Samsung defends working practices in Chinese plants
South Korean electronics giant Samsung has defended its working practices after a lawsuit was filed in France against the firm over conditions at its supplier plants in China. Based on a September report by China Labor Watch that said employees at Samsung supplier plants in China worked up to five times the legal overtime limit and were denied basic labour rights, a trio of French rights and consumer protection groups accused Samsung of deceiving consumers by violating its own vows on ethical working conditions and using child labour. In a statement, Samsung said it maintained a "zero tolerance" policy on child labour and had audited all its supplier sites in China following the China Labor Watch report. "We are implementing new hiring policies to strengthen identity verification measures, despite no instance of child labour being identified in the audits," the statement said. Image: Samsung Copyright is owned by Asia Outlook and/or Outlook Publishing. All rights reserved.
Chinese motor company aims higher
As South African consumers continue to embrace the red dragon, we talk to Tony Pinfold, chairperson of Great Wall Motors South Africa.
China to become world’s biggest online market
China is set to become the world's biggest online market with online sales forecast to exceed $420 billion annually by 2020. According to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co, online sales are expected to reach between $420 billion and $650 billion, driven by a growing consumer class and the world's largest population of internet users, now more than 500 million people. "China is poised to become the world's largest e-tailing market," McKinsey said, adding sales in 2020 would match the current size of the US, Japanese, British, German and French markets combined. China's online retail sales reached $120 billion in 2011 and surged further to an estimated $190 billion to $210 billion last year. That put China second in the global 'e-tail' market, close to the United States, the current world leader, which had estimated online retail sales of $220 billion to $230 billion in 2012, the McKinsey report said. Online retail sales now account for five to six percent of total Chinese consumer transactions, the report called China's e-tail revolution: Online shopping as a catalyst for growth, added. "China could forgo the national expansion of physical stores commonly seen in Western nations and move directly to a more digital retail environment," the report predicted, adding that "China may have largely sat out the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, but as the explosion of its new consuming class continues to reshape 21st-century economic life, e-tailing and the Internet revolution have important roles to play." Image: © Getty Copyright is owned by Asia Outlook and/or Outlook Publishing. All…
