attention, Economist, 2008 June 14 (European politicians have declared war on "excessive" executive pay—but companies are more prudent than they think)

Privatisation and Private Equity

up  down  top   back  on

Ari Sharp, New face of private equity in retail buy-outs, The Age, 2008 June 4 (a report has challenged the view that private equity takeovers will continue to wane, arguing that the high cost of credit is pushing private equity firms to restructure their deals rather than miss out altogether)

Publishing and Newspapers

(see also Media)

up  down  top   back  on

James Doran, Besieged US newspaper journalists face final deadline, Observer, 2008 June 29 (in newsrooms across America scores of writers and editors are being laid off as publishers reel from the impact of the internet)
Jesse Hogan, Reuters ready to pull plug on AAP, The Age, 2008 June 26 (stories from global news giant Reuters are set to disappear from Australia's newspapers because of a contract stalemate with the nation's big publishers)
Angelique Chrisafis, Is this the end of Le Monde?, Guardian, 2008 June 23 (dogged by debt and with staff relations at an all-time low, France's left-of-centre daily is fighting to ward off corporate raiders; Chrisafis explains the crisis and assesses the paper's chances of survival)
Peter Preston, Time for retreat in the battle of the freesheets, Observer, 2008 June 22 (sentiment and red ink don't mix; so bang, last week, went News International's once highly touted but lately unsuccessful magazine division)
James Robinson, Westminster's blog pioneer turns to the printed word, Observer, 2008 June 22 (Iain Dale is launching a magazine on the back of his online success)
David Smith, Sacked at 40 and on the scrapheap. Now Brummie tops US book charts?, Observer, 2008 June 22 (Hollywood beckons for Lee Child as his bestselling crime novels beat the Americans at their own game)
Miriam Steffens, TV, print urged to embrace digital, The Age, 2008 June 20 (established media companies such as television broadcasters and publishers will have to team up with smaller companies savvy in new technologies if they want to stay relevant and grow over the next five years, according to analysts at PricewaterhouseCoopers)
AP, AP to hammer out deal with bloggers, The Age, 2008 June 18 (the Associated Press, following criticism from bloggers over an AP assertion of copyright, plans to meet this week with a bloggers' group to help form guidelines under which AP news stories could be quoted online)
Book publishing in America: Unbound, Economist, 2008 June 7 (publishers worry as new technologies transform their industry)
MCT, Kindle sparks interest despite early skepticism, The Age, 2008 June 6 (here's one reason why you may want to take the hardcover of David Sedaris' new book to the beach instead of the digital version for Amazon's Kindle: sand between the pages won't ruin a good story)
Matthew Ricketson, Report sees online boost for papers, The Age, 2008 June 2 (the development of online news websites has rejuvenated the print medium in the eyes of readers, according to a study)

Social

(see also Consumerism)

up   first    top   back  on

Andrew Hewett, Where business and human rights intersect, The Age, 2008 June 4 (Australia can help ensure that food and livelihoods are valued more than gold)

---