Cell Phone Market Is Global in Scope,

¶ … cell phone market is global in scope, with manufacturers and distributors in most of the developed world. However, there are five top-tier firms that clearly dominate the market: Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola and Sony Ericcson. These five firms account for about 70% of the global business. Nokia is in Finland, Motorola in the United States, the rest are Asian. Second tear firms are Apple, Research in Motion, and HTC. The industry is extremely complex, and the supply chain is concentrated in Asia. The industry is so competitive, in fact, that most of the companies outsource much of their products to Asian manufacturers. Initially, this market segment was set up as a price-driven product. Latently, though, the manufacturers compete and differentiate based on technological innovation (email, digital mapping, music, video, etc.). The key to competition in the U.S. is signing contracts with the major service providers (AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and T-Mobile). This is not so true elsewhere, where unlocked phones and smaller carriers are a greater option (U.S. International Trade Commission, 2010)

Part 2 -- When price is not an option for competitive edge (e.g. markets, costs, competitive pressures, etc.) two things can be done to improve revenues. The first is cost control, which is internally looking at the processes from design and manufacturing through distribution, and finding ways to cut costs. A Six Sigma model, for instance, would allow a company to find weaknesses in its production or quality control (e.g. waste, redundancy, etc.). Changing the supply chain to a more automated, just in time inventory with the suppliers hooked up to the same system would avoid costs of stored inventory, introducing extended automation would also cut human resource costs, and as negative as the image has, outsourcing some of the functions of the company would reduce costs and redundancies. The second thing a company can do is innovate -- provide something newer, or better, than its competitors in order to differentiate themselves in the market. Each of these would work with Quasar, depending on the tactical and strategic direction the company wishes (Pries & Quigley, 2012).

This strategy could easily be applied to the U.S. Post Office. While they are more automated than previously, there is still a great deal of hand sorting, redundant routes, and inefficiency. For instance, Priority Mail has no time guarantee, but is sent out on a separate truck so that it intersects with other routes; USPS has a web site, but there are many things and destinations that consumers may not do from home, so they must stand in line. Unionism and job protection has hurt the service, to the point that there are stations closing as well as cutbacks on services. Placing a lean six-sigma model to increase efficiency and use more modern technology (Optical recognition, etc.), combined with smart navigation systems for routing would improve efficiency and revenues.

Part 3 -- Information technology and knowledge management are ways that modern businesses of all sizes can increase overhead and business costs, as well as improve customer retention and efficiency. Ford Motors, for instance, had a tough time in the early part of this century. Costs were increasing, imports were cutting into their market share, and union demands were making it almost impossible to regain market share. One of the answers was to use technology to streamline the assembly process and reduce steps, increase robotics, and revamp the supply chain technologies so that each part was delivered at the exact right time with a new standard of quality. Previously, a human had to look at certain parts to ensure they met standards; new robotic technology allows the door frame, for instance, to be scanned for tolerances and welded at the same time. If the tolerances are unmet, the product is rejected. This also ties in with Ford's suppliers, who have an instantaneous count and know how to ensure that their product is delivered in plenty of time for Ford. Implementing this, rather than finding a lower-cost source, ensures demand and quality. If products were purchased that were less-expensive, but of lower quality, not only would there be consumer issues, but safety and legal issues as well (Hesselbach & Hermann, 2011, pp. 327-8).

Part 5 - Looking at the economy from a macroeconomic viewpoint means looking at a more broad approach to individual economic factors, weighing those factors, and making a determination as to whether the economy is stable and improving for the populace. In the U.S. economy, most scholars see that the dominant forces still active are high unemployment and slow growth. Certainly, over the last few months of 2012 we saw some growth in jobs, and the 2012 U.S. election was a critical factor in many analysts' views on consumer confidence. However, most of the holdover in negatives in the U.S. economy are from the 2008-2009 issue with household debt, home mortgages, the European fiscal crisis (reduced exports, etc.) and government policy which cut spending at three levels (federal, state, and local). This is not to say that the economic situation is not recovering -- it is, it is simply that recovery is sluggish and not as robust as we might have hoped (Perlo, 2012). Still GDP, unemployment decreases, increases in trade and manufacturing, and an evening out of consumer spending point to the economy making a slow expansion (Business-Cycle Conditions, 2013).