PetroSA wins international award

Copyright: je1196

PetroSA together with its joint venture company, GTL.F1, has won the prestigious Petroleum Economist Award for Project Innovation of the Year 2007 for its Gas-To-Liquids (GTL) technology.



Judging criteria for the category was as follows:

Nominees should be able to demonstrate:

• The use of new technology in developing and completing the project
• The application of revised procedure to accommodate unusual developments and tackle challenges
• The completion of at least one stage of the project, which commenced in 2007
• A multi-disciplined team approach or a significant cross-border involvement
• Plans for further innovations and investment in the project area

Fair play is the name of the day

Sunday the 21st of September is FIFA Fair Play Day which coincides with the United Nations' International Day of Peace.

"I am delighted to see fair play celebrated on this day because promoting sportsmanship is synonymous with promoting ethical values, a subject close to my heart. Football may teach us to win, but it also teaches us how to accept defeat with dignity. It teaches us to respect the rules of the game, and also to respect our opponents, our team-mates, the referee and the spectators. Football rejects doping, corruption, racism and violence and promotes healthy values," said FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter.

FIFA has invited all of its 208 member associations to celebrate this day by highlighting the values of fair play.

FIFA is highly committed to these values and, at its various competitions, honours teams whose sportsmanship is impeccable with the FIFA Fair Play Trophy, as well as with various medals, diplomas and a cheque for the purchase of Adidas equipment for youth teams.

Fifa Press Release

The impact of a recession on Brands

Brand Finance, a brand valuation consultancy, revealed the impact of recession on the top 100 leading global/US brands in their report Brand Value in a Recession which is an update of the Brand Finance 500 report published in May this year.

The report reveals that between January and September the brand value of these brand dropped to US$67 billion - a drop of 4.2%.


“In the current climate, it is essential to understand the absolute value of brands and what drives their value,” said David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance.

He continued, “The BRANDFINANCE Global 500 report provides an insight into the effect of recession on leading brands. There is clear evidence that basic, value for money brands like WalMart, AT&T, Exxon and McDonalds are performing very strongly, particularly when they invest consistently in advertising and marketing. By contrast unnecessary or discretionary brands like Starbucks, Nike, Coca Cola and L'Oreal are declining in value as consumers watch their finances more carefully.”

“There is also evidence at the global level that developing world brands are growing rapidly. Samsung, Tata, Bank of China and Lukoil are all good examples of this phenomenon.”

The study is calculated by Brand Finance based on the widely used and technically superior “Royalty from Relief” methodology, which assumes that a company does not own its brand name, and then calculates how much it would have to pay to license it from a third party.

Article published in Bizcommunity.com

SA Development Indicators 2008

This 2008 edition of Development Indicators summarises data on trends mainly for the period up to the end of April 2008.

Like the previous edition, this year’s publication contains information sourced from official statistics, government databases and research by local and international institutions, which has been clustered into ten broad themes:

• Economic Growth and Transformation

Incl. GDP, FDI, CPI, Bond points spread, SA's competitiveness, Knowledge-based economic outlook etc

• Employment

Incl. Employment/Unemployment and Expanded public works programme (EPWP)

• Poverty and Inequality

Incl. Per capita income, Living standards, Inequality measures, Poverty gap analysis etc

• Household and Community Assets
Incl. Water, Sanitation, Electricity etc.

• Health

Incl. Life expectancy, Mortality, HIV prevalence etc.

• Education

Incl. Educator - learner ratio, Enrolment, Senior certificate pass rate, Matriculants with mathematics passes etc.

• Social Cohesion

Incl. Strength of civil society, Voter participation, Confident in a happy future for all races,
Identity based on self-description, Pride in being South African etc.

• Safety and Security

Incl. Number of all crimes, Contact crime, Property crime, Detection rate, Charges referred to court, Conviction rate, Inmates, Road accidents etc.

• International Relations

Incl. Peace operations, Democratically elected governments in Africa, Real GDP growth in Africa, Tourism, Mission operations and diplomats trained, International agreements

• Good Governance

Incl. Tax returns, Audits, Corruption perceptions, Budget transparency, Public opinion on delivery of basic services, Ease of doing business, Green house gas emissions, Demographic data

Each indicator is summarised in terms of policy goal, data table and/or graph, and trend analysis.

Revisiting the Long Tail

Publishers Weekly had an interesting article How fat is the Long Tail? referring to a presentation of Anita Elberse, associate professor at Harvard Business School, at the annual meeting of the Book Industry Study Group (BISG).


"Elberse said that while the growth of online retailing has resulted in the expansion of products that are available for sale in the long tail, there is little evidence to show that sales of niche products have significantly increased. “The tail is getting longer, but it isn’t getting fatter,” Elberse asserted, referring to Anderson’s contention that with more items in the tail, sales will increase."


Basing her presentation on the sales of video's and music, DVD rentals and music subscriptions Elberse disagrees with Anderson's argument that expects customers to move away from the
blockbusters—and appreciate obscure offerings more finding that:

• Light users of a product category are a relatively large proportion of the customers of the more popular products


• Niche products have a double disadvantage:
  (1) They are not well known
  (2) When they finally become known, their customers consist of people “who know better” ‒ they like the more popular products more

Her advice to publishers?

1. Do not radically alter current resource allocation or product portfolio management strategies. One or more winners still go a long way, and probably even further than before.


2. When producing niche goods intended for the tail end of the distribution, keep costs extremely low. The odds of success are not favorable here either,
   and they will likely become less so.

Her advice to online retailers?

1. Broaden your assortment with more niche products.


2. Strictly manage the costs of offering products that will rarely sell.


3. Resist the temptation to direct customers to the tail too often, or you’ll risk their dissatisfaction.

For more details about the study, read ʺShould You Invest in the Long Tail?ʺ/Anita Elberse, Harvard Business Review 86, nos. 7/8 (July ‐ August 2008), pages 88‐96.

Advertising and your children

Copyright erikdungan ()

The new regulations governing advertising to children have finally come out and Bizcommunity.com has asked various advertising and marketing agencies for their comment and analysis.

In the first in this series of articles, the overall impression, according to Draftfcb, is that the spirit of the Consumer Goods Council of South Africa's code appears to be sound.The aim of the new legislation is to protect children from marketers trying to promote unhealthy lifestyles and when asked what this means for marketers and ad agencies and how they are affected, Draftfcb strategic planning director, Rita Larisma, told Bizcommunity, "Perhaps because the original rumours around revised legislation on marketing to children were so draconian, the final code of advertising, despite its increased strictness, seems quite reasonable."

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Turning research into rewards

Copyright barunpatro

Which universities get the most bang for their research buck? Forbes Entrepreneurship assembled a list of the top 15, based on a 2006 survey (the most recent data) of 189 schools by the Association of University Technology Managers, which tracks university-born patents and licensing revenues. (Stevens came in at number three; Stanford, number nine.)

Total research-related income generated by all 189 schools: $1.5 billion.

Another HE report released

This time it is the OECD which has released their Education at a Glance 2008:OECD Indicators report enables countries to see themselves in the light of other countries’ performance.

It provides a rich, comparable and up-to-date array of 28 indicators on the performance of education systems and represents the consensus of professional thinking on how to measure the current state of education internationally.

The indicators look at who participates in education, what is spent on it and how education systems operate and at the results achieved. The latter includes indicators on a wide range of outcomes, from comparisons of students’ performance in key subject areas to the impact of education on earnings and on adults’ chances of employment

Highlights include:

• Meeting a rapidly rising demand for more and better education is creating intense pressures to raise spending on education and improve its efficiency.
• The total amount of public spending on educational institutions rose in all OECD countries over the last decade, on average by 19% between 2000 and 2005 alone, and in Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland and Korea by more than twice that amount.
• Another visible indication of the efforts governments are making can be seen in the fact that, over the last decade, the share of public budgets devoted to education grew by more than one percentage point – from 11.9% in 1995 to 13.2% in 2005

University news from Africa

SOUTH AFRICA: Report warns of freedom inroads Karen MacGregor
An exhaustive probe into institutional autonomy and academic freedom by a task team of South Africa's advisory Council on Higher Education has found that government's steering of universities has "grown more directive, less consultative, and occasionally prone to hierarchical decree". It proposes a range of actions including greater commitment on the part of the government to negotiating with universities on planning and funding.

SOUTH AFRICA: Race debacle vc resigns Karen MacGregor
Six months after a racist video showing white Afrikaner students abusing cleaners at the University of the Free State hit the headlines and prompted international outrage, the vice-chancellor has resigned. Professor Frederick Fourie said stress caused by political divisions and tensions in the university council and community had been "extremely draining" and he was stepping down "in the interest of transformation" and development at the university.


ZIMBABWE: Three students targeted for sanctions Clemence Manyukwe
Canada has slapped targeted sanctions on three Zimbabwean university students whose parents are accused of propping up the regime of dictatorial President Robert Mugabe. They are the first students to appear on a Canada list that now features some 180 politicians, entities and officials, spouses and children targeted for travel restrictions and an assets freeze.

ZIMBABWE: Economic crisis keeps universities closed Clemence Manyukwe
Zimbabwe's public universities have failed to re-open due to an escalating economic crisis, student unions have confirmed. Most universities were supposed to open last month or early this month, but lecturers have either gone on strike or there are no funds for operations.


NIGERIA: Polytechnics and colleges to award degrees Tunde Fatunde
Selected polytechnics and colleges of education will soon be upgraded to award university degrees, Nigerian Minister of State for Education Hajiya Aishatu Dukku has announced. Dukku said adequate funds would be made available to employ university-level teachers and upgrade infrastructure at the institutions. One of the main objectives of the reform is to create additional avenues for would-be students in a country where hundreds of thousands of qualified school-leavers are unable to clinch university places each year.


ZAMBIA: Third public university opens Clemence Manyukwe
Zambia's third public degree-awarding university began admitting its first intake of students last week. The new institution, established earlier this year after the National College for Management and Development Studies in Kabwe was converted into Mulungushi University, should help to ease congestion at the country's other two state-owned institutions of higher learning, the University of Zambia and Copperbelt University.


BURKINA FASO: Ouagadougou University reopens
A two-month crisis at the University of Ouagadougou is over, with students resuming their courses this month following concessions by the authorities to some of their demands. The campus was abruptly closed in June, after violent clashes between police and protesting students (see University World News, 20 July 2008).


DR CONGO: New technology university opens
A new university specialising in technology, the Université de Technologie du Congo, has opened in the Kinshasa suburb of Limete, Le Potentiel of Kinshasa reported. The establishment, officially opened on 1 September, will provide initial and continuing engineering courses in science and technology, together with studies in human and social sciences.