Each week, Report on Business editors choose five stories that shouldn't be missed. Here are the 'must reads' for the week of Oct. 26, 2009.

John Woods for The Globe and Mail

A loonie's thickness is measured after being pressed

Don't loathe our lofty loonie

Let's all step back and take a deep breath, writes economist David Rosenberg. For years when the Canadian dollar was trading around 60 cents, exporters did indeed reap the rewards, while importers were hit hard by rising costs. Our exports to the U.S. did improve, but we needed that source of growth as an antidote to the pain from the budget belt-tightening during the 1990s. Of course, there was no shortage of complaints from snowbirds headed south.... While it may be a roadblock for our manufacturing sector, the loonie's ascent is good in many respects. Our purchasing power and standard of living are actually going up. Read the full story

The big whack: Currency collapse drives McDonald's out of Iceland

Icelanders like Jon Ogmundsson have endured many hardships in the last year, including soaring inflation, rising unemployment and a banking crisis so serious the country nearly declared bankruptcy. Now Iceland's battered economy is claiming one more victim – McDonald's. The country's troubled currency, the krona, is to blame. It has lost almost 70 per cent of its value against the euro in the last 18 months, driving up the cost of imports including the beef, cheese and special sauces Mr. Ogmundsson brings in from Germany. Read the full story

Reuters

A wharf at the Port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan.

Taiwan seeks a new path to economic success

Made in Taiwan. Not so long ago, those three words were nearly as ubiquitous on toys, electronics and other products as “batteries not included.” But as this tiny island of 23 million struggles to get up after getting hammered by the recession, many here fear that the world-famous “Made in Taiwan” brand may be another casualty of the downturn. Taiwan is still a leader in research and development, but outside of laptop computers, little of what it produces reaches consumers directly. Many items that once reached store shelves in North America and Europe branded “Made in Taiwan” now have the final touches put on them in China or Vietnam instead. Read the full story

Fernando Morales/The Globe and Mail

Marty Solcz, COO of Valiant Corp., at one of the Valco factories in Windsor, Ont.

Auto parts makers target new markets

The automotive meltdown over the past year has delivered a blaring wakeup call to Canada's auto parts makers – the need to diversify. The near failures of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC sent shock waves through the North American parts industry as plummeting vehicle production battered business for many companies. Eager to insulate themselves from any further deterioration in the sector, parts companies are now hitching their fortunes to broader industrial areas by tapping into everything from solar and wind energy technology to consumer products, aerospace and mining equipment. Read the full story

David Chartrand, president of the Manitoba Metis Federation, comforts his three-year-old grandson Isaiah as he gets vaccinated against the H1N1 flu on the opening day of public clinics in Winnipeg, Monday.

In the battle against H1N1, these ads are different strains

Most global campaigns – say, for movies, music releases, or software launches – are driven centrally by a single corporation. But the approaches to combatting H1N1 are as varied as the territories themselves. And while the aim of most marketing is to sell a product, ad industry executives admit that changing human behaviour – vital in fighting disease – through conventional advertising presents a far tougher challenge. But while other countries recognize the need to grab a viewing public with entertainment value, Health Canada's tv commercial purely informational and bland, Simon Houpt writes in his Adhocracy column. Read the full story