Environments Archives - Page 3 of 5

Ask Georgie: PnP under fire for Smart Shopper points

Our thanks to Tony Timm for once again sharing a most interesting article with us

When Pick n Pay introduced its rewards programme, Smart Shopper, in 2011, its success was so stunning it took the retailer by surprise.
For every R100 spent, shoppers would receive R1 back in cash-back points, which were initially valid for three years. On certain items, it offered double or triple points, or instant savings. It’s no surprise that Smart Shopper has been voted the country’s favourite rewards programme.

The impact on the bottom line forced the retailer to reassess its offering to its 10-million-plus card-holding customers, so last April, it halved the value: for every R200 spent, customers receive R1 in cash-back vouchers.
On January 1 this year, PnP introduced a new policy, expiring Smart Shopper points 12 months after they were earned.
The move’s not gone down well with many shoppers.

David Ramsay wrote to complain: “I have been an […]

Estie2018-02-06T18:49:07+02:00February 6th, 2018|Environments, Ethics, Marketing, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Toyota and Pizza Hut Team Up on Self-Driving Pizza-Delivery Vehicle

Shared by Russel Fineberg – Thanks!

At CES, the automaker unveiled a new autonomous van called the e-Palette.

Toyota unveiled a new electric self-driving vehicle concept at CES this week, and the automaker has a lot of ideas about how it might be used. One of them it’s already moving forward with, thanks to a newly annouced partnership with Pizza Hut, is pizza delivery.
Toyota plans to begin testing the vehicle, called the e-Palette, in the U.S. beginning in 2020. But early this year, it will join forces with Pizza Hut to learn more about pizza delivery and improve efficiency and safety. The two companies will soon begin testing technology and monitoring driver data in existing Pizza Hut delivery vehicles.

In the future, the e-Palette could not only be for delivering pizzas, according to Pizza Hut, but also making them along the way.

Read more on fromhttps://www.entrepreneur.com/article/307244

Estie2020-04-03T13:38:02+02:00January 31st, 2018|2017 Case Study, Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

The future of online shopping in South Africa is not quite what you think

Staff Writer 23 September 2017
This past week, Mastercard released its first South African SpendingPulse report. The report, which is published worldwide, is based on transactions across every payment medium – including cash, wire transfers and credit cards.
This equates to over 80 billion transactions processed annually in 210 countries, and provides an accurate representation of consumer spending habits.

Speaking at the report’s launch event, Sarah Quinlan, senior vice president and head of market insights for Mastercard, indicated that one of the biggest changes in shopping trends came after the 2008 recession.

She said that it was no longer “chic” for consumers to flaunt their wealth with flashy purchases, and those who had previously spent money on big-ticket items have now cracked down on the “appearance of being wealthy”.

This has coincided with the rise of millennials’ purchasing power, who […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:24:19+02:00November 15th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

AI Comes to Work: How Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Business

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not a new concept. The modern field of AI came into existence in 1956, but it took decades of work to make significant progress toward developing an AI system and making it a technological reality.

Today, AI and its commonly cited subset of machine learning are common, especially in the business world. Most of us interact with AI in some form or another daily, but the truth is there are vast applications of the technology, from the mundane to the breathtaking. As AI and machine learning further proliferate, they are becoming an imperative for businesses that want to maintain a competitive edge.

AI and business today
Rather than serving as a replacement for human knowledge and ingenuity, AI is generally seen as a supporting tool for the humans. Although AI currently has a difficult time completing common-sense tasks in the real world, it is adept at processing and analyzing […]

Estie2017-11-15T19:11:00+02:00November 15th, 2017|Environments, Other, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

The most loved brands in South Africa

23 September 2017

South Africans are open to change, particularly when it comes to trying to save money in tough economic times. They are also firmly under the sway of global energies that are reshaping society in significant ways, says market research company Ask Afrika.

Neither of which bodes well for brands that aren’t willing to adapt their marketing efforts to challenging times and a changing global milieu.

These and other top level trends were revealed at the annual Ask Afrika Icon Brands Awards, held at Melrose Arch in Johannesburg recently.

Icon brands are relevant across the South African landscape, it’s not a popularity contest but about which brands South African’s use regularly and loyally, Ask Afrika said.

The results were gleaned from surveys of 15,284 consumers, aged 15-years and older (representing over 25-million adult South African consumers) to determine how South African consumer are changing, how they think and what is important to them.

Overall top 10 […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:25:47+02:00September 30th, 2017|2017 Case Study, Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

SARS threatens fines and jail time for taxpayers not paying their due

29 September 2017

SARS has announced that it will intensify criminal proceedings against tax offenders from October.

In a statement released on Thursday, the revenue collector warned South African taxpayers to “pay your taxes or pay the price”, after it had seen a large increase in taxpayers not submitting their returns within stipulated timeframes.

“We have noticed an increase in taxpayers not submitting their tax returns by the stipulated deadlines‚ and not settling their outstanding debt‚” SARS said.

“This is not limited to the current tax year but includes substantial non-compliance across previous tax years. It is for this reason that from October 2017 SARS will now intensify criminal proceedings against tax offenders.”

“Should any return result in a tax debt, it must be paid before the relevant due date to avoid any interest for late payment and legal action,” it said.

These punishments could include fines or even […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:21:24+02:00September 30th, 2017|Environments, Recources|

SA’s massive investment boycott

The trust relationship between the state and the private sector has deteriorated rapidly over the last five years.

Ryk van Niekerk 14 August 2017

President Zuma’s term in office has wreaked havoc on the SA economy. Picture: Reuters/Rogan Ward

The notion of a tax boycott seems to creep into many casual conversations among taxpayers.

Recent revelations of the extent of corruption and flows of billions to Dubai, do not sit well with those funding state coffers, and rightly so.

Ignoring the merits and possible consequences of such a revolt, the practical prospects of a wide scale tax boycott are limited. But many South Africans may be oblivious to a massive investment boycott by the private sector that is on the go.

This boycott began when President Jacob Zuma took office and has steadily gained momentum over the last five years as the trust relationship between the […]

Estie2017-09-30T11:07:11+02:00September 30th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Sorting Risk and Uncertainty

This article is reprinted from the Summer 2017 edition of the Nonprofit Quarterly, “Nonprofit Graduation: Evolving from Risk Management to Risk Leadership.”
________________________________________
As [Frank] Knight saw it, an ever-changing world brings new opportunities for businesses to make profits, but also means we have imperfect knowledge of future events. Therefore, according to Knight, risk applies to situations where we do not know the outcome of a given situation, but can accurately measure the odds. Uncertainty, on the other hand, applies to situations where we cannot know all the information we need in order to set accurate odds in the first place.
—Peter Dizikes

The distinction vis-à-vis for-profits, described by MIT News staff writer Peter Dizikes, above, can also be applied to the nonprofit sector—except that in the non-profit sector, risk is not measured so much against reward as against organizational harm prevention. And therein lies a profound attitude problem.

The Nonprofit Quarterly has always engaged […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:42:49+02:00July 27th, 2017|Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Why SWOT analysis sucks – and how to make it better with future trends

The above graphic depicts SWOT Analysis, a business strategy tool that invites executives to ponder their firm’s strategic position by considering their own inherent Strengths and Weaknesses. Then, considering whatever change is happening in the market space, executives look for potential Opportunities and Threats, based on their assessment of their own firm.

When SWOT was unveiled as an analytical tools for business, it allowed for an abstract view of strategic positioning that was innovative for the time, and better than nothing. The proposed value of the tool is that it makes you stop and think about what your firm is doing and how competitors might exploit that.

An example of a SWOT analysis might look like this:

“What’s wrong what that?” you […]

Estie2017-07-28T05:39:05+02:00July 27th, 2017|Environments, Performance of the business, Recources, Syllabus Topics|

Too Convenient? A Mobile Supermarket That Comes To You

July 5 2017 Glenn McDonald

A prototype Moby Mart is being tested in Shanghai. Per Cromwell, the project’s lead designer, says four to six additional mobile supermarkets are planned in the coming year.

Browse the science fiction aisles and you can find all sorts of dystopian future visions — environmental catastrophes, robot overlords, zombie swarms, triffids. Oddly enough, one of the spookiest scenarios ever conjured comes from a kids’ movie.

The 2008 Pixar film WALL-E imagines a future in which end-stage consumerism has run amok, leaving the planet utterly trashed and turning humans into helpless, sedentary slugs. By creating a future in which everything is prepared, packaged and delivered by machines, we effectively create a consumer apocalypse, […]

Estie2017-07-27T14:36:39+02:00July 27th, 2017|2017 Case Study, Environments, Recources, Syllabus Topics|