Catherine Roberts

2 months ago | smartcompany.com.au | Tegan Jones |Mrinaal Datt |David Adams |Catherine Roberts

Adelaide-based game studio Mighty Kingdom is cutting staff and collapsing senior management roles as part of a major cost-saving effort, following ongoing financial challenges and a turbulent leadership history for the company. Most recently this included the departure of former CEO David Yin just eight months into the role and significant changes within the board.

2 months ago | smartcompany.com.au | Mrinaal Datt |David Adams |Catherine Roberts

Skilled migrants with experience managing small businesses abroad struggle to bring those talents into Australia because of “arbitrary” skills assessment criteria, immigration experts say. Those bottlenecks may be depriving the workforce of productive entrepreneurs, while complicating a migration system some advocates claim is geared against small businesses.

Dec 10, 2024 | smartcompany.com.au | Eloise Keating |David Adams |Tegan Jones |Catherine Roberts

Younger business owners are more likely to be planning to grow their businesses in 2025, while a higher number of older operators say their priority in 2025 is to maintain the status quo. In research provided to SmartCompany exclusively by MYOB, 54% of gen Z business owners nominated growth as their key focus for next year, compared to 34% of gen Y business owners, 27% of gen X business owners, and 10% of baby boomers.

Dec 8, 2024 | smartcompany.com.au | David Adams |Tegan Jones |Mrinaal Datt |Catherine Roberts

A voluntary code that would shield small businesses from prosecution over wage underpayment is yet to be released, just weeks before wage theft becomes a federal criminal offence. Intentional wage underpayment will become a federal crime on January 1, 2025, as a result of the federal government’sClosing Loopholes industrial relations reform package. Companies will face criminal penalties of up to $7.8 million, with individuals liable for up to ten years imprisonment.

Dec 1, 2024 | smartcompany.com.au | Steph Clarke |Jessy Wu |Tegan Jones |Catherine Roberts

It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year; Spotify Wrapped time. This must mean it’s also time for a slew of wrap-up articles and newsletters in your feeds. Because I’m no better than that, I’ve pulled together a few of the most interesting signals of change that I came across in 2024; stories you might have missed, and the ones I can’t stop thinking and talking about. But wait, there’s more.