Many of us were left aghast at a keynote speech by the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg earlier this year when he proposed a push for changes in taxation to encourage companies to follow the model of John Lewis, the UK department store group, which is ‘owned’ by its employees and distributes its profits between them. In his speech he claimed that businesses owned by their staff are more dynamic and have higher morale.

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Ewen Anderson at Centralis explains how organisations can manage IT consumerisation in an efficient and secure manner, boosting productivity and employee satisfaction while delivering on longer-term strategic objectives.


Western Power brings electricity to Australia’s fastest growing region. Fuelling that growth is costly; but the Perth Solar City programme is helping to solve the grid’s problems—and those of its customers too.

As the hub for Western Australia’s mining activity, lying close to the port of Fremantle, the city of Perth has been the recipient of a great deal of state and federal investment to ensure its infrastructure keeps pace with its strategic economic importance.


Taste Holdings manages franchises, developing efficient and customer-focused brands tailored towards South Africa’s discerning diners and consumers of jewellery.


In the 15 months since listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, junior exploration company Radar Iron (ASX: RAD) has established a pipeline of iron ore prospects in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia. Managing director Jonathan Lea talks to Gay Sutton about the thrill of the chase.


The franchise industry is booming in South Africa, thanks to changing consumer spending habits, an increase in innovation and a willingness to explore new ways of working.


Jaguar Land Rover has announced the creation of 1,000 new jobs at its Halewood Operations manufacturing facility near Liverpool.

The new positions are to support ongoing demand for the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Freelander 2, and will take the workforce at Halewood to almost 4,500.


NASA and General Motors are jointly developing a robotic glove for astronauts and autoworkers to help them do their jobs better and reduce the risk of repetitive stress injuries.

The Human Grasp Assist device, known internally in both organizations as the K-glove or Robo-Glove, resulted from NASA and GM's Robonaut 2 – or R2 – project, which launched the first humanoid robot into space in 2011. R2 is a permanent resident of the International Space Station.


France Telecom-Orange and Publicis Groupe have partnered with Iris Capital Management to invest in technology companies, it has been announced.

Orange said the partnership would create one of Europe’s premier venture capital investors in the digital economy. Together, Orange and Publicis Groupe will contribute €150 million to the initiative; when added to Iris’ pre-existing funding commitments from investors, this will result in a total investment capacity of more than €300 million.


The latest figures from the US Department of Labor and the Commerce Department give rise to optimism for the recovery of the US economy.

The Labor Department has reported an increase of 233,000 private sector jobs last month, while the unemployment rate remained at 8.3 percent, its lowest level in nearly three years.

The number of new jobs being created has been consistently above 200,000 in each of the past three months, fuelling hopes that the US recovery is gathering pace.