Group items tagged

This article talked about the oligopolistic competition in smartphone market. Several firms such as Apple, Android, Microsoft and Nokia controls more than 80% of market share. It is a very typical oligopoly market structure. And we can see firms are colluding and competing. Microsoft and Nokia formed alliance to compete against Apple. Microsoft also kept releasing new product, such as the Windows Phone 7 last fall. Smartphone market is very centralized and competitive.

This article talked about how Apple broke the monopoly in computer industry controlled by Microsoft. 14 years ago Justice Department worried that without government intervention, consumer choice would be significantly limited by Microsoft. However, today Apple broke this monopoly and took a big share of market. By using non-price competition and creating innovative product, Apple survived and succeed in computer industry. So we can see there is no such thing as a monopoly in computer industry, the advancement of technology will always give the market to the firm.

According to statistics of various communities in Naples, Florida, the housing market of that area is beginning to take a change. Many areas are beginning to shift in the amounts of real estate available versus the demand for this housing. Due to the concepts of the price mechanism, when less housing is available than what is demanded the price of real estate will increase, signalling what is possibly the recovery of the economy.

The housing market really is a complicated idea. It seems that the more governments foreclose houses, the more the are hurting the economy. This makes it very hard to better the housing market.

This article talks about how the mobile market is driving economic growth in not only the U.S, but also in Asia markets. 

This is a great article about the copper market, and how it is attempting to reach equilibrium. They had been stuck in a period of oversupply, and there had even been rumors of productions cuts to compensate for the oversupply; however, all such rumors have been dismissed as consumption is on the rise and they expect that equilibrium will soon be met.

This article discusses the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. It states that when this merger is completed, they will then have the control of 75% of the market, making the market an oligopoly. This decision is met with skepticism, with the constant question being asked "So I'll ask again, is there one, just one, example of deregulation working in consumers' favor?" It brings in the opinion of a Harvard professor who states that we have been enjoying low fares for years now.

 Sony has managed to get rid of the competing technology,the HD DVD.   Instead of an increase gain in market share,Sony has had a decrease in  market share. The reason is that people are savvy to the pricing strategies that vendors use. They understand that with no competition, Sony will eventually have to lower its own price.  In taking out competition Sony has caused a decline in its own products.

This article talks about import restrictions to protect the olive oil industry in the United States. They are lobbying the government to put stronger restrictions on olive oil imports so that their internal industry, domestic market, can thrive. They are also accentuating the promotion of their domestic product in the market

This article talks about the Oil equilibrium and it relates it to supply, demand, opportunity cost and other external factors that affect the equilibrium. It talks about Europe's demand is "dead" and it points out the fact that they are looking at alternatives than fuel. it talks of how the demand for oil is decreasing as alternate ways are being used to generate heat and power but oil is still vital as a source of fuel. Only 2% of global fuel liquid supply is comprised of biofuels and the rest relies on oil. other factors discussed include geopolitics.

This article talks about how price controls influenced the market before the Christmas Eve in Ethiopia. They describe the chaos that was happening when the government reduced the price of food. Some people says they appreciate this changes , however others against the price controls in country, because they think that this is not beneficial at all.

Indian government has announced that 60% of entire domestic pharma market will be under official price control. The policies of National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Policy will cover 348 products on the 2005 National List of Essential Medicines (NELM) plus others added to the newly-updated List (NELM-2011), which includes some 450 products.The long-awaited draft policy would also change the way prices of controlled products are regulated. Under the current Drug Price Control Order (DPCO), prices are based on market share, but the government's draft policy proposes changing to a system of setting a ceiling on the prices of formulations based on the Weighted Average Price of the leading three brands.

This article is interesting because it talks about the support the cable oligopoly is getting from the government. Apple is trying to enter the oligopoly, but the government is not allowing them to because they want to maintain the oligopoly. They don't want Apple taking a lot of the demand from other companies. Also, innovations have been lacking in cable TV and they don't want Apple to change that and cause price and demand shifts. 

This article is particularly relevant due to the fact that it has a strong example of an oligopoly and it illustrates the barriers of entry of one

I also worked on this topic as my part of my IA commentary. This article from the NY times explains the rising power of certain beer companies that have acquired a large amount of the market. This, according to the article, has created a sort of oligopoly. Monopolies and oligopolies are severely watched by the government because they do not want only a few companies to dominate the market. In the article they explain that these oligopolies are testing the presidents tolerance.

The article is talking about some giant beer companies that merged together but had some issues with price decisions because the prices were too high for consumers and they were not able to afford the prices. Even though it was hard to agree for each company the high prices encouraged them for competition and the industry got better. On the other hand the rising prices also pushed companies for oligopoly because as they come together pricing strategies, the division of labour would be easier and more effective.

This article talks about brand loyalty, but specifically how the american consumer is caring less about the brand. it is reported that when making an economic decisions, only 25% of the decision is weighted by the brand, a huge drop from 40%. This fact alone, reported by Ernst and Young, has changed many CMO's approach to marketing.

Japans sales for whale meat decline as Iceland steps into the market.

This article is very interesting because it describes how the banking industry has become an oligopoly. I chose it because I would never have expected as such, as there seem to be so many small banks. It is also a greatly informative article because it discusses the increasing prices that will result from the shift in the type of market and talks about how the oligopoly is going to end up hurting the 99% of americans. 

This Bloomberg article talked about how China is trying to raise the currency and make Yuan become a global currency. It also mentioned China used to peg Yuan on US dollar until 2005, then they changed the policy to manage Yuan in a certain range.

The article is concerned with the increasing currency value of the Yuan. In the past couple years, the value of the Yuan has increased significantly. This increase in the currencies value is due to the China opening its markets and showing leniency in trading. However, the Yuan though growing in strength has much to do before it becomes the world currency. It must be adaptable. The Chinese government has stated that they will open the market more by 2020. When the currency will replace US is unknown but it seems that it will surpass the US dollar with time. The article was eyeopening. I had never realized the Yuan was so strong. I will definitely look at the Yuan when i read economic news.

this article explores how china's central bank pledged to push forward with market-driven reforms on interest rates and capital account opening in a pilot free-trade zone set up in Shanghai.

China's central bank has resolved to push market driven reforms on interest rates and capital accounts. Residents will be allowed to do cross-border investments.

The article is about how chinese fans of iPhone 5 are looking everywhere to find an iPhone 5 , which has a big rate of sailing these days. People try to use different sources where they can buy an iPhone.

I really like this article because I think anything to do with demand for iPhone is interesting. Chances are, most people don't even know the new features of the iPhone 5 compared to the iPhone 4S but the popularity of Apple in of itself is enough to create hype

This article is interesting due to the fact that it provides an overview of the changes in taxes in the United States. It is also interesting how taxing Cannabis will affect the market for it and the economy of the states.