Monthly Archives: October 2014

Tesla Motors may not be the only major player in the electric car industry for much longer. According to this article written by Adam Westlake, three major German car makers all have electric cars in the works.  Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi are using the Model S sedan as a benchmark for their respective upcoming cars.  These cars are expected to debut in 2018 at the earliest.

Tesla Model S

Tesla disrupted the combustion-engine car market creating a green, sustainable alternative to vehicles that produce carbon emissions.  It doesn’t surprise me that companies are going to attempt to follow Tesla as the electric car industry grows. However, questions will arise once these cars arrive from companies like Porsche and Mercedes.  How popular will they be over their gas-powered cars?  Will they draw consumers away from the Tesla Model S?  I expect that Porsche will be very successful in the electric car market as they have already recognized the demand for more efficient vehicles by introducing e-hybrid model variants of their popular Cayenne SUV and Panamera sedan.  Mercedes and Audi also have begun to implement plug-in hybrid technologies into their current cars.  As of late, Tesla has been very successful because of the lack of direct competitors within the electric car market, but as technology improves, other companies will begin to build cars meant to compete with the Model S sedan.

Porsche Cayenne E-Hybrid

Resources:

http://www.slashgear.com/porsche-mercedes-said-to-be-developing-electric-models-in-response-to-tesla-26352467/

 http://www.porsche.com/canada/en/models/panamera/panamera-s-e-hybrid/ 

http://www.porsche.com/canada/en/models/cayenne/cayenne-s-e-hybrid/

http://files2.porsche.com/filestore.aspx/zoom.jpg?pool=multimedia&type=galleryimagerwd&id=rd-2013-9pa-e2-2nd-s-e-hy-gallery-exterior-08&lang=none&filetype=zoom&version=370b0094-0107-11e4-84a6-001a64c55f5c

http://hybridabc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/tesla_logo_1_.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2012/09/01-2012-tesla-model-s-fd-1347336745.jpg

Satya Nadella

Microsoft exceeded its sales estimates this quarter as CEO Satya Nadella tries to re-establish the companies position among technology companies.  Total revenue for Microsoft in the first fiscal quarter was $23.2 billion, beating the analysts projections of $22 billion.  This is largely due to the revival of Nokia, a mobile phone company which Microsoft acquired in early 2014, cloud services, and the success of the Surface Pro 3 tablet computer.

When Nadella took over as CEO in February 2014 he announced he would be implementing the largest job-cut in Microsoft’s history.  The beginning of the intended 18,000 position job-cut began in July, when 13,000 workers were let go.  Another 2,100 were fired in September.  Nadella has a clear goal in mind of increasing profits and the reduction of positions is a step in the right direction.  It will result in a significant reduction in costs and since Microsoft exceeded its sales projections this quarter, net profit was greater than expected at $4.54 billion.

Microsoft is making big changes to regain its position at the top of the technology industry and it’s all thanks to Satya Nadella’s vision.  I think cutting jobs is a good way to allow Microsoft to become very focused as they try to climb back up to the top of the industry’s food chain. Microsoft will be able to reduce costs, but also regain market share because of the innovative products and services that appeal to a broad range of consumers.

Resources:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-23/microsoft-profit-sales-beat-estimates-on-recovering-pc-market.html

http://www.microsoft.com/global/learning/en-us/PublishingImages/ms-logo-site-share.png

http://d.ibtimes.co.uk/en/full/1392801/microsoft-surface-pro-3-arrive-25-more-countries-available-pre-orders.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMnXbPAZJCk/UuvZtELqa-I/AAAAAAAAG8Y/H-i3q14–VU/s1600/SATYA+NADELLA+NAMED+MICROSOFT+CEO.png

BC Hydro is planning to construct a large dam and hydroelectricity generating station on the Peace River in northeastern British Columbia.  The effects that would ensue from building these power sources would be flooding 83 kilometers of the Peace River and destruction of First Nation’s land.  The problem for BC Hydro is that even with consent from Stephen Harper for this project, a group of First Nation chiefs will appeal the decision in the Federal Court of Canada.  It will be very difficult to win against the First Nations in court because they have strong arguments regarding their hunting and ceremonial practices.  However, if BC Hydro can negotiate with the group of chiefs and possibly offer them a stakeholder position they could convince the chiefs into agreement of the dam.  To learn more about the dam and the controversy surrounding it, click here.  I think that any company, not just BC Hydro, needs to be extremely cautious when planning to infringe upon Native land.  They have been abused for many decades through means such as the residential schools, where new settlers tried to assimilate First Nation children and rid them of their culture.  Not to forget that their land was practically stolen from them, which is why I recommend that companies tread lightly when trying to build megaprojects that can possibly destroy the sanctity and serenity of Native land.