Heaven is high, and the Emperor is far away This is my favourite Chinese saying. It’s particularly useful when trying to placate a frustrated Ai Group member who can’t understand why the import documents she submitted successfully to Customs in…
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Reflections on the 19th round of RCEP negotiations Even the most casual observer of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) will recognise that there are member economies at very different stages of economic development. This is part of the challenge in…
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What happened to the dollar in July? The Australian dollar (AUD) has risen sharply against the US dollar (USD) during July 2017 (see chart 1). Indeed, the AUD is now nudging up to 80 US cents, for the first time…
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The US Government has introduced rules that will change the way all Australian Exporters send airfreight to the US. The rules will come into force on July 1 and will not be delayed and cannot be avoided. Currently, most of…
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Digital technology has revolutionised modern trade and the products and services that we are able to sell to the world. Blockchain Technology, Industrial Internet of Things (IOT) and electronic communication are all essential elements of a globally competitive industry. A…
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International competitiveness is hard to quantify. It means more than simply being cheapest or even having the best product. It requires companies to be customer focused, innovative, and agile. It means that companies should have access to infrastructure and information…
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Are you interested in checking out business opportunities in Iran? How could the Former Norwegian Prime Minister help you? In the aftermath of the Trump Administration’s travel ban, there were many individual stories of heartbreak and missed opportunities. One that…
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Australian manufacturing has staged a small but extremely welcome comeback in 2016, after suffering a sustained period of shrinkage since our most recent peak in 2008. This partial recovery has been evident across a number of key industry-wide metrics: Ai…
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The Queensland economy entered a period of milder growth in 2016, no longer buoyed by the mining investment ‘super cycle’ which included the construction of large-scale mining and LNG facilities across the State. In 2016, residential construction acted as a…
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In my last blog on manufacturing employment (November 2016), I reported that Australian manufacturing was experiencing a limited but very welcome jobs recovery in the first half 2016. This was in line with the results of Ai Group’s Australian PMI®,…
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