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This article describes the recent growth in a number of firms producing Greek Yogurt in the United States. As a result of this growth, the firms are experiencing economies of scale and they are all expanding their factories to increase their output. As the article states: "The Chobani plant today bustles with 14 production lines mechanically squirting yogurt into plastic cups that zip down conveyor belts." - this shows a technological improvement that is an economy of scale: due to the increase in size in the firm, it can employ more efficient, lower cost methods of production.

Sirius XM Radio was once saved the "January Effect" thanks to their merger several years ago. They experienced the benefits of economies of scale as a much larger organization, which brought the two previous companies back up in stock. However, they are still facing many challenges because economies of scale do not solve all problems. Some of the issues: "A low profit margin of 9.2 percent, and an astronomical Total/Debt to Equity of 492. Also, the rapid change in broadcasting technologies, and the Internet radio gaining ground, it is a matter of time before satellite-radio becomes obsolete. Satellite subscriptions are part of consumer spending that is usually negatively affected by a weak economy, consumers will not spend excessive money on this."

This is an article from the NY times on alternative energy, and the possibility that infact renewable energies also contain the theory of economies of scale, in large quantities.

"Wal-Mart's influence on the U.S. economy has reached levels not seen by a single company since the 19th-century rise of Standard Oil, economists and historians say" To state that Wal-Mart is huge would be an understatement and in my perspective, it is the perfect example of economies of scale. The article is a bit lenthy though but the points are well explained.

Most of you all already know about RIM's decision to cut the selling price of their tablet, the Playbook, by more than half (presumably because they are discontinuing the product). This is an example of a large firm cutting costs and reducing its output (from their inventories). We can also relate it to the concept of economies of scale, since Blackberry was able to afford to lose the Playbook as their other products are more successful.

This article describes how cheap it is to ship clothing from China to Europ becasue of bulk transportation...one ship carries loads of clothing, so much actually that it only ends up costing a couple cents a shirt to ship it.