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With a starting budget of $3000, Kristina Karlsson now runs an empire with annual revenue of $30 million. Amy Birchall reports In 2001, 24-year-old Kristina Karlsson convinced her partner to sell his house to finance the opening of her boutique stationery store kikki.K in Melbourne. It was a risky move for Swedish-born Karlsson, who had no retail, design or business experience, and spoke English as a second language.

Our role in Japan's time of need. By Tim Harcourt

A year on from the tsunami and earthquake disasters that killed 19,000 people, Japan continues to rebuild domestically as well as in international trade.

Resilience and the generosity to offer a helping hand in times of crisis are Japanese traits, of which I got my first taste at age four, when my father was taking a sabbatical at Keio University in Tokyo. A Japanese family moved out so we - a family of six - could live in comfort.

Kodak's downfall was partly a result of being product-orientated, rather than customer-orientated. By Leon Gettler. Kodak filing for bankruptcy protection is a lesson for managers. Commentators say Kodak was blind to the disruptive forces that transformed an industry, but it's more complicated than that. Founded in 1888, Eastman Kodak was the Apple of its day with its pioneering technology, while its marketing was well ahead of its time. At one stage, Kodak gave away cameras in exchange for getting people hooked on paying to have their photos developed.

Daniel Grollo doesn't just have big shoes to fill, he has many shoes to fill in a family company with a history going back to the 1940s. Tom Skotnicki reports. Portraits of the family patriarchs, Luigi and his son Bruno Grollo, sit symbolically in the Grocon boardroom.

The Beatles were arguably the most influential rock group in history, but what can we learn from Brian Epstein's short and tragic life as their peerless manager?

As the world teeters on economic chaos, business leaders need to plan ahead to weather the storm. Leon Gettler reports. The new hyper unpredictability of uncertain times and a shaky global economy has been reflected in the Australian stock market. It defied the predictions of market commentators, who at the beginning of 2011 predicted the Australian stock market would put in a strong performance.

In today's fast-paced world, everyone seems time-poor. But there are ways to make the most of our hours to achieve our goals, writes Hannah Flannery. Force yourself to spend the next five minutes on a task you have been putting off. "It's incredibly energising," says Glenda May, executive coach, organisational psychologist and author. The five-minute secret is just one of May's 52 tips for making the best use of precious time.

Duncan Lewis has been on many important missions, but the new head of the Department of Defence may be facing his toughest to date.

People hate failing, but Siimon Reynolds says there is much to be learnt when things don't work out, as Gerard McManus discovers. In the vast industry that comprises self and organisational improvement, there are literally tens of thousands of book titles on the art and science of success, but very few on the subject of failure. Perhaps it is human nature to want to emulate the success stories, to follow the exploits of achievers and the brilliant, rather than pick over the carcasses of that most unwanted cohort in modern society - losers. Indeed, failures are the

From a one-man band almost 22 years ago, Bell Shakespeare has grown into a national icon, writes Amy Birchall. John Bell, artistic director and founder of Australia's only national touring theatre company, Bell Shakespeare, says: "It takes a certain stubbornness to not give up. "In the first six or seven years of this company it was a real struggle. Every one or two weeks the board would say 'Can we afford to go on, can we find the money, can we pay the wages', and I would say 'Oh yes, we must go on.