Portfolio weaknesses. This process varies depending on who
Portfolio Analysis- All about it An analysis of elements of a company’s product mix to determine the opti-mum allocation of its resources is what best defines Portfolio analysis. It is the study of each of a company’s product in an attempt to improve market performance. It is a method of categorizing a firm’s products according to their relative competitive position and business growth rate in order to lay the foundations for sound strategic planning. Portfolio consists of a number of different types of assets, such as stocks, bonds and future contracts, is ex-amined for strengths and weaknesses.
This process varies depending on who is conducting the analysis, but it has a number of advantages for the in-vestors. Two most common measures used in a portfolio analysis are market growth rate and relative market share. The benefits of product portfolio includes pointing out growths in the mar-ket and improvements made; analyzing failures and success; setting goals and targets, as well as sales strategies; and looking for lapses in profit which could possibly be closed. However, it is not without limitations.MOBILE PHONES: history, overview and introduction A mobile phone is an electronic telecommunications device, often referred to as a cellular phone or cell phone. The decreasing cost and the increasing benefits of mobile phones are making it more useful, reliable and easy to ac-cess. A mobile phone allows calls into the public switched telephone system over a radio link.
Early mobile phones were usually bulky and permanently installed in vehicles; they provided limited service because only a few frequencies were available for a geographic area.Modern cellular “cell” phones or hand phones make use of the cellular network concept, where frequencies are re-used repeatedly within a city area, allowing many more users to share access to the radio bandwidth. A mobile phone allows calls to be placed over a wide geographic area; generally the user is a subscriber to the phone service and does not own the station. By contrast, a cordless telephone is used only within the range of a single, private base station.
A mobile phone can make and receive telephone calls to and from the public telephone network which includes other mobiles and fixed-line phones across the world.It does this by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mo-bile network operator. In addition to telephony, modern mobile phones also support a wide variety of other services such as text messaging, MMS, email, Internet access, short-range wireless communications (infrared, Blue-tooth), business applications, gaming and photography.
Mobile phones that offer these more general computing capabilities are referred to as “Smart phones”. The first hand-held mobile phone was demonstrated by Dr Martin Cooper of Motorola in 1973, using a handset weighing around 1 kg.In 1983, the “DynaTAC 8000x” was the first to be commercially available. In the twenty years from 1990 to 2010, worldwide mobile phone subscrip-tions grew from 12.
4 million to over 4. 6 billion, penetrating the developing economies and reaching the bottom of the economic pyramid. The basic concept of cellular phones began in 1947, when researchers looked at crude mobile (car) phones and realized that by using small cells (range of service area) with frequency reuse they could increase the traffic capacity of mobile phones substantially.However at that time, the technology to do so was nonexistent.
. Composition of Mobile phones Cell phones are made up of several different materials, the main ones being plastic and lead. The battery is the most dangerous part of the phone to the earth’s atmosphere. Plastic makes up most of what a cell phone is. There is also trace amounts of lead in the coating and a rare mineral called tantalum which is found in the capacitors.
A little copper some nickel and various oth-er things are found mostly in the battery.The electronic part of a cell phone is put together on an assembly line. They create the circuit board that goes inside the phone and makes it work. The case is made in a mold from plastic. The two are put together and you have a cell phone! Nokia is putting out a new phone using only recycled materials, like old tires and aluminum cans.
If we take a cell phone apart, we are most likely to find A microscopic micro-phone, a speaker, an LCD or plasma display, a keyboard or touch pad, an antenna, a battery , a circuit board containing the guts of the phone.The most important part of a mobile is its battery. Without the battery pack, the phone is useless. Hence, the battery covers much of the cost of the phones.
Previously, when the phones were just introduced, the main purpose was to make calls. Then, the importance of text messaging came along fol-lowed by multimedia facilities. So, the cost of production increases along with the choice of phones one makes. In short, what make most of a phone’s price are its features- the more the functions, the more you spend cash. Demand and Supply of the productMobile phones have been termed as inelastic goods- a type of good whose demand does not increase with a fall in price or say, the percentage change in demand is relatively less with the fall/rise in the price of a product. For de-veloping countries like India, Nepal, Different parts of Africa mobile phone sales skyrocketed between 2006 and 2010.
The growing availability and decreasing cost of phones and accounts, combined with the absence of landlines in many parts, combined to create a volatile market where hundreds of people acquired mobile phones in a very short period of time.Another factor that has increased sales of mobile phones is the phenomenon of peo-ple who already had land lines giving them up in favor of exclusive use of their mobile phones. Since mobile phones can be used at home or in other loca-tions, many people prefer to pay only for the mobile phone account, and to use it as their home phone when at home. Text messaging is an ability of mobile phones that doesn’t exist with tradi-tional phones. This added feature makes them preferable to land lines for many people, given the flexibility of sending messages at any time, and ac-cessing them when it is convenient.Texting also appeals to people who don’t enjoy speaking on the telephone, and is useful in environments where speak-ing loudly and taking phone calls is not appropriate. As new types of mobile phone are developed and marketed, they will appeal to the segment of the population who, for reasons of business competition, trendiness, or need, are always in the market for the next new thing.
As mobile phones become small-er, more complex, and begin to offer more and more options such as email ac-cess, computer interface, and games, many people discard their lder phones in favor of a new model. With reference to a short survey conducted around Shillong, India, it has been found that the mobile phones are most brought into use by Teenagers and business men or the people who are in travelling business. The mobile companies like Vodafone have teamed up with Nokia for an increase in their sales. The youngsters mostly have a demand of touch-screen or QWER-TY pad phones now a days. The increased production of touch screen phones at a relatively affordable price has increased the demand for such phones at a rapid rate.The business people are usually found using the E series by Nokia, I phone by Apple Inc.
and Blackberry smart phones. This category of phones is of a very high value. Nokia phones such as Xpress Music series which has a price range of IC 6,000 – IC 23,000 and other smart phones by Samsung is most commonly used by the young generation. Surprisingly, the same trend was seen in a short survey made around the Kathmandu City. The most common phones nowadays are Samsung Monte, Nokia Xpress Music series, Samsung Champ, HTC Legend and Blackberry smart phones.
Nokia5800 XpressMusic Samsung champ Market Structure of Mobile phones Mobile phones, often referred to as cell phones, have become a part of eve-ryday life. A growing number of people are using their cell phones for their primary lines instead of a traditional land line. The structure of this market has multiple components. Major Companies •The mobile service market is largely dominated by a few companies. These are Verizon, AT, T-mobile and Sprint. As of 2010, AT and Verizon together served about 60 percent of mobile customers.
The re-maining 40 percent were mostly serviced by T-Mobile and Sprint. Smartphones and Operating Systems. •As of 2010, smartphones were a growing trend in the mobile market. These are phones that function as phones and computers, complete with applications. The major smartphone platforms, as of this writing, were Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android operating systems.
Apple’s iPhone runs iOS exclusively, while Android ran on a number of third-party smartphones. Prepaid vs Contracts •Many carriers offer both contractual and pre-paid plans for their regu-lar and smartphone service.The prepaid plans are more expensive than signing a contract, but users don’t need to commit to a given time pe-riod and don’t have to pay deposits if they have poor credit ratings. Characteristics of Monopolistic Competition A relatively large number of sellers Differentiated products Easy entry and exit from the industry Relatively Large Number of Sellers: •Small Market Shares: Each firm has a small percentage of the total monopolistic market and thus has onlylimited control over market price. •No Collusion: A relatively large number of firms will not combine to re-strict outputs and set prices.With so many firms, collusion is almost impossible because it is too easy for one firm to cheat and charge the lower price.
•Independent Action: Each firm is independent and can determine its pricing policy without considering its rivals. eg. A firm could moderately increase its sales by cutting its prices, but that would have no signifi-cant effect on its competitors sales. •Differentiated Products: •Product Attributes: product differentiation may entail physical or qua-litative differences in the products themselves. Real differences in functional features, materials, design, and workmanship are the vital aspects of product differentiation. Service: Service and the conditions surrounding the sale of a product are forms of non-price product differentiation too. •Location: Accessibility of stores that sell certain products or place-ment of products in stores eg.
products at eye level would have an ad-vantage over those that are not. •Brand Names and Packaging: Brand loyalty and packaging can affect demand. oie. Apple’s iPhone. It’s pretty much the same as any other phone. It has touch screen capability, can surf the web, can listen to music, but the apple brand as well as advertising makes it a big hit on the market of cell phones. Some Control over Price: Producers can charge extra for extra fea-tures, etc.
oGenerally, firms are “price makers” since each firm owns such a small percentage of the total market; if a firm changed the pirce of their product, there would not be much of an effect on the market. •The firms in monopolistic competition will DIFFERENTIATE their products and make them more appealing to the customers in order to maximize their profits. Easy Entry and Exit: •In the SHORT RUN, a firm may obtain economic profits or losses. However, since there are little barriers from preventing companies to enter or leave the industry, in the long run, the firms will only obtain normal profits •Remember: entry eliminates profits; exit eliminates losses! Advertising: •A unique feature of a monopolistic competitive market is that there are product differentiations. •Therefore, companies rely on advertising to flaunt their products and try to get consumers to buy their product over another. •Goal of product differentiation and advertising (non price competi-tion) is to make price less of a factor in consumer purchases and make product differences a greater factor. A successful advertisement would shift the firm’s demand curve to the right and make demand more inelastic.
•Some examples of non-price competition ostore loyalty cards oBanking and other financial services oHome delivery systems oChild services oExtension of opening hours oInternet shopping for customers oWarranties Monopolistic Competitive Industries: •Shoes -Nike, Addidas, Reebok •Jewelry •Asphalt paving •Signs •Bottled water •ice cream-Breyers, Tom & Jerry •Mobile Phone- Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericcson
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