US telecom giant AT&T was prepared to buy off the Deutsche telekom’s T-mobile for $39 billion, in order to become the biggest telecom company in USA. However, the US justice department were against the sale at the end of august.

Their argument is that they believe, AT&T will becoming the largest carrier in the USA, which will dominate the market. Thus, becoming a monopoly. Because of the inelastic demand for cell phone uses, AT&T can raise its prices and restrict choices. The US government has requested a court order to block it.

I believe that the government should not allow the merger to happen. In a economic standpoint, having a monopoly is a sign of market power. The users do not have any say of their prices they pay or the plan they wanted. Having a market power will greatly put the market in distress and further worsen US economy!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15883496

As the old NBA collective bargain package expired in July, the 2011-2012 NBA season was in jeopardy. Owners of NBA teams are the players can not reach a new contract. Both sides wants more shares of the “pie”. . Owners believe that the players are taking too much of the money that they should be getting. As for the players, they firmly believe that they “deserve” all the salary that they are getting because of the hard work and efforts that they put in.

Reading through Sekou Smith’s NBA Hang time blogs, he presented a clear insight of what is actually going on in the NBA organization. NBA is worth roughly $4 billion as an organization. However, not everyone makes a profit. So, who should take the bigger part of the pie?

Because of the current economic depression, They stop really stop being so childish. Locking out of the entire season is going to bring more harm than good to both side of the parties. The empty arenas are still be fixed cost and the owners still need to pay for them. For the players, they are simply not earning any salary!

So making some compromises, and lets play ball!

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/11/04/labor-talks-here-we-go-again/#more-20166

I was reading Jessica Monney’s blog about Innovation in Canada. During the economic hardship in the recent years, Canada has been doing well compared to other country such as Greece, Italy or the United States. We have a very stable and resourceful government.

Like her said, Canada has “sound finances, boundless resources and an educated workforce.” I strongly believe that there are still potential for Canada to take the advantage to improve. By encouraging young business and companies be innovative through loosening some of the regulation, Canada’s economy will be stronger. I know that loosening regulation is a tough thing to do, however, it is necessary in order to improve. At the moment, Canada’s production level is hurting its chances to  become a wealthier nation.

https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

Lululemon Athletica is a company that started off as a small yoga wear business in Vancouver, it has now developed and transformed into a leader of its industry. It possesses many entrepreneurial qualities that a successful company displays.

Innovation is the key for Lululemon’s success. It was the first company that focused its differentiation on yoga wears which back then wasn’t as popular. Furthermore, by incorporating sustainable fabrics with its unique designs. Lululemon has managed to capture a wide range of costumers, from soccer mom to fashionistas. Because Lululemon is the leader in product and marketing, it is able to set the price range. It has built a strong brand reputation that pride itself in being innovative and sustainable. That is why Lululemon can have such huge success.

http://hbr.org/product/leadership-culture-and-transition-at-lululemon-mul/an/410705-MMC-ENG

Sony, as a multi-media manufacturer that was founded in 1946 has became one of the biggest corporate giant in the past decades. However, Sony has lost its power and popularity in the recent years through the economic recessions.  Just like Geoffrey said, Sony has been trying to venture into new markets and trying to become more innovative. The questions that Geoffrey asked are very good questions to be thinking about.

“Was differentiation a bad idea in the first place?” Geoffrey asked, I believe that a falling company such as Sony, should consider a point of differentiation in order to distinguish itself and other industry giants. Be trying to be more innovative with its unique products and gadget, Sony should capture its costumer’s interests. However, Sony has failed to identify its point of differentiation.  Instead of focus on one category, it branded out into more variety that lacked focus and backbone.

https://blogs.ubc.ca/geoffreyyoung/2011/11/22/what-is-sony-now/

In November 2011, Google decided to launch an online music sore in the US market, which will allow android users to buy,store and stream MP3 files. Is this a smart move?

Google’s launch poses a serious challenge to Apple’s dominance of the sector. However, a study has shown that half of the smartphone sold between july and September are Android based, which accounts for more than 60 million devices. I believe Google has made a smart moves simply to interrupt Apple’s monopoly and trying to utilize the resource that Apple cannot reach. Users cell phone devices that are running on Android couldn’t access Apple’s Itune. Google has provided a way for those users to access a MP3 search giant and expand their empire furthermore.

The shares across US and Europe market has closed significantly higher on Novermber 11th. In the mean while, the cost of borrowing facing Italy has dropped down. The US Dow Jones share index closed 2.1% higher and the German stocks raised 3.2% up.

The stock markets have risen mainly due to the fact that Italy’s senate voted to adopt a package of austerity measures. With the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stepping down, Investors are hopeful that a new government system will take the necessary steps to calm the markets. The pass of austerity vote should give Italy a sign of hope and move the country toward a better outcome. Italy has roll over more than 360 billion euros of debt by the end of 2012.