Business Essay Samples
[...] In the 1980's, automobile manufacturers were measuring their production and inventory control improvements in terms of inventory holding cost (Supply chain). Today, improvements are more typically discussed in terms of inventory turns, manufacturing lead times, and buffer times. Many companies have gone far beyond the point where the potential reductions in inventory holding cost, as traditionally computed, are used to justify continuing improvement efforts. These companies are realizing gains in increased productivity, better quality, and improved delivery, in addition to a reduction in holding costs.
Inventory holding costs, as traditionally measured, are so incomplete in their representation of the real cost of inventory that they are misleading. The real cost of inventory, stemming from its role as a barrier to improvement, is the waste caused by these hidden problems. Inventory is used to cope with the symptoms of problems, for example, unpredictable product quality. However, its effect is to make these same problems less visible and much more difficult to track. [...]
[...] A very noticeable feature of the Trade Practices Act is the inclusion of some provisions dealing not only with anti-competition generally, but specifically those covering anti-competitive practices in the telecommunications industry. This represents a major advancement in the protection of yet another potentially abusive area of consumer services. [...]
[...] In the modern world of globalization and rapidly growing technologies companies have to be big enough to survive. Severe competition fosters small players quit the game and is pitiless to the week companies that are not able to adapt to new market demands. In such circumstances firms are compelled to consolidate and join their power in order to stay alive and profitable.
Each company has to have a competitive advantage in order to find its target market. Nevertheless, today it is not enough. Having a competitive advantage does not mean a company is strong enough to meet the demand and be profitable. The threat of debt and substitution is rather high in the modern market. Moreover, the issue of price war is the major reason of failure of many small companies. On the other hand, large firms and oligopolies can afford themselves enter a price war to displace competitors from the market. [...]