The latest release of customs data shows China’s exports grew 9.9 percent compared to last year and by 2.7 percent compared to the month of August. At the same time the country’s import figures have shown a growth of 2.4 percent following three consecutive months of declines.

According to the data, China’s exports to the US increased at their fastest pace in three months, while copper imports rose to a four month high. Meanwhile, purchases of iron ore were the biggest since January 2011.

This ‘news story’ is pure PR, but it’s so pure in its originality that I couldn’t resist posting it on a Sunday when nothing more worthy has presented itself [ed].

“It's that time of the year again,” says Mark Hall, “when man flu strikes hard at the very heart of masculinity.”

The family’s offer to buy back its assets from the company for an estimated $1.4 billion has sent its shares rocketing by nearly 40 percent.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange, Bumi is a leading thermal coal group with interest in the largest coal producing assets in Indonesia. Reaction to the Bakrie family proposal has been overwhelmingly positive with analysts claiming it to be good news for Bumi’s shareholders.

According to said figures, the 13.8 million units shipped by the company in the third quarter of 2012 topped the 13.55 million shipped by Hewlett-Packard.

What the figures also show is that Lenovo was the only PC maker, among the world’s top five producers, to have actually increased its shipments to the US during the third quarter. This is despite global demand for PC’s being hit by the growing popularity of tablet devices.

Businesses that export grow by almost a third in just two years, according to new research from Barclays.

Businesses generate an average growth of 30 per cent after exporting for just two years, according to new research from Barclays.

A lighthearted look at our obsession with busyness from our competitive strategy analyst Richard Telofski.

Busy is as busy does.

You're in business. I'm in business.

And you're busy. I'm busy, as well. We're all busy. How do I know? Just ask someone in business the question, "Do you have some time for blah, blah, blah?" and what is the answer you will likely receive?

"Sorry, I'm busy."

You know that will be the response even before you pose your question. And why do you know that?

Africa’s IT industry is gearing up toward the clouds on the opening day of the annual summit conference.

Hosted by international business-to-business conferencing company, Kinetic Events, the 3rd annual Cloud and Virtualisation Summit Africa, is being held today and tomorrow at the Hilton Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.

The summit was officially opened by Derrick Plank, Director of ClearSpace Consulting with an interesting take on the increasing impact of cloud computing on business technology. Derrick will also be moderating the event this year.

The world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system units, with nearly 38,000 branches in over 120 countries and territories, Yum’s success during this period can be attributed to its operations in China, which contributed more than half of Yum’s $3.6 billion revenue during the period.

Founder and president Paolo Trocca talks about an engineering company that has made a name for itself in the Middle Eastern oil business by playing it straight.

There is an oil and gas industry in Italy – but not much of one. In 2008, the BP Statistical Energy Survey estimated oil production there at an average of 121,000 barrels of crude oil per day or 0.15 percent of the world’s total.