How Airlines Spend Your Airfare – The Wall Street Journal.

June 6, 2012 Leave a comment

How Airlines Spend Your Airfare

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303296604577450581396602106.html

On an airplane carrying 100 passengers, how many customers does it take, on average, to cover the cost of the flight?

The Middle Seat asked US Airways and consulting firm Oliver Wyman to crunch airline expenses down to the percentages that an individual passenger pays, taking a hard look at costs of running an airline. US Airways created a hypothetical flight of 100 passengers. Each one paid the average $146 fare for a domestic flight ($292 round-trip), plus $18 each in fees and add-ons, based on a year’s worth of data ending March 31. The bottom line: There is very little wiggle room on the plane for profit.

Filed under II. Competitor Analysis

Localized software will be key to Chinese success – Rethink Wireless

May 24, 2012 Leave a comment

http://www.rethink-wireless.com/2012/05/24/localized-software-key-chinese-success.htm

China will be the biggest single source of smartphone growth in the near future, but the software platform battle will play out with different rules from those in more established markets. There is a rising trend to rely on homegrown operating systems and highly localized applications, which may prove challenging to Google’s or Apple’s one-size-fits-all approach.

Filed under I. Industry Analysis, III. Global Strategy

P&G Concedes Missteps in Expansion – The Wall Street Journal.

May 23, 2012 Leave a comment

P&G Concedes Missteps in Expansion

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577422492258467260.html

Procter & Gamble Co. PG +0.28%said it would stop spending money on further expansion in emerging markets until it stabilizes its largest and most profitable businesses, putting on hold a key priority of Chief Executive Bob McDonald.

Mr. McDonald has steered the company aggressively into new corners of the globe in order to boost the number of customers under P&G’s reach. But the limits of that strategy were evident last month when the company reported a drop in earnings and falling market share for the first three months of the year.

Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller, addressing Wall Street analysts and investors Wednesday, said the consumer-products giant may have been overzealous in chasing growth overseas. He laid out a strategy to prioritize spending in its coming fiscal year around its 40 largest business lines, mainly in North America and China.

Filed under III. Global Strategy

Pfizer Bids Farewell to Lipitor – The Wall Street Journal.

May 10, 2012 Leave a comment

Pfizer Bids Farewell to Lipitor

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304543904577394263634380548.html

Farewell after all, Lipitor.

Pfizer Inc. PFE -0.54%conducted an intriguing experiment in brand marketing this year, aggressively pushing the cholesterol-fighting drug Lipitor in the U.S. even after its patent expired on Nov. 30.

But after spending more than $87 million promoting the medicine, the world’s biggest drug company is quietly giving up on its once-great cash cow for good because more generic versions will soon be going on sale.

Filed under I. Industry Analysis

A Pivotal Fight Over ‘Essential Patents’ – The Wall Street Journal.

May 8, 2012 Leave a comment

A Pivotal Fight Over ‘Essential Patents’

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304746604577383861850080498.html

Microsoft Corp. MSFT +0.65%and Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. will get their day in a Seattle court Monday, as a federal judge considers whether they are unfairly wielding patents involving standard technologies.

At issue is whether Motorola has violated its contract for licensing technology considered part of an industry standard. Patent owners are expected to license their technology on reasonable terms once it becomes part of a standard. Motorola’s patents for video streaming and Wi-Fi are essential for mobile and entertainment devices and Microsoft adopted them for use in products including its core Windows operating system.

Filed under I. Industry Analysis

Wal-Mart’s Mexican Mess – The Wall Street Journal.

April 24, 2012 Leave a comment

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

Wal-Mart’s Mexican Mess

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577362322760689462.html

Wal-Mart‘s WMT +2.02%Mexican crisis is a $10 billion problem. At least that was the stock market’s first take. Investors wiped that amount of the company’s market capitalization following allegations in the New York Times of bribery at its Wal-Mart de Mexico subsidiary.

At first glance, the 5% share price fall looks harsh given that Wal-Mart’s 69% stake in the subsidiary generated about 5% of its sales last year. The business is not about to vanish overnight. But investors are right to be cautious.

WALMARTHERD

First, the international business, of which Mexico is a key part, helped Wal-Mart boost sales by an average of 5.2% annually over the last five years. The U.S. business grew only 3.2% a year. Wal-Mart’s ability to expand further in Mexico might now be affected. Hobble Wal-Mart’s international operations and it is left with a U.S. business that competes with the Internet and has become increasingly reliant on a low-margin grocery business.

Filed under II. Competitor Analysis, III. Global Strategy

Nestlé Wins Pfizer Auction – The Wall Street Journal.

April 24, 2012 Leave a comment

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

Nestlé Wins Pfizer Auction

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577361070078138812.html

Nestlé SA NESN.VX -0.09%muscled out rival Groupe Danone SA to buy Pfizer Inc.’s PFE -0.54%infant-nutrition business, but only after agreeing to pay $11.85 billion, as much as 20% more than many analysts had expected the business to fetch.

The hard-fought auction shows how Pfizer’s nutrition business was seen as a virtual must-have for the two European food giants, which both aspire to lead the fast-growing and economically resilient infant formula business. The Pfizer baby-food unit, while not core to the U.S.-based drug maker, is considered among the world’s most attractive given its outsized exposure to developing markets.

Filed under IV. Corporate Strategy

The Two-Horse Smartphone Race – The Wall Street Journal.

April 24, 2012 Leave a comment

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

The Two-Horse Smartphone Race

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303978104577362140799316460.html

Apple Inc. AAPL +1.16%and Samsung Electronics Co. 005930.SE +1.36%should make it abundantly clear this week that the smartphone industry is increasingly dividing into the haves and have-nots.

Filed under II. Competitor Analysis

The Dow Goes Green (^DJI, DIS, HPQ, IBM, JNJ)

April 22, 2012 Leave a comment

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2012/04/22/the-dow-goes-green.aspx

When you’re thinking of innovative companies taking steps to support the environment, the members of the venerable Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI  ) may not be the first ones that come to mind. But as corporate leaders, these companies aren’t stuck in the past but rather must continually look forward to stay on the cutting edge of their industries and continue to drive positive change ahead of their competition.

For some companies, working out ways to operate more efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner is just good business. For others, striving for new environmental advancement is their business. Let’s take a closer look at four Dow stocks that are taking strides forward in the green movement — and will probably continue to do so in the future.

Filed under V. Corporate Social Responsibility

GE Net Falls 12%; Energy Unit Shines – The Wall Street Journal.

April 21, 2012 Leave a comment

I thought you would be interested in the following story on WSJ.com.

GE Net Falls 12%; Energy Unit Shines

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303513404577355431016148156.html

General Electric Co. GE -0.29%said first-quarter earnings declined 12% but rose on an operating basis, fueled by renewed profit growth at its big energy-infrastructure division.

 WSJ Ahead of the Tape columnist Spencer Jakab makes a stop on Mean Street to look at GE’s earnings and how the company’s GE Capital division is giving investors a reason to consider jumping in. Photo: Sebastien Bozon/AFP/Getty Images.

Overall margins at the conglomerate’s industrial businesses, which it has been counting on to drive results as it shrinks its GE Capital finance arm, continued to slip, however, even as revenue and profit increased. GE’s combined industrial profit margin came in at 13.8% in the first quarter, down from 14.3% in the year-earlier period.

Filed under IV. Corporate Strategy

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