Alan Kohler is one of Australia’s most experienced commentators and journalists. Alan is the founder of Eureka Report, Australia’s most successful investment newsletter, and Business Spectator, a 24-hour free business news and commentary website. He also hosts Inside Business, a half-hour Sunday programme on the ABC, is the finance presenter on the ABC News - and producer of the nightly graph (or two).
When Ben Bernanke finally makes a substantial call on the future of QE, the question is just how widespread the ruptures will be from shifting markets.
There has been no halt to the Australian dollar's slide but one analyst says it's unlikely to drop to a level where it would greatly affect competitiveness.
When Ben Bernanke finally makes a substantial call on the future of QE, the question is just how widespread the ruptures will be from shifting markets.
Both sides of politics have an interest in pretending Australian prosperity was their handiwork. But before long, global headwinds will reveal Australia’s true position.
Reports by the Parliamentary Budget Office and Treasury confirmed Labor has blown out a structural budget deficit that began under John Howard's government, and the next government has quite a job on its hands.
The political stoush about how much bandwidth Australians might need in the coming years threatens to stifle the conversation needed to deliver the services of the future.
This week China has outlined details of its first carbon trading scheme while its National Development and Reform Commission has recommended an absolute cap on emissions. The moves represent major signs of progress.
In theory, carbon capture would allow energy producers to continue to burn fossil fuels while meeting emissions targets. In practice, the technology is expensive and unproven.
CEOs outline changing views on corporate spending and profits, their economic expectations and political dissatisfaction, including advice for Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.
UK-based Zeebox wants to be the intermediary for all social media-television interactions. It will not only have to lure viewers, but the networks themselves.
Taking the planning process full circle is a huge challenge for many organisations, so why are so many struggling to align strategy with the execution of business goals?
Australian sport's terrible start to 2013 has done amazingly little to turn off sponsors. With both companies and fans so invested, everyone seems willing to cop a few credibility kicks.
Gold medalists Stephanie Rice, Leisel Jones and Libby Trickett might look like marketing goldmines, but given the competition and the struggling economy, things might not go as swimmingly as all that.
Dragging the chain on climate change could do more than damage the environment – it may also alter our marketing image in the eyes of the rest of the world.
With blogs out there said to be raking in over $US100,000 a month, could it be that blogging is actually starting to look like a decent, and credible, way to make a living?
While the wealth of many local entrepreneurs is eroding at a fightening pace, the Rudd government's $42 billion stimulus package could reverse the fortunes of some. Here is a list of the wealthy business leaders set to win big.
A surge in lending by Chinese banks indicates the government's stimulus package is starting to work. But whether the stimulus will make up for the losses from exports remains uncertain.
The rich might not be in a rush to sign up to Facebook or MySpace, but a new generation of very exclusive social networking sites is making the burden of affluence easier to bear.
Viral marketing is fast becoming the preferred method for advertisers to get their brands into the public consciousness and keep them there, but the formula for web-based success remains elusive.
Tourism Australia has this week said its forthcoming global advertising campaign will run for the next 10 years. Well it better be one bloody ripper of an ad then.
Critics might see this week's launch of social networking service Google Buzz as an ill-advised venture onto occupied territory, but there's a method to the search engine's madness.
The approval of a search partnership between Microsoft and Yahoo means increased competition in the market and could eventually throw Google from its throne.
The super-rich aren't known for successfully crossing over into politics, but that hasn't stopped plenty of them from trying. But who's the richest of them all?
Lachlan Murdoch and James Packer lives have many parallels – they even share a birthday. But while the value of Packer's assets is apparent, it takes some digging to uncover the wealth of Sun King's son.
While US regulators cleared Google of antitrust breaches for unfairly diverting traffic to their own services, the Europeans see things differently. But politics may be trumping consumer interest there.
Mobile advertising needs to evolve, and fast. But the solution is not likely to rest with tech heads, rather with the innovative minds in the advertising game.
