Solar Energy will likely be cheaper than regular electricity by 2015

At least in the sunniest parts of the United States.  That's the conclusion of this Scientific American blog.  The author does a nice bit of work demonstrating the cost reduction curves and power outputs for solar.  There is a reason that Wal-Mart is leading the pack in solar installation, and the reason isn't goodwill!

Noahpinion: A parable of one-way free trade

Noahpinion: A parable of one-way free trade

An interesting discussion of free trade, government intervention and tariffs addressed in the context of solar energy.

Competitive Intelligence for the Small Business: Making sense of nonsense: A review of copyright an...

Competitive Intelligence for the Small Business: Making sense of nonsense: A review of copyright an...: I was just directed to James Grimmelmann's remarkable dissection of digital cable reproduction as a function of copyright compliance.  In " ...

Inter-organizational Studies- Academic Article

The Effects of E-business on the Performance of Strategic Alliances

By: Hung-Wen Lee and Jhy-Hong Ding

What this article discusses is the different affects that E-business plays on the performance of strategic alliances. E-business and strategic alliances are both ways that businesses can gain a competitive advantage in the global market. With the growth of communication and information technologies companies have found it beneficial to use these technologies to help them gain this competitive advantage.  Organizations are able experiment and see what strategies would work with the implementation of e-commerce.

The writers Hung and Lee present 10 hypotheses that they test in order to determine their final results. The ten hypotheses presented are:

H1a-3c: The relationships of both partners, the better communication of both partners and the greater level of alliance performance all depends on the greater extent of e-business and how much resources are invested to it.

H2a-2c: The extent of similarity between alliance members is determined by the higher level of relationship expectations, communication expectations and trusts between both alliance members.

H3a-3b: The extent of expectations of the future relationships between the alliances is determined by the higher level of communication and trust between the alliances.

H4: When the extent of communication between the alliances is high then so is the trust.

H5: When there is a high level of trust between the alliances, the performance between alliances will be higher.

The article also presents a model the helps in discovering the relationship between e-business and strategic alliances. The model presented uses many variables such as strategic alliance familiarity, alliance and communication expectations and the trust between both partners.

                                  Figure 1: Research Framework

The authors found that the model they used to test their results found that some of the hypothesis that they suggested were accurate. Although the implementation of e-business improves communication it does not play a direct role of the performance of strategic alliances. It is the different applications that have an effect on alliances. What their testing found is the positive level of trust and communication between strategic alliances was based on the expectations of future relationships and the level of e-business.

My thoughts are similar the results that were found. I believe that e-business can help strategic alliances in many ways but the most important thing for strategic alliances is to develop a good level of trust and communication with one another.

Article Citation:

Hung-Wen, Lee, and Ding Jhy-Hong. "The Effects Of E-Business On The Performance Of Strategic Alliances." Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 21.7 (2010): 707-724. Business Source Complete. Web. 3 Aug. 2012.

Growing your firn- Academic Article

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=11&hid=21&sid=0a8b616b-6ffe-40d6-8d2a-db321c811038%40sessionmgr12&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=76460284

In business, especially economics, people do not like tinkering in the field of religion. But does it affect the way some people do business, and are some companies using religion as an incentive, saying if they do business with them they will have a better afterlife.

They have done research to show that many households do not feel presured from businesses as mucha s they may feel from their religious organiztion. The families that do in fact contribute money religiously, had been doing it and it was not a direct effect of businesses trying to guilt them into it.

It is found however, that charitable giving is a soft spot for many people that are already religious givers as well as those who ar not. Charity seems to be the place where businesses alike can get a lot of poeple to contribute monetarily.

Growing your company- current event

http://search.proquest.com/wallstreetjournal/docview/1027823975/1383EAAAEAB611BD88F/14?accountid=7108

Everyone knows who Ebay is and how they work. But what if they want to open their "doors" to a larger crowd. Since the beginning of Ebay, they have not allowed minors, those under eighteen, to purchase or seel from their website. They now are creating a portion of their website to target just this group.

Many people are skeptical about this because of the material that may be exposed to these minors, but Ebay insists that the parental controls involved will be so intense you will have no need to worry about your child.

This decision has been a good one for Ebay, because of this they have seen a boost in revenue by 9.1% just this month. It seems that at the moment it is working out for Ebay, now we will just wait and see when the first minority dilemna will occur?

Inter-Organizational Studies - Current Event - Shinea Sharma

Inter-Organizational Studies - Current Event 

Apple Inc versus Samsung

   The legal concept of copyright dictates that the original creator of a product deserves exclusive rights to it. Infringement of this concept is seen as a violation of the creator’s intellectual property rights. However, some companies try to eliminate competitors by claiming that their patent rights have been breached. Apple Inc., the maker of iPhone and iPad, is expected to rock horns with Samsung in courtroom over claims of breach of patent rights and unfair competition (Levine & Gupta, 2012). Apple has sued Samsung over allegations that Samsung has copied the design of Apple’s iPhone in manufacturing its Smartphones. Apple argues that Samsung blatantly copied its design thereby infringing its intellectual property rights. On the other hand, Samsung has counter-sued Apple claiming that Apple is trying to block competition in order to continue enjoying excessive profits in the US market (AFP, 2012). 
   
  Apple Inc. is a multinational cooperation located in the USA, and it manufactures and sells personal computers, computer software and consumer electronics. The company was founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, and it has come to known for its populous products such as the iPod, iPhone and the iPad. Currently, Apple Inc is only behind Samsung and Nokia in the mobile phone trade industry.  Samsung electronics is a South Korean multinational information Technology and Electronics Company, which is a subsidiary of Samsung Group. Samsung is the leading company in mobile manufacturing industry and it controls the mobile phone market more than any other company in the world (Chen, 2012). The company has recently introduced Smartphone S III, which has hit the ground running almost instantly. However, this product has seen the two titans in the mobile phone market upgrade their antagonism to courtroom battles. 

    The case will take place in a federal court in California, San Jose. The outcome of the case has the potential to reshape the ever-evolving mobile phone market, which is hugely controlled by the two antagonists. Should Samsung lose the case, it will be forced to pay Apple in excess of $2.56 billion, which could actually be tripled (Levine & Gupta, 2012). In addition, Samsung would be prohibited from selling its tablet computers and Galaxy smartphones in the US market. Undoubtedly, this would be a serious blow to Samsung considering that at acquires more than 20% of its profits from the US market. On the other hand, should Apple lose the case, it will be forced to pay Samsung exorbitant financial damages and sale of its iPhose S4 would face a brisk future. Samsung has swiftly outperformed Apple, as well as Nokia in the mobile phone market and it is currently the world’s most recognized smartphone manufacturer.

     At the moment, US consumers seem to prefer Samsung’s S III to Apple’s iPhone S4 because the former is better and user friendly than the latter. This is a significant competitive threat to Apple considering the market antagonism it is currently facing from Hauweii Mobile Phones. The Wall Street had predicted that Apple Inc. would sell approximately 28 million iPhone between January and June of 2012. However, Apple Inc managed to sell only 26 million iPhones, which is a sign of increasing competition and defeat by Samsung’s smartphone S III, which recorded sales exceeding 50 million smartphones (Bloomberg, 2012). Therefore, it can be argued that Apple Inc is employing excessive legal claims to derail the sales of smartphones until it launches iPhone S 5, since iPhone S 4 has been defeated.  Nonetheless, the jury will decide.

     The possible outcome of the case will significantly affect the financial stability and competitive edge of the loosing company. Thus, financial managers in both firms should be introducing cost-cutting measures in order to guarantee financial health of their firms. In case of Samsung, the marketing managers should heighten the campaigns for smartphones in the US in order to make more sales before the case is decided. In addition, they should advertise more in smartphones emerging markets such as Australia and South America. This would guarantee or even exceed the level of sales even if the case is lost. Finally, Samsung’s production managers should be thinking of another, better design, which would serious defeat Apple’s iPhones.           


References

AFP. (2012, July 22). Samsung smartphone sales booming. News24. Retrieved from     "http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Samsung-smartphone-sales-booming-20120722" http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Samsung-smartphone-sales-booming-20120722
Bloomberg. (2012).  Samsung Beats Apple in Smartphone Sales. Bloomberg Tv. Retrieved from    
"http://www.bloomberg.com/video/91596700-samsung-beats-apple-in-smartphone-" http://www.bloomberg.com/video/91596700-samsung-beats-apple-in-smartphone-sales.html

Chen, B. (2012). Samsung’s New Galaxy Phone Tops 10 Million Sales. The New York Times.     Retrieved from http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/galaxy-s-iii-10-million/
Levine, D.  & Gupta, P. (2012, July 27). Apple, Samsung take patent fight to crucial California     trial. Reuters. Retrieved from 
"http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-apple-samsung-trial-idUSBRE86Q16X20120727" http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/27/us-apple-samsung-trial-idUSBRE86Q16X20120727