The South African National Treasury has welcomed the recommendations of the Executive Overview of the Banking Enquiry Report by the Competition Commission which was released on Wednesday, 25 June 2008. 26 Jun 2008
The year-on-year producer price inflation (PPI) for all commodities in South Africa came at an unexpectedly high 16.4% for May 2008 compared to the 12.4% in May 2007. 26 Jun 2008
Global cosmetics brand, Maybelline, and SA's youth title, seventeen, have announced the inaugural Maybelline/seventeen 'Cover Look' competition. 26 Jun 2008
Learn more about wine and get up close and personal with leading winemakers at the hands-on Wine Magazine Tasting Theatre at this year's Stellenbosch Wine Festival taking place from 31 July - 3 August 2008 at the Paul Roos Centre in Stellenbosch. 26 Jun 2008
The more diverse a company's range, the better it will be able to fend in a time of down-trading and belt tightening. 26 Jun 2008
Government is making biosafety a priority not only in terms of genetically-modified organisms in food but also in terms of food products entering the country's borders. 26 Jun 2008
How important is service to maintaining brand equity? While intuitively most brand managers know that service excellence is one of the contributors to brand equity, its contribution is rarely quantified. In fact, doubts may exist as to whether service excellence even matters - especially in markets where both product and service appear to be essential to the value offered. 26 Jun 2008
For most companies, a corporate ad that spreads virally on YouTube is nothing short of a dream come true. Not so for JCPenney, which is protesting a racy and unauthorised ad that took the video sharing site by storm - until YouTube removed it. 26 Jun 2008
The recently released PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2008-2012, underscores the importance of continuing to extract revenues from traditional business segments while emerging technologies continue to solidify their consumer position. The report shows global compound annual growth rate (CAGR) at 6.6% for the sector, anticipating it reaching $2.2 trillion in 2012. 26 Jun 2008
NEWSWATCH: The Consumer Price Index (CPIX), excluding interest on mortgage bonds, has breached expectation to hit 10.9% in May, it was announced earlier today, 25 June 2008. It was anticipated to reach only 10.8% after it's rise to 10.4% in April. Analysts have forewarned consumers that interest rates may go up again. 25 Jun 2008
The price of oil and the disruptive force of a changing energy infrastructure is touching nearly every corner of the world's economy, and that includes CRM. Get ready for fewer face-to-face meetings and even more reliance on technology and over-the-Web interactions. 25 Jun 2008
The proliferation of portable computing is fueling the need for mobile embedded security solutions. By enabling new applications while overcoming the risk of thefts and infringements, mobile security has become a vital requirement for both consumer and enterprise applications. 25 Jun 2008
Vendor meetings and site stress tests are just a couple of the typical daily tasks for IT department executives at e-commerce companies. Then there are long-term goals - such as overall site redesigns - that they try to work toward each day. 25 Jun 2008
The Westwood Mall, the 35,000m² regional shopping centre situated on the southern edge of the newly developed Westwood Estate in KwaZulu-Natal, is rapidly taking shape. This R650 million development is co-owned by Retail Africa and Spencer Gore Developments and is the retail component of recently completed Westwood Estate. 25 Jun 2008
Starting the Wimbledon tennis season with a dash of glamour and style, Maria Sharapova served up an ace on the catwalk with the unveiling of the Sony Ericsson Maria Sharapova Design Collection of mobile phone accessories to a select audience of international lifestyle journalists flown into London for the occasion. 25 Jun 2008
A new study, conducted by consumer intelligence firm BIGresearch, into the media and shopping behaviour of consumers at work, finds that Americans are spending 60% of their waking hours at work, more than ever before. Hence... 25 Jun 2008
“…Senior executives must understand their responsibilities for the management of information - claiming ignorance of poor practices is no defence…” Many firms are failing to manage their unstructured information, which can comprise 80% of their total data, effectively - and that could be very risky. 25 Jun 2008
A British voice-recognition firm is rolling out back-end software to accompany its voice payment system that's been on the market for just over a year. Voice Commerce Group added Voice Transact to its Voice Pay system. The system verifies a caller's identity using his voice signature, which can be used to pay for goods, transfer funds or withdraw cash. 24 Jun 2008
The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) has named data quality management company InfoBlueprint as the first accredited data services supplier for South Africa's Product Data Catalogue (PDC.za), an initiative to improve supply chain management in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. 24 Jun 2008
Private individuals as well as security industry players are invited to attend a series of topical workshops being held at Securex by the South African Security Association (SASA) from 25 - 27 June 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre, open from 10am - 5pm daily. 24 Jun 2008