e-spaces

ArcelorMittal announced yesterday that steel prices are going to increase a further 18% in April, this brings the increase to about 71% since January 2008.

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Gross domestic product (GDP) data released by Statistics SA is frustrating because of its lack of detail. Without information on subsectors, it’s difficult to identify precisely the source of growth in a given period, or the reason for its absence.

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Furniture rivals JD Group and Lewis are taking very different approaches to how they finance their customers’ purchases: JD Group is moving to separate its consumer loans business from its retail operations while Lewis is sticking to its guns and will keep the two together.

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ILIAD AFRICA Absa Capital’s indicative private equity offer to take out this building materials distributor raises the question of how sustainable the construction boom is.

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Algoran also in partnership with a local supplier and have introduced a hand cleaning dispenser outside retailers for their customers before using shopping trolleys. I read somewhere recently that shopping trolleys have on average more germs than your household toilet.

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Strategic giving can build up a company’s success, not just its image! Corporate social responsibility, which is also a green issue, can be a confusing term. It should have three facets. The first is obeying the letter and the spirit of the law – being ethical, transparent and fair, having integrity. A second aspect is mitigating or remedying any operational harm that companies do, particularly an environmental harm.

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By David Abrahamse 

Even Woolworths like Wal-Mart sells organic cotton these days, but you definitely don’t have to be a retailing behemoth to take your business in a green or organic direction. In fact small retailers have an advantage when it comes to reaching customers who care about the cause as well as the products. It’s a highly underrated opportunity for retailers. Organic and green products are growing exponentially wordwide and South Africa is just staring to catch on.  

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McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food chain, wants the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) to rewrite its definition of the word “McJob”.

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Shoprite chairman Christo Wiese may well wince when he hears that the Absa Capital private equity deal to acquire Steinhoff’s local furniture making business took three weeks to put together.

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BLACK DIAMONDS Research into South Africa’s black middle class seems to back up anecdotal evidence and criticism from trade union Cosatu and others that the rich are benefiting at the expense of the poor.

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