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Economies of scale is the increase in efficiency as a company gets bigger. In this case the economy of scale is the creation of larger shipping containers. The great thing about scales of economy is that it has lowered the production cost of products such as the creation of t- shirts for some companies. However as companies have more products to they needed bigger containers to transport their goods. As the supple of t- shirts increases the size of the ship that transports the goods needs to increase in size as well. Maersk lines , the world's biggest shipping container company has decided to increase the size of his ships. The company plans to build 20 ships with a capacity of carrying 18,000 twenty-foot equal units. The company does this out of efficeny in transportation and gas cost. The larger the ship the more it can carry and the less times the ship will have to travel back and forth to transport goods. The increase in ship size than is an example of the economies of scale when bigger = more efficient.

This is an excellent example of the effects of economies of scale can have. When coupled with innovation, there can be very powerful results

This article says that career-oriented colleges that help students find jobs in nearby industries are much more useful than top-name universities.

This website is very interesting on not just a world scale, because most people have already heard of the food problems in the world, but as well on a local scale. Meaning the article talks about how the average human is contributing to this growing problem.

This article does a really good job at capturing the chain effect of changes in the world. An example is how they talk about how water shortage affects food shortages. People tend to overlook how much one disaster can cause many others.

I agree full heartedly with what Landon has said, as well as what you have said Miro, in regards to the chain affect of changes as well as the fact that understanding problems on a local scale is important. I know that we in Indiana have really been hit hard by drought this year, and we have seen first-hand how the lack of rainfall hurts everyone. The chain reaction of sorts begins with the farmers, who had a horrible growing season in Indy this year, and thus they passed on the cost to the consumer. We are having to pay noticeably more for all grown products this year, and it really is a testament to the harsh reality that is the chain affect that Landon mentioned, as well as a wake up call to all of us here that economic problems exist everywhere, and just because we live in a well developed place doesn't mean we are safe from them.

This article discusses the new Chevy volt hybrid and debates it's future. it can be said that the company, in regards to this car, is going to start benefiting from economies of scale as in the article it states that the production cost will become cheaper however it is obvious that the company is not producing at the minimum efficient scale as allegedly for each volt it sells, the company loses $49,000

Currently, the Chevy Volt costs $89,000 per car to produce. However, GM is selling the car at about $40,000, offering even more discounts in certain places to reel in customers. GM argues that in the long run, the production cost will decrease and begin to bring in profit.

This article is an excellent example of the concept of long term vs. short term decision making by a company. Right now, GM is losing massive amounts of money whenever they make and sell another Chevy Volt, but they hope the investment will pay off in the long run.

This article discusses the duopoly in the telecommunication industry here in the UAE, Etisalat and Du. the article clearly points out the fact that both companies over charge, stating that internet here costs 50% more, when compared to internet pricing in the UK. This market was a monopoly, dominated by Etisalat but the entering of DU is said to be rapid and thus they are suffering from some diseconomies of scale. The way the article concluded was quite interesting as it stated that the Abu Dhabi government subsidized it's airline industry so that people could visit and enjoy lower rates, and then says it should keep the broadband cost more competitive so that it can attract the companies of tomorrow

LED lights have expanded into the market recently and they are experiencing economies of scale as a result. However, since their product works so well, it is estimated that if more people turn to LED, the less money they make in the long run.

This really short article, i think, represents the real world problems of price marketing on a global scale. There is a bit of tension between two country's, West Benegal and India, over the price of coal. India is not cooperating with their usual partner to lower the price, and Benegal thinks that the importing cost is insanely high, thus we have a bit of a problem.

This article from the economist is actually very interesting, it explains that cargo ships are being redesigned to be able to carry more cargo containers but at the same time burn less fuel or at least the same amount. This means that the ships will spend less time docking as they wont have to make as many trips back in forth. This in return generates more profit and total revenue.

This article is interesting due to the fact that it highlights the ideas of supply and demand particularly on an international scale.