Question 2: What are the drivers of the average profitability of the Original Design and Manufacturing industry? Questions 3: What are the key factors that a company like Inventec needs to manage to earn above-average profits in this industry? 1. Cost Because of the severe competition, maintaining a low cost base is the most important factor to earn above-average profit. This can be achieved by 2.
Threat of New Entrants is weak. Entry barriers are high because of the economy, significant experience-based cost advantages, other cost advantages held by industry members (e.g., access to inputs, favorable location), brand loyalty (which comes from membership and other services), strong network effects and high capital requirements. 5. Substitute Products or Services is moderate. Warehouse clubs like a magnet for customers and pulling them away from other traditional retail channels such as supermarkets, department stores, drugstores, office supply stores, consumer electronics etc… All three warehoused club rivals - Costco, Sam’s and BJ’s – have similar strategies: Low prices, low operating costs, geographic expansion – Costco; Sam’s Club concept is to sell merchandise at low profit margins, which means at low prices to members; and BJ’s offers brand-name merchandise at prices that were significantly lower than the prices found at retail, supermarkets, dept.
Explain why the US economy ‘boomed’ during the 1920’s? An economic boom is the rapid growth in a country’s money making that leads to increased prosperity and wealth. The 1920’s was a time of extreme highs and lows, a time of dramatic changes in society and many new inventions. Many American industries boomed in the 1920s, with the economy doubling in size. This economic boom was based around consumer goods-luxury items that many Americans wanted to buy but didn’t really need.
JFK’s appeal to the nation’s steel companies During the early 1960’s the United States were coming out of a recent recession. The economy was finally looking up and the steel industry was doing especially well. They were producing more steel per worker than they had for years. President John F. Kennedy, a strong advocate for stable prices and wages, gave a speech openly criticizing the nation’s largest steel companies for their increase in steel prices and pleaded for the reverse of said rise. In an attempt to achieve his purpose of convincing steel companies to reduce prices, JFK employs the rhetorical devices of anaphora and logos.
In the era following the Civil War, Industrialization had many leaders. These leaders achieved the great growth of the economy and industry of the United Sates, leading the United States to become the leading industrial power in the world. Many historians question how honest these men were with their actions, we critique them because of the way they distributed their fortunes. It is true; many of these industrial leaders did cause harm socially, creating barriers and many competitions nationwide. They are called “industrial statesmen” for the great economic power they helped America become.
Question 1) • Fortis has been facing strong competition: Since 2002, Fortis has been losing nearly 2% per year of the steel strapping market (in 2002 50% and 2008 40%). • Furthermore Fortis is confronted with significant erosion of prices: Other competitors initiated price war and Fortis refused to continuously cut its price. This also led to the fact that Fortis loosed market share to its competitors. • These effects are coupled with the overall declining health of the industrial economy and the fact that Fortis as well as its competitors are closely tied to this. (Overall decline of market / demand) and the increasing price sensitive of customers.
One of the sectors where Canadians are still feeling the pressure is employment. The U.S stock market crash has been important for many reasons, the most important between them being the damage on wealth. Estimates differ on exactly how much citizens, corporations lost, but most figures are around the tens of trillions mark. These losses have not only been “colossal, but by dropping the worth of investments, they've made an increased risk and higher borrowing costs for businesses, which will affect their profit margins and ability to hire and keep employees for future years” (eHow.com, p. 1). The American market crash is being felt worldwide.
This rigidity forces the economy towards stagnation. The country’s economy entered the worst phases, nearly collapsing in the 1990s. The disintegration of the Soviet Union followed by severe food crisis due to a series of natural disasters (hails in 1994, flooding in 1995-1996, and droughts in 1997) and mismanagement by the government pushed North Korea into a crisis that lasted till today. GDP of North Korea The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of North Korea is estimated at $33.3 billion (2013), a rise of 1.1 percent over the year 2012. In terms of GDP per capita, North Korea ranks at the 194 spot with its per capita GDP of $1,800 according to the CIA Factbook.
Case analysis on Aston-Blair,Inc Background of the case: Aston-Blair was the large U.S producer of precious metal alloys and other specialized alloys for commercial and industrial use, but suffered big losses in the first quarter of 1991. Except the external problems that are economics slowdown and declining price of gold due to the air strike against Iraq, the CEO of Aston-Blair, Wynn Aston felt one of the internal problem which caused the firm’s poor performance is improper forecasting. Aston asked Casey,Vice precident of marketing,and Trott,Vice pricident of corporate planning to reexamine the company’s procedures for forecasting sales. Task force: Casey and Trott decided to form a task force to investigate the forecasting problem and put Michael Bacon who is a special assistant to Trott, in charge of the task force. Besides Bacon, there are 2 members,Reiss and Holt, came from Corporate planning, Bodin,came from Sales division,Meir,came from Economic forecasting, and 3 product managers came from Market division,they are Ratliff,Paulson and Kolinsky.
Not only have countries been given the opportunity to exploit their comparative advantages but they can also change their comparative advantages using technology, this gives them the chance to move up the value chain, which improves the living standards of people in poverty and increases their income. However globalization has also had a negative affect on countries. It puts countries, poor countries in particular, in risk. “A housing loan crisis in the US eventually translates into rocketing youth unemployment in Spain. A banking crisis in Cyprus sends shares on the world’s stock exchanges lower.