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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
Phil Ruthven
details the alarming rise in government debt across the globe but argues that Australians have less to lose sleep over.
Why debt matters
Unserviceable debt in the world’s finance industry, with total assets in excess of US$300 trillion, gave us the global financial crisis (...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
John M Green
believes business people should start thinking more like novelists.
Foresight saga
“In hindsight...” Painful, often embarrassing confessions sometimes begin with those words. It is only in the future that you know how smart you are in the present. It’s why hubris is such a ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
Maurice Newman talks to
Tony Featherstone
about the ABCs of sitting on some of Australia’s most notable boards.
Q&A with Maurice Newman
The resume of Maurice Newman AC FAICD reads like a directory. The veteran chairman has served on 44 boards...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
Australia will not thrive in the 21st century if it doesn’t overcome its infrastructure challenges.
Zilla Efrat
investigates how it can free up some of its bottlenecks.
Getting infrastructure back on track
It’s been estimated that Australia...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
Former BHP Billiton chairman Don Argus AC FAICD discussed director nominations at the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors’ annual conference in Melbourne in May. Here is an edited extract of what he had to say.
On choosing directors
Ov...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jul 2010
Dr Michael Petit
offers an alternative perspective on why many acquisitions fail to create value.
How value is destroyed
Global merger and acquisition (M&A) activity is expected to pick up in 2010 compared with 2008 and 2009, with more of this ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2010
A new breed of boards is likely to emerge as part of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s plan to reform the nation’s healthcare system.
Domini Stuart
gains some insights into how they could be created.
Building healthy boards
Challenges of sitting on a hospital board may include
A complex ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2010
With the Rudd Government moving closer to its proposed health reform,
John Mero
flags some of the governance issues and challenges a new breed of hospital boards is likely to encounter.
The hospital governance challenge
Hosp...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2010
The global financial crisis appears to have blown darker clouds across Queensland than any other state.
Tony Featherstone
investigates the many challenges Sunshine State directors have to navigate as the gloom starts to lift.
Making a comeback
In its latest Business Outlook repor...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Jun 2010
Phil Ruthven
investigates whether Australia is indeed an intelligent nation.
Measuring our smarts
If Australia was to judge its goal, as former Prime Minister Bob Hawke once said, as the intelligent nation, then one set of statistics suggests we are a long way short of this aspiration.
F...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
While future carbon legislation remains uncertain, there is no escaping the emerging low-carbon world.
Zilla Efrat
reports on how companies that do not manage the risks will lose out.
Winning in a low carbon world
No escape
Carbon emissions cannot be ...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
Many organisations have already assessed their carbon footprints and whether they comply with state and Federal regulations. But what do they do next to reduce their carbon emissions?
Andrew Griffiths
and
Alexander Stathakis
provide some pointers.
Beyond carbon compl...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
With the economy on the up, it’s time to start branching out again.
Nichola Clark
provides some pointers on how SMEs can start repositioning themselves for growth.
Sowing the seeds for growth
SMEs repositioning for growth should focus firmly on
Relations with their bankers
Plan...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
Tony Featherstone
reports on how problematic executive remuneration is becoming for directors.
The growing REM headache
The executive pay debate has focused mostly on the link between CEO pay and performance and board effectiveness in setting appropriate remu...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
John M Green
suggests it may not be the proxy advisory firms that are the problem, but some of the institutions that hire them.
Proxy by proxy
During each year’s annual general meeting season, directors come out blasting at corporate governance proxy advisory firms. It’s mostly d...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 May 2010
Proxy advisers have come under attack recently, accused of being poorly resourced, not having the expertise to handle complex issues and using a tick-the-box approach.
Tony Featherstone
weighs into the debate and discovers there are two sides to the story.
Too much sway...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2010
A number of reform initiatives could lead to an overhaul of the not-for-profit (NFP) sector. We asked three NFP directors how they believed the role of directors could change and what new challenges could be created for them.
Shaking up the NFP sector
Darren Beazley MAICDPresident, Asth...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2010
Belinda Gibson
reports on an ASIC Summer School session that examined corporate governance in the post-GFC environment.
Corporate governance beyond the GFC
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) annual Summer School recently held in Melbourne explored the them...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2010
Phil Ruthven
uses statistics to uncover just who Australia’s best leaders have been.
Australia’s great national leaders
There is any number of lists of “greats” be they sportspeople, inventors, politicians or other cohorts. But statistics are a must if the list is to have credibility.
Austr...
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Content Type:
CDM Article
01 Apr 2010
The Bradley Report and global financial crisis have created many challenges for university boards. And, as
Domini Stuart
reports, there are more higher learning tests to come.
Higher learning challenges
University board challenges will include:
Implementing changes from the ...