Tag Archives: competition

Will suspending trade privileges for Bangladesh improve local enforcement of working conditions ?

An article in the New York Times (June 28, 2013) describes the US administration’s plan to suspend trade privileges for Bangladesh because the country has permitted safety violations and not enforced labor rights, particularly for the apparel manufacturing industry. The … Continue reading

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The impact of short cell phone life cycles in Japan

An article in the New York Times (June 26,2013) describes the example of Sony’s Xperia Z smartphone whose life cycle started on February 9 but ended one month later after selling 1 million units. The dominance of cell phone carriers … Continue reading

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Will Tesla’s new 90 second battery swap increase electric car demand ?

A report in PCmag.com (June 21, 2013 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2420802,00.asp) describes a demonstration of a 90 second battery swap by Tesla, thus offering consumers the choice of waiting and getting free battery charging or paying close to the price of tank of … Continue reading

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How are US paintbrush makers globally competitive ?

An article in the New York Times (June 18,2013) describes the competitiveness of over 139 broom, brush and mop manufacturers in the US undeterred by competition from CHina. One company, Kirschner, survives by making no changes in its manufacturing and … Continue reading

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Competition between railroads and pipeline operators to transport oil

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (June 17,2013) describes competition between a oil pipeline owner, Kinder Morgan, and railroads to transport oil from West Texas to Los Angeles. While pipeline operates demands long term contracts to cover their capital costs, railroads can … Continue reading

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London’s port expansion and volume aspirations

A video in the Financial Times (June 11, 2013) describes the expansion of London’s port by Dubai based DP World. The new port is claimed to be the largest logistics park in Europe and appropriate for the UK, given that … Continue reading

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Should the US restrict LNG exports to assist higher margin plastics exports ?

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (June 3,2013) describes efforts by chemical companies like Dow Chemicals to argue against US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) given the abundance of natural gas in the US. These chemical companies produce polymers and plastics … Continue reading

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Apple’s 30% commission elimination and price increase

An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 10, 2013) describes the Justice department’s claim that Apple’s 30% revenue sharing contract (uniform for all products Apple sells) is a violation of antitrust and uncompetitive. The article claims that when this … Continue reading

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Are European manufacturers globally competitive in making premium components or products ?

An article in the Financial Times (May 29, 2013) describes a collection of Italian manufacturers – Luxottica for eyewear, Sogefi for premium auto parts and Guala Closures for premium bottle caps that prevent counterfeiting. They compete globally to make premium … Continue reading

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The emerging “internet of things” and opportunities

An article in WIRED magazine (June 2013) describes the emerging internet enabled devices across homes, factories, cities etc. They predict three stages – Stage 1 links devices to the internet, Stage 2 enables conditional actions (If-Then actions) between pairs of … Continue reading

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