Author Archives: aviyer2010

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About aviyer2010

Dean and H. William Lichtenberger Chair in Management at the School of Management, University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

Private Equity ownership and bulk purchasing savings

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times(July 12,2012) describes the private equity firm, the Blackstone Group, which owns 74 companies with a combined 700,000 employees. Across its companies, the firm buys 15 million reams of paper, 35 million FedEx shipments … Continue reading →

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Fracking in the US and guar seed farmer impact in India

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (July 16,2012) describes how growth in fracking for oil has resulted in increased demand for guar, a water absorbing seed grown primarily in India. With prices rising dramatically amidst growing oil company demand, … Continue reading →

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Impact of faulty US government data on pecan prices

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 5,2012) describes an overstatement of US pecan exports to Hong Kong and China in 2010 and 2011, which was corrected recently. The impact of higher exports was perceived impending shortages and thus … Continue reading →

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Programmable NFC Tags and supply chain impact

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (July 16,2012) describes programmable tags using NFC (Near Field Communications) technology on physical objects. These tags can be read by NFC readers or smartphones with the read capability. Uses include tags on spice jars that can … Continue reading →

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Legal copying, trends and demand generation

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 11, 2012) describes how legal copying, permitted in fashion apparel, financial instruments, food etc, help those industries. By speeding up adoption of new ideas and designs, these industries benefit from the buzz … Continue reading →

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The supply chain impact of shutting down the Federal Helium stockpile

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 11, 2012) describes a plan to shut down crude helium reserves currently held by the US government that satisfy 33% of the world demand. Given that US pricing focuses on covering debt … Continue reading →

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The interaction between the Renewable Fuel Standard, drought and hunger

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Opinion section of the Wall Street Journal (August 11, 2012) describes the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS, which requires use of 13 billion gallons of ethanol based fuel this year and 36 billion gallons by 2022) and … Continue reading →

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Boeing’s delivery delays, airline order cancellations and profit impact

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 24, 2012) describes a decision by Quantas Airlines to cancel orders for 35 Dreamliner airplanes. Delivery delays meant that the promised 20% fuel efficiency and 30 % lower maintenance costs did not … Continue reading →

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Boeing plans to ramp up production rates

Posted on September 2, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 30,2012) describes plans by Boeing to add another production line in Washington, in addition to one in North Carolina, thus increasing production rate to 10 Dreamliners across locations per month from the … Continue reading →

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Boeing’s 66th Dreamliner aircraft first to go to preflight from assembly

Posted on June 9, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 8, 2012) describes a milestone reached by the 66th Dreamliner aircraft – the first to reach normalized production i.e., go from assembly to preflight testing. That milestone was reached by the Airbus … Continue reading →

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