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Manuel sets tough Budget of R186b... Fourth estate becomes the property of th... No fanfare at Johnnic parad... SA customs bloodhounds sniffing out il... Peers honour Didata and Ruper... Deliver or be sold, Post Office tol... From adversity to achievemen... Government blamed for Safcol's poor show... Rate hike may not be the right medicin... |
BRIEFCASEBIG MAC DISPLACES COKE Any retailer will tell you that branding is what it is all about. It was always widely assumed that Coca-Cola is the most recognised brand around the world. Well, that has changed. The golden arches of McDonald's knocked it off its perch to become the most recognised global brand last year. A survey conducted around the world, including in South Africa, by Interbrand, a consultancy specialising in branding, shows that for the first time in decades Coke has been toppled in the brand stakes. One consolation for Coke though is that Pepsi sits at number 17. At number three is Disney, followed by Kodak. According to Interbrand, the most striking absence from the top 10 were Kellogs (No 2 in 1990) and IBM (No 6). Instead Microsoft has slipped into the branding elite along with some other newcomers such as Gillette and Levi's. PUTTING A PLANE IN IT Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank, this week bought full control of JSE brokers Ivor Jones, Roy. A good reason to celebrate, and so the occasion was combined with the firm's Christmas Party at the Zoo's War Museum. It proved to be a sensitive choice; as the Deutsche Bank directors walked in they were faced with a shot-down Messerschmidt. ETHIOPIA'S CLUB OF MBAs Which country has the best-educated government? Ethiopia must be close to the top of the list, according to the Control Risks Group. The Financial Times quotes a company spokesman as saying that 14 members of the government recently graduated with MBAs from the UK's Open University, with Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's president and former Marxist guerrilla, coming fourth among more than 2 500 graduates. The government of neighbouring Eritrea was apparently so impressed that 100 civil servants and politicians have joined up for the two-year course. It is time our politicians go on a bit of a refresher course. A number of leading civil servants and politicians, including Thabo Mbeki, graduated with an MA (Econ) from Sussex University. Unfortunately it has done their economic thinking little good. MAC ON THE SLOW TRAIN Transport Minister Mac Maharaj is philosophical about the time it takes the government to implement decisions. At a recent briefing he was asked why Metro Rail was granted five years to prepare for full competition in the provision of commuter rail services. "I was an impatient young man once, and as a fiery revolutionary wanted to take the country the Castro way. Thirty years later we ended up in negotiations. But we got there."
SURGEON PREFERS LAWYERS Finally we have the next sequel in our rather haphazard selection of jokes about the legal profession: Four surgeons are discussing the merits of their operating techniques. "I prefer to operate on accountants; you open them up and everything is clearly numbered," says one. "Librarians are easier," adds a second, "everything is alphabetically ordered." "Even easier are electricians; their organs are colour-coded," says the third surgeon. Upon which No 4 replies: "You have no idea. Lawyers are the easiest: they are gutless, spineless and there is no heart."
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