In the first article by Mark Williams he discusses how the price of crude oil has dropped and is almost lower than last year for the first time despite Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) having to cut huge production in an attempt to halt the decline in prices. The article contains solid facts about the plunge of oil prices but goes on to explain how despite the lower costs of gas Americans are still not driving as much as they were last year and are using public transportation and starting to car pool a lot more. Thus, causing crude oil prices to go down
The price for the barrels averaged at a high of $105 in the first week of May and the price of a gallon in Houston was at a decreasing $3.74 from $3.89 about three weeks ago. The test of economics relating to the cost of resources versus the product isn’t sufficient because even at the highest peak in a month for crude oil, prices were still falling per gallon which leads to the other factor, the number of sellers/ suppliers. Every under construction site lately has been the input of a new gas station. This supports the slow falling price as the market widens with new competition. In the Cypress/Katy area there have been over ten new stations
Assignment: #4 Case #10 Nucor Corporation BUS 599 Discuss the trends in the steel industry and how it may impact Nucor’s strategy. After the 2008 financial and economic crisis, the world steel industry’s recovery has been uneven, but it is recovering faster than expected. The global steel production declined from 129 million metric tons (mmt) in March 2011 to 127 million metric tons in April 2011. However, production increased 5 percent from April 2010. As of the April 2011 first quarter reporting, the United States has produced 28.3 mmt, which is up 6.8% from the same period last year [ (Leybovich, 2011) ].
Main factors that contributed to this trend are the increased smoking bans and consumers’ perception of moist smokeless tobacco as less risky than cigarettes for health. In 1997-1998 UST was one of the most profitable US companies with a five-year return on capital of 92.1% that was about 20% higher than the 2nd ranked firm. Financial figures for the 11-year period from 1988 to 1998 show a continuous increase in sales, earnings and cash flow with CAGR of 9%, 11% and 12% respectively (HBR 2001). To have a deeper insight in UST business risks and assessment, SWOT analysis (McGee et al. 2010) is provided below.
The Nissan Leaf is expected to price at 30,000 dollars (Winder), which would take years for a consumer to gain money back on it through savings on gasoline. So why would companies want to move forward with electric cars if they are so expensive to produce? The demand on being “green” has steadily increased over the past few years, which may be a factor as to why these cars are being created. When gasoline is burned, it emits tiny particles called soot which slowly poisons the air (Miller 23). The fact that electric vehicles make zero emissions is a leap for clean energy advocates;
The smaller, more efficient aircraft is the trademark of Embraer’s success. In 2009 when the global ecnomic crisis hit sales fell by a substantial amount. Executive jets are normal goods so the overall decrease in consumer income along with fewer buyers led to a sharp decrease in demand. Another factor that causes demand to shift left is the tastes and preferences of the buyer. During rough financial periods people tend to look down on Executive Jets as unnecessary and overkill.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) did some research in 2009 and found that nighttime drivers’ percentage on the weekend with a BAC of .08 had dropped from 5.4% back in 1986 when there was a lower drinking age, to 2.2 %. This shows that having a minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) of 21 does really have an effect on overall alcohol consumption. An MLDA of 21 helps prevent underage
80% of the days in 2010 were in the “good” range and only one day was in the “unhealthy” range. Hazardous waste is also considered to be very good when compared to other counties. The amount of generated and disposed waste in Orange County landfills has dropped consistently over the past 5 years. This is due to an increasing number of resident disposing of their household hazardous wastes at the appropriate local collection centers. In addition, the number of pounds of recycled material that was collected increased by almost 95%.
The electricity generation within our country has benefitted from fracking probably more than any other industry. Many generation plants have switched from coal to natural gas as natural gas prices have dropped in the wake of the increased supply. This has also lead to less carbon dioxide emissions from coal burning generation plants where these plants switched to natural gas which has about half the carbon emissions as coal. Another indirect benefit would be the economy of the locally producing states. In North Dakota, due to the fracking going on there, there has been a surge of jobs in the area and even those not in the industry have benefitted.
However, The Chevy volts relative market share is only 5.24 %, therefore its pre-tax profit compared to its 3 main competitors is well below average. The calculations of the Volt’s pre-tax profits are illustrated in Appendix II. * The sales of the Chevrolet Volt since it was first launched in 2010 are very volatile and they show the struggles that the Volt went through in its first year of being on the market. For example from January to February, sales decreased by 12 percent but then in March they suddenly increased by 116%. Also, in June there was a drastic decrease in sales of 78% due to the Volt catching fire during a test drive.