Category Archives: Global Contexts

Are Consumers using products longer ? What is the Impact ?

Posted on February 26, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 26, 2011) provides data suggesting that consumers are waiting longer to replace products – 4.5 months longer for cars, 2 months longer for cellphones and one month longer for laptops.  Some of the reasons … Continue reading →

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Targeted Emissions cuts before general carbon focused cuts

Posted on February 24, 2011 by aviyer2010

The Economist (February 17,2011) suggests that piecemeal focused emissions reductions of specific gases may generate fast results while building a more general consensus. For example,the article cites HFC-134a as a gas 1,000 times more warming than carbon dioxide. Similarly, carbon … Continue reading →

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Emissions Rules Relaxation and Industry Impact

Posted on February 23, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 23, 2011) describes the current EPA emissions rules – rolling back requirements for industrial boilers, incinerators etc.  The impact is to permit many plants, municipalities, universities etc to reduce their costs of compliance – … Continue reading →

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Sick workers at Apple’s supplier and OEM’s responsibility

Posted on February 23, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 23, 2011) describes worker complaints at an Apple supplier, Wintek, and their plant in China that uses the n-hexane agent to cleaning glass panels for the Apple iPhone.  The cleaning agent was used for … Continue reading →

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Is Apple more like Zara ? How can the ipad be sold for $ 500 ?

Posted on February 21, 2011 by aviyer2010

A article in WIRED magazine (February 21, 2011, Brian X. Chen) asks the question – how can the ipad be sold for $ 500 when other manufacturers cannot attain that price ? The answer suggested is that Apple is, for … Continue reading →

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New Flu vaccine manufacturing process and impact

Posted on February 20, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 20, 2011) reports on a faster manufacturing process for flu vaccines – using animal cells vs using chicken eggs. The new manufacturing process is reported to be faster by six weeks and with lower … Continue reading →

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Energy, Jobs, Salmon, the river and the Environment

Posted on February 20, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (February 20, 2011) describes a tussle between energy and job creation and the river routes of the salmon along the Columbia river.  Companies in Montana want to bring coal by rail line to … Continue reading →

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Rare Earths Supply Challenges

Posted on February 19, 2011 by aviyer2010

A New York Times article (February 19,2011, B5) summarizes a report published by the American Physical Society (http://aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=236337) on energy critical materials mainly rare earths (tellurium, gallium. indium, germanium, lithium). They highlight a few issues (a) these rare earths are … Continue reading →

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Operational Hedging vs Currency Hedging

Posted on February 19, 2011 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (February 19, 2011) describes the move towards operational hedging – by shifting production across a global network of plants rather than pay for currency hedging. The article lists Nissan, Autoliv (seatbelt and airbag … Continue reading →

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Adjusting Runway designs to new material cost realities

Posted on February 17, 2011 by aviyer2010

A Wall Street Journal article (February 17, 2011, D1) describes changes in runway designs to accommodate the rising prices of cotton, silk etc.  One designer describes changes in material (leather to crinkled satin), length of the dress, number of bows … Continue reading →

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