from Anthony Escobar

Hi! http://visitsikkimindia.com/um/fellow.php

Anthony Escobar

Anthony Escobar

http://aftuhan.com/mtdp/fox-news.php
Anthony Escobar

Anthony Escobar

http://freshbake.com.ng/upeac/qsjcpj.php

Drinking More and More Soda?

During the economic recession, sales on sodas increased while those of bottled water, juices, and other soft drinks went down. In 2009 soda sales went up by 2.5% while sales in drinkable dairy products went down by 15%. The most popular brands that have increased in consumption have been variations of Dr. Pepper and Coca Cola. The different flavors provided by each brand have satisfied the desires of consumers. A similar situation has occurred to the events I described in my previous post about the potato chips. The increase in sales has occurred due to the affordability of the sodas. Besides the affordability, just like with the potato chips, the variety of flavors contributes to the increase of popularity of different soda brands. It could also be assumed that the sales of potato chips and soda increasing can be related and the two could maybe be complements. The increase in the soda industry really isn’t a big surprise. Advertisement and pricing have contributed to its increase in consumption greatly.

Netflix Dwindles

Netflix has become one of the most popular online movie companies in the nation throughout the last few years. Up until July of this year (2011), Netflix had kept their customers happy relativelty complain-free. However, their recent changes have led to a spike in discontent among millions of Netflix users. A Twitter user named Steve Harrison expressed his concern: "Netflix does more flip-flopping than a fish on a hot dock." Their first mistake was discontinuing free streaming video services to households that paid for its DVD-by-mail service. This alone raised monthly prices for some customers by over 60%. At the same time as this increase of price, quality of service did not change or improve. Why would a customer be willing to pay more for the same service? Two months later in September, Netflix announced another major change. It would be splitting its DVD and streaming services into two companies: Netflix and Qwikster. Now customers would have to deal with two companies rather than one when managing queues and paying bills. Seeing how upset customers were with the new addition of Qwikster and watching as stocks dropped by over 60%, Netflix decided to revoke their original decision and break off ties with Qwikster. Some customers approved of the decision, while others were still irritated with how many new decisions Netflix has made and how much the company has changed.  Kyle Wegner, a 26-year-old in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said he was going to quit using the company until he heard about the 180-degree-turn. Another less satisfied investor stated: "They're being really reactionary at this point, and that's not very comforting." Netflix needs to make some descisions fast and stick with them or they could loose millions of customers in only weeks.

-Morgan C. 

In and Out New Decisions

One really successful business that has flourished recently is the well-known food chain "In and Out Burger." One reason for their success may include their decision to expand and increase their number of locations, but I see the main reason as their decision to keep prices low. A regular cheeseburger at In and Out costs $2.50, while many other popular restaurant chains price their burgers anywhere from six to eight dollars. Keeping the price low increases demand and decreases the competition with these other chains. Unfortunately, they may not ultimately decide they need to increases prices in order to reach equilibrium. As many know, In and Out has expanded to Midway Road and the grand opening was just a few days ago. If you have been in or around this location since the opening, you most likely have noticed the numbers of both workers and customers are excessive. Right now and for the next few weeks business will be better than ever because people have been anticipating and building up excitement for the opening. However, once the initial boom of business dies down In and Out will have some decisions to make. They will have to balance out the supply of workers with the demand of the customers.  They will have to begin calculating their marginal production of labor and marginal production per worker. In and Out still has some work to do, but they are doing a great job of satisfying their customers so far.
-Morgan C.