[business] how to succeed in retailing

THE old adage "the customer is always right" may still be in circulation, but putting consumers first may not always be the top priority of retailers.

Australian retail expert David Jenkin says despite the common assumption that customers are the most important, the world's most successful retailers tend to focus on their staff first.

The former regional managing director of the Coles Myer group says that while this presents a conundrum for many in the retail industry ... read more and comment here.

[business] chinese monks learn new skills

Piety and a knowledge of Buddhist scriptures used to qualify one to be a Chinese monk.

Now, add computer skills, foreign language ability and a degree in financial management.

Three decades after temples were destroyed and scriptures burned during the Cultural Revolution, Buddhism is making a comeback in China. And like most things in the super-competitive, rapidly developing country, it's become both big business and a ... read more here.

[quiz] spoiler warning answers to yesterday’s quiz

I’m aware that some of the answers [below] to yesterday’s questions are debatable but have stuck with them because sufficient sources indicate that they are so.

1 What is a leprechaun's profession? [Tailor and Cobbler]

2 Only three countries in the United Nations have names which start with the letter 'F' in English. Name two of them. [France, Finland and Fiji]

3 Which came first ... read more and comment here.

[living] the great sunday quiz - number two

Try the previous quiz as well, [even if it wasn't on a Sunday], on countries. Answers to that quiz are here. Answers to the quiz below will appear tomorrow. Are you sitting comfortably? Then you can begin …

1 What is a leprechaun's profession?

2 Only three countries in the United Nations have names which start with the letter 'F' in English. Name two of them.

3 Which came first – colour [as a feature film] or sound films?

Bonus point: At the same time as the first of these, one of the most famous Russian films came out about a battleship. What was that film?

... read more and comment here.

[l'économie] le japon accuse un coup de fatigue

Priorité au redressement encore fragile de l'économie nippone. Sans surprise, la Banque du Japon (BoJ) a décidé hier de laisser inchangé son principal taux directeur, le taux de l'argent au jour le jour. Ce statu quo monétaire était attendu, la hausse des prix à la consommation restant très modérée au Japon (+0,6 % en juin).Lors de sa précédente réunion ... read more and comment here.

[oil and gas] $100, $200 a barrel by next year ... or not

There's an awful lot of gloom and doom being talked about at the moment over oil.

"If another major event takes place, it's not at all unrealistic for oil to spike to $100," said Bruce Lanni, an oil analyst at A.G. Edwards. "And there's no fundamental reason in this current climate to see oil prices retreat below $70 in the next few months."

An Iranian official have warned that oil prices could hit $200 if international sanctions were imposed on ... read more here and comment.