To fuel the innovation process, you need a whole stack of ideas, some great, some just worth a try. We ask businesses how they capture the great ideas floating in and around their organisations and turn them into small steps to better business or game changing innovations.

Competition among not-for-profits is tough. Success can depend on a strong brand, smart marketing and transparent corporate governance, as much as it does in any commercial business. But it's not enough to earn a great name. You have to keep it. Surf Life Saving Australia is learning tough lessons, the hard way.

How can general practice be managed to deliver bang-for-health-dollar-buck to the government, healthcare outcomes for patients and a respectable ROI for the business?
UQ Business School's Dr Robyn King considers which management systems bring efficient business practice to general practice.

Your cultural background may determine how you react to bad customer service, suggests a study led by UQ Business School and conducted across the US, Australia, Thailand and China. Companies seeking to expand internationally, beware, one culture's polite complaint can be another culture's outraged outburst.

It's time for leaders to step up. The world faces a range of complex, global challenges: resource depletion, food security, global financial instability, demographic imbalance and climate change. Business can be part of the solution, but are our business leaders up to the job? Associate Professors Bernard McKenna, David Rooney and Dr Hannes Zacher consider wisdom as a prerequisite for leadership.

How can a small firm with a second-rate product challenge big business and end up dominating the market? Disruption - the concept often used to explain such shifts - is now at the centre of a heated debate.

In sport, as well as business, improving performance is about creating an environment that enables people to grow and develop. A former Olympic coach explains how it’s done.

Working with local communities is different to dealing with other types of customers or stakeholders. However the ability to engage with them and win their support is a valuable skill that offers opportunities to generate both profit and social value, says social entrepreneurship expert Dr Lance Newey.

Do X-Politicians come back as company directors?

There is life after politics, but is it in business? When politicians join company boards in Australia, the share price is more likely to drop than when a non-politician is appointed, says UQ Business School research. Don’t shareholders value the expertise that our former leaders bring to the boardroom? Or perhaps it’s a vote of confidence in our democracy?