Competitive silence or personalization of products, the case of Apple Essay

Competitive silence or personalization of products, the case of Apple Computer - Essay Example The scenario has now changed as most managers understand the need to maintain a strategic grip on the information a company receives and disseminates. They can then use this information in not only managing the internal processes but also control external factors such as share price and market perceptions. There is a very important link between the trends of information leaked and corporate success. The main factor for the success of any business is sales. This is because the primary aim of doing business for every organization is to earn a profit. There are two primary ways to increase over all monetary value of profit. The first way is to increase the gross profit margin on the products being offered in the market. This is the more difficult way for some products and at the end of the day it comes down to strategy. The product life cycle for example is major contributor to the decision of choosing the strategy of trying to increase gross margin. Products in the mature stage of their life cycle for example require extensive marketing efforts to increase gross margins. On the other hand products in introductory stage find it much easier to charge higher gross margins. The bulk of products being offered in the market are in mature stage of their product life cycle, so the question aris es as how to increase their profits? Even if extensive marketing efforts are undertaken they would although drive up sales but are much costly themselves. The alternative strategy is increasing the amount of sales rather than gross profit margin. There are many different ways of increasing sales none of which are easy to implement. Moreover most methods are replicable e.g. IBM moves its focus from Asia to cheaper markets of Africa. If we look at this example it would be very easy for competitors of IBM such as DELL and Compaq to target Africa as well. The point here is that driving up sales in a mature market

Causes and costs of inflation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Causes and costs of inflation - Essay Example Inflation is defined as "an increase in the overall level of prices in the economy" (Mankiw & Taylor, 2006, p. 817). The rate of inflation which is the percentage change in the overall level of prices, varies greatly from time to time depending on the condition of the economy and the stage of development of a country. Inflation is generally measured by calculating the cost of a basket of goods and services bought by an average consumer. This is measurement is represented in the form of an index known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The rate of inflation is a cause of concern for policy makers, economists and the public alike. While most laypeople consider the existence of inflation to be undesirable, (because an increase in price levels without a corresponding increase in wages signifies a fall in purchasing power) economist tend to discount the much overplayed costs of inflation. To arrive at a conclusive opinion about the significance of the costs of inflation, it is first necessary to understand what causes inflation The main reason behind cases of high or persistent inflation is the growth in the quantity of money available in the economy. Monetarists believe that changes in the quantity of money are a direct cause of inflation. The quantity of money available in an economy is known as the money supply and is usually under the control of the government. The money supply in an economy is usually measured by the availability of currency (notes and coins), checkable deposits (demand deposits) as well as saving deposits, plus wholesale currency deposits, and in the broadest sense foreign currency deposits may also be included. Different measures of money are used according to need but the most common is M2 (Cash in circulation plus demand deposits). (Sloman, 1999, p. 560) The quantity theory of money states that people hold money because they wish to engage in transactions to buy goods and services. The greater the need for transactions the greater will be the amount of money held. The amount of money held is expressed through the following equation, where M=quantity of money, V= velocity of money-the rate at which money circulates, P= average price of a transaction and T= total number of transactions over a period of time. M V = P T It is more useful and practical to substitute T with Y, which is the level of Output of an economy. The level of output will determine the number of transaction over a period of time and thus the equation changes to M V = P Y This equates the quantity of money available to the value of goods and services of an economy (GDP). The velocity of money is held to be constant to make the model simpler. If one variable on the left side of the equation increases then there should be a corresponding increase in one of the variables on the right side. If velocity is taken to be constant, and level of output of an economy is taken to be a function of the factors of production, then any changes in M will result in corresponding change in the price level: P. Thus if an increase in money supply causes the nominal GDP to increase and the there is no increase in the output of goods and services then it is an obvious conclusion that the price levels have increased. The quantity theory thus implies that the price level is proportional to the money supply (Mankiw, 2003, pp.