...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 2.0 INDUSTRY FORECAST: OUTLOOK AND TRENDS IN DATA 2 3.0 PORTER'S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS 3 COMPETITION IN THE MP3 PLAYER INDUSTRY 3 3.1. Rivalry Among Competing Sellers of MP3 Players 4 3.2 Threat of Potential New Entrants into the Manufacturer of MP3 Players 5 3.3 Firms in Other Industries Offering Substitute Products for MP3 Players 6 3.4 Suppliers of Materials, Parts, Components, or Other Resource Inputs for MP3 Players 7 3.5 Buyers of MP3 Players 7 4.0 DOMINANT ECONOMIC FEATURES 8 5.0 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS 9 Differentiation, price and innovation 9 Profitability 10 Other competitors 10 Conclusion 10 6.0 FORCES DRIVING INDUSTRY CHANGE 10 APPENDIX A 12 Figure 5.0 THE FIVE-FORCE MODEL OF COMPETITION 12 APPENDIX B 13 Hard drive based players 14 Table 5.1a 14 Table 5.1b 15 Flash based players 16 Table 5.2a 16 Table 5.2b 17 Table 5.3 18 Strategic Group Map 19 Ranking of MP3 players for 2005 19 APPENDIX C 20 SWOT Analysis - Apple versus the competition 20 Apple’s competitors 20 BIBLIOGRAPHY 21 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2.0 INDUSTRY FORECAST: OUTLOOK AND TRENDS IN DATA The macro environment in which the MP3 player industry operated during 2005 was by large shaped by the individual MP3 companies recognizing and responding to unmet needs of a trend that was largely boosted by Apple: Their innovative response to creating a solution for music lovers and their busy lives. This sequence of events within the MP3 industry was the...
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...The Road to Interoperability Merge PACS™ I Merge Cardio™ I Merge Hemo™ | iConnect® Access I iConnect Enterprise Archive St. Mary’s Hospital | Athens, GA Long-Standing Partner CUSTOMER PROFILE • St. Mary’s Hospital, located in Athens, GA, is a non-profit Catholic system whose mission is to be a compassionate healing presence in their community • St. Mary’s is a 199-bed facility that performs about 100,000 imaging procedures per year CUSTOMER CHALLENGES • Improve critical results delivery across the enterprise • Eliminate workflow challenges and decrease report turnaround time in cardiology department • Consolidate cardiology and radiol ogy PACS into one archive for easy image access via their EMR SUCCESS WITH MERGE • Customizable real-time worklists have improved results delivery and speed to treatment • Went from up to six days to one day for report-turnaround time with cardiology digital reporting • Consolidated silos and centralized storage so cardiology and radiology images could be accessed via their EMR and reliably stored in one location Since 2003, St. Mary’s, who performs about 100,000 imaging procedures per year, has selected five Merge solutions to help them address workflow challenges, improve report turnaround time, speed critical results delivery, and better execute image storage and management. “We believe that working with Merge for all of our enterprise imaging and interoperability needs helps St. Mary’s...
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...Overview of the Chapter Leadership is a key ingredient in effective management. When leaders are effective, their subordinates are highly motivated, committed, and high performing. When leaders are ineffective, chances are good that their subordinates do not perform to the level of their capabilities, lack motivation, and may be dissatisfied. This chapter describes what leadership is and examines major leadership models and theories that have been developed by various researchers. It also describes how managers engaging in transformational leadership can have a dramatic impact upon their organization and discusses the impact of gender on leadership. Learning Objectives 1. Describe what leadership is, when leaders are effective and ineffective, and the sources of power that enable managers to be effective leaders. 1. Identify the traits that show the strongest relationship to leadership, the behaviors leaders engage in, and the limitations of the trait and behavior models of leadership. 2. Explain how contingency models of leadership enhance our understanding of effective leadership and management in organization. 3. Describe what transformational leadership is, and explain how managers can engage in it. 4. Characterize the relationship between gender and leadership. MANAGEMENT SNAPSHOT: EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STYLES FOR TOUGH TIMES: LESSONS FROM HOWARD SCHULTZ, RICHARD SCHULZE, DAVID FARR, AND LOU GERSTNER Each of these persons is a current or former chairman...
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...Macroeconomics Michael Coschigano Keller Graduate School Econ 545 8-20-2014 GDP Growth Rate Automobile industry has been affected by many factors that cut across the US economy both internal and externally. Since the end of the recession, the GDP of the United States was subjected to various economic and political constraints. The same has happened in European developed countries and other Asian nations, where the level of debt has remained high and yet the development baseline scenario is still high. For the case of the United States and in close relation with the automobile industry, the output in terms of growth has remained stagnant and is continuously becoming constrained because of the highly deleveraging and tough influences and uncertainties of the outlined policies. J.D power and associates analyst Jeff Schuster stated that there was a reduction in the number of sales during the first half of 2011 economic year. The reduction is believed to have resulted from a lack of customer confidence on the products (Akerson, 2014). Macroeconomists have for a long time outlined that GDP strongly depends on consumption and the percentage of consumption dictating GDP at any given time stands at 70%. However, in August of 2011, the consumer based comfort index became the weakest since March of 2009, and the confidence level among the US-based consuming community dropped to the lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis (Hubbard & Antony, 2012). Automobiles are...
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...ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN ISLAM Compared with Capitalism and Socialism By Abdul Husain Muhammad 2nd Edition 1975 Published By World Organization for Islamic Services, P. O. Box No.11365-1545, Tehran. (IRAN) IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL. Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of all. beings; the Most Compassionate, the Merciful; the Master of the Day of Judgment; Thee only we serve, and to Thee alone we pray for succour; Guide us in the straight path; the path of those whom Thou hast blessed, who are immune from Thy wrath and have never gone astray. O'Allah! send your blessings to the head of your messengers and the last of your prophets, Muhammad and his pure and cleansed progeny. Also send your blessings to all your prophets and envoys. CONTENTS Foreword ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. Introduction .................................... The Triple Nature of Possession ... ... ... ... ... Freedom of Private Enterprise and its Limits ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Social Justice ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Economic Problems ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 3 7 18 21 34 38 Dear Reader This leaflet is one of several Islamic publications that we distribute, as a contribution, among the people throughout the world. You are requested to study the present publication with care and if you find it useful, please pass it on to your friend. You may re quisition...
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...Chapter 6 Supply, Demand, and Government Policies MULTIPLE CHOICE 1. Price controls are a. used to make markets more efficient. b. usually enacted when policymakers believe that the market price of a good or service is unfair to buyers or sellers. c. nearly always effective in eliminating inequities. d. established by firms with monopoly power. ANSWER: b. usually enacted when policymakers believe that the market price of a good or service is unfair to buyers or sellers. TYPE: M DIFFICULTY: 2 2. Policymakers choose to enact price controls in a market because a. they believe the market’s outcome to be unfair. b. enacting price controls will directly increase tax revenues. c. they are required by law to improve market conditions. d. they believe that the market system is inefficient and their actions will improve efficiency. ANSWER: a. they believe the market’s outcome to be unfair. TYPE: M SECTION: 1 DIFFICULTY: 2 3. Policymakers are led to control prices because a. they view the market’s outcome as inefficient. b. they view the market’s outcome as unfair. c. all politicians enjoy exercising their power. d. they are required to do so under the Employment Act of 1946. ANSWER: b. they view the market’s outcome as unfair. TYPE: M SECTION: 1 DIFFICULTY: 2 4. Price controls a. always produce an equitable outcome. b. always produce an efficient outcome...
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...Summary As a major ski resort, Jiminy Peak resort has to consume a lot of electricity power for snowmaking every year. The main question now is how to reduce the high cost of electricity. Among the many solutions, the wind turbine project reduces electricity costs, while also taking into account environmental issues. This is because the wind is a renewable green energy. The wind turbine project is through the installation of wind turbine to provide electrical energy and save electricity costs. Winter is not only the most productive season for tourists, but also the season with the largest amount of wind in a year. Therefore, even if there is a substantial increase in power demand in winter, wind turbine can provide enough electricity for resort operation. However, even so, the wind turbine project still has other drawbacks, such as transporting turbine installation material will wake the residents living around, excess electricity cannot be stored, and so on. Introduction In this report, the proposal of the wind turbine will be examined from several aspects， which include the capital budgeting, disadvantages and benefits of the proposal, and strategies that are used to solve problems. Disadvantage and benefits Before the implementation of the wind turbine project, a number of specific issues have to be considered, which are the impacts of environmental and social issues affecting the firm. First, the social impact is mainly the impact on the residents living nearby. The...
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...1. Give two reasons why there may be a short-run tradeoff between unexpected inflation and the unemployment rate? Unexpected inflation reduces real wages W/P, so labor becomes cheaper (adaptive expectations). So with cheaper labor firms hire more workers to satisfy equilibrium condition of MRPL=W/P MRPL - Marginal revenue product of labor W/P - real wage W - nominal wage P - price level (change means inflation). Expected inflation is assumed making labor contract, which does not in general affect real wages W/P (rational expectations). Unemployment by itself tends to press on wages due to higher competition between workers for jobs. Another point is sticky prices, due to unexpected inflation consumers might receive higher real income thus demand more goods which became relatively cheaper due to unexpected inflation, in order to supply such goods by contracts producers are pressed to hire more workers - so adaptive expectations in relation to sticky prices also confirms this trade-off. Higher inflation caused by increase in aggregate demand provides pressure on higher 2. What is the difference between the short run and the long run Phillips curve? Phillips curve is a curve depicting the relationship between inflation and unemployment. Inflation only effects the rate of employment when inflation was not expected. When you have higher and expected inflation for example, firms believe their products are commanding a higher price relative to other goods and so they...
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...Submitted By: Ali Tahir Roll Number: FA14-EMBA-034-CVC Assignment 2 ------------------------------------------------- Do you think that Higher GDP shows higher standard of living? Explain your answer with logical justifications. Higher GDP does not show a higher standing standard. GDP does not measure happiness, or well-being, or what economists call utility. As a gross measure, it aggregates data for a geographic area, ignoring important distributional questions and individual preferences. It does not account for the value of a nation’s stock of assets and liabilities. GDP is not a good measure for the well-being of a nation because more populated countries generally have a higher GDP whereas the people as a whole may not be enjoying a high living standard. Some reasons how this is justified can be: 1. Free time or leisure is not included in GDP analysis. While someone may be happier only working three days a week, that additional day off will reduce the GDP value. It is possible for very industrious country have a very high GDP, but its entire people could be overworked and sick which would turn to a poor wellbeing number. 2. GDP measures total production for a nation, and GDP per capita gives an average amount of output per person. However it does not tell how GDP is divided among its residents. 3. Some services and products included in the GDP measure actually lower our well-being. When expenditures on services are made it doesn’t necessarily...
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...The dollar extended losses against a basket of currencies after the report, while prices for U.S. government debt rose. Business spending on capital goods has been undermined by the buoyant dollar, which has eroded overseas profits of multinational companies. At the same time, lower energy prices have cut into domestic oil production, reducing demand for equipment by oil-field companies, including Schlumberger and Halliburton. Schlumberger, the world's No.1 oil-field services provider, cut its capital expenditure plans for this year by about $500 million to $2.5 billion. Halliburton slashed its capex by about 15 percent to $2.8 billion. The strong dollar and reduced capex spending by oil-field firms combined with a harsh winter and softer global demand to slow U.S. growth at the start of the year. The dollar has appreciated 12.1 percent against the currencies of the United States' main trading partners since last June, largely driven by expectations of tighter monetary policy. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest household products maker, on Thursday reported a 8.3 percent decline in quarterly sales, which it blamed on the dollar. Read MoreWhere America drinks the most: The trouble spots In March, shipments of core capital goods—which are used to calculate equipment spending in the government's gross domestic product measurement—fell 0.4 percent after a downwardly revised 0.1 percent gain in February. Shipments in February were previously reported to have...
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...Should I play a sport? Cost | Benefit | * Less free time (short term) * Less time to do homework (short term) * Have to pay a $100 athletic fee (short term) | * Looks appealing for college (long-term) * Higher opportunity to get scholarships (long-term) * Will get to meet new people (short-term) | 1. The concept of scarcity relates to my dilemma only in the sense that I would have a shortage of time to do other things if I played a sport, but it does not relate to the me having a limited supply of anything. The concept of choice does relate to my dilemma because there are certain things I would have to choose from if I decided to play a sport. As an example, I would have to choose between having more free time or having a higher opportunity of earning scholarships. Lastly, opportunity relates to my dilemma because I would possibly have a better chance of going to a superior college if a played a sport, or even getting a scholarship. 2. When making a decision, the costs and benefits are always important to me because I have to make sure I make the best decision and I will not regret that decision later on. Based on the chart, the benefits would have more of an impact of my life because they would give me an opportunity to possibly have a better future if I decided to play a sport. 3. Based on the costs and benefits from my chart, my final choice will be to play a sport. This is the best decision over not playing a sport because of the chance...
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...Economics Assessment – Outcome 3 Market Failure The term market failure means when free running markets within an economy fail to provide all goods and services needed. The government develops a way of controlling these problems, e.g. by providing the economy with some amount of good and services:- Public goods Public goods are goods that are provided by the government to the economy as they are not provided by the private sector as the private sector are unable and unwilling to pay for these goods, as they are of little importance. The private sector are unable to make a profit if they provide these goods as people would be unwilling and unable to pay for these goods/service provided for there to be a profit made. Some of these are:- * Street Lights * Public Parks * Pavements Merit Goods Merit goods are goods and services provided to an economy by the government, as they are not provided by the private sector as they are unable to make a profit from these goods because there would be no one willing to pay for these or maybe even unable to be for them, as these goods/services are seen as not of enough importance. Some of these good are:- * Armed Forces * Health Care * Education Externalities Externalities is when something happens or something some does that could affect someone else. The government intervenes to try and improve negative externalities, by on most occasions introducing new legalisation to reduce these negative...
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...、 .~ 1. 我们‖打〈败〉了敌人。 ②我们‖〔把敌人〕打〈败〉了。 国际经济学讲义 国际经济学：国际经济学以经济学的一般理论为基础，研究国际经济活动和国际经济关系，是一般经济理论在国际经济活动范围中的应用与延伸，是经济学体系的有机组成部分。其主要研究对象有国际贸易理论与政策、国际收支、外汇、生产要素的国际流动、跨国公司、经济发展、经济一体化、开放经济的宏观调节、经济全球化与国际经济秩序等。国际经济学的一般理论包括国际贸易理论和政策（贸易基础、贸易条件以及贸易利益的分配）、国际金融理论和国家货币政策（汇率理论与制度、国际收支调节理论与政策，以及国际货币体系）、国际要素流动（资本和劳动力的国际流动以及跨国公司理论）等。 开放经济:是指一国与其外部世界有着经济往来关系，如存在国际贸易、国际金融往来，也就是对外有进出口和货币或者资本的往来。本国经济与外国经济之间存在着密切的关系，即为开放经济。 国际分工：是指各国之间的劳动分工,生产的国际专业化。它是国际贸易的基础,是社会分工从国内向国外延伸的结果。各国对于分工方式的选择以及分工的变化,反映了彼此之间经济发展水平的差异及各国经济联系的程度。国际分工主要有产业间、产业内、垂直、水平以及不同要素密集度之间的分工等类型。 斯密的绝对利益学说 基本内容：在某一种商品上，一个经济在劳动生产率上占有绝对优势，或其生产所耗费的劳动成本绝对低于另一经济，若每个经济都从事自己占有绝对优势商品的生产，继而进行交换，那么双方都可以通过交换得到绝对的利益，从而整个世界也可以获得分工的好处。 评价：首先，从国际贸易实际出发，斯密的绝对利益学说存在着一个必要的假设，即一国要参加国际贸易，就必然要有至少一种产品在生产上与交易伙伴相比处于劳动生产率绝对高、或生产所耗费劳动绝对低的地位上，否则该国就不具备实际参加国际分工的条件，或者在国际贸易中没有任何利益而只有伤害。这在理论上过于绝对，在实践中也不符合实际情况。比如，发展中国家劳动生产率在所有产品上可能都不如发达国家，但仍然可以从国际贸易中获利。其次，从劳动价值论出发，该理论无法说明交换两种产品时内在等价的要求是什么。 李嘉图的比较利益学说 基本内容：李嘉图的比较优势模型是以古典学派的劳动价值论为基础的，它有以下几个假设（简称2×2×1模型，即两个国家、两种产品、一种要素）：生产要素只有劳动一种；劳动在一国之内是完全同质的；劳动在一国之内可自由流动，但在国际间不能流动；规模收益不变；商品和劳动市场都是完全竞争的；不考虑运输成本和其他交易费用；两国的生产函数不同；两国的消费者偏好相同。 在此基础上，李嘉图的比较利益学说改进了亚当﹒斯密的绝对利益学说，目的在于说明决定国际贸易的基础是比较利益，而不是绝对利益。具体来说，即使一个国家生产每种产品都具有最高生产率，即都具有绝对优势,而另一个国家生产每种产品都处于绝对劣势,但是只要它们的劳动生产率在不同产品上存在区别,处于绝对优势的国家集中生产本国国内具有最大优势的产品，处于绝对劣势的国家集中生产本国国内具有较小劣势的产品，即遵循“两利相权取其重,两弊相衡取其轻”的原则,便都能从国际分工和贸易中获得利益。因此，李嘉图的比较利益学说比绝对优势学说具有更普遍的意义。 评价：首先，从国际贸易实际出发的评价：①比较利益学说揭示出了国际贸易因比较利益而发生并具有互利性，证明了各国通过出口相对成本较低的产品，进口相对成本较高的产品就可以实现贸易互利，这是该学说的主要贡献。...
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...Flash back ten years, and Argentina enjoyed an average annual growth of 9%, was the strongest economy in Latin America and considered an impending rival to the up-and-coming BRIC countries. Over the ensuing years, as employment increased and incomes rose, government revenues and spending also increased. Today, economic turbulence, accelerating inflation, and ad hoc economic interventions characterize Argentina. Since January 2013, the value of the U.S. dollar has skyrocketed 29% and the unofficial exchange rate is almost double the official rate. Double-digit inflation is estimated at about two and a half times the official rate, and the prices of Argentine products have nearly tripled. Argentina faces a 2.4% annual growth rate, restrained economic capacity, a censure from the IMF, challenges to recent trade measures in the World Trade Organization (WTO), and social unrest at levels similar to the aftermath of the 2001 economic crisis. To strengthen government coffers, foreign and domestic enterprises have been nationalized. As a country with so much potential, so rich in natural resources, culture and history, one can't help but ask: what is happening today in Argentina, what's next, and will Argentina change course? The current administration, under President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has intervened in the economy to stem capital flight and protect depleting foreign exchange reserves in ways that are unpredictable and inconsistent. Measures include a series of strict...
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...There are many things that can be done when it is discovered that the flights from San Francisco to Washington DC are not covering their expenses. Taking the cost of the flight into consideration and all of the extras one can then figure out what to do. The quick fix on this would be to raise the price of the tickets and see if there are enough people that would take the flight to cover the cost with some profit. If after trying to do this for a couple months there is still no change then it would be feasible to maybe not offer the flight at all. Another option would be to break down the report and figure out exactly why they are not making enough money. Is it because there are not enough people buying the tickets or is it because the flights are full and the tickets are not high enough to cover the cost. If the flights are leaving half full then it may mean that there is not enough demand for the flight to cover the cost. If the demand is not high enough to fill the flight then maybe reducing the amount of times the flight is offered would help. If the flight was to say twice a day then it would be reasonable to make it once a day cutting down on the cost and still offering the service to the customers. The thing to consider in these situations is not to just take a flight away right away because it is a customer service and something with a possibility for money. Using the Long run supply curve could show overtime whether changes to the flight will make a great enough impact...
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