Category Archives: Cost

New technology to use the entire cocoa fruit – who will it benefit ?

An article in the BBC news site (August 27, 2024) titled “Have Swiss scientists made a chocolate breakthrough?” describes new technology developed at the Federal Institute of Technology at Zurich that claims to use the rest of the coca fruit … Continue reading

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AI Use trends across businesses – who is using it, and how are they improving productivity ?

Analysis of a survey of over 1.2 million firms (NBER # 32319) in a paper titled “Tracking Firm use of AI in Real Time” suggests that the fraction of firms reporting use of AI grew from 3.2% to a projected … Continue reading

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Should early cash access, with voluntary tips as the cost, be treated as a loan?

An article published by the Associated Press (July 28, 2024) titled “US agency says apps that let workers access paychecks before payday are providing loans”, states that the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau wants the Truth in Lending act to apply … Continue reading

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Boeing division, to independent supplier, back to Boeing, the story of Spirit Aerosystems

An article in the Wall Street Journal (July 2, 2024) titled “Boeing Calls Time on the Great American Outsourcing” describes the reintegration of supplier Sport Aerosystems back into Boeing as a failed attempt at outsourcing. When Spirit split from Boeing, … Continue reading

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Treating patient’s at home: good idea or potential liability?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (August 13, 2024) titled “Hospital’s New Push: Treat Patients in Their Homes”, describes the over 23,000 Medicare treated at home through April this year. The rules require the patients to be less than … Continue reading

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Climate change and its impact on olives, coffee and grapes

An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 10, 2024) titled “Climate Change is Coming for the Finer Things in Life” describes heavy rains causing mildew that has destroyed grapes in Italy, hot weather and drought impacting olive groves and … Continue reading

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Will customers pay more for ethical sourcing of chocolate bars ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal on June 3, 2024 titled “A U.K. Grocery Store Committed to Paying Farmers More for Cocoa” (https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-u-k-grocery-committed-to-paying-farmers-more-for-cocoa-chocolate-bar-sales-skyrocketed-9977794b) describes a price increase for chocolate bars at Waitrose from 2 pounds to 2.20 pounds, with … Continue reading

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Did Boeing favor “Speed over Quality” ?

An article in the New York Times (March 28, 2024) titled “”‘Shortcuts Everywhere’: How Boeing Favored Speed over Quality” describes examples of monthly production rates of the 737 Max increased from 42 in 2017 to 52 in 2018, suppliers pushed … Continue reading

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Did Large Grocers use their size to get better delivery volumes during the Pandemic ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (March 21, 2024) titled ‘FTC Finds Large Grocers Used Size to Stock Shelves During the Pandemic” describes claims that large grocery retailers demanded stricter delivery requirements and levied fines on suppliers who did … Continue reading

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Dynamic Pricing in restaurants and Impact

An article in the Wall Street Journal on March 10, 2024, titled ” Surge Pricing is coming to More Menus near you”, describes dynamic pricing at restaurants to reflect demand increases, estimated to increase revenues between 4 and 6%. The … Continue reading

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