Case analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Case analysis - Coursework Example To begin with, it is crucial to examine the threat of emergence into the MP3 industry. The threat of entry expresses a medium possibility since the cost of production is moderate. For instance, the cost of packaging, of iRiver, is ?69 and the entity can sell the same at ?163. This suggests that it may stimulate new rivals into entering the market because the cost of producing mp3 products is meager. In addition, there is a considerable product margin that attracts new competitors. IFPI issued reports of a speculated increase in demand of music in mobile phones and the internet. This may swap physical formats of storing musical information such as CD’s and DVD in the succeeding years. In turn, many companies would wish to enter the market and pose market share threat to existing companies. For instance, the Microsoft Company has launched an MP3 product that is known as Zune. Such a product may be a competitive rival with the Apple Company products such as iPod. However, such an entry might be constrained with the difficulty of gaining market share. The Apple Company is reigning as the market leader because they face economies of scale that prohibits new entrants from the market. Sales of iPods make a figure of over 10 million and a considerable margin cost. It is crucial to highlight that there are only seven dominant companies in the MP3 industry. This is in spite of the idea that there are over 100 companies that participate in the production and sale of MP3 products. This is a manifestation of economies of scale that bar competitors from accessing the market. Additionally, the concept of differentiated products makes existing companies indispensable. For instance, the Apples’ iPod Nano has superb features such as the ability for easy downloads of songs. It becomes difficult for new entrants to have products that can overcome the customer belief in the existing companies. The second component of the five porter model pertains to buyer’s ba rgaining power. There are several quality products that place the customer in a tricky choice scenario for the most appealing model. In addition, these models follow price setters such as Apple in delivering pricey products. For instance, Apples’ products go at steep prices of $ 299. This makes the consumer to lose their bargaining power because several customers would be willing to purchase the music players without consideration of their prices. In this perspective, the customers possess a low bargaining power. Another feature that presents, in the MP3 player industry, pertains to consideration of brands over price. This suggests product differentiation that sets high prices for its products. Companies such as Apple set steep prices and establish high switching costs to other brands. This further cuts down on the customer bargaining power as a considerable number would be willing to purchase due to the high utility that the products present. In the end, customers purchase p roducts because of their superb features and attractive appearance. Additionally, there is the threat of substitute products. The digital products have distinct features that place them at a platform whereby they cannot easily be replaced by other products. This creates a medium threat of substitute from other products. Besides, the digital music products possess notable advantages for customers. For instance, the iPods possess a high quality stereo sound that gives them an edge

Tax Cuts and Layoffs in the Economic Times and their Impact in Research Paper

Tax Cuts and Layoffs in the Economic Times and their Impact in Communities - Research Paper Example It is expected that this plan could actually boost the GDP by some 1.25% and the employment levels by 1.3 million in the next year (Kaplan, 2011). However the proposed plan is not without major difficulties perhaps the largest of which is the provision of some 447 billion dollars in order to make this plan work. For one thing, Obama’s proposal could not be tabled while Democrats controlled the Congress so tabling this proposal in a Republican controlled Congress is even more difficult. Furthermore the proposal is considering reducing the net incomes of a large amount of workers who will not agree to such proposals that curtail their employment benefits. The current economic situation is being compounded by efforts on the part of state governments to cut down on employee benefits. Already unionized workers in New York are not ready to agree to such concessions in benefits even if they have to lose their jobs as a sign of protest. Already the government in New York is deposing t housands of workers because they are not ready to accept new contracts that include tax tradeoffs as well as removal of entitlements that reduce their pays by a sizable amount (Economist, 2011). Although the largest union has agreed to reduced pay structures but the second largest union is adamant to accepting these new contracts. Friction is rising as working people are removed from jobs because they demand their right. This indicates that the federal government’s proposed tax breaks are more than just required in order to avert further layoffs which would in turn lead to little else than more recession. When the proposal’s finances are looked at in greater detail, it becomes apparent that the largest contributor to funding is from limiting deductions for upper income earners at some 405 billion dollars. The other components of financing represents smaller figures including treating carried interests as ordinary income (18 billion dollars), limiting oil and gas compan y tax benefits (40 billion dollars) and removing corporate jet tax breaks (3 billion dollars). It is highly clear that the federal government could still increase the chief component of funding if it did not limit the amount of deductions for upper income earners. That would put the federal government in a position to possess greater finances that could be used to stimulate the economy. While it is clear that the federal government has shown interest in creating more jobs by providing incentives and by expanding infrastructure based projects, but this proposal is highly unlikely to get tabled. Even if the proposal was to get approved in Congress somehow, the next problem would be the credibility of the federal government when it comes to creating jobs. The government has always had a poor history of creating new jobs (except the FDR years). At this point in time, tax breaks are required for low income workers so that they can deal with their pervasive state of near insolvency. Howev er it hardly makes any sense to curtail taxes for high income earners who are already finding enough money to spend. Economists argue that the tax cuts provided to the average Joe worker are being saved up and this may even be true but given a few continuous years of savings, these workers will reinvest in the economy in terms of their savings dollars. The need of the hour is to redistribute the money in the economy