Category: News

The office of Small Business in the Queensland department of Tourism, Major Events, Small Business
and the Commonwealth Games – yes I’m serious, that IS where the government puts small business – reports that its guide to SWOT analysis is the hottest property on the website at the moment.

The office offers a range of useful and popular guides to business, ranging from the basics of marketing to dealing with complex human resource issues. THe information is totally free and relatively in depth.

The information I have included below is from one of six pages about the SWOT analysis tool. This page is a guide to a successful SWOT analysis. The others discuss what it is, when to use it, the benefits and limits of this tool and how to do it as well as a worked example.

Throughout the text there are links to other guides and in-depth information elsewhere on the department site.

Westender thoroughly recommends the site to our business readers and partners in the Chambers of Commerce which we support.

Tips for a successful SWOT analysis

Before conducting a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis, decide what you want to achieve with it and consider whether it is the best tool for your needs.

If you decide a SWOT analysis is the best tool, the following tips will help you get the most out of it.

• Keep your SWOT short and simple, but remember to include important details. For example, if you think your staff are a strength, include specific details, such as individual staff and their specific skills and experience, as well as why they are a strength and how they can help you meet your business goals.
• When you finish your SWOT analysis, prioritise the results by listing them in order of the most significant factors that affect your business to the least.
• Get multiple perspectives on your business for your SWOT analysis. Ask for input from your employees, suppliers, customers and partners.
• Apply your SWOT analysis to a specific issue, such as a goal you would like to achieve or a problem you need to solve, rather than to your entire business. You can then conduct separate SWOT analyses on individual issues and combine them.
• Look at where your business is now and think about where it might be in the future, as well as where you would like to be.
• Consider your competitors and be realistic about how your business compares to them.
• Think about the factors that are essential to the success of your business, and the things you can offer customers that your competitors can’t. This is your competitive advantage. It’s useful to keep these in mind when conducting a SWOT analysis.
• Use goals and objectives from your overall business plan in your SWOT analysis.

Conference and demonstration supporting peace and independence – Canberra, APRIL 21-25th 2014

If you care about:

• Australia’s involvement in foreign wars and drone murders
• Foreign troops and/or bases on Australian Soil
• Expensive arms purchases
• The US alliance

Be part of IPAN’s campaigns promoting Peace and an Independent foreign policy for Australia.

An extended gathering of peace activist and peace makers to reflect on the state of peace in our times, to build movement and to plan and take action for peace in this time of militarism, government lies and preparations for war.

Events will include:

• the first national meeting of IPAN on 21 April. Likely at a Canberra venue.
• a one day conference hosted by IPAN on 22 April covering such themes as militarism and sustainability, the cost of the US alliance, the Asian Pivot and US bases. download the Conference Brochure here.
• movement response to the Gallipoli centenary 2015.
• a three day, open forum retreat at Silver Wattle
• a direct action together likely on morning of 24 April
• participation in the Anzac eve Peace Vigil at the Australian War Memorial 24 Apr
• participation in the “Lest We Forget” the Frontier Killings Anzac Day March at the Australian War Memorial.

Tent camping permitted near the Aboriginal Tent embassy Silver Wattle Quaker Centre as a residential base for those who want and can afford it:

On Sunday 4th May, staff and supporters of Community Plus (the organization that manages West End Community House, Annerley Community Centre and Yeronga Community Centre) will be taking part in the Great Brisbane Bike Ride to raise much needed funds for their ongoing activities.

Brought to you by Bicycle Queensland, the ride caters for all levels with distances ranging from 30 to 110 kilometres. Cyclists will ride over the Gate-way Bridge and along the Inner City Bypass before separating into those who will complete the challenge of the grueling Mt Coot-tha circuit and those who will ride the more gentle River loop, all finally crossing the finish line at West End.

JOIN THE PEDAL!

Want to take part?

1) Register via www.everydayhero.com.au set up a personal fundraising page, and join the Community Plus Pedal Power Team.

2) Register for the ride via www.coot-tha.bq.org.au

3) Contact Carolyn Peterken via carolyn-peterken@yahoo.com.au and let her know you are interested. Carolyn can send you guidance on how to sign up for both Everyday Hero and the bike ride

Not your thing? Simple!

Support a cyclist representing Community Plus at the Great Brisbane Bike Ride via their personalised Everyday Hero fundraising page.

Go to https://give.everydayhero.com/au/community-plus-pedal-power and click on “give now” to support one of the team members.

What’ll they think of next? 

Easter chocolates, along with our favourite everyday foods, could taste just as good but be healthier in future, thanks to new technology that is revealing the science of chewing. 

CSIRO’s 3D mastication modelling is starting to provide researchers with new understanding of how to reduce salt, sugar and fat in food products, as well as how to incorporate more fibre and nutrients, and even how to create new food sensations. 

CSIRO biomechanical engineer and computer modeller, Dr Simon Harrison, said the world’s first 3D dynamic virtual mouth can provide detailed insight for developing healthier foods. 

Just in time for Easter, Dr Harrison has modelled a caramel filled Easter Egg to see what happens when the virtual mouth takes a bite. 

“In polite company, we can’t see inside someone’s mouth while they’re eating and, until now, it has not been possible to view how the chewing process alters food,” Dr Harrison said.

“Using a cutting-edge technique called smooth particle hydrodynamics, we’ve developed a virtual mouth built on real data about the physics of chewing. It predicts how a particular food breaks down and how flavour is released in the mouth. It also shows the distribution and interaction of components such as salt, sugar and fat. 

“Through this technology, we can view and analyse how food at the microscopic level works in the mouth, and how it influences our taste perception.”

This new data and understanding is helping to develop foods lower in salt, sugar and fat without changing the taste. 

CSIRO food materials scientist, Dr Leif Lundin, believes the benefits for the food industry could be enormous. 

“This technology will give food and ingredient manufacturers the ability not only to model the breakdown of a complex food product, but also the individual components,” Dr Lundin said. 

“It can also model the costs of making changes to a product, and then calculate the cost benefit. This will save time and money, compared to using the traditional ‘cook and look’ approach. 

“Our research should also help create new taste sensations that could find their way into new products on our supermarket shelves.”

Heritage Bank unveiled their top-secret project The Heritage Power Suit yesterday in Brisbane.

Made from 100% Superfine Australian Merino Wool by Australian tailor M.J. Bale, overseen by Japanese master tailor Kenichi Kaneko.

The Heritage Power Suit has a built-in Visa payWave chip in the sleeve, which is connected to your Heritage Bank account.

All you need to do is wave your arm to make a payment.

One out of the twelve prototype suits will be auctioned on Ebay and all the proceeds made from the auction will go to Mat Rogers’ 4 ASD Kids charity.

M.J. Bale CEO Matt Jenson says the most powerful men don’t carry wallets and the suit will allow you to be ahead of the technology game and look top notch.

“This suit allows you to join their ranks.”

“M.J. Bale has always been a brand for stylish gentlemen, the prototype means the wearer doesn’t need to ruin the cut of their trousers or jacket with a bulky wallet.”

Heritage Bank CEO John Minz says we all live incredibly fast lives, yet still want to look good and use cutting-edge technology.

“We are all about enriching people’s lives by embracing such new technology and finding innovative ways to help them do their banking.”

“Forgetting your wallet will now be impossible.”

Visit the Ebay auction here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261452304995

Learn more about the suit here: http://www.heritage.com.au/powersuit

Learn more about 4 ASD Kids here: http://www.4asdkids.com

Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s great act of solidarity with all who suffer – including asylum-seekers – according to Dr Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne.

Jesus suffered a horrific death which seemed to mark a crushing and humiliating end to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of love, compassion and justice that Jesus had come to proclaim and that his life was a shining witness to.

The dreadful violence and suffering that he endured was apparently the opposite of everything that he represented. The power of evil, it seemed, had triumphed. Here, indeed, was a sense of complete abandonment by God, expressed so poignantly in Jesus’ last words, quoting psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Yet, paradoxically, this moment of apparent utter dejection, despair and failure was the very moment God’s love for us was seen most clearly for what it is. Here, in Jesus’ total self-surrender and self-emptying, was the supreme manifestation of God’s love for humankind. As St John puts it, “this is how God showed his love among us.”

Just as Christians believe that all people are made in the image of God, so we believe that the face of Jesus can be seen in all those on the margins of society – including the poor, the prisoner and the asylum-seeker. Jesus told us that whenever we do something for the least of people, we also do it for him.

The crucifixion was God’s great act of solidarity with all those who suffer, and He continues to share the suffering and pain of millions today who suffer through poverty, persecution, violence and cruelty, including the millions of displaced people in the world, Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers in offshore detention. The list goes on.

When we fail to respond to the cries of need among our brothers and sisters of whatever race, creed or background we fall short of our full humanity to which Christ bore witness and to which God calls us.

Good Friday was not to be the end of Christian hope – violence, suffering and death were not to have the last word. Jesus was to live again; and the Gospel accounts of the resurrection, as well as the lives of the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection appearances, are a powerful testimony to this.

Jesus lives still – a profound, life-transforming reality each one of us can experience if only we are prepared to open up our hearts and minds to His presence within and among us.

Christians believe this truth lies at the heart of reality, and millions of followers over the last 2000 years have born witness to it, and have been inspired by it to live out the Christian ideal of love, compassion and selfless service.

I invite you to make a pilgrimage to the heart this year, and to experience the love of the risen Jesus that dwells within, a love that embraces all.

Archbishop Freier will preach at the 10am Service on Easter Day in St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

See his Easter message on YouTube at: http://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/Easter