America ‘s department of justice has dropped its opposition to the merger of American Airlines and US Airways. This will be a big relief for whole air-transportation industry. American Airlines and US Airways planed to create the biggest airline in the world by carrying out the $11 billion merger.

From my perspective,  the merger is not a wise decision. The merger will cause the merged company to bulky to operate. The organizational structure will be too complicated; thus, the decision making will be inefficient.

What’s more, both the two company will lose customers due to merger. Some customers choose either American Airlines or US Airways instead of another because they do not like the service or culture of the company. If the merger is carried out, these customers may choose other smaller carriers.

The merger seems like to limit the competition, making it harder for the start-ups to enter into the industry. In fact, without regulations and special quota given by the government, the only way that the merger can create barrier to entry is the lower price. Lowering price will make it much more difficult for American Airlines and US Airways to increase their revenue.

Reference: http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2013/11/american-airlines-and-us-airways

Fewer U.S. homeowners are falling behind on their mortgage payment. The trend brought down the national late-payment rate on home loans in the third quarter to 4.09 percent, a five-year low. It is estimated that the national mortgage delinquency rate will continuously drop to under 4 percent.

In my opinion, lower  late-payment rate on mortgages shows that U.S. economy is recovering from the 2008 financial crisis. The bank is slightly lowering the credit requirement of loan. This is beneficial to the people who have the rigid demand for housing.

What’s more, the lowering the credit requirement of loan caused by the dropping mortgage delinquency  rate will also benefit the business. More company is likely to invest in real estate, making it easier for people who are not so rich  to buy a house. Also, the fundraisers of the start-ups will feel less challenging when applying for a bank loan. More start-ups will provide more jobs, pushing higher the employment rate. Thus, more and more people are able to afford a house or pay off the debt.

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Reference: http://finance-commerce.com/2013/11/late-payment-rate-on-mortgages-down-in-3q/

I agree with Catherine’s view that Google is a great example of how technology is embedded into business. What’s more Google shows the world how innovation is combined with business.

According to my analysis, Google is able to make innovation and technology profitable because it has a great culture that encourages risk-taking. From Catherine’s blog, we know that Google is developing some futuristic projects like self-driving cars, Google Glass, and the WiFi balloons. Google has many intrapreneurs in it because of its encouraging risk-taking. Risk-taking is the basic requirement for the entrepreneurs.

Furthermore, innovation is not restrained by cost and risk. Some of the projects may fail in the end, but some of them will be the future treasure of Google.  Google may not be as profitable as it supposed to be now due to its investment in developing futuristic technology, but it will definitely more profitable in the future, for Google is not wasting any new idea and innovation.

Reference: https://blogs.ubc.ca/yihsiuchang/2013/11/12/google-researches-into-technology/

Picture: http://designpublic.in/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/innovation.jpg

http://adpu.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/risk.jpg?w=500

http://i.haymarket.net.au/News/Google-Glasses.jpg

BlackBerry is a fallen star of the smartphone industry, while thing go from bad to worse for it. BlackBerry’s share price went down to less than $10 per share in 2013, the lowest since BlackBerry came into the market.

What can be the alternative strategy for BlackBerry?

Clearly, the operating system developed by BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10, is a delayed operating system. BlackBerry 10 is not strong enough to compete with Android and IOS.

Smartphone users don’t buy BlackBerry anymore. The demand for BlackBerry is so low that BlackBerry should find other ways to cover its fixed cost rather than producing smartphones.

From my perspective, one way is to sell BlackBerry to large company in the software area, such as Microsoft, Google and Apple. BlackBerry can provide technology support to these large companies. Applications and services provided by BlackBerry is necessary for these large companies because communication security is extremely important for them.

Another way by which BlackBerry can survive is that continue to produce smartphones when the revenue can cover the variable cost until the  machinery wears out. And then, BlackBerry concentrates on developing software instead of developing hardware.

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Reference:http://www.economist.com/news/business/21589445-fallen-star-smartphone-industry-things-go-bad-worse-only-thorns

From the article, we can have a knowledge of how Zappos establish and practice its corporate culture. Christoper’s blog is extremely for managers of different companies and business students to understand how a corporate’s culture benefit the corporate itself.

Zappos offers customers with tour around its headquarters in Las Vegas 16 times a week. It holds seminars to discuss the essence of its corporate culture.  Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos,  regales 1.6 million fans with inspirational quotes, riffs on news, and whatever else in his mind.

From my perspective, organizational culture or corporate culture is not only the pattern of shared values, beliefs, and assumptions considered to be the appropriate way to think and act within an organization, but also what can be used to engage customers.

Customers who shared the same value with a corporate may not have sufficient skills and knowledge to work for the corporate, but they are still able and willing to be part of the corporate by purchasing more goods and share their excellent buying experience with friends or on the internet. Zappos knows this. The online shoe retailer is retailing fashionable shoes as well as its culture. Their family-like environment is not only for employees but also for existing customers and potential customers. Just like Hsieh says, “We only get one chance to emotionally connect they when they call.”

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References: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_02/b4162057120453.htm

Pictures: http://abovethelaw.com/2012/01/zappos-suffers-a-data-breach-and-the-other-shoe-drops-with-a-lawsuit/zappos-logo/

http://www.ffusa.com/news/business-news/