Tag Archives: competition

Did Apple’s agency model for ebooks enable collusion ?

Posted on April 15, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (April 12, 2012) describes a Justice department lawsuit accusing Apple and five publishers of e-books price fixing. Given declining e-book prices, five large publishers agreed to an “agency model” of pricing whereby Apple … Continue reading →

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China’s export mix and target region shifts and global impact

Posted on April 8, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (April 9,2012) describes a shift in China’s exports towards heavy machinery, cars and ships from shoes, consumer electronics and clothing. Inland locations with abundant labor, targeted government loans and a focus on emerging markets like Brazil … Continue reading →

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Improving the competitiveness of Portugal’s ports

Posted on April 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Economist (March 24,2012) describes the drop in prices per container from $1000 to $300 from Asia to Europe as ship capacities increased to 14,000 containers. Portugal’s deep ports can accommodate these ships but are uncompetitive for … Continue reading →

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US Manufacturing rebound and prospects

Posted on April 7, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (April 4,2012) describes job growth at Master Lock, a manufacturer, and the 20% of the manufacturing jobs, lost during the recent recession, that have been added back to the economy. However, some of … Continue reading →

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Is fiber optic cable capacity too much ?

Posted on April 4, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 3, 2012) suggests that fiber optic capacity expansion is too optimistic, pointing to 3% utilization of cable in big cities and new laser technology that expanded capacity in the past. But capacity … Continue reading →

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Wal-Mart’s ecommerce approach to combat Amazon.com

Posted on April 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (April 2, 2012) cites WalMart’s 8 % growth in 2011 vs Amazon.com’s 41 % growth as reason for WalMart to innovate in the ecommerce space. The result (a) Endless Aisle – which permits customers to order … Continue reading →

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What are GM’s choices for the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany ?

Posted on April 3, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (April 2,2012) describes worker frustration at GM’s Opel plant in Bochum, Germany, with worries that it will be shut down in 2014. Wages at the plant are six times the wage rate in … Continue reading →

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The risk in Apple’s IP protection and litigation strategy

Posted on April 1, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (April 2, 2012) describes Apple’s jihad against Google, Samsung, Motorola and their Andrioid powered hardware devices. But each specific IP case dredges up prior art – work by other several years ahead of Apple, thus casuing … Continue reading →

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Increased recycling by manufacturers to help themselves and municipalities

Posted on March 28, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (March 23, 2012) describes plans by Coca Cola to recycle 100 % of its cans by 2015 and by Starbucks to enable paper cup recycling at 100 % of its outlets by 2015. … Continue reading →

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The global supply chain for outsourced services

Posted on March 28, 2012 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (March 19,2012) describes new locations for higher level outsourced work – accounting, research, marketing etc. New locations in Argentina, Guatemala, Poland and Brazil, enable these tasks to be performed closer to the customer, despite being more … Continue reading →

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