1. Analysis of the Competitive Forces of the US LCD TV Industry Threat of entry can hold down profitability. Within the LCD television industry in the United States, there exists high barrier to new entrants, largely due to the efforts of established Korean and Japanese consumer-electronics makers who have spent substantial amounts of money “developing and marketing their own technology,” or in other words, contributing to supply-side economies of scale, which puts smaller startups at a huge disadvantage. Also, as we can see, capital requirements have the potential to hinder the growth of startups like Vizio, which has sought a new round of funding to build inventories. According to its competitors, Vizio stands at a disadvantage due to its lack of in-house and manufacturing development resources that many incumbents enjoy independent of their size.
A lack of process meant that there were no limits to authority and rules were not followed. An example would be the way remuneration policies were adopted and how senior executives approached the chair for discussion. Risk management was also the Achilles’ heel in HIH because they showed little analytical procedures when considering their investments eg. CareAmerica, Allianz, FAI. Opportunities HIH had the capability to expand its operations and diversify into related products and it also had several acquisitions that were horizontal integration resulting in greater market share.
The purpose of this memorandum is to describe the competitive and operating environment of the industry, analyze the financial condition of Science Technology Company, and contrast probable causes for the difference between the forecasted and actual financials. Competitive and operating environment Science Technology Company is a manufacturer of computer-controlled automated test equipment that is used to test products such as computers and cordless phones to ensure the circuitry works properly and there are no defects. This is a highly competitive industry, as ATE is very important in the manufacturing industry. The test market has become too expensive for electronic manufacturers to do their own testing. It is much less expensive for manufacturers of the products to pay to have the products tested than to have a defective product and incur a large loss.
Duplication of data items in multiple files is normally cited as the principal disadvantage of file-based systems. Answer: True Page: 519 LOD: Easy 5. A database is not necessarily dependent on the applications that use it. Answer: True Page: 518 LOD: Easy 6. Given the large capacity disks that are now available, database administrators no longer have to be concerned about estimating how much disk capacity is required for a new database.
They were very large and very expensive and used proprietary architectures that did not support cross-platform communications. Therefore the majority of them were bought by businesses because they could afford the payment to the proprietor. If you made the software for a particular mainframe computer company, then you as far as career wise you’re set because only your software will work with the mainframe produced by your company. This is called closed architecture technology. They did this to prevent competing technologies from directly interfacing or interact with each other.
This is seen as a strength because Iron Dragon now has the capability of selling computers, servers, parts, and services directly to customers and (hopefully) opening up another source of revenue for the company. There are not very many Dell partners in this geographic area, and that adds to this particular advantage. One of Iron Dragon’s weaknesses is the lack of enough consistent capital to meet its needs. While Iron Dragon is profitable, expenses nearly equal revenues. Most of the time it is a hand-to-mouth existence.
Proprietorship has three important advantages: it is easily and inexpensively formed; its subject to few government regulations and; its income is not subject to corporate taxation but is taxed as a part of the proprietor’s income. Limitations include: difficulty obtaining capital needed for growth; having an unlimited personal liability for business debts can result in losses that exceed the money invested in the company and; life of a proprietorship is limited to life of its founder. For these reasons sole proprietorship is used mainly for small businesses. A partnership exists when there are two or more persons or entities associate to conduct non-corporate business for profit. Partnership agreements define the ways that any profits and losses are shared between partners.
Problem: Best buy faces a lack of competitor advantage against the virtual retailers which is perhaps the leading cause of decline for them. Although the company currently operates in thousands of locations, electronic big box stores are becoming obsolete due to the cheaper, faster, more convenient and less expensive products that can be purchased from an online retailer. In addition, virtual retailers “don’t need to own and operate expensive real estate or staff their stores even when there are few customers around, or maintain inventories for display purpose.” In contrast, retailers may still hold an upper hand on certain products that consumers require to see and hear in person and to acquire the knowledge of an experienced expert. The large amount of products at Best Buy allow the consumer to do their research in the store but in-turn purchase them at a lower cost online. Alternative Solutions: There are three strategies Best buy can use to potentially increase revenue and decrease the current disadvantages.
The third point in its favor is that most of the professionals who are always on emails and finance and other executives who do a lot of data and number crunching prefer laptops for their work. Professionals like architects, movie directors, advertising professionals and artists who need to be on the move and make presentations to clients at client sites cannot imagine working without a laptop. Fourthly, laptops come equipped with built in battery and hence you can keep working even when there is no power available. Those who favor Desktops will first point out that they are cheaper than Laptop. Secondly Desktops are studier and not delicate as Laptops.
Most jewelry stores’ prices aren’t greatly different from others’ and buyers have very little influence on prices due to the high cost of raw materials to make the products. Substitutes: Substitutes are a relatively strong force, since there are other companies who are willing to create same or similar jewelry at cheaper prices to undercut their competitors. Government: The government plays a smaller role since the UN restricts the diamonds being sold are mined without conflict (aka