STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT THROUGH COMPETITIVE PRIORITIES IN CAPITAL GOODS COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prof. Dr. Roberto Giro Moori

2014-08-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the strategic alignment of companies producing capital goods and deploying competitive priorities, from the standpoint of dyadic relationships.  To collect the data, semi-structured questionnaires were used for a sample consisting of 113 respondents from 87 companies producing capital goods, all operating in Brazil. The data were analyzed using non-parametric statistical techniques. More specifically, an analysis of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance (W showed that product (or component price and performance are the main competitive priorities for companies in this sector. Thus, evidence was found that companies producing capital goods are strategically aligned from the standpoint of dyadic relationships with their suppliers and customers, with price being the main criterion, depending on the downstream focus of the company, through the performance of the product (or component.

Evaluating Internal Technological Capabilities in Energy Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingook Lee

2016-03-01

Full Text Available As global competition increases, technological capability must be evaluated objectively as one of the most important factors for predominance in technological competition and to ensure sustainable business excellence. Most existing capability evaluation models utilize either quantitative methods, such as patent analysis, or qualitative methods, such as expert panels. Accordingly, they may be in danger of reflecting only fragmentary aspects of technological capabilities, and produce inconsistent results when different models are used. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a comprehensive framework for evaluating technological capabilities in energy companies by considering the complex properties of technological knowledge. For this purpose, we first explored various factors affecting technological capabilities and divided the factors into three categories: individual, organizational, and technology competitiveness. Second, we identified appropriate evaluation items for each category to measure the technological capability. Finally, by using a hybrid approach of qualitative and quantitative methods, we developed an evaluation method for each item and suggested a method to combine the results. The proposed framework was then verified with an energy generation and supply company to investigate its practicality. As one of the earliest attempts to evaluate multi-faceted technological capabilities, the suggested model can support technology and strategic planning.

Management Methods and Concepts for Building Competitive Advantage in Hospitality Companies

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Gierczak Beata

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Competitive advantage determines the success of modern enterprises, such as hospitality companies, on the market. In turn, competitive advantage is gained as the result of skillful management, taking into account the factors that characterize the company environment. In the management process, methods and concepts that, when properly applied, facilitate the company's innovative activities play the key role, thus contributing to building competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to specify and characterize the methods and management concepts most commonly used by hospitality companies in the process of building competitive advantage. The core benefit of these considerations is that they serve to identify those activities of hospitality companies in which the analyzed methods and concepts found practical application. The final part of the article is devoted to an attempt to identify barriers and problems that significantly limit the use of these methods and concepts. Material and methods. In order to achieve this objective, a survey and interviews were carried out in all three- and four-star hotels in the Rzeszów area in the first quarter of 2012. Results. The results revealed that the concept most commonly used by hoteliers was knowledge-based organization (knowledge management, followed by outsourcing, benchmarking and internal competition, respectively. Conclusions. The study also demonstrated that the managers of these hospitality companies significantly lacked substantive knowledge of emerging “market” management methods and concepts.

EMPIRICAL STUDY REGARDING THE DETERMINING FACTORS OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES COMPETITIVENESS

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MOLDOVAN Nicoleta-Claudia

2013-07-01

This study is focused on the concept of company competitiveness, on the relevant factors in order to analyze and explain the advantage of competitiveness for a company in regard to another, as well as the dimension and intensity which it uses the sponsors’ capital, the organizational capital, the human capital, the innovational capital and the capital represented by the customers portfolio. Secondly, using the questionnaire method as a research method, the objective of this paper is to provide some empirical evidences designed to assess the factors determining the Romanian company competitiveness on the competitive market. By using an initial dataset of 300 companies, which are part of the 14 fields of activity provided in the activity classification of the national economy, Reviewed NACE 2, we have made their classification on size classes, taking into account as classification criteria the number of employees, the annual net turnover and the value of the total assets held, then testing the opinions of the managers from the selected sample concerning the factors determining the competitiveness of the companies they manage. According to the results, the analysis of the sample structure reflects the control of microenterprises followed by the small and medium sized enterprises. The manner of administration and organization and the quality of the employed human factor are influenced by the company dimension and position held on the market. We consider that the managers of the small size companies, as well as the ones from the provided sample, rely on a preponderant intuitive management, they deal the administered businesses based on the spur of the moment inspiration, make decisions subjectively not starting from objective economic criteria, being concerned only with the management of the current problems. Since they aren’t the beneficiaries of a managerial education, they don’t possess the necessary competences to focus on the elaboration of certain strategies

Sustainable Global Competitiveness Model as a New Strategic Opportunity for the Companies in Slovakia

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Šnircová Jana

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Dealing with global competitiveness is nowadays the strategic issue for the Slovak companies in context of sustainability. It means for managers of company to define new future strategic goals, to identify current position in global market, primarily to focus the strategy on sustainable global competitiveness and to assess the competitiveness in new way regarding sustainability and social corporate responsibility. The aim of this paper is to present the contribution to holistic micro and macro economical view on competitiveness of company in context of sustainable development in global environment. The introduced sustainable global competitiveness model is based on our experiences within the research in manufacturing companies in Slovakia. It is a visualization of enterprise as a system with all relation performing in its environment. Sustainable global competitiveness model comprises the three pillar principle of the sustainable development, modified Porter´s value chain, and economical environment represented with Global Competitiveness Index (GCI and other factors of environment which influence the company.

Energy and competitiveness - Notes of the Economic Analysis Council, Nr. 6

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bureau, Dominique; Fontagne, Lionel; Martin, Philippe

2013-05-01

This note aims at analyzing the impact of a possible increase of energy prices on the French competitiveness, and more particularly on the performance of exporting companies, while trying to make a distinction between short-term and long-term effects. A first part proposes a diagnosis of the French loss of competitiveness. The second part analyzes the energy prices in France for industries with comparisons with other countries (electricity price, tariffs and production cost). The next part addresses mechanisms relating competitiveness and energy price on a short, medium or long term. Then the authors try to assess at the enterprise level how exports react to energy price variations. The last part contains recommendations for an economic policy

Marketing technologies for building competitiveness of companies export

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatyana Tsygankova

2017-03-01

Full Text Available In context of post-industrial development of global economy, escalating competition in international goods markets, the definition of competitive export is proposed based upon both existing criteria – sustainability, effectiveness, adaptivity and fair competition, and on those described in the work – ecological performance, service maintenance, brand awareness and high technology. Given that, it is proved that with the aim of detailing the elements of competitive export, the latter should be typified depending upon the performer (export competitiveness of a company, country, region and subject (export competitiveness of goods, services, rights upon intellectual property objects, keeping in mind universal and specific features of export criteria proposed to be characterised through a range of indices on corporate and state levels. Groups of factors affecting export competitiveness building are systematized (institutional, financial and economic, marketing, foreign trade, scientific and technological, resource-related and social and ecological. Marketing technologies are typified on corporate level under the following criteria: novelty, object, creative component availability, internationalization stages, international marketing forms, digitalization level, management functions, customer-centreness scale, international marketing activity stages, financial security, specific features of intercorporate coordination. The practice of applying international marketing technologies by companies is investigated. In context of necessity to overcome crisis phenomena and increase competitive export volume, an assessment is made of integrating national manufacturing into regulated global chains of creating added value with the relevant rating, in particular, depending upon the available potential, minimality of technical and organizational changes, marketing relevancy, enabling to determine the manufacturing areas most prepared to cooperation, and

Profiting from competition: Financial tools for electric generation companies

Science.gov (United States)

Richter, Charles William, Jr.

Regulations governing the operation of electric power systems in North America and many other areas of the world are undergoing major changes designed to promote competition. This process of change is often referred to as deregulation. Participants in deregulated electricity systems may find that their profits will greatly benefit from the implementation of successful bidding strategies. While the goal of the regulators may be to create rules which balance reliable power system operation with maximization of the total benefit to society, the goal of generation companies is to maximize their profit, i.e., return to their shareholders. The majority of the research described here is conducted from the point of view of generation companies (GENCOs) wishing to maximize their expected utility function, which is generally comprised of expected profit and risk. Strategies that help a GENCO to maximize its objective function must consider the impact of (and aid in making) operating decisions that may occur within a few seconds to multiple years. The work described here assumes an environment in which energy service companies (ESCOs) buy and GENCOs sell power via double auctions in regional commodity exchanges. Power is transported on wires owned by transmission companies (TRANSCOs) and distribution companies (DISTCOs). The proposed market framework allows participants to trade electrical energy contracts via the spot, futures, options, planning, and swap markets. An important method of studying these proposed markets and the behavior of participating agents is the field of experimental/computational economics. For much of the research reported here, the market simulator developed by Kumar and Sheble and similar simulators has been adapted to allow computerized agents to trade energy. Creating computerized agents that can react as rationally or irrationally as a human trader is a difficult problem for which we have turned to the field of artificial intelligence. Some of our

Innovation activity as a condition for growing companied to improve their competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. A. Barinova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This article was conducted to identify the impact of innovative and scientific activities on competitiveness of fast growing Russian companies. The authors demonstrated that the competitiveness of domestic companies depends on their expenditures on R&D and technological innovation, the costs of staff training and other factors. Dataset for the study is based on the national ranking of fast-growing high-tech companies «TechUp 2013».

Competitive Strategies and Improved Performance of Selected Nigeria Telecommunication Companies

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Waidi Adeniyi Akingbad

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The influence of globalization in telecommunication companies has greatly increased the level of competition in the industry and they are forced to be competitive to survive. Different types of strategies are put in place in order to be profitable and competitive. All these strategies are directed to attract, retain and maintain customers for continuous profitability. However, majority of them hardly measure the impact of their strategic innovation on their customers. The paper seeks to explore the influence of competitive strategies embarked upon by selected telecommunication companies in Nigeria on their performance. The paper also examines how competitive strategies could be implemented for improved customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. Three null hypotheses were postulated to test the relationship between lower prices and customer satisfaction, uninterrupted trunk services and customer loyalty, and customer complaint handling and retention. Only customers using telephone service were selected as respondents from Lagos State. The state was stratified in to 20 local government council area and questionnaires were distributed to 125 respondents in each of them. The completion rate of the questionnaire in each of them is between 103 and 110. Survey research design was adopted to carry out the study. A structured questionnaire was designed and validated through the construct validity and tested for confirmation using the KMO measure of sampling adequacy. It was also made reliable using Cronbach’s Alpha test. From the study, findings revealed relationship between competitive strategies and customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. The findings revealed that there is a relationship between competitive strategies, its constituents and performance of telecommunication companies. It is recommended that universal mobile telecommunication services (UMTS operators should adopt the culture of competitive strategies since it can

Energy levy and competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berdowski, P.A.M.

1991-01-01

The principle of regulating levies is that the consumption of products that have negative effects on the environment will be reduced. The income of the levies can be reimbursed to the civilians and companies via tax reduction. One of the impacts of the implementation of energy levies is the negative effect on the competitive position of the Dutch industry and businesses. In this report attention is paid to the micro-economic consequences of energy levies. The flows of fifteen production processes and the position of these processes in the market have been analyzed systematically. The impacts of energy levies on these product flows are investigated. The sectors that have been analyzed are the services sector (mainly determined by households), the agricultural food sector, the transportation sector, and the basic industry (mostly energy-intensive industries). In order to determine the sensitivity of the height of the energy levy three variants were investigated: 25%, 50% and 100% surcharge on the present energy costs. The variants are combined with three geographic levy ranges: national, European and global. 21 figs., 9 tabs

Mid-sized manufacturing companies the new driver of Italian competitiveness

CERN Document Server

Resciniti, Riccardo; Tunisini, Annalisa; Varaldo, Riccardo

2013-01-01

The structure of Italian industry is characterized by a predominance of small sized companies and the presence of very few large companies. For a long time a conviction was shared among scholars and practitioners that the strength and safety of Italian industry were based on its industrial districts, that is, the system of interdependent and co-localized small companies which derive their competitive force from an effective and efficient division of labour. This book stresses the idea that a new, vital and promising phenomenon for the competitiveness of Italian industry is focused on mid-sized companies, and the systems of interconnected firms that form a constituent part of their business model. These companies, which originate largely from districts and other local production systems, are a strong entrepreneurial force complementing the districts that have characterized Italy and made Italian industry famous worldwide. A quantitative and qualitative analysis of these firms is provided in this book. Business...

PERMANENT INNOVATION - SOLUTION FOR THE INCREASE OF THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE COMPANIES

OpenAIRE

Corina FRÃSINEANU; Ioan FRÃSINEANU

2011-01-01

The economy based on knowledge imposes a careful administration of the innovation activity at the level of the companies parallel to the possibility of the formation of innovation networks - competitive poles - clusters. These types of cooperation between companies are aimed at maintaining and increasing the competitive advantage acquired at regional or national level

Evaluating the competitive intelligence effort in a manufacturing company / Sidney Farrell

OpenAIRE

Farrell, Sidney

2007-01-01

In order for organisations to remain competitive, supportive tools for decision-making are required. In an industry of information overload, the emphasis is not on more information but on actionable intelligence, capable of guiding decisions in a company. Specific areas are considered fundamental for the success of actionable competitive intelligence. The most important facet is the support and involvement of top management and the participation of the entire company. Fur...

Effects of an accelerated liberalization. Consequences of accelerated liberalization for the competitiveness of Dutch energy companies; Effecten van de versnelde liberalisering. Consequenties van de versnelde liberalisering voor de concurrentiepositie van Nederlandse energiebedrijven

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaal, M.B.T. [ECN-Beleidsstudies, Petten (Netherlands)

2001-08-01

One of the conclusions of the Dutch Energy Report, published at the end of 1999, was that it would be feasible to speed up the pace of liberalization in the Netherlands. This conclusion will lead to the liberalization of the retail customers in 2004 and the market for renewable energy in 2001. This will be an incentive to more competition and put a greater pressure on energy companies to concentrate in order to benefit from economies of scale. Less preparation time implies also that there will be less layers of isolation against cost leaders and hence a more intense (price-based) competition. The central question in this report is whether and to what extent the effects of policy, in particular the accelerated liberalization, affect the strategic behavior and competitiveness of the Dutch Regional Electricity Companies (RECs). To address this question four face-to-face interviews have been held with experts from the four major RECs. In these interviews the experts gave their opinion about the Dutch policy regarding the accelerated liberalization and the rate and extent of the privatization. Subsequently, their perspective on the impact of the policy on their competitiveness and their analysis of the Dutch energy market was recorded. After that, the experts exposed their outlook on the future energy market and the ambition and most likely direction of their companies. The data collection was complemented with numerous relevant public interviews of experts derived from various newspapers and energy magazines. The data thus collected were analyzed by means of a theoretical framework consisting of the insights of Porter, Prahalad and Hamel and at a more detailed level marketing theories regarding positioning and branding. This resulted in an overview of the current market position of the Dutch RECs and an outlook for the years to come. 27 refs.

Profit maximization algorithms for utility companies in an oligopolistic energy market with dynamic prices and intelligent users

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tiansong Cui

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Dynamic energy pricing provides a promising solution for the utility companies to incentivize energy users to perform demand side management in order to minimize their electric bills. Moreover, the emerging decentralized smart grid, which is a likely infrastructure scenario for future electrical power networks, allows energy consumers to select their energy provider from among multiple utility companies in any billing period. This paper thus starts by considering an oligopolistic energy market with multiple non-cooperative (competitive utility companies, and addresses the problem of determining dynamic energy prices for every utility company in this market based on a modified Bertrand Competition Model of user behaviors. Two methods of dynamic energy pricing are proposed for a utility company to maximize its total profit. The first method finds the greatest lower bound on the total profit that can be achieved by the utility company, whereas the second method finds the best response of a utility company to dynamic pricing policies that the other companies have adopted in previous billing periods. To exploit the advantages of each method while compensating their shortcomings, an adaptive dynamic pricing policy is proposed based on a machine learning technique, which finds a good balance between invocations of the two aforesaid methods. Experimental results show that the adaptive policy results in consistently high profit for the utility company no matter what policies are employed by the other companies.

Energy to the masses : a blueprint for competition in Alberta's retail energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Topp, L.

2004-01-01

This paper presents a framework for competition in Alberta's retail energy market and its influence on Direct Energy Marketing Limited . The main factors for successful retail energy competition were identified as being a level playing field for all retailers; a stable and committed regulatory framework; customer education; brand trust and visibility; regulated pricing which reflects market conditions; customer service and billing; unrestricted customer choice; and, conformity between electricity and gas markets. Direct Energy is a wholly owned subsidiary of British-based Centrica plc, one of the top 30 companies in the United Kingdom in terms of market capitalization. It was created during Britain's regulatory reform of the energy industry and operates through 4 retail brand units. Centrica entered the North American market in 2000 when it acquired Direct Energy Marketing Limited which supplies energy and services to half of the households in Ontario. Direct Energy is expected to increase its customer base with the pending closure of ATCO Gas and ATCO Electric in Alberta, making it Canada's largest provider of retail energy services. In a competitive energy market, retailers can offer a wider range of products than energy alone. Cost-to services can be reduced by offering services such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning

Competitive intelligence information management and innovation in small technology-based companies

Science.gov (United States)

Tanev, Stoyan

2007-05-01

In this article we examine how (i) company type and (ii) the competitive intelligence information used by small technology-based companies affect their innovation performance. The focus is on the specific information types used and not on the information sources. Information topics are classified in four groups - customers (10), company (9), competitor (11) and industry (12). The sample consists of 45 small new technology-based companies, specialized suppliers, and service companies from a variety of sectors - software, photonics, telecommunications, biomedical engineering and biotech, traditional manufacturing etc. The results suggest that the total number of intelligence information topics companies use to make decisions about innovation is not associated with the number of their new products, processes, services and patents. Therefore the companies in our sample do not seem to have the resources, processes or value systems required to use different competitive intelligence information when making decisions on innovation or may rely more on their own internal logic than on external information. Companies are classified using a Pavitt-like taxonomy. Service companies are considered as a separate company type. This allows for explicitly studying both, the innovative role of new services in product driven companies, and the role of new product development in service companies.

APPROACHING COMPETITIVENESS AT THE LEVEL OF MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

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DORINA NIŢĂ

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The competitiveness of multinational corporations is a particularly complex concept due to the fact that at present this type of company represents economic entities which continue to develop in the context of the process of internationalization and the transition to the use of global strategies. Competitiveness is a competition between corporations for new positions on the markets. With regard to the competitiveness of multinational corporations, the most accurate description was given by Gilbert Abraham Frois who believed these businesses must think globally, but act locally. In the competitive global market, emphasis is laid on plus – the value given by the competitiveness of the human element, taking into account the fact that the human resource doesn’t run out, and its value doesn’t decrease over time, but on the contrary, its value increases on condition that it is rigorously managed and developed.

The process of implementing Competitive Intelligence in a company

OpenAIRE

František Bartes

2013-01-01

It is a common occurrence in business practice that the management of a company, in an effort to jump-start the function of the Competitive Intelligence unit, makes a number of mistakes and errors. Yet it is not difficult to avoid these missteps and achieve the desired level of Competitive Intelligence activities in a purposeful and effective manner. The author believes that a resolution of this problem lies in his concept of Competitive Intelligence viewed as a system application discipline ...

Relationships between environmentally sound technologies and competitiveness of companies in the value chain of printed paper from forest to market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Perkioe, S.

2007-07-01

Technologies play a well-known role in creating competitive advantages for companies as well as in controlling environmental impacts. This study deals with the relationship between environmentally sound technologies and the competitiveness of companies in the value chain of printed paper from forest to market. These connections are important to understand, because the technology is an important solution in facing environmental requirements. This study answers the following five questions: Which environmentally sound technologies are the most important for environmental impacts in the value chain of printed paper? How do they impact on the competitiveness of companies? How do these technologies differ across the value chain. Do they impact on competitiveness of companies in the other part of the value chain? The fifth research question involves studying differences between function mechanisms of pollution-prevention technology and pollution-abatement technology in facing legal requirements. This is studied as a part of the so-called 'Porter Hypothesis'. A term, environmental value creation, has been defined as 'performing activities by managing environmental aspects so that the value of goods and services to consumers or to customers increases.' Data was collected from the value chain of printed paper and were divided into the following parts: forest harvesting, pulp mill, paper mill and printing house. Eight experts were interviewed resulting in 69 environmentally sound technologies during the time periods 1980-1999 and 2000-2019. The data was analysed by non-parametrical statistical tests. As a result of this study, automation, measurement and information technologies, closing-up technologies and energy technologies were found to be the most important for environmental impacts and frequently mentioned responses of environmentally sound technologies in the value chain of printed paper. The cost factors of raw material and staff and

Developing a district energy system in a competitive urban market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mitola, J.P. [Unicom Thermal Technologies, Chicago, IL (United States)

1995-09-01

In two year`s time, Unicorn Thermal Technologies has grown into one of the largest district cooling systems of 25,000 tons with a 1996 plan to grow to 40,000 tons. This growth is attributed to the development and implementation of a marketing and sales plan based on thorough market research and innovative marketing and sales strategies, and the consistent implementation of those strategies. The beginning of the sales effort was focused around the company`s first district cooling facility, However, it quickly grew into a much broader vision as market acceptance increased. Although the district energy industry has often based its message on being a low cost energy provider, market research and early sales experience indicated that customers choose district cooling as a value added service. As customers began to reserve capacity in the first plant, the idea that district cooling is a value added service and not a commodity energy product was continually reinforced through marketing communications. Although this analysis is a review of developing a district energy system in a competitive urban market, it purposely avoids a long winded discussion of head to head competition.

Strategies of new-wave energy services companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stewart, D.M.G.

1997-01-01

The role of alliances in the new era of energy service companies was discussed. Westcoast Energy Inc. formed an alliance with The Coastal Corporation of Houston to create Engage Energy. Westcoast has also recently joined the Alliance Pipeline project in which a pipeline from British Columbia will interconnect with the North American gas transmission grid. One of the major trends in the energy service industry is deregulation, which is creating competition and providing customers with the ability to choose their suppliers. This open market-based playing field is leading to a convergence of natural gas and electric power industries. Convergence is taking place at a very high pace and is now occurring in financial services, information technology, consumer products and engineering technology. Alliances are also playing a major role in how companies acquire the necessary capabilities to tackle the energy services business. Valuable as they are, alliances can pose challenges to management and can be the source of potential problems. A common vision, similar and realistic expectations, common policy and priorities among the participants, and an effective conflict resolution process are the basic essentials for success. 3 figs

Are there barriers to competition on the market for energy services?; Finns det konkurrenshinder paa marknaden foer energitjaenster?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-07-01

Under orders from the Government, offices of Swedish Energy Authority conduct an in-depth analysis of the competitive conditions in various segments of the energy services market. In particular, the competitive relationship between energy suppliers and on the other hand, other companies providing energy services. Also the relationship between municipal-owned companies and other companies providing energy services should be analyzed. The institutional framework is already known, as well as much of the activity in the market. However, there still seems to be perspective on actors' own perceptions of market conditions that should be clarified. For this reason, the starting point for this investigation was the companies' own statements and comments, which were obtained partly through a questionnaire and interviews. A basic assumption has been that the opinions and beliefs also guide companies actions. This means that the actors' own voices form a kind of recurring theme in the study and contributes to a deeper understanding of the actors' motivations. It should be noted that Energy Agency does not necessarily share the views that emerge in this context.

Study on Municipal Energy Companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2009-07-01

This is a summarizing overview of the local, renewable energy initiatives that are grouped under the heading of 'municipal energy company'. A municipal energy company (or sustainable energy company) is a local energy company that initiates, coordinates and/or manages sustainable energy projects with the primary objective of realizing the climate objectives. [nl

Critical success factors for competitiveness of construction companies: A critical review

Science.gov (United States)

Hanafi, Abdul Ghafur; Nawi, Mohd Nasrun Mohd

2016-08-01

Making progress basically, a fundamental issue for the construction companies to get by in a highly competitive industry. From time to time, industry players are facing stiff and tough competition due to large number of players, whether existing or new players involved from various background and track record. Furthermore, the large numbers of component deciding the competitiveness of contractors, whose organization structures and governance have turned out to be more muddled. Different construction companies have their own unique criteria which may differ from one to another. The enormous amount of issues needs to bring down to manageable numbers so that measures can be identified and scrutinized to enhance competitiveness. This paper discusses the result from the critical investigation from past studies in the Asian countries, namely China, India, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Several fundamental factors have been identified as CSFs in construction companies in respective country. Also highlighted a critical survey based upon various literatures written on this subject where critical success factors (CSFs) as a yardstick to gauge the relationship among CSFs in various construction companies in the Asian region. Far reaching estimation of an organization's performance and resulting input to its supervision is crucial for business change. Estimation additionally empowers organizations to be contrasted from one another on the premise of institutionalized data, permitting best practices to be distinguished and connected more widely. Different countries have their own set of critical success factors (CSFs) which may differ in term of priority and at the same time share common elements of success factor in accomplishment as a construction companies. The study, which is exploratory in nature, embraced the content investigation and inductive technique to accomplish its objectives.

Energy market competition in the EU and G7: the relative extent of energy market competition in the EU and G7

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2003-09-01

This report presents a methodology for measuring the competitiveness of energy markets in the light of the UK government's Public Service Agreement target to ensure that the UK ranks within the top three most competitive markets. Details are given of the approach taken involving the identification of competitiveness indicators in the supply chain, analysis of current practices by regulatory and competitive authorities, application of a scoring rule, and aggregation and weighting of the scores. The initial filtering of countries based on the presence of crucial characteristics, the availability of data, and the ease of interpretation and evaluation of the filters is described along with detailed indicators for upstream markets, wholesale markets, retail suppliers and network activities. Information on data sources, data used for indicator evaluation, calculation of US and Canadian comparators, profitability margins, and links between companies is presented in appendices.

COMPETITIVENESS AND INNOVATION OF THE ROMANIAN COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Csaba Nagy

2010-12-01

Full Text Available In front of the Romanian economy which has been integrated only for a few years, lies the challenge of competitiveness which in many cases is associated with innovation. To turn from a close center oriented economy to market economy required an enormous effort from the population and from the companies as well, but the real challenge is still to come. The requirements of competitiveness and innovation of the United European Market are compulsory, from the point of view of the Romanian entrepreneurs is vital for their survival and development. The studies made so far are not very promising. There are many things to be done, many problems are still not solved in the European Union. The European Union is behind its traditional competitors USA and Japan. This is why one of the major concerns of the EU is competitiveness and innovation.

CSR and technology companies: A study on its implementation, integration and effects on the competitiveness of companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Andres Bernal-Conesa

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Purpose: In this paper, a structural equation model is presented in order to explain the motivations of implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR in Spanish technology companies and its linkage with others standardized management systems before CSR implementation. It also examines whether CSR influences the competitiveness of these companies. Design/methodology/approach: The study was conducted in companies located in Spanish Science and Technology Parks. For this study, a survey was sent and structural equation model was used. Findings and Originality/value: Model results show that there is a positive, direct and statistically significant relationship between the motivations, previous management systems, implementation of CSR and the real integration of CSR in the organization. Research limitations/implications: Limitations are determined by the technique used for the proposed model: structural equations, which assume linearity of the relationship between latent variables. Practical implications: Companies can use the results of this study as a foothold to enhance the integration of CSR based on previous management systems and take advantage of synergies between them, since the integration of CSR has a direct relationship with the competitiveness of the company. Originality/value: The link between the motivations of CSR, CSR actions and their integration in technology companies are reliably and empirically demonstrated.

Public Shareholdership Energy Companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kist, A.W.; Crone, F.J.M.; Hudig, D.F.; Ketting, N.G.; De Swaan, T.; Willems, R.

2008-06-01

National and international developments on the energy markets and changes in legislation and regulation require a renewed strategic orientation of energy companies and their shareholders. Decentralized authorities will have to reconsider their position as a shareholder in energy companies carefully. This report provides an overview of the recommendations of the Kist Commission on how provinces and municipalities can make a well-considered choice as shareholder of energy companies. [mk] [nl

Innovative Strategies Development of the Company in Terms of Global Competition

OpenAIRE

Radu Riana Iren; Necsulescu Ecaterina

2011-01-01

Blue ocean strategy challenges companies to emerge in the middle of the fierce competition that is by creating undisputed market areas which result in competition to become irrelevant. Only, instead of dividing the existing market demand, blue ocean strategy refers to a growing demand and to eliminate competition. Blue Ocean opportunities have always existed and have been explored as the universe expanded business. This expansion is the foundation of economic growth.

Energy Company strategies in the dynamic EU Energy Market (1995-2007)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van den Heuvel, S.; De Jong, J.; Van der Linde, C.; Sherwood, D.

2010-05-01

Generally, companies adapt their strategies to a changing environment, a process that often moves faster than the implementation of new policy measures. These strategic reactions are often taken to mitigate risks and to secure a strong position in an increasingly competitive market. Such responses interact with the main policy priorities. It is therefore interesting to understand the interaction between company strategies and policy priorities and to assess whether synergies can be found and whether strategies and policy objectives can be aligned. This study concentrates on gas and electricity companies in Europe's largest markets. The structure of the paper is as follows. Chapter 2 introduces the major changes that have taken place and that have formed the basis of the EU's new energy policy priorities. Chapter 3 presents the strategic responses that followed these major trends. In Chapter 4, specific strategies that companies developed to deal with the changing environment are highlighted and illustrated with examples. Chapter 5 discusses the alignment of company strategies and policy objectives and presents a number of policy recommendations to make use of the companies for reaching policy targets. The final chapter provides the conclusion. A number of appendices are included to provide background to the analyses.

Proposal for a model for competitiveness analysis in environmental sustainability in automotive segment companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís Henrique Rodrigues

2018-06-01

Full Text Available The competitive landscape for companies has been changing over time, featuring an increase in competitiveness in cost, quality, reliability, agility and more recently by a concern for environmental and social factors. This work aims to propose an exploratory analysis model to evaluate companies’ sustainability competitiveness. The model proposes the grouping of companies into clusters, ranking them according to the adoption of lean manufacturing practices, environmental management and human resources, and allocating them into quadrants according to the higher or lower production of waste in their manufacturing processes. The adherence to the model is made with a sample of automotive segment companies (auto parts and motor vehicle manufacturers. The work is classified as one of a practical nature, exploratory, qualitative, and using the survey method. The conclusion that 37.5% of auto parts companies are grouped into clusters that lead to the reduction of waste, with practices in lean manufacturing and environmental management which adjust to competitive factors in the sustainability of motor vehicle manufacturers, is noteworthy.

Innovations of Engineering Company and Competitiveness in the Mining Equipment Market

Science.gov (United States)

Pogrebnoi, Vladislav; Samorodova, Lyudmila; Shut'ko, Larisa; Yakunina, Yulia; Lyubimov, Oleg

2017-11-01

The article deals with issues related to the development of innovative projects by engineering companies and effective marketing policy as a factor of increasing their competitiveness in the mining equipment market. The paper presents the results of the development of innovative technology in the segment of extensible belt conveyors. The necessity of marketing the innovative project is proved by the example of the development of technology for the production of the motor-drum of a belt conveyor with an adjustable drive on continuous current magnets by the engineering company "Transport-Electroprivod" (LLC). The authors consider the effective marketing strategy of an engineering company as an attractor of increasing demand for innovation and competitiveness in the mining equipment market. The methods of marketing promotion and promotion of innovations are considered within the framework of the ecosystem concept of J. Moore.

Innovations of Engineering Company and Competitiveness in the Mining Equipment Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pogrebnoi Vladislav

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article deals with issues related to the development of innovative projects by engineering companies and effective marketing policy as a factor of increasing their competitiveness in the mining equipment market. The paper presents the results of the development of innovative technology in the segment of extensible belt conveyors. The necessity of marketing the innovative project is proved by the example of the development of technology for the production of the motor-drum of a belt conveyor with an adjustable drive on continuous current magnets by the engineering company “Transport-Electroprivod” (LLC. The authors consider the effective marketing strategy of an engineering company as an attractor of increasing demand for innovation and competitiveness in the mining equipment market. The methods of marketing promotion and promotion of innovations are considered within the framework of the ecosystem concept of J. Moore.

National oil companies' presence to hike US refining competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

This paper reports that the downstream segment of the U.S. petroleum business is virtually certain to become more competitive because of the growing presence of national oil companies in the country's refining industry. That's a forecast by New York investment firm Kidder Peabody. It cites a plan by Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) to form a joint venture with Shell Oil Co. covering Shell's 225,000 b/d Deer Park, Tex., refinery as the latest example of national oil companies' movement into U.S. refining

Modeling renewable energy company risk

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadorsky, Perry

2012-01-01

The renewable energy sector is one of the fastest growing components of the energy industry and along with this increased demand for renewable energy there has been an increase in investing and financing activities. The tradeoff between risk and return in the renewable energy sector is, however, precarious. Renewable energy companies are often among the riskiest types of companies to invest in and for this reason it is necessary to have a good understanding of the risk factors. This paper uses a variable beta model to investigate the determinants of renewable energy company risk. The empirical results show that company sales growth has a negative impact on company risk while oil price increases have a positive impact on company risk. When oil price returns are positive and moderate, increases in sales growth can offset the impact of oil price returns and this leads to lower systematic risk.

Competition in energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haynes, Warren

1995-01-01

With changes occurring within both the gas and electricity industries and both sectors undergoing simultaneous reforms at the State and national levels it is timely to look at some major aspects of the energy-reform processes in Australia and to attempt to offer some perspectives from the viewpoint of an industry user of energy. From an industry user's viewpoint there is quantifiable evidence that competition in the energy sector will deliver major economic benefits to industry and the nation. The reform process currently in train will increase Australia's international competitiveness. Commonwealth-State collaboration is useful on economic issues which require a national consistent approach. Many significant and complex arrangement apply to the gas and electricity sectors which add to the complexity of the respective reform processes. More competitive arrangements are therefore required more quickly at several stages of the gas-sector reform process, such as in the commercialization of government utilities, resolving the issue of third-party transmission pricing, and the removal of State governments' impediments to competitive trading. The Hilmer Report on National Competition Policy will help deal with some difficult structural and transitional issues, e.g. third-party access, competitive structures, regulatory regimes, and a consistent national approach.(author). 1 fig., 1 photo

When companies produce their own energy. Opportunities and risks; Wenn Unternehmen ihre Energie selbst erzeugen. Chancen und Risiken

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hergass, Andreas [Ensys AG, Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

2013-05-15

More and more companies are considering the option of electricity self-supply. According to a survey conducted by the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, 5% of all German companies have already taken the step of becoming a self-supplier and another 10% are contemplating it. However investments to this end must be planned with precision. In many cases they fail to pay off because the costs of procurement, operation and maintenance of power production plants stand in direct competition with the prices that energy trading companies can achieve in the electricity market. For companies that have committed themselves to the principles of sustainability and ecology in their corporate philosophy, having their own electricity supply will be important regardless of its profitability. In any case however they will have a requirement for partners to help ensure that internal and external energy supply systems are optimally integrated with each other.

Have trends in adoption of corporate environmental management influenced companies' competitiveness?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Henning; Ulhøi, John Parm

2003-01-01

Corporate environmental management turned into a more formulated concept and a new managerial discipline two to three decades ago. Many companies have fully or partly adopted the concept in their efforts to eliminate or reduce the impacts on the natural environment caused by their business...... activities. The question is, however, if managers envisage corporate environmental initiatives as a challenge leading to strategic options, which at the end may influence the competitive situation of a company or are they seen as just another burden? Based on a series of surveys this paper reports...... on the trends in implementing corporate environmental management in Danish industry up till the entrance of the new millennium in order to identify if there has been any related effects on the competitiveness....

The energy administration, an effective alternative to improve the managerial competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borroto Nordelo, Anibal; Lapido Rodriguez, Margarita; Monteagudo Yanes, Jose and others

2005-01-01

This region's actual development is in need of immediate actions to reduce costs, protect the environment and increase company competitiveness versus a growing global economy. Energetic efficiency represents on of the principal opportunities to meets these goals. Numerous studies in companies in Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador have shown poor energetic management and cleared that there are many costs reduction possibilities if they create technical capacities within the industry. The center of energy and environmental studies in the university of Cien Fuegos, created the total management of efficient energy, its main objective is to create in technical and organizational capacities in the corporations. Known as TGTEE, Total Management of Efficient Energy, has widened its popularity among the region and has achieved significant economic and social results, and leads to the construction of an energetic and environmental culture

Knowledge Management in a Competitive Scenario of an Information Technology Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denise de Cuffa

2015-06-01

Full Text Available This research aimed at proposing a knowledge management plan to increase competitiveness in an information technology company. It used qualitative methodology based on a study case, which analyzed the context of internal and external environments in which Intelitech Company operates. The data collection was divided into three steps: (1 application of a questionnaire to the manager and Intelitech employees, which was composed of knowledge management practices (KMPs, aiming at obtaining previous practices from the company and therefore internal critical variables; (2 application of Rojo’s (2005 scenario simulation model in order to identify external critical variables; and (3 formulation of a proposal for KMPs improvements according to simulated scenarios and the internal and external critical variables previously identified. So, this research resulted in the development of an action plan for two scenarios: (C1 case scenario to expansion of the market, therefore the company could hire new employees and expand its physical structure o, enhance IT tools and ask for manager's flexibility towards a new culture; and (C2 also to observe an unfavorable scenario of restricted market, it would be necessary to build customers loyal order to use IT tools, as well as interact and communicate with them. Thus, it was concluded and confirmed the hypothesis that knowledge management can enhance competitiveness of an IT company.

Energy's role in industrial competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

At a conference on the role of energy in industrial competitiveness, papers were presented on the energy consumer's perspective on energy issues in the mineral and food industries, global perspectives on the role of energy in industrial competitiveness, a supplier's perspective on energy issues in the oil/gas and electric industries, perspectives on environmental issues including climate change, and international partnerships for industrial competitiveness, notably in the former Soviet Union and eastern Europe. Separate abstracts have been prepared for 15 papers from this conference

Energy and competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Taylor, D.; Flaman, L.; Beigie, C.

1992-01-01

Energy efficiency-related programs in two Canadian provinces are reviewed. The Ontario Ministry of Energy has implemented programs to improve industrial energy efficiency in order to contribute to future economic growth. Since 1987, the Industrial Energy Services Program provides energy audits, feasibility analysis grants, and project engineering grants for energy efficiency improvements. Results show that an industrial plant can cut its energy costs by an average of 10% with the proper help. To minimize electricity costs, Ontario Hydro has a demand management program that offers a combination of financial assistance for energy conservation measures, rate incentives, standards and regulation, and fuel substitution. Results in 1992 show 250 MW in saved and shifted load. In Alberta, a TransAlta Utilities program in supply side management has the objective of maximizing the production potential of existing plants. The resulting benefit is improved electric power production efficiency that leads to increased competitiveness. Side benefits include delay of new plant construction, reduced coal consumption, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Finally, Canada's economic competitiveness is reviewed historically and measures to improve this competitiveness are suggested. A new national policy strategy would include gradual elimination of all import tariffs, optimization of natural resources, securing energy availability at prices at or below world levels, and becoming a leader in transportation and communications. 1 fig., 1 tab

Energy management system based on standard 50001 in the company Feed Cienfuegos

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monteagudo Yanes, José P.; Crespo Sánchez, Gustavo; Montesino Pérez, Milagros; Cruz Virosa, Ibis; Cabrera Sánchez, Jorge Luis

2017-01-01

The energy management in manufacturing of balanced feed requires the Company Feed Cienfuegos to have systems and processes that enable efficiency and quality in production, improve energy performance and increase their competitiveness. Technology of Total Efficient Energy Management (TTEEM) and Cuban Standard ISO 50001 that are promoted and researched by the Center for Studies of Energy and Environment (CEEMA), of the University of Cienfuegos and the necessity and possibility of this Company to improve energy management allowed undertaking this project. Getting and use of energy performance indicator against production and the energy base line for daily control of energy consumption allowed decreasing from 12.8 kWh/t on average, to values below 10 kWh/t for the same production levels (500t/day). This result represents the reduction of energy consumption in the order of 364,000 kWh/year and consequently 15% of the energy item costs. This result is equivalent in cost of generation to 120 tons of oil/year, which at current oil prices mean a savings of $ 6,000 USD/year. (author)

The impact of total quality management on competitive advantage of pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Jordan

OpenAIRE

Kamal A. M. Al-Qudah

2012-01-01

TQM is a general philosophy of management that attempts to enhance competitive advantage of organizations, This paper aims to investigate the impact of total quality management on competitive advantage of Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Jordan. The data are collected from mid- to senior-level managerial employees of Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Jordan. The data were analyzed using correlation and multiple regression analyses. The results indicate that, there is effec...

Determinants of Competitiveness in Companies that Comprise the Aerospace Cluster in the State of Sonora

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erika OLIVAS-VALDEZ

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Most of the leading countries in the world production of the aerospace sector, over time, have triangulated their production, by installing plants in other countries, to reduce costs. The United States concentrates most of the world production of aircraft. Consequently, Mexico has joined this dynamic production process through the operation of almost four hundred companies in this industrial sector. The states of Baja California, Chihuahua, Nuevo Leon, Querétaro and Sonora, lead the production of this sector in Mexico. The objective of this work is to determine if the companies in the aerospace sector of the state of Sonora are competitive in a regional context with respect to the growth of the entire sector in the country. The degree of competitiveness was calculated using the Competitive Advantage Index in two levels –the aerospace sector at the national level and at the state level-. The results of this research confirm that the competitiveness of companies in the aerospace sector in Sonora is high and that their competitiveness is determined mainly by the technological development of their products, quality of service, guarantees offered, price, and the operation and production costs.

Analysis of inter-energy competition in the age of complex energies

Science.gov (United States)

1989-12-01

This is a survey report of the Japan Energy Economics Research Institute. Section 1 describes the energy industry in time of complex energies (History of changes and competition of energy sources. Formation of the energy market. Energy tax). Section 2 describes the present situation and the prospect of the competition among the energies (Present images of competition between industrial sector, civil household sector, transportation sector and the energy conversion sector. Development of the energy utilization system (cogeneration, regional air conditioning, waste heat recovery system, individual air conditioning system. Strategic meaning of the expansion of inter-energy competition market). Section 3 describes the arrangement of the fair competition conditions and the energy policy (Energy policy effect and cost. Energy industrial regulation and its abatement. Competitive energy market and fair competing conditions).

MODELS OF THE 5 PORTERS COMPETITIVE FORCES METHODOLOGY CHANGES IN COMPANIES STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT ON COMPETITIVE MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey I Zubin

2014-01-01

Full Text Available There are some different types of approaches to 5 Porters Forces model development in thisarticle. Authors take up the negative attitude researcher reasons to this instrument and inputsuch changes in it, which can help to fi nd the best way to companies growing up on competitive market.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCE AND STRATEGIC PLANNING EFFECT TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE IN CREATING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE (STUDY CASE AT INDOFOOD CBP SUKSES MAKMUR COMPANY - FOOD SEASONING DIVISION )

OpenAIRE

Ardiyanto, Yan

2016-01-01

This research head for analyze the effect of inter variable to answered set problems how is strategic alliance and strategic planning to improve company performance for create competitive advantage. This research gives theoritic and managerial implication concern pace which have to take by PT. Indofood CBP Sukses Makmur Food Seasoning Division to improve their company performance for create competitive advantage which got from product strategic alliance and strategic planning. Population in t...

Weather derivatives or how an energy company can hedge its weather risks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tahghighi, A.; Carpentier, Ph.

2000-01-01

This paper gives a detailed overview of weather derivatives and explains where this new class of financial products falls. The emergence of weather derivatives came about as a response to a need in the energy sector to hedge this sector's weather risks. This article focuses on the nature of these financial contracts, what they include and how they are priced. This article concludes by stating that energy companies in Europe can no longer afford to remain exposed to weather risks in an increasingly privatized and competitive market

Competitive Position of Dependent Passenger Car Maintenance Companies – Influences, Developments and Challenges in the German Market

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Werdich Karl

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The presented paper concerns itself with passenger car maintenance companies and their competitiveness. Internal and external influences, change drivers and general changes in the companies and their organisation were identified and analysed. The influence of the development of technology and the diffusion of innovations are highlighted in particular. Under consideration of the competitiveness factors, current and future challenges for the passenger car maintenance companies were worked out. Based on these analyses, future tasks, problem statements and challenges were compiled for passenger car maintenance companies from which other subjects of scientific investigation in area of strategic and economic importance arose.

Proposal of Competitive Strategy of Company

OpenAIRE

Tesař, Karel

2008-01-01

Diplomová práce je zaměřena na vytvoření konkurenční strategie malé rodinné firmy. Analyzuje současný stav firmy zabývající se statickou a projekční činností. Zkoumá působení vnějšího prostředí na firmu a analyzuje vnitřní prostředí. Definuje strategické cíle firmy, obsahuje návrh budoucí konkurenční strategie firmy a její časovou implementaci. This diploma thesis is focused on creation of competitive strategy of small family firm. It analyses current status of a company, which is speciali...

Stimulating utilities to promote energy efficiency: Process evaluation of Madison Gas and Electric's Competition Pilot Program

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vine, E.; De Buen, O.; Goldfman, C.

1990-12-01

This report describes the process evaluation of the design and implementation of the Energy Conservation Competition Pilot (hereafter referred to as the Competition), ordered by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSCW) with a conceptual framework defined by PSCW staff for the Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) Company. This process evaluation documents the history of the Competition, describing the marketing strategies adopted by MGE and its competitors, customer service and satisfaction, administrative issues, the distribution of installed measures, free riders, and the impact of the Competition on MGE, its competitors, and other Wisconsin utilities. We also suggest recommendations for a future Competition, compare the Competition with other approaches that public utility commissions (PUCs) have used to motivate utilities to promote energy efficiency, and discuss its transferability to other utilities. 48 refs., 8 figs., 40 tabs.

The Competition between London Companies Regarding Their Financial Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Simionescu Mihaela

2016-06-01

Full Text Available There is a high level of competition between companies and the final result is often measured by their financial performance. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the financial performance of a sample of companies from London. Statistical analysis is performed of 293 companies randomly selected from the population of firms resident in London, the economic indicators being registered for 2014. The main results indicated that most of the variation in financial performance is explained by the book-to-market ratio and cash-to-assets ratio. On the other hand, financial performance is also explained by cash flow and leverage. Most of the firms that were placed in the same group had a successful financial performance in 2014. Few companies located in the other cluster encountered some difficulties regarding cash flow and sales. This situation could be explained by the difficulties of facing the economic crisis. Thus the financial performance evaluation is useful in improving a firm’s financial indicators in order to achieve a higher profit. The diagnosis will help managers in taking the most suitable decisions to solve the financial problems by selecting the best strategies.

The Ability to Assimilate Technology as a Source of Competitive Advantage of Financial Companies in Poland

OpenAIRE

Glabiszewski Waldemar; Zastempowski Maciej

2016-01-01

This article is empirical in nature and attempts to assess the impact of ability to assimilate newly acquired technologies by financial companies operating in Poland gaining market competitive advantages. The outcome of the research conducted proved the existence of this relationship and found it be strong. This means that the development of these abilities within the absorptive potential of financial companies should trigger a significant increase in the market competitive advantages held by...

Globalization Opportunities and Their Implications on Business Operations and Competitiveness of Companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina

OpenAIRE

Hasan Mahmutovic; Azra Hadžiahmetovic; Sead Talovic

2014-01-01

Globalization provides new business opportunities for companies all over the world and, at the same time, puts before them new challenges they need to adapt to in order to achieve success in the market. Also, global trends impose on the companies requirements for enhancement of competitiveness as a key determinant of their success in both local and international market. This research deals with the implications of globalization opportunities on business operations and competitiveness of compa...

A leader-followers model of transmission augmentation for considering strategic behaviours of generating companies in energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hesamzadeh, M.R.; Hosseinzadeh, N.; Wolfs, P.J.

2010-01-01

This paper suggests an integrated mathematical framework developed based on the leader-followers game for augmentation of transmission networks. Transmission Network Service Provider moves first and designs the horizon year transmission system. Generating Companies compete for having the highest share from the energy market and they find their equilibrium point using the Nash equilibrium concept. Finally, Market Management Company receives the planning schedule of transmission system and the energy offer prices and clears the market. In addition to the exact mathematical modelling of the interested players of transmission planning problem, the methodology can design the future transmission system not only for improving the system social welfare but also for encouraging competition among horizon year generating companies. (author)

Potential opportunities for energy savings in a Jordanian poultry company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AlQdah, K.

2010-01-01

Rising concern about energy resource availability and energy prices in Jordan, cost of energy has become an issue that cannot be ignored in Jordan's industrial sector. In this study, energy auditing in a meat production factory related to poultry company was carried out. Based on the collected data and the conservation laws of energy, the performance of steam boilers, domestic hot water boilers, compressors, refrigeration systems, chillers, pumps, daily consumption of diesel and water were reviewed. The percentage of energy consumed by the refrigeration units, with respect to the total energy consumed, has been estimated. The results demonstrated a normal operation with thermal efficiency of 80.66% for the steam boiler, ability to save 18818.99 JD by installing economizer with payback period of 0.637 year and a 12.3% reduction of the energy cost achieved by reducing the blow down rate. The rate of diesel consumption was reduced by 12.87% over the last period of the study as a result of the recommendations that have been submitted to the technicians and professionals. The sum of 22223.77 JD can be saved by using heavy fuel oil instead of diesel oil. Moreover, this study demonstrated that energy saving can be considered as an ideal choice to increase profit and promote competition within the poultry industry if the company adopts all the proposals and recommendations that have been offered by this study.

SELECTED ISSUES OF COMPETITIVENESS POTENTIAL OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLE PROCESSING COMPANIES LOCATED IN THE WIELKOPOLSKIE VOIVODESHIP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Smoluk-Sikorska

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses results of the research concerning potential and strategy of competitiveness of companies of fruit and vegetable processing industry located in the Wielkopolskie voivodeship. Special attention was paid to the assessment of the companies’ financial situation, their production resources, management system and adopted development strategies. The investigated companies are characterised by strong domestic market position, which is mainly results of the assessment of their financial situation. They asses competitiveness potential very high, particularly human resources and related with them management skills. Furthermore, most of the companies assess the use of strategy of quality control and specialisation strategy as high or very high.

The impact of product market competition on transactions with related parties and company performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mojtaba Asadi

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an empirical investigation on the effect of product market competition on transactions with related parties and company performance. The study selects a sample of 250 randomly selected firms whose common shares were traded on Tehran Stock Exchange. The study uses Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI to measure the market concentration and uses historical information over the period 2008-2012 to examine the hypotheses of the survey. Using simple regression analysis, the study has detected a positive relationship between HHI and related party transactions. In addition, the study has detected a negative relationship between competition and company performance measured by return on assets.

How competitive is nuclear energy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keppler, J.H.

2010-01-01

The economic competitiveness of nuclear energy will be crucial for determining its future share in world electricity production. In addition, the widespread liberalization of power markets, in particular in OECD countries, reinforces the role of commercial criteria in technology selection . The recently published IEA/NEA study on Projected Costs of Generating Electricity: 2010 Edition (IEA/NEA, 2010) provides important indications regarding the relative competitiveness of nuclear energy in OECD member countries as well as in four non-OECD countries (Brazil, China, Russia and South Africa). The results highlight the paramount importance of discount rates and, to a lesser extent, carbon and fuel prices when comparing different technologies. Going beyond this general finding, the study also shows that the relative competitiveness of nuclear energy varies widely from one major region to another, and even from country to country. While the study provides a useful snapshot of the costs of generating electricity with different technologies, it does not provide an absolute picture of the competitiveness of nuclear energy. Like any study, Projected Costs of Generating Electricity makes a number of common assumptions about discount rates as well as carbon and fuel prices. In addition, its calculations are based on a methodology that is referred to as the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE), which assumes that all risks are included in the interest or discount rate, which determines the cost of capital. In other words, neither the electricity price risk for nuclear and renewables, nor the carbon and fuel price risk for fossil fuels such as coal and gas, receive specific consideration. The decisions of private investors, however, will depend to a large extent on their individual appreciations of these risks. The competitiveness of nuclear energy thus depends on three different factors which may vary greatly from market to market: interest rates, carbon and fuel prices, and

Energy as a competitive factor - Opportunities for the Swiss economy; Wettbewerbsfaktor Energie - Chancen fuer die Schweizer Wirtschaft

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ziegler, M.; Baettig, R.

2010-02-15

This report Swiss for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) reviews opportunities offered to the Swiss economy by regarding energy as a competitive factor. Goals set in Switzerland regarding the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions and measures taken in this area are commented on. The report takes a look at measures that are technically and economically implementable in the building and transport areas. The costs and investment involved in the implementation of a particular scenario are examined. The chances offered to Swiss companies in the area of replacements for fossil fuels are examined. Market potentials in the areas of renewable energy sources and energy productivity are reviewed as are related financial services and workplace effects.

THE COMPETITIVE PROFILE OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE USE OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan George Bogdan

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the context of the current business environment, characterized by an increasing degree of competitiveness which diminishes the possibilities for differentiation, it is necessary to implement a successful strategic knowledge management process and adapt it to the company’s needs. The purpose is that it can help the company to translate its strategic vision and mission into action. Regarding the organizational environment, organizational needs analysis - expressed in terms of the knowledge society - determine "competitiveness" as a necessary condition of survival of the company. Competitiveness has always been an organizational goal. Is born, so the question: why competitiveness became just today, the key to success of business processes? The answer, we believe that it is in dynamic markets (supply, demand - dynamic value by bringing in goods and services, the widespread use of knowledge. The importance of knowledge-based activities has greatly increased in recent years. Also, knowledge began to be regarded as the main source of wealth production, protecting it represents an important element in achieving and maintaining a competitive advantage.

AN AGING POPULATION: A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE FOR COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petra Barešová

2018-03-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on one of the most currently discussed topics, the ageing population. Population aging can be discussed from different perspectives, exploring various challenges associated with it. The authors examined marketing communications from the point of view of a target group, over age 55. The main objective of this study was to find out which marketing communication tools those over age 55 prefer, including selected aspects of printed advertising. At the same time, it was examined whether there is a different gender perspective on this issue. To find out answers to the main question of this study, we conducted quantitative research by using a questionnaire survey among the population over age 55 living in the Czech Republic (Zlín Region. The results of this study were compared with the results of a previous study conducted in 2014, focusing on the marketing communication tools targeted at the 55+ group from the point of view of companies. The research results have shown that the target groups’ most effective (preferred marketing communication tools are printed materials (leaflets and catalogues, sales promotions, competitions, club memberships, gifts, fairs, markets and fairs, and last but not least, newspapers and magazines. Based on the results, it can be said that these tools, in comparison with others, contain sufficient information that the customer can read and think about, save, and eventually return to them. At the same time, they are tools that bring a certain benefit or advantage to the customer, which can then be verified in person. If the results are compared from a gender perspective, different preferences were revealed in the selection of marketing communication tools. There were also different views on some selected aspects of printed materials. These findings can be implemented by companies and organizations in their marketing campaigns, allowing them to better reach the target group of people over age 55

Myth of energy competitiveness in energy producing countries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Watanabe, Chihiro; Widayanti, Tjahya

1992-01-01

This paper examines the relative comparative advantage, focusing on energy prices, of an energy producing developing country (Indonesia) and a non-energy producing developed country (Japan). For energy producing developing countries, it is strategically important to increase the competitiveness of energy dependent industries, and encourage the development of value-added industries. Much work has been done on relative advantage analysis, but the effects of the energy price formation mechanisms on price competitiveness have not been analysed. In this paper a comprehensive approach, using production and cost functions and synchronized price formation by means of principal component analysis, is introduced. (Author)

Commercial secret as an instrument of company competitive strategy effectiveness increase

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peskova Dinara

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Modern companies are very much diversified in scale, sectoral affiliation, marketing behavior. There are many theoretical and applied studies in effective competitiveness strategies (see Porter, M. (2002, 1998, Kramer, M. (1998, Fatkhutdinov, R. A. (2000, Feigelson, V. M. (1996 and others.They present famous approaches and probably there is no need to repeat them in this article. We would like to feature a different concept (suggested by Yudanov A. and followers with terminology adopted from natural sciences and show the way the commercial secret can increase effectiveness of competitiveness strategy. We also perform valid methods of commercial secret protection.

Competition and PUHCA reform

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Williams, P.L.

1991-01-01

This article examines the national energy policy legislation being developed with respect to Public Utilities Holding Company Act issues. The topics of the article include the proposals to encourage competition among electric power producers, those involved in the process, qualifying facilities, independent power producers, competition and efficiency, and the outlook for reform

Determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness in transnational companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matevž Rašković

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Effective supplier-buyer relationship management should not be seen only in terms of cost and financial measures, as outlined by Transaction cost economics, but also in terms of other (“softer” relational benefits, like e.g. more comprehensive information sharing, higher levels of trust, better cooperation and increased relationship flexibility. This second view is grounded in both Relationship marketing and Resource-advantage theory. Surprisingly, only a few research papers on supplier-buyer relationships address both of these perspectives equally, as well as in terms of long-term competitiveness (vis-avis a traditional short-term performance. The purpose of this paper is to analyze business relationship determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, where we study the impact of (1 relationship-based information exchange, (2 network spillover effects, (3 transaction-specific investments, (4 trust, (5 cooperation (joint actions and (6 flexibility on perceived (7 supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness. In this regard the main research question of our study is: Which relational and transactional dimensions determine supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, as well as how strongly? To provide the answer this research question we employ an exploratory-type Partial Least Squares (PLS regression in conjunction with a novel perspective of network spillover effects, as a set of independent variables in our model. The data set consists of a sample of 130 international suppliers (approx. 30 % response rate connected to a transnational company (TNC headquartered in Slovenia, which operates in the steel construction solutions’ industry. Our results clearly identify a relational and a transactional set of determinants of supplier-buyer relationship competitiveness, with the former having a significantly higher impact on competitiveness than the latter. With regards to specific dimensions associated with this relational component

Tpm implementation impact in companies´s competitivity in the metropolitan region of aburra’s valley and near east

OpenAIRE

Arango Serna, Martin Dario; Zapata Cortes, Julian Andrés; Alzate Lopez, Juan Felipe

2012-01-01

Best practices methodologies have been used by different companies as competitive growing tools in a globalized market. In Colombia, particularly at Aburra’s Valley Metropolitan Area (AMVA) and near east can be noticed that TPM (Total Productive Management) had been adopted as a competitive support tool. This article evaluates the TPM implementation impact in different competitiveness variables for the companies that are working on it at the AMVA and near east, finding that there is not a cle...

ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITIVE MANAGEMENT OF THE SMALL AND MEDIUM COMMERCIAL COMPANIES OF ESMERALDAS, REPUBLIC OF THE ECUADOR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manuel Ruvin Quiñónez-Cabeza

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper analyzes the competitive administration of the small and medium companies of the smallest trade of Emeralds, Republic of the Ecuador. The different companies related with activities are studied that have discharge it demands in the local population. In this sense, an empiric study has been developed through 344 surveys and personal interviews carried out proprietors, administrators and workers. Finally, the most outstanding revelations in this empiric work are commented, standing out those important barriers that limit the competitiveness of the studied companies. 

Weather as a Competitive Factor between Local and Foreign Manufacturing Companies in Russia

OpenAIRE

Leppänen, Simo; Ledyaeva, Svetlana; Kosonen, Riitta

2016-01-01

Globalisation has sparked academic interest in companies’ competitive factors and a myriad of internal and external competitive factors have been studied. However, to our knowledge the weather of the host country has not been under study even though weather has been demonstrated to affect economic activity. This paper utilises a company-level panel data to analyse if weather has an impact on domestic and foreign manufacturing companies’ operations in Russia. Temperature was identified to have...

The effect of green supply chain management implementation to marketing performance through company competitiveness (study on paper industry in West Java)

Science.gov (United States)

Hijuzaman, O.; Rahayu, A.; Kusnendi

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze the effect of direct and indirect implementation of Green Supply-Chain Management (GSCM) on the Performance Marketing and Competitiveness Mediation Paper Company in West Java province. Object This research is the paper company that existed in West Java Province, which amounts to 30 companies as well as a sample of research, while variables studied are Variable Green Supply- Chain Management, Company Competitiveness Variable and Variable of Paper Marketing Industry Performance in West Java Province. The method used SEM with Variance Based or Component Based with Software used is SmartPLS 3.0. On this research are identified that no effect of Competitiveness on Marketing Performance in Paper Companies in West Java Province.

The oil companies' move toward energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burucoa, X.

1999-01-01

The oil companies have taken advantage of the deregulation of the energy market to extend their core business. By choice or by necessity, they are becoming multi-energy suppliers. Their level of investment in the renewable energy sector goes to show that the trend is a lasting one. The other energy sector companies, whether they are partners or competitors, cannot remain indifferent to this development

Can market forces and competition supplant regulation?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graham, D.

1998-01-01

The challenges facing regulators and governments as utilities and pipelines transform from regulated monopolies into competitive businesses were discussed. In the past, the absence of competition required that utility and pipeline companies be regulated by governments to ensure fair pricing and good performance. The question of whether or not competition can entirely replace regulation was examined. Although the focus was on the natural gas industry, the regulatory trends in other industries were also briefly considered. In 1985, the federal government agreed to allow the commodity price of natural gas to fluctuate in response to market forces. This began the process of deregulation in the Canadian natural gas industry. Direct purchasing introduced competition and ended the monopolies of local distribution companies in purchasing gas. The main benefits of the competitive market structure were that consumers could choose products and services from a range of competing companies at competitive prices. This was critical to the success of the Canadian economy since Canada is the third largest exporter of energy and the eighth largest consumer of energy. It was suggested that even in a competitive market abuse of market power is possible, therefore, there is an important role for government in ensuring the existence of a level playing field. A variety of issues involved in an effective transition to a competitive market were also discussed. 2 figs

PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES BETWEEN CRISIS AND COMPETITIVENESS - SECTORAL DIAGNOSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela\tBÎRSAN

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The evolution of the pharmaceutical industry was a positive constant with the indicators of industrial production even in years of crisis. Although the economic crisis in Romania decreased average growth rate of pharmaceutical companies, market value is expected to increase. The explanation comes from the fact that in order to boost productivity, pharmaceutical companies are turning to emerging countries with aging populations such as open new markets for future development. Add to this the recent health policies implemented by newly industrialized countries that are aimed at ensuring increased access to care. Analysts see the field phenomenon called "Farma-merger" a good chance for European pharmaceutical companies oriented to developing countries where drug sales should record a double-digit annual growth until 2017. In Erste Group reports stated that the impact of the crisis on the pharmaceutical industry should be limited markets for EU only their economic slowdown. This will be possible because the external indebtedness of pharmaceutical companies in the EU remains at a minimum, they are able to finance their investment plans without tapping financial markets, are not adversely affected by the current limited availability of credit resources. Therefore major pharmaceutical companies in the EU will remain a solid investment on the long term, the negative developments are limited due to high resistance to the crisis their business model segment "generic". The consequence of these developments is reflected in the recognition for the first time, the pharmaceutical sector as a strategic sector for the Romanian economy. In the context of public debate launching the National Strategy for Competitiveness 2014-2020, Generic Medicines Industry Association of Romania (APMGR local pharmaceutical industry reminds the Government proposals on correcting the current fiscal and operational regulatory framework, to allow unlocking investments in facilities

Competition on European energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lijesen, M.; Speck, S; Mulder, M.

2003-01-01

The launch of the Directives on Electricity and Gas in the late 1990s was the starting point for creating common and competitive energy markets in the European Union. The main goal of this process was to increase efficiency of allocation of resources and, hence,enhance consumer welfare. More specifically, increasing competition within the energy markets should lead to a reduction of energy prices and to a convergence of prices among EU member states. Within a year from now, end-users in the Netherlands will be free to choose their own supplier, thus finalising the deregulation of Dutch energy markets. What lessons may be learned from the experience thus far? What are the results of the liberalisation process up to now? How have prices developed,and can these developments be explained? How afraid should we be for the lights to go out in a competitive electricity market?

Quality services as a key factor of competitiveness of transport companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bogetić Srđan

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with the question of the service quality as an important factor of transport companies in the process of improving competitiveness. Due to global competition and great opportunities that are offered to customers, transporting enterprises need to change their current relationship with the end consumer in order to improve the quality of offered services. Traffic enterprises have realized that improvement of the business processes comes with the use of modern ICT solutions and applications that will ensure that protection of the environment has been taken into account and the quality of service improved as well. Domestic traffic enterprises are not yet ready to accept the change of the way of conducting their business, which furtherly affects the quality of services, and they are still not prepared for the arrival of competition in the transport market.

COMPETITIVE FACTORS IN ERP SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION: A CASE STUDY OF A COMPANY OF ELECTRIC GENERATORS

OpenAIRE

Prado, Emerson Luiz; Passanezi, Paula Meyer Soares

2015-01-01

The increasing globalization of markets and increased competitiveness has required the use of appropriate management information in decision-making of companies. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an integrated information system widely used by managers in their decision making processes. This exploratory case study, conducted in the company Stemac S/A, aims to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the ERP system and compares them the real needs of the company. Specifics objectiv...

Leading Players of the Global Renewable Energy Equipment Industry. Overview of Groups - SWOTs - Benchmarking - Company Profiles and Financials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-06-01

This study presents: The medium-term and mega trends of the industry market developments and geographical segments; The competitive landscape and the main corporate rankings; The main conclusions of the report, summarised in 10 analytical slides. Content: 1. Overview: The Sector, Ranking, Performance Analysis; 2. Company Profiles: Toshiba, Vestas, Dong Energy, GE Renewable Energy, Siemens, Goldwind, First Solar, SunPower, Andritz, Yingli Green Energy; 3. Sources; 4. Annexes

Increasing Quality through Implementing the Quick Response Method to Achieve Competitiveness of the Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lenka Branská

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Representatives of the European Union as well as particular countries realize that quality has become a decisive factor of competitiveness. Therefore, they intensively support the care for quality at the micro-economic level. It is provided through corporate quality management systems. It is a tool allowing companies to grow constantly through suitable application of modern methods applicable in the corporate management. One of the methods contributing to increasing the quality provided as well as to efficiency of actual processes is the Quick Response method. It is an approach enabling to increase the speed of response to the customers’ demands, with reasonable costs spent. Implementation of this method should contribute to fulfilling the basic principles of the quality management and higher competitiveness of the company.

Stimulating the Competitiveness of the Macedonian Economy through the Process of Stimulation the Internationalization of the Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jovanka Damoska Sekuloska

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The research in this paper is to be focused on examining the internationalization of the Macedonian companies as a prerequisite in improvement of Macedonian competitiveness. Internationalization as a process of integration in international economic activities contributes to overcome the sizes of national markets. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF the size of the market is one of the pillars of competitiveness and it is revealed as one of the limitation of the competitiveness of Macedonian economy. The contemporary theories of competitiveness recognize the necessity of quantitative and qualitative improvement of the process of internationalization of the companies. Quantitative improvement means involving not only trade but also outward FDI and the new quality signifies the necessity of restructuring the economic activities towards employing and creating innovation based processes, as (Porter, 1990accents that a nation’s competitiveness depends on the capacity of its industry to innovate and upgrade. Using data of some target Central European and Baltic (CEB economies, it will be examined interrelationships between the internationalization and competitiveness and policies that influence the improvement and stimulation of internationalization process.

What oil companies will be the most competitive in the next century?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Littlejohn, W.W.

1993-01-01

Turning oil into profit is the engine that propels the industry forward. Today, that engine is sputtering, threatened by a longtime friend and adversary, the federal government. As the authors approach the 21st century, most industry analysts expect the trend in the US toward ever more stringent regulation of oil drilling, transportation, and refining to continue. What kind of oil company can profit on that playing field? Will the 21st century favor international producers with upstream and downstream operations scattered across the globe? Or will it reward companies that focus on the American market and its myriad rules and regulations? A close look at two American-based companies offers some perspective. Exxon is a world-wide producer, refiner and seller of petroleum products and Arco, a California-based company that was among the first to view government intervention as an opportunity to gain competitive advantage

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE ENERGY COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ionescu (Sas Mihaela

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper aims to contribute to a better knowledge of the problems of energy services provided that both the international economic literature and in the Romanian, it continues to be addressed in a low position. Therefore, the author examines energy services through mechanisms that can be saved primary energy and final energy in the context of declining energy reserves worldwide. Economic and financial crisis and the current recession contribute to preventing the development of the energy services market and solutions on the framework conditions of political, economic, legal and financial aspects of energy performance contracts associated with these companies. Some Member States have already established a system requiring the national energy industry to achieve energy savings, achieving positive results: there were savings of up to 6% of final energy consumption. In a system of this type, utilities are required to obtain a fixed amount of energy savings by implementing energy efficiency improvements in their clients (such as households, companies, government or housing associations and other sectors and energy production and transport. As an alternative to savings by themselves, some systems allow utilities to purchase energy savings from other actors such as energy service companies (ESCOs. Energy saving obligations stimulate providers to change their business model from retail energy products to the provision of energy services. Energy Service Companies continues to be a key area for financing energy efficiency in the EU. In this respect, several Member States mention providing model contracts for energy services, the introduction of legislation or removing legal barriers for ESCO access to energy services in the public sector. Meanwhile, many of the measures encouraged on ESCO contain too little detail on specific actions to be taken.

Finding competitive intelligence on Internet start-up companies: a study of secondary resource use and information-seeking processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2001-01-01

Full Text Available The paper reports findings from a study of CI activities involving Internet start-up companies in the telecommunications industry. The CI gathering was conducted by graduate students in library and information science in the context of a class project for a real business client, itself a small Internet start-up company. The primary objective of the study was to provide empirical insights into the applicability of specific types of secondary information resources to finding competitive intelligence information on small Internet start-up companies. An additional objective was to identify the characteristics of research strategies applied in the collection of CI on Internet start-ups from the perspective of current conceptual frameworks of information-seeking behaviour presented in the library and information science literature. This study revealed some interesting findings regarding the types of secondary information resources that can be used to find competitive intelligence on small, Internet start-up companies. The study also provided insight into the characteristics of the overall information-seeking strategies that are applied in this type of competitive intelligence research.

Identifying and prioritizing the effect of marketing mix from the customer’s perspective (4C) on the competitiveness of insurance companies using DEMATEL technique: A case study of Tehran Insurance Companies

OpenAIRE

Elmira Manafzadeh; Ali Ramezani

2016-01-01

Competitiveness of an organization is debatable based on sources and market-based approach. In this study, the impact of customer-centric marketing mix on the competitiveness of the company was studied. All clients involved in insurance companies in Tehran were the statistical population of the study and a sample of 384 clients were selected. A questionnaire was used to collect the data. Relationships between elements of the marketing mix and competitiveness were studied using confirmatory fa...

Energy and Competitiveness

OpenAIRE

Bureau , Dominique; Fontagné , Lionel; Martin , Philippe

2013-01-01

When energy prices are expected to rise over the next twenty years, it is essential that industrial innovation efforts and the supply of goods and service off erings be directed towards energy-efficient technologies. However, a more significant increase in energy prices in France than in other countries would be detrimental to the short-term competitiveness of French industry. The present Note outlines the terms of the trade-off France has to confront between reserving a significant part of i...

Project management as a competitive advantage for the internationalization of Brazilian companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andre Luiz Spinelli Schelini

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This study focuses on three theoretical axes: project management (PM, internationalization of companies and the resource-based view (RBV. It aimed to analyze if, and in what way, PM maturity contributes to the international strategy of Brazilian companies from the RBV perspective. The research strategy adopted in three Brazilian companies constituted a multiple case study with a descriptive exploratory approach through intercase and intracase analysis. As an unprecedented result, the study identified five characteristics of mature project management: project sustainability, stakeholder engagement, goal setting and strategy, change management, and risk management. Furthermore, all of these contributed to the internationalization of the companies in question, with an impact on competitive advantage, considering the RBV-VRIO analysis. Thus, the study contributes to the field by aiding companies that are beginning or intend to begin internationalization processes, enabling them to obtain better results through PM. A limitation of the study is the small number of cases investigated, which may be viewed as an opportunity for conducting further studies.

BUILDING A COMPETITIVE BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE ARCHITECTURE THAT CAN FOSTER PERFORMANCE IN THE ROMANIAN NATIONAL RAILWAY COMPANY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan George Bogdan

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Today many industry players from banking, financial services, insurance, IT, healthcare, telecommunications and transportation are deploying competitive business intelligence to grow their company’s financial results. The use of such advanced business applications is one key enabler to increase their spread which provides them an edge over their competitors. Companies of the future are buiding a new culture developed on fact-based decisions. (BusinessWeek Research Services, 2009 These decisions are made through analysis using the business analytics systems which encourage the anticipation in solving complex business problems in the entire organization. Embracing this approach, these companies focus on their most profitable customers, define the right pricing, a faster product innovation, optimize supply chains and identify the real drivers of financial performance. This research paper will detail the theorethical importance of using competitive business intelligence architectures to gain competitive advantage.

DEVELOPMENT AND COMPETITIVENESS BETWEEN FINANCIAL INVESTMENTS SERVICES COMPANIES (1995-2016

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana Ancuţa IANCU

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In the literature there are studies that deal with intermediaries in banking services (especially, mutual funds and pensions, insurance, real estate, etc. Most of them focus on subjects like investor behaviour, ethical issues and market manipulation. In this paper we intend to observe the stages in the evolution of the Financial Investment Services Companies (SSIF between 1995-2016 in relation with the number of transactions, the volume of traded shares, the number of issuing companies as well as the economic and political situation of our country. Moreover, our study shows that the number of SSIF's is little affected by economic crises or declines and is rather influenced by the annual net incomes of the population. Basically, SSIF’s are in constant competition with the rest of the financial institutions, banks being a good example.

A MULTINATIONAL COMPANY PROBLEM: INFILTRATING INTO THE CLUSTERS TO GAIN COMPETITIVE EDGE IN THE TRADITIONAL MARKETS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murat KOC

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper is concerned with one of the main challenges of the Multinational Companies which they face in the traditional and thus in local markets. Multinational Companies aims to gain competitive advantage through differentiation in terms of their globalization strategy. However, in the local markets where the organic relationship of firms are more designed in local habits, and markets react with stable consumer behaviors, it gets harder to enter into market and drive a competitive edge. This paper aims to understand the reasons of this challenge, the analysis of resistance of traditional markets, successful sample breaking into local market and the strategy around it.

Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2012

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hong, Tao; Pinson, Pierre; Fan, Shu

2014-01-01

The Global Energy Forecasting Competition (GEFCom2012) attracted hundreds of participants worldwide, who contributed many novel ideas to the energy forecasting field. This paper introduces both tracks of GEFCom2012, hierarchical load forecasting and wind power forecasting, with details...... on the aspects of the problem, the data, and a summary of the methods used by selected top entries. We also discuss the lessons learned from this competition from the organizers’ perspective. The complete data set, including the solution data, is published along with this paper, in an effort to establish...

Management of Formalised Marketing and Media Activities in Outsourcing Companies in the Age of Competitiveness, with Particular Emphasis on Contemporary Marketing Approach

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kozakowski Łukasz

2015-10-01

Full Text Available The article outlines the issues related to the topic of management of formalised marketing and media activities in outsourcing companies in the age of competitiveness, with particular emphasis on contemporary marketing approach. General management of the organisation and management of marketing and media activities, particularly in their formalised form, both have a significant effect on improving company competitiveness in the market. Outsourcing companies constitute a specific sector of services which without a very well-functioning marketing and media activities would not be able to operate and develop in the market. The article presents selected aspects connected with the management of marketing and media activities, with particular emphasis on formalisation of marketing activities in outsourcing companies. The analysis presented below focuses on the efficiency of the implemented formalisation of marketing and media activities in outsourcing companies in relation to their competitiveness, with special recognition of contemporary marketing approach.

Competition within the energy sector and State regulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larsen, A.; Jess Olsen, O.

1995-10-01

It is presumed that energy markets will be liberalized. Questions discussed are how the Danish electricity and gas sectors are to be re-regulated in order to ensure that this goal is reached in the most satisfactory manner (cheaper energy supply under competitive conditions) and whether there will be a conflict between the goal of liberalization and the environmental goals of clean technology and energy conservation. It is suggested that a compulsory splitting up of the two regional power associations in Denmark should not be necessary. Transmission and distribution must continue to be regulated as these are natural monopolies not compatible with competition. District heating will still be a monopoly and its prices must be closely regulated to prevent soaring. The opening up of the European gas market to competition will threaten Danish energy utilities. The increasing compulsory use of natural gas in cogeneration plants to politically determined high prices is not sustainable under competitive conditions. Energy saving activities should not be affected. Energy surcharges are attractive measures on a liberalized market. The regulation of competition ought to be incorporated explicitly as a restriction in the Ministry of Energy's energy policy regulation. Energy utilities could be excluded from participation in price setting. International regulation of competition will demand a clarification of the separation of regulatory competence between the member states and the European Commission. It will also be necessary to adjust the Danish regulation of the electricity sector to the future Scandinavian system. (AB) 77 refs

The Ability to Assimilate Technology as a Source of Competitive Advantage of Financial Companies in Poland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glabiszewski Waldemar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article is empirical in nature and attempts to assess the impact of ability to assimilate newly acquired technologies by financial companies operating in Poland gaining market competitive advantages. The outcome of the research conducted proved the existence of this relationship and found it be strong. This means that the development of these abilities within the absorptive potential of financial companies should trigger a significant increase in the market competitive advantages held by them. The strong impact was identified both in the total of the analyzed personnel and general-organizational components of the assimilation abilities. As regards elementary components of the analyzed potential, the obtained results are definitely more diverse.

To what extent are EU steel companies susceptible to competitive loss due to climate policy?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okereke, Chukwumerije; McDaniels, Devin

2012-01-01

In recognition of their competitive vulnerability, a set of special rules have been devised for managing sectors such as iron and steel within the EU ETS. Under these rules, the EU steel sector has received free allocations in excess of their compliance needs to now, and will continue to receive some free allowances up to 2020. However, perceptions of the sector's competitive vulnerability have been largely based on inherently hypothetical analyses which rely heavily on counterfactual scenarios and abatement cost estimates often provided by firms themselves. This paper explores how the three largest steel firms in the EU (AcerlorMittal, Corus, and ThyssenKrupp) have sought to strategically exaggerate their vulnerability to carbon pricing to the effect of an inefficient policy outcome. We conduct a qualitative assessment of two of the key narratives underpinning the competitive vulnerability argument of EU steel companies – lack of abatement opportunities and inability to pass through cost increases – based on interviews, case studies, and publicly available data. We find that these arguments provide only partial and weak justifications for competitive loss and preferential treatment under the EU ETS. The strategy however remains successful due to information asymmetry and the peculiar political economy of EU climate regulation. - Highlights: ► We evaluate carbon leakage and vulnerability claims to climate policy by EU Steel companies. ► We find these claims are exaggerated and form key part of companies' climate political strategy. ► The success of this strategy implicates information asymmetry and the broader political economy of regulation within the EU. ► It has proved successful in helping the sector achieve free emission allocations in the EUETS.

The Final Report: 1975 Energy Resource Alternatives Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Radtke, Mark L.; And Others

This publication describes the projects entered in the Energy Resource Alternatives competition in 1975. Teams of engineering students were given a year to develop non-conventional or alternative energy systems that produced useful energy outputs. Besides an overview of energy sources and uses and discussions of the competitions development, the…

Energy and competition. Supplying Europe with safe and low-cost energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuhnt, D.

1994-01-01

The EC Commission and the Energy Committee of the European Parliament want to achieve more competition in energy supply. To this end, deregulation is to be carried out as a first step. The proposals under discussion are based on the English-Welsh model which, however, can hardly be applied to the whole of the EC and not at all to Germany, as it provides for government controlled ''pseudo''-competition to override real competition. At the same time, the German Federal Cartel Office tries to abolish altogether the concept of territorial protection. In a ''competition'' brought about by such means, foreign utilities operating in Germany would enjoy advantages over domestic utilities. From an all-European point of view, also the draft amendment to the Energy Economy Act proposed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics, and a number of regulations covering energy trust legislation, are appearing at the wrong time. (orig.) [de

The Changing Structure of Retail Industry: Case Studies on Competitive Advantage of Small Companies in Croatia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Blaženka Knežević

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: There are two key trends in retail industry since 1990s till nowadays: rapid internationalization and intensive retail concentration. In such a dynamic environment, small companies are striving to preserve their markets and to maintain their business activity. The objectives of the paper are twofold: (1 to explain trends of retail internationalization and concentration and (2 to highlight the possibilities for improving the competitive ability of small retailers. Research Design & Methods: The paper is based on analysis of secondary data available in research papers, studies and official statistics. Firstly, the consequences of retail internationalization and concentration are described. Then, the literature on competitive advantage creation is systemized. In addition, the case study method is used to illustrate successful strategies of competitive advantage creation. Findings:  In a changed retail market, small retailers seek the way to improve their competitiveness. As suitable competitiveness strategies, authors describe: (1 retail alliances and (2 differentiation by assortment. Implications & Recommendations: The key trends and their impact on small companies in retail industry are scrutinized. Recommendations to small retailers how to adjust to new market conditions, together with some practical examples, are given. Contribution & Value Added: The paper gives an insight into dynamics of changes in retail structure. Retail alliances and differentiation by assortment are described as two key streams of competitiveness improvement suitable for small retailers.

Energy service companies -- The sky's the limit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fraser, M.; Montross, C.

1998-07-01

The term ESCO has a different meaning to different people. Increasingly, the term is used in its broadest sense to describe any company providing services related to a customer's energy acquisition and use. Previously, the term ESCO was synonymous with contractors who installed new equipment that was paid for by the energy cost savings that resulted. As a result of competition, restructuring and de-regulation of the electricity and gas sectors, the range of firms offering energy services now includes: local utilities using services to retain customers, remote utilities offering services to customers outside their franchise as a door opener to future commodity sales, local and remote utilities who see services as a more lucrative growth opportunity than commodities or transportation of the commodity, facility managers taking advantage of outsourcing trends and using energy management to reduce costs, power marketers, power brokers, aggregators combining energy analysis to segment their customers with processes to identify potential conservation and load management opportunities, cogeneration developers, and agents who help their customers navigate the uncharted waters of the deregulated energy business. This paper will review the impact of the broader definition of ESCOs with a view toward forecasting future trends in the industry including consideration of the fact that the term, energy service, may, itself, be too narrow a definition for a successful business of industry.

78 FR 43197 - Duke Energy Florida, Inc.; Florida Power & Light Company; Tampa Electric Company; Orlando...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-19

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [ER13-1922-000; ER13-1929-000; ER13-1932-000; NJ13-11-000] Duke Energy Florida, Inc.; Florida Power & Light Company; Tampa Electric Company; Orlando Utilities Commission; Notice of Compliance Filings Take notice that on July 10, 2013, Duke Energy...

Energy and competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-01-01

The members of the Enquete Commission ''Future Energy Policy'' of the German Bundestag are introduced as well as the list of participants from industry and other organizations in the public heaving on 18 th December 1981. Then the catalogue of questions of the Enquete Commission is presented. The written answers of the 11 representatives of industry form the main part of the report. In the following the minutes of the public hearing of the Enquete Commission 'Future Energy Policy' of the German Bundestag on Friday, 18 th December 1981 on the topic of 'The Competitiveness of German economy in various energy supply structures' is presented. (UA) [de

Geothermal energy and the utility market -- the opportunities and challenges for expanding geothermal energy in a competitive supply market: Proceedings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-01-01

Each year the Geothermal Division of the US Department of Energy conducts an in-depth review of its entire geothermal R D program. The conference serves several purposes: a status report on current R D activities, an assessment of progress and problems, a review of management issues, and a technology transfer opportunity between DOE and the US geothermal city. This year's conference, Program Review X, was held in San Francisco on March 24--26, 1992. The theme of the review, Geothermal Energy and the Utility Market -- The Opportunities and Challenges for Expanding Geothermal Energy in a Competitive Supply Market,'' focused on the needs of the electric utility sector. Geothermal energy, with its power capacity potential of 10 GWe by the year 2010, can provide reliable, enviromentally clean electricity which can help offset the projected increase in demand. Program Review X consisted of seven sessions including an opening session with presentations by Mr. Vikram Budhraja, Vice President of System Planning and Operations, Southern California Edison Company, and Mr. Richard Jaros, President and Chief Operating Officer, California Energy Company. The six technical sessions included presentations by the relevant field researchers covering DOE-sponsored R D in hydrothermal, hot dry rock, and geopressured energy. Individual projects are processed separately for the data bases.

An agent-based model for energy service companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Robinson, Marguerite; Varga, Liz; Allen, Peter

2015-01-01

Highlights: • An agent-based model for household energy efficiency upgrades is considered. • Energy service companies provide an alternative to traditional utility providers. • Household self-financing is a limiting factor to widespread efficiency upgrading. • Longer term service contracts can lead to reduced household energy costs. • Future energy price increases enable service providers to retain their customer base. - Abstract: The residential housing sector is a major consumer of energy accounting for approximately one third of carbon emissions in the United Kingdom. Achieving a sustainable, low-carbon infrastructure necessitates a reduced and more efficient use of domestic energy supplies. Energy service companies offer an alternative to traditional providers, which supply a single utility product to satisfy the unconstrained demand of end users, and have been identified as a potentially important actor in sustainable future economies. An agent-based model is developed to examine the potential of energy service companies to contribute to the large scale upgrading of household energy efficiency, which would ultimately lead to a more sustainable and secure energy infrastructure. The migration of households towards energy service companies is described by an attractiveness array, through which potential customers can evaluate the future benefits, in terms of household energy costs, of changing provider. It is shown that self-financing is a limiting factor to the widespread upgrading of residential energy efficiency. Greater reductions in household energy costs could be achieved by committing to longer term contracts, allowing upgrade costs to be distributed over greater time intervals. A steadily increasing cost of future energy usage lends an element of stability to the market, with energy service companies displaying the ability to retain customers on contract expiration. The model highlights how a greater focus on the provision of energy services, as

78 FR 62614 - Guttman Energy, Inc., PBF Holding Company LLC v. Buckeye Pipe Line Company, L.P., Laurel Pipe...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. OR14-4-000] Guttman Energy, Inc., PBF Holding Company LLC v. Buckeye Pipe Line Company, L.P., Laurel Pipe Line Company, L.P... complaint against Buckeye Pipe Line Company L.P. and Laurel Pipe Line Company L.P. (Respondents) challenging...

Introduction to Oryx Energy Company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1992-01-01

Oryx Energy is an international hydrocarbon exploration and production company with proved reserves approaching one billion equivalent barrels and assets of about $4 billion. The company's worldwide headquarters are in Dallas, Texas, and it has major interests in the US Gulf of Mexico where it is expanding into the Flex Trend area. By the end of the decade, however, the company expects that 50 percent of its total reserves will be in the fast-growing overseas arena. Its current interests include operations in the United Kingdom North Sea, Indonesia, Equador, Gabon and Australia. To exploit and increase these resources the company has investigated in horizontal drilling techniques and advanced computing facilities which have greatly improved its direct hydrocarbon indicator technology, three-dimensional seismic analysis and reservoir simulations. (UK)

Competitive edge of western coal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keith, R.D.

1990-01-01

This paper expresses views on the competitive advantages of one of the nation's most remarkable energy resources--Western coal. It covers utilization of Western coal, and its advantages. The Arkansas Power and Light Company and its demand for coal are also covered

Forward projections of energy market competitiveness rankings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

By July 2007, the provisions of the second Internal Market Directives for Electricity and Gas had been implemented in the majority of EU Member States. These fundamental changes in market opening, ownership structures and network access conditions, together with the increasing maturity of liberalised trading and retail markets, can be expected to affect the behaviour of existing and potential market participants, consequently affecting the energy market competitiveness of alternative countries. While the UK was the most competitive of the EU and G7 energy markets in 2006, the dynamic effect of the liberalisation programme across Continental Europe may challenge that position in the future. This report assesses how competitiveness rankings may evolve in the future, identifying changes that could take place in the UK and the rest of the EU from 2007 to 201 1. It goes on to explore the potential risk that the competitiveness of the UK's energy markets will decline relative to those of other countries in the EU and G7, to the extent that the PSA target will not be met. A detailed analysis of the potential changes in the UK markets is undertaken, including the development of upside and downside scenarios showing the positive and negative effects of changes in market structure and behaviour on the UK's competitiveness score. Changes in market structures required for energy markets in both the 2006 comparator group and the rest of the EU to become as competitive as the UK are then assessed, along with the plausibility of these changes given the current and future market, legislative and regulatory environments

E-commerce opens up new opportunities for energy trading in the competitive markets; eCommerce: Neue Chancen im Energiewettbewerb

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Titzrath, B. [Anderson Consulting Unternehmensberatung GmbH, Duesseldorf (Germany); Scholtissek, S.

2000-09-01

The article discusses the opportunities opened up for energy supply companies in building or maintaining their competitive edge in the rapidly changing competitive environment. Pitfalls are described, and successful e-commerce strategies employing all available tools are explained, referring to the business-to-business segment as well as customer relationship management. (orig./CB) [German] Die Electronic Economy stellt die Energieversorgungsunternehmen (EVU) nicht nur vor Herausforderungen, sondern eroeffnet auch grosse Chancen. Es ist jedoch Vorsicht geboten. Wer hier nicht seine eigene eCommerce-Strategie entwickelt und implementiert, dem drohen Marktanteilsverluste. (orig./CB)

Investigation the impact of outsourcing on competitive advantages' creation by considering Porter's model; Case study: Zamyad Company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad Reza Kasrai

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Competitive advantage is an important factor in boosting companies' success and is considered more emphatically in management and strategic marketing literature in recent years. There are many different ideas about effective factors in creation of competitive advantages. Also fast rate of change in business, is forcing CEOs to utilize some strategies, which have the best impact on current organizational circumstances and the future trend of investigation in organizational trades. Outsourcing is one of the best strategies, which are widely utilized by CEOs in different organizations. Many managers believe that outsourcing is the solitary way for preserving the balance of organization in 21 century. Based on Porter competitive advantage model, there are three strategies, which lead a company to reach competitive advantage. These strategies are cost leadership, differentiation strategy and segmentation strategy. In this article, we are investigating outsourcing effects on creation of competitive advantages through Porter model in an automotive factory in Iran. We design a questionnaire for gathering necessary information about the role of outsourcing in creation of different strategies as competitive advantages in managers' point of view. We analyze the questionnaires and implement a goodness of fit test to recognize the distribution of data and the statistical method. Preliminary results show that nonparametric statistic methods can be utilized for testing our hypothesis. We use a Wilcoxon test to consider the null hypothesis and a Friedman test to estimate the rank of means. Our findings verify an undeniable effect of outsourcing on creation of competitive advantage and the ranking list is presented.

Cooperation and competition in business on example of Internet research of opto-electronic companies

Science.gov (United States)

Kaliczyńska, Małgorzata

2006-10-01

Based on findings from earlier studies which showed that links to academic web sites contain important information, the following study examines the practicability of using co-link data to describe cooperation and competition in optoelec-tronic business. The analysis was based on 32 companies and organizations which were found in an issue of a specialist magazine. For the purpose of the research three search engines - Google, Yahoo! and MSN Search were used. Assuming that a number of co-links to a pair of Web sites is a measure of the similarity between the two companies, the study aims at search for the sets of companies that would be similar to one another. The method applied is the MDS - multidimensional scaling that allows to present results of the analysis on a 2D map.

Creating Brand Awareness Through Event Marketing : The Off-Field Competition of Sportswear Companies in the Olympics

OpenAIRE

Marmbrandt, Malin; Dolge, Laura

2012-01-01

Date: May 30, 2012  University: Mälardalen University, Sweden  Program: MIMA- International Marketing  Course Name: Master Thesis (EFO705)  Title: Creating Brand Awareness Through Event Marketing  The Off-Field Competition of Sportswear Companies in the Olympics  Authors: Laura Dolge and Malin Marmbrandt  Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to research how companies are promoting themselves efficiently to increase brand awareness through advertisement in major sporting events, through viral...

Energy's role in industrial competitiveness: An overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruneau, A.A.

1993-01-01

Canadian exports are fundamentally dominated by raw materials, and the manufacturers and producers of these materials are inherently large consumers of energy. The access to reliable indigenous energy reserves at relatively low costs has played a significant role in Canada's competitiveness. Nevertheless, this competitiveness exists in a commercial environment in which practices are undergoing profound changes, attributable to the low relative value of raw materials on world markets where there are many competitors. In addition, recycling is increasingly influencing the demand and the price of products. Trade in manufactured goods has increased over the past few years, which has an effect on energy demand and on requirements related to the quality of supply. It is increasingly evident that the value of information products will increase more rapidly than the value of products made from materials, and that those information products will be the principal foundation of future wealth. At the same time, energy and fuel sectors are subject to profound change following environmental restrictions, questions regarding sustainable development, technological advances, modification of institutions, and political changes. An examination of the principal sectors of the Canadian energy system shows different degrees of development in each and different capabilities for making positive contributions to the competitiveness of the industries they serve. The protective monopoly supply of power is seen as one factor inhibiting competitiveness

Sustainability and Economic Performance of the Companies in the Renewable Energy Sector in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihail Busu

2017-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we focus on the sustainability and economic performance of the renewable energy sector of Romania. In our analysis, we have used Total Quality Management (TQM model, which is an economic modern tool used for improving the quality of management for all companies. The aim of this study is to bring into discussion the conceptualized TQM model of Edward Deming underlying different stages of its evolution as it is described in the economic literature. Conceptual model is applied in a case study of the renewable energy sector of Romania. The quantitative research evaluates the impact of the total quality management to achieve the sustainable development, performance objectives and the competitive advantage of the companies in the renewable energy sector. Data was collected through a survey and the questionnaire was addressed to the management and employees in the renewable energy sector. Structural equation modelling (SEM was used and the hypotheses were tested by partial least square (PLS equations. Data was analyzed through the Smart PLS 3 software. The main contribution of this paper is to identify and evaluate the relationship among sustainable development, economic performance of the companies and TQM model indicators. The conclusions of our research are in line with the existing literature and confirm the theoretical assumptions, underlining the fact that the undertaking’s performance and sustainable development is a direct consequence of the combination among a series of factors like decisional power quality, motivated workforce as well as integrity of operational process.

Energy price dispute - companies are confident

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcan, P.; Slovak, P.

2007-01-01

Energy prices stipulated for 2003 were not compliant with the valid legislation. The Constitutional Court has repeatedly confirmed this fact. The dispute between several Slovak companies and the state will address the damage caused by illegal actions taken by the public authority, including loss of profit. A group of claimants represented by the Club 500 association is claiming up to 2 bil. Sk (57.97 mil. EUR) as compensation for the mistake made by the Office for Regulation of Network Industries (URSO), including the unclear calculation of the lost profit of companies. It will be up to the courts to decide whether the price deregulation really caused damage to the companies or whether they just took advantage of the faulty legislation.The companies base their claims on a decision of the Constitutional Court. Last year the Court twice announced that the 2003 energy prices were not compliant with valid legislation. At that time, Slovakia lacked a generally binding regulation that should have been in place according to the Act on Regulation of Network Industries. Currently, the role of these missing regulations has been taken over by URSO decrees. These stipulate justified costs and adequate profit of energy suppliers. The regulator had such a decree prepared at the end of 2002, but due to material stipulations and time constraints it did not publish it. (authors)

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PRUNEA Ana Daniela

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Rapid changes in market characteristics and the technological innovations are common and faster challenges, resulting in products, processes and technologies. The competitive advantage is volatile, difficult to obtain and more difficult to maintain and strengthened with consumers who through their individual choices polarization confirms the recognition performance and award competitive advantages, thus causing the competitive ranking of companies present in a particular market. The competitive advantage lies in the focus of the performance of companies in competitive markets and innovation is a source for obtaining and consolidating it. Companies will need to demonstrate the capacity to adapt to changes in the business environment so as to maintain the helded positions. This paper treats this aspect behavior that companies should adopt to get on the account of innovation a sustainable competitive advantage. I started of the work in the elaboration from the theory of developed by Michael Porter in his book "Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance" we applied methods listed thus trying to point out possible ways of creating competitive advantage by companies. We have presented the sources of competitive advantage and the factors on which depends its creation. Walking theoretical research revealed how lack of competitive advantage leads to a lack of competitiveness of companies and the benefits that arise with the creation of this type of asset. Among the most important benefits is to increase performances. Once the competitive advantage is achieved, it must be maintained and updated market conditions and the methods that can be created a sustainable competitive advantage represent the answers to many of the companies questions are fighting for survival in an environment of fierce competition. The implementation of methods for obtaining competitive advantages, but also exist dangers, that every company should know them

Measurement of power and energy consumption of a competition-mobile-robot

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tsung Tsing-Tshih

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Power and energy consumption are the two most important factors for successful operation; they also play important roles in performance identification. The measurement of power and energy consumption is a common test in the development process of a competition mobile robot. If the power of a competition mobile robot is not sufficient, the running time in the competition will be too long and winning the competition will not be possible. Thus, the power and energy consumption are basic and important measurement parameters for a competition mobile robot. In this paper, five types of hand-made competition mobile robots are successfully developed and their performances are measured. From the measurements, their powers and energy consumptions are evaluated and analyzed, respectively. The test results show large differences in the powers and energy consumptions of the five models, even though the same motors were used. The design and construction of the competition mobile robot are the key parameters that cause these huge differences. It is possible to develop the measurement techniques for power and energy consumption, quickly and precisely, to determine how to modify a competition mobile robot rapidly and efficiently to a condition optimal for a mobile robot competition.

2017 statement of energy audits for big companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daill, Guillaume

2018-02-01

This brochure presents in a synthetic manner the exploitation of the information contained in the mandatory energy audits database at the date of December 11, 2017. Since December 5, 2015, big companies are obliged to have a comprehensive energy audit. The France's Agency for Environment and Energy Management (Ademe) has been commissioned by the French ministry of energy to provide a platform for collecting these audits. Several ways are offered to the companies to comply with the legislation: the realisation of one or several energy audits, the ISO 50001 certification of their activities or a mix of both

Local and regional energy companies offering energy services: Key activities and implications for the business model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kindström, Daniel; Ottosson, Mikael

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Many companies providing energy services are experiencing difficulties. • This research identifies key activities for the provision of energy services. • Findings are aggregated to the business-model level providing managerial insights. • This research identifies two different business model innovation paths. • Energy companies may need to renew parts of, or the entire, business model. - Abstract: Energy services play a key role in increasing energy efficiency in the industry. The key actors in these services are the local and regional energy companies that are increasingly implementing energy services as part of their market offering and developing service portfolios. Although expectations for energy services have been high, progress has so far been limited, and many companies offering energy services, including energy companies, are experiencing difficulties in implementing energy services and providing them to the market. Overall, this research examines what is needed for local and regional energy companies to successfully implement energy services (and consequently provide them to the market). In doing this, a two-stage process is used: first, we identify key activities for the successful implementation of energy services, and second, we aggregate the findings to the business model level. This research demonstrates that to succeed in implementing energy services, an energy company may need to renew parts or all of its existing product-based business model, formulate a new business model, or develop coexisting multiple business models. By discussing two distinct business model innovation processes, this research demonstrates that there can be different paths to success.

76 FR 69712 - Application To Export Electric Energy; BP Energy Company

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-09

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY [OE Docket No. EA-315-A] Application To Export Electric Energy; BP Energy.... SUMMARY: BP Energy Company (BP Energy) has applied to renew its authority to transmit electric energy from... BP Energy to transmit electric energy from the United States to Canada as a power marketer for a five...

The influence of electronical business on increasing the competitive ability of the company

OpenAIRE

Baranauskas, Nerijus

2014-01-01

BARANAUSKAS, Nerijus. (2008) The Influence of Electronical Business on Increasing the Competitive Ability of the Company. MBA Graduation Paper. Kaunas: Kaunas Faculty of Humanities, Vilnius University. 58 p. (study contains 3 tables and 9 pictures) SUMMARY Global market internationalization processes started in the last decades of the 20th century when globalization has influenced a rapid development of information society as well as the use of information technologies in various business pro...

75 FR 30014 - Consumers Energy Company; Notice of Baseline Filing

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-28

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. PR10-25-000] Consumers Energy Company; Notice of Baseline Filing May 21, 2010. Take notice that on May 17, 2010, Consumers Energy Company (Consumers) submitted a baseline filing of its Statement of Operating Conditions for the...

76 FR 69713 - Application To Export Electric Energy; BP Energy Company

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-09

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY [OE Docket No. EA-314-A] Application To Export Electric Energy; BP Energy.... SUMMARY: BP Energy Company (BP Energy) has applied to renew its authority to transmit electric energy from... electric energy from the United States to Mexico as a power marketer for a five-year term using existing...

Gauging the future competitiveness of renewable energy in Colombia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caspary, Georg

2009-01-01

This article aims to assess the likely competitiveness of different forms of renewable energy in Colombia over the next 25 years. To this end, it compares the likely power production cost for a set of renewable energy sources, and compares them to the likely long-run cost of traditional energy. Costs from global and local externalities through the use of traditional energy sources are also factored into the analysis. The key conclusion of the article is that while solar PV will likely remain uncompetitive under any future cost scenario, cost paths for small hydro, modern biomass or geothermal are already close enough to being competitive, so that appropriate government intervention may make the decisive difference in making these technologies competitive with conventional energy technologies. (author)

Designing anthropological reflection within an energy company

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Løgstrup, Louise Buch; Gunn, Wendy; Said Mosleh, Wafa

2013-01-01

The move towards a more liberalized energy market and the emergent smart grid technology has forced a Scandinavian energy company to begin rethinking the relation between themselves and private energy end users. Originally a unidirectional relationship, the present and future have potential...

Renewable energy promotion in competitive electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wohlgemuth, Norbert

1999-01-01

The opening of electricity markets to competition involves fundamental structural changes in the electricity supply industry. There is, however, doubt that the new industrial organisation will provide the right price signals that will ensure that renewable energy options will be adopted. Therefore, one of the numerous challenges in the energy industry restructuring process is to ensure that renewable energy has a fair opportunity to compete with other supply resources. This paper presents mechanisms to promote the use of renewable energy in competitive electricity markets. These mechanisms include the Non Fossil Fuel Obligation (NFFO), the Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) and the Systems Benefit Charge (SBC). The paper discusses merits and disadvantages of these mechanisms, given the experience made in the United States and the United Kingdom. (author)

Sales promotion as a determining factor in the competitive position of the company

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alavuk Đorđe

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Increased competition, globalization, numerous changes in the field of engineering and technology are just some of the changes that accompany modern business conditions. Modern consumers are increasingly demanding. Individuals vary greatly within groups and cultures to which they belong, but also among themselves based on the characteristics that distinguish them. People engaged in marketing have to constantly monitor and measure consumer attitudes so that their needs and desires are fully met. This paper summarizes the sales promotion activities carried out by retail chains. The aim of the activities of sales promotion is to create and maintain long-term relationships with customers and competitive advantage on the market. The research topic is the impact of sales promotion activities on the behavior and attitudes of consumers when choosing a product. The aim of the research is to examine the effects achieved by sales improvement to consumers through the implementation of the competitive positions of the companies. For the purpose of the research the method used was survey research.

Energy taxes, environment and competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munksgaard, J.; Gaern Hansen, L.; Bech-Ravn, C.; Ramskov, J.L.

2006-11-01

Economic theory about foreign trade and competition as well as empirical studies of relevance are not making evident that industries in general should pay lower environmental taxes than other kind of consumers. Consequently, economic theory cannot justify the present Danish energy tax regime where households are required to pay high energy taxes whereas industries are allowed to pay low energy taxes. On the contrary, it is more likely that reduced industry taxes will result in reduced welfare to society, lower income and lower employment as compared to a scenario of equal energy taxes. Theory can justify, however, a stepwise introduction of green taxes in order to make industries and markets adapt to the new regulatory framework. Moreover, some theoretical contributions argue that under certain circumstances one could point to a need for protecting certain kinds of industries (e.g. industries employing unskilled labour), but an exclusive tax reduction given to all industries is not supported by economic theory. By using the GTAP model we have calculated the welfare effect of levelling Danish energy taxes so households and industries have to pay equal energy taxes. The GTAP model has a good and international reputation for being designed to analyse international trade and competitiveness. We find that levelling the Danish energy taxes will increase welfare in Denmark by 1.3% equivalent to DKK 8 billion. The Danish energy tax reform, however, will cause an increase in CO 2 emissions in neighbouring countries. The calculation does not consider the influence of the EU market for tradable CO 2 permits introduced as from January 2005. (au)

Energy companies need to cuddle their clients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

Due to a liberalized energy market in Europe more than 20% of the customers has chosen another electricity supplier. In spite of that many energy suppliers do not yet operate as client-oriented businesses, according to a report of Ernst and Young: 'Trend in Energy 2000'. Energy companies should become more active in relation management

76 FR 7815 - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee

Science.gov (United States)

2011-02-11

... DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE International Trade Administration Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... of an open meeting. SUMMARY: The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (RE&EEAC... programs support the competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency companies, to review...

Geothermal Program Review X: proceedings. Geothermal Energy and the Utility Market -- the Opportunities and Challenges for Expanding Geothermal Energy in a Competitive Supply Market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1992-01-01

Each year the Geothermal Division of the US Department of Energy conducts an in-depth review of its entire geothermal R&D program. The conference serves several purposes: a status report on current R&D activities, an assessment of progress and problems, a review of management issues, and a technology transfer opportunity between DOE and the US geothermal city. This year`s conference, Program Review X, was held in San Francisco on March 24--26, 1992. The theme of the review, ``Geothermal Energy and the Utility Market -- The Opportunities and Challenges for Expanding Geothermal Energy in a Competitive Supply Market,`` focused on the needs of the electric utility sector. Geothermal energy, with its power capacity potential of 10 GWe by the year 2010, can provide reliable, enviromentally clean electricity which can help offset the projected increase in demand. Program Review X consisted of seven sessions including an opening session with presentations by Mr. Vikram Budhraja, Vice President of System Planning and Operations, Southern California Edison Company, and Mr. Richard Jaros, President and Chief Operating Officer, California Energy Company. The six technical sessions included presentations by the relevant field researchers covering DOE-sponsored R&D in hydrothermal, hot dry rock, and geopressured energy. Individual projects are processed separately for the data bases.

Competition between television companies for advertising revenue in the United Kingdom: the Independent Television regions prior to deregulation

OpenAIRE

D B Clarke; M G Bradford

1992-01-01

This paper provides a contribution to the geographies of advertising and the media. The authors examine the ways in wbich commercial television companies try to attract advertising to their regions; advertising being their main source of revenue. Competition based on the cost of advertising in particular regions is effectively restricted. This market failure results in regionally uneven allocations of advertising money, and hence an uneven regional pattern of TV company revenues. Other forms ...

Energy efficiency and energy service companies in restructured markets: international experience

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Limaye, Dilip R.

1999-01-01

There has been considerable recent activity related to restructuring of the energy supply industries. Restructuring usually involves introducing competition into some elements of the ESI (energy supply industries). In some countries the privatization of the government-owned utility businesses is another key element of industry restructuring. The introduction of competition and privatization in the energy market is likely to realign the roles of the industry players (generators, transmission businesses) distribution 'wires' businesses, and retail suppliers) relative to customers. A key challenge faced by policy-makers is to define the appropriate roles and activities of the public and private sector to assure that economically justifiable levels of sustainable energy services are offered in the marketplace. This paper reviews the mechanisms adopted to implement energy efficiency services in a number of countries that have restructured their energy markets, and develops a framework for assessing, comparing and discussing potential new mechanisms. The paper identifies two types of EE mechanisms. (The author)

Report of a study on the profits of energy companies; Onderzoeksrapport inzake de winsten van energiebedrijven

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2007-05-02

As an independent supervisor of the energy market the Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa) examined the profits of the four largest regional energy companies in the Netherlands: Eneco, Essent, Nuon and Delta. The primary objective of the study is to determine if the profit from regulated monopolistic activities corresponds to the output that is considered reasonable by the NMa. [mk]. [Dutch] Vanuit haar rol als onafhankelijk toezichthouder op de energiemarkt heeft de NMa onderzoek verricht naar de winsten van de vier grootste regionale energiebedrijven: Eneco, Essent, Nuon en Delta. Het primaire doel van het onderzoek is te bepalen of de winst uit gereguleerde, monopolistische activiteiten overeenkomt met het rendement dat de NMa redelijk acht.

CO2: EDF's competitiveness is due to nuclear power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2003-01-01

The CO 2 emissions of EDF group (EDF-France + EDF-energy (UK) + Hidrocantabrico (Spain) + EnBW (Germany)) soared by 53% in 2002 which is due to the purchase of british and spanish electricity sub-companies using fossil energies. Despite this sharp increase EDF remains one of the most competitive electricity companies in Europe concerning greenhouse gas emissions. EDF group is the first electricity company in Europe, it generates 22% of the electricity produced in E.U and contributes to CO 2 emissions with a rate of 101 Kg CO 2 /MWh which 3 times less than the average rate of 20 other European companies (358 Kg CO 2 /MWh). This result is due to the large part of nuclear power in the French energy mix. The best electricity companies as far as CO 2 emissions are concerned are Statkraft (Norway) with 0 Kg CO 2 /MWh (100% hydrology) and British-energy (U.K) with 75 Kg CO 2 /MWh (75% nuclear power). At the other end we have the DEI company (Greece) with 863 Kg CO 2 /MWh (100% lignite). (A.C.)

Bioenergy, its present and future competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ling, Erik

1999-01-01

The thesis deals with aspects of the competitiveness of bioenergy. The central aim is to develop a number of concepts that enables an extended analysis. The thesis is composed of four studies. In study 1 and 2 the emphasis is put on two institutional frameworks within the forest company, i.e. the framework around the forest fuel operations and the framework around the industrial timber operations. Depending on which of the two institutional frameworks that makes up the basis for the understanding of forest fuel operations, the forest fuel operations will be given different roles and different priorities. Different goals and the process of integrating the forest fuel operations into the forest company will therefore be carried out with different means, different feelings and different resources. Study 3 examines the conceptions that the actors of the energy system uphold. The study presents the concept of logic, which is an institutionalised conception of the competitiveness of bioenergy. Logics can be seen as the dominating conceptions within the energy system and are decisive in determining the factors and parameters that state the competitiveness of different forms of energy. Study 4 argues that the strategical work concerning the competitiveness of bioenergy in the long-run to a great extent is about understanding, shaping and utilising the conceptions that affect the bioenergy system. The study problematises strategies that are used to develop bioenergy by introducing the uncertainty of the future into the analysis. The uncertainty of the future is captured in different scenarios

The three C's of a national energy strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Franklin, H.A.

1991-01-01

This article discusses the major issues of a National Energy Strategy that could profoundly affect the customers and stockholders of the investor-owned electric utilities. The topics discussed are conservation and energy efficiency, competition in the power generation market, amending the Holding Company Act, caution in amending the Holding Company Act for the sake of competition and at the possible expense of reliability

Energy's role in competitiveness: Context and strategy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Roop, J.M.

1990-02-01

This study of competitiveness has three objectives. The first objective is to explain how macroeconomic and microeconomic factors can affect structural change in the US economy and how energy is linked to these factors. The second objective is to provide an explanation of how many individual decision makers, in responding to higher energy prices, have changed the structure of the economy. This structural change, and the effect it has had on energy use, is estimated for the US economy. A major component of these changes results from changes in US trade with other countries, which gives rise to the third objective. The third objective is to develop a research design that will allow a better understanding of the role that energy plays in the competitiveness of goods in world trade. 30 refs., 11 figs., 5 tabs.

Competitive strategy : Sorrin Puutarha

OpenAIRE

Haaristo, Emilia

2010-01-01

The thesis handles the fresh food product industry in Finland and especially one company operating in the industry and its competitive position. Sorrin Puutarha manufactures ready-to-use fresh cut salad bag, which is sold in the grocery stores. The objective of the thesis was to find competitive advantages of the case company. Once the competitive advantages were identified the purpose was to choose a fitting competitive strategy that would strengthen those advantages. The field study was con...

Innovation strategies and competitive advantage

OpenAIRE

Gërguri, Shqipe; Rexhepi, Gadaf; Ramadani, Veland

2013-01-01

Companies today operate in a very dynamic, uncertain and competitive environment. They compete in "nicety" that are so small but so important. Companies are trying to achieve competitive advantage in order to help them obtain a better and a stable position in the marketplace. The best way for companies to achieve a competitive advantage is through innovation. This paper addresses the meaning of innovation what does innovation present, types of innovation specifically discussing the right way ...

Competitive dynamics of energy, environment, and economy in the U.S

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pao, Hsiao-Tien; Chen, Haipeng; Li, Yi-Ying

2015-01-01

This paper applies the Lotka–Volterra model to investigate the competitive interactions among energy, environment, and economy (3Es) in the U.S. The proposed LV-COMSUD (Lotka–Volterra COmpetition Model for SUstainable Development) has satisfactory performance for model fitting and provides a useful multivariate framework to predict outcomes concerning these interactions. Our key findings include a pure competition between emissions and GDP (Gross Domestic Product), neutralisms between renewable and fossil/nuclear energy, and commensalisms between GDP and renewable/fossil energy and between nuclear energy and fossil energy/emissions. These results indicate that renewable/fossil energy use contributes to GDP and interacts indirectly with emissions, that an environmental Kuznets curve exists, and that the amount of produced nuclear energy correlates with emission. The U.S. is dependent on non-clean energy sources and its energy efficiency has room for improvement. The results provide unique insights for policy makers to craft up sustainable economic development plans. Overall, it is suggested that for developed markets such as the U.S., to enhance energy security and mitigate climate changes, improving energy efficiency and developing low-carbon clean energy should be top priorities. - Highlights: • The competitive interactions among energy, environment, and economy are examined. • A pure competition between emissions and GDP exists and an EKC exists. • Energy use contributes to GDP and interacts indirectly with emissions. • Nuclear energy was used to tackle the growth of emissions/fossil energy use. • Improved energy efficiency is a viable policy to enhance energy security in U.S

[Reflection on developing bio-energy industry of large oil company].

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Haiyang; Su, Haijia; Tan, Tianwei; Liu, Shumin; Wang, Hui

2013-03-01

China's energy supply becomes more serious nowadays and the development of bio-energy becomes a major trend. Large oil companies have superb technology, rich experience and outstanding talent, as well as better sales channels for energy products, which can make full use of their own advantages to achieve the efficient complementary of exist energy and bio-energy. Therefore, large oil companies have the advantages of developing bio-energy. Bio-energy development in China is in the initial stage. There exist some problems such as available land, raw material supply, conversion technologies and policy guarantee, which restrict bio-energy from industrialized development. According to the above key issues, this article proposes suggestions and methods, such as planting energy plant in the marginal barren land to guarantee the supply of bio-energy raw materials, cultivation of professional personnel, building market for bio-energy counting on large oil companies' rich experience and market resources about oil industry, etc, aimed to speed up the industrialized process of bio-energy development in China.

DIN EN 16001: Energy management systems in practice. A guide for companies and organisations; DIN EN 16001: Energiemanagementsysteme in der Praxis. Ein Leitfaden fuer Unternehmen und Organisationen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kahlenborn, Walter; Kabisch, Sibylle; Klein, Johanna; Richter, Ina; Schuermann, Silas [Adelphi Research, Berlin (Germany)

2010-06-15

By 2020, Germany aims to reduce its CO2 emissions by 40 % on 1990. It won't be possible to achieve this goal without a significant increase in energy efficiency. Energy management systems help to increase energy efficiency in companies and organisations. They are a tool to enable continuous and systematic use of added energy saving potential. The resulting cost reductions also help to strengthen the company's competitive edge on the market. The EN 16001 standard which came into force in July 2009 defines standardised EU-wide criteria for an energy management system. These guidelines are intended to support organisations of any type, size and sector in the implementation of an energy management system. It highlights differences and similarities with the European environmental management system EMAS in a clear and practice-oriented way, as well as ISO 14001 which forms part of EMAS. The information shows that EMAS-certified companies often already meet all the requirements of an energy management system and that an energy management system also provides an excellent basis for the implementation of EMAS. (orig.)

Game theory competition analysis of reservoir water supply and hydropower generation

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, T.

2013-12-01

The total installed capacity of the power generation systems in Taiwan is about 41,000 MW. Hydropower is one of the most important renewable energy sources, with hydropower generation capacity of about 4,540 MW. The aim of this research is to analyze competition between water supply and hydropower generation in water-energy systems. The major relationships between water and energy systems include hydropower generation by water, energy consumption for water system operation, and water consumption for energy system. In this research, a game-theoretic Cournot model is formulated to simulate oligopolistic competition between water supply, hydropower generation, and co-fired power generation in water-energy systems. A Nash equilibrium of the competitive market is derived and solved by GAMS with PATH solver. In addition, a case study analyzing the competition among water supply and hydropower generation of De-ji and Ku-Kuan reservoirs, Taipower, Star Energy, and Star-Yuan power companies in central Taiwan is conducted.

Energy security in a competitive world

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stevenson, M.G.

1989-01-01

The world is shrinking and becoming increasingly interconnected. Events in one part of the world quickly impact other parts of the world. Rising standards of living in developed countries, along with rapid communications and growing, mobile populations, go hand in hand with greater worldwide interconnectedness but at the same time are leading to a greater rate of resource depletion. Adequate and economical energy resources are one of the crucial factors in maintaining and increasing standards of living around the world, yet nonrenewable energy resources are being depleted. The international marketplace is also becoming more tightly interconnected and competitive. Increasing trade competition among nations may lead to greater economic efficiency and, on the whole, to improved living standards in successful countries, but competition also contributes to barriers against cooperation. International trade competition may be leading to a tendency for competing nations to become more parochial in technology research and development. The impact of growing populations and rising living standards on the world's environment is also increasing and becoming more pervasive. Solid waste disposal is an increasingly aggravating problem, and hazardous waste and toxic wastes are even more difficult to deal with. Acid rain, global climate change, ozone-layer depletion, stream and harbor pollution, and the resulting pollution of the oceans are all evidence of a highly interconnected world. It is easy to argue that solutions must be political, economic, and social. In large part this must be the case; but as technologists, we want to do all we can to give political, economic, and social forces the best opportunity to succeed. Technology will be part of the solution and not just part of the problem of securing adequate energy supplies with acceptable environmental impact. 2 refs

Corporate competitiveness and sustainability risks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Udo Braendle

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This paper aims at providing a theoretical analysis of the existing research on corporate competition and sustainability risks that occur when companies aspire to reach maximum competitive advantages and gain competitive benefits compared to their rivals. Competitiveness has been described as a multidimensional, theoretical and relative concept linked with the market mechanism. The concept of competitiveness may refer to different levels of aggregation: national, regional, industrial and individual companies. This paper contributes to the theoretical research on corporate competitiveness by the analysis of old and new definitions of this category. It also notes that the sustainability risks connected to competition can be divided into several groups where the authors highlight environmental, legal, financial risks, behaviour risks and state-related risks as the most crucial ones. For companies to be fit for the competitive challenge, the paper identifies main characteristics of such risks and gives policy guidance for their avoidance

Improving the competitiveness of Russian companies through internet commerce in the foreign trade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kozenko V.V.

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Virtual enterprises have become an independent entity conducting foreign activities and functioning of the online stores as additional sales channels is a prerequisite for increasing the development potential of the Russian economy and competitiveness of traditional Russian companies on the world market. In the present work we analyzed the dynamics of the development of e-commerce in Russia, given the author's definition of rating online stores are defined levels of their operation and the possible barriers to the further development of the foreign economic activity.

76 FR 2029 - Small Business Investment Companies-Energy Saving Qualified Investments

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-12

... 3245-AF86 Small Business Investment Companies--Energy Saving Qualified Investments AGENCY: U.S. Small... Administration (SBA) is setting forth the new defined terms, ``Energy Saving Qualified Investment'' and ``Energy Saving Activities'', for the Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) Program. The new definitions are...

Assessing the performance of Dutch local energy companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blokhuis, Erik; Advokaat, Bart; Schaefer, Wim

2012-01-01

According to binding European Union agreements, the Netherlands has to cover at least 14% of its total energy use with renewable energy sources by 2020. However, the share of renewable energy in the Netherlands is small and hardly increasing. In 2010, renewable energy in the Netherlands accounted for only 3.8% of the national energy use, and has decreased with 0.4% compared to 2009. A cause of the stagnating renewable energy generation in the Netherlands is the absence of a nation-wide, clear and consistent long-term policy on the introduction of renewable energy. In order to overcome the current standstill in renewable energy adoption, several Dutch municipalities take the initiative and establish Local Energy Companies (LECs). However, to date, it is unclear which LEC type performs best. This research aims to compare the performance of existing LECs on three aspects: technology, finance, and organization. Furthermore, the performance of existing LECs is compared with theoretical reference LECs, in order to estimate efficiencies and opportunities for improvements. Finally, the influence of the recent changes in the Dutch subsidy scheme on LEC performance is examined. In order to achieve these aims, the benchmark method Data Envelopment Analysis is employed. - Highlights: ► Dutch Local Energy Companies (LECs) producing heat perform best in cost efficiency. ► Technical efficiency is highest in Dutch Local Energy Companies employing wind energy. ► Theoretical assumptions concerning LEC performance are not yet achieved in practice. ► The self supply model adds to the profitability of LECs, independent from subsidies. ► Recent changes in Dutch subsidy schemes add little to LECs’ financial performance.

COMPUTATION IN CLOUD; A COMPETITIVE STRATEGY FOR THE SMALL AND MEDIUM COMPANIES IN MEXICO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alma Lilia Sapién Aguilar

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Cloud  computing  is  a  technology  that  provides  services  via  the  Internet.  With  this technology, companies can gain a competitive advantage, provide better customer service and reduce  costs. The objective of this research  was to analyze  the Cloud computing  service of companies  in the  city of Chihuahua,  Mexico.  This  was  a non-experimental,  descriptive  and empirical study with a quantitative approach, which was based on a survey conducted in the months  of  January  2012  through  April  2013.  The  study’s  purpose  was  small  and  medium enterprises (SMEs in the industrial, commercial and service sectors which represent the study population. Finite population formula was used to obtain the sample size, which were selected in a random manner. The results showed that 93 % of companies obtain reduced costs using cloud computing. Storage and sharing information was detected as some of the most used services. Companies want to have savings in technology infrastructure in order to increase the life cycle of the equipment, in addition to provide a higher quality service to customers.

DSM energy saving pilot project report. Company Augstceltne Ltd., Riga, Latvia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krievins, P.; Cakuls, A.; Kaross, V.; Jansons, D.

1995-05-01

This report is a part of the Joint Latvian - Danish Project DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT AND ENERGY SAVING. The Project is a part of the Danish aid and technology transfer to Latvia. It is the result of collaborative efforts between a Latvian team, consisting of the specialists from Latvenergo and a Danish team, which was represented by Danish Power Consult. The purpose of this pilot project was not only to carry out energy audit in the company Augstceltne Ltd and propose demand side management and energy saving measures. Another task of the project was the application of DPC energy audit methodic, measuring equipment and software in Latvian conditions and the promotion of energy saving programs in Latvia in this way. The Company Augstceltne Ltd was created to rent the rest of premises for many other independent companys and to earn money for surviving. Now the Company has 9 buildings with a total area of 26,920 square meters. The tower block has 23 floors and it is the main business centre. 66 companies are located in the building. (EG)

Economic analysis of alternatives for optimizing energy use in manufacturing companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Méndez-Piñero, Mayra Ivelisse; Colón-Vázquez, Melitza

2013-01-01

The manufacturing companies are one of the main consumers of energy. The increment in global warming and the instability in the petroleum oil market have motivated companies to find alternatives to reduce energy use. In the academic literature several researchers have demonstrated that optimization models can be successfully used to reduce energy use. This research presents the use of an optimization model to identify feasible economic alternatives to reduce energy use. The economic analysis methods used were the payback and the internal rate of return. The optimization model developed in this research was applied and validated using an electronic manufacturing company case study. The results demonstrate that the main variables affecting the economic feasibility of the alternatives are the economic analysis method and the initial implementation costs. Several scenarios were analyzed and the best results show that the manufacturing company could save up to $78,000 in three years if the recommendations based on the optimization model results are implemented. - Highlights: • Evaluate top consumers of energy in manufacturing: A/C, compressed air, and lighting • Economic analysis of alternatives to optimize energy used in manufacturing • Comparison of payback method and internal rate of return method with real data • Results demonstrate that the company could generate savings in energy use

Analyzing Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Strategically Managing Resource Allocations to Achieve Operational Competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdul Malek Nurul Aida

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In today’s dynamic business environment, a key challenge for all companies is to make adaptive adjustments to their manufacturing strategy. This study demonstrates the competitive priorities of manufacturing strategy in hydro-power case company to evaluate the level of sustainable competitive advantage and also to further analyze how business strategies are aligned with manufacturing strategies. This research is based on new holistic analytical evaluation of manufacturing strategy index, sense and respond, and sustainable competitive advantage models. These models help to describe, evaluate, and optimize resource allocation to meet the performance requirements in dynamic decision making. Furthermore, these models evaluate operational competitiveness for manufacturing strategies according to the multi-criteria priority. The results show that the adjustments of competitive priorities in manufacturing strategies by implementing the proposed holistic analytical models are helpful in strategically managing business operations. The discussion derives the most critical attributes in business operations while alignment of resource allocation with competitive priorities help to strategically focus those attributes. In conclusion, we argue that resource allocation and manufacturing strategies have become the most important capabilities in a business environment where companies focus to get a sustainable competitive advantage.

Competitive energy markets. The effective route to improving the environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swinden, D.J.

1996-01-01

Market forces, operating in an increasingly competitive energy market, are a preferred route to achieving environmental and energy efficiency benefits, than those which can be achieved through a managed approach adopted by many governments. It is shown, through examples, how electricity is a catalyst for change at several levels in business, the community and the general economy. Experience in the United Kingdom indicates that free market forces and inter-energy competition not only help improve the regional and therefore national economy, but they offer a very effective way of introducing improvements in energy efficiency and the environment. Governments should establish the framework for competition and regulation but not attempt to manage an industry, which is invariably done more effectively by those who run them. (author)

Influence of new customs procedures and logistic security standards on companies competiveness – a Croatian company case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandar Erceg

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In today’s global market, companies are constantly confronted with the competition on the local, national and international level. Companies therefore use a variety of strategies and tools to become and/or remain competitive. Potential areas for cost reduction in companies are supply chain management and logistic and customs procedures. Implementation of various logistic standards in supply chain management can provide significant cost savings for the company’s daily operations and thus reduce overall costs and improve the competitiveness. Using different customs procedures and logistic standards to reduce their costs and become more competitive in the market is necessary for Croatian companies. The method of using these tools is not a one-time process and requires constant efforts. Companies therefore have to be ready to improve daily to be and remain competitive. Using a variety of modern customs procedures can save their money and time, not only through these procedures, but also through better use of their employee’s time, their own vehicles and other equipment. The paper analyzes various customs procedures and logistic standards that can help companies save time and money and improve their competitiveness. In the example of Croatian company, which uses various available procedures and standards the benefits of their use are shown. Apart from bringing savings in operations, all these procedures and standards allow the company to be better, cheaper and more attractive to buyers.

A common vision of energy risk? Energy securitisation and company perceptions of risk in the EU

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edward Stoddard

2012-08-01

Full Text Available In the European Union, energy security is provided by EU institutions, member states and commercial energy companies. However, despite the important role companies play in the provision of European energy security, it is not immediately evident to what extent the interests of the internationally operating energy firms are in line with the energy security preferences held by EU institutions. Analysing this relationship from the perspective of perceptions of energy security and energy business risk, this paper examines the extent to which there is a convergence between the energy securitisation of the European Commission and the observation of business risk as perceived by major European and international energy firms. It finds that while there are some significant areas where Commission securitisation contradicts energy company interests (e.g. climate change and energy prices there is also a high degree of convergence, in particular regarding perceptions of upstream political risk.

Privatization impact on the competition strategies of the petroleum companies: a case study; Impactos da privatizacao sobre as estrategias competitivas de empresas de petroleo: um estudo de caso

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carneiro, Jorge Manoel T.; Cavalcanti, Maria Alice F. Deschamps [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Silva, Jorge Ferreira da [Pontificia Universidade Catolica, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Administracao de Empresas

1998-07-01

In many countries the deregulation of the petroleum industry has eventually led to the privatization of the national oil companies. As a result of deregulation, the business environment becomes more hostile. The change in the competitive environment, together with the modification in companies ownership, have rise to significant changes in the competitive strategies employed by the companies. When they were State-run, oil companies would show little consistency in the their strategies. However, as private concerns, they have come to present patterns of differentiation strategies coupled with a search for cost parity in the industry. (author)

The energy efficiency partnership - Kraft General Foods and Boston Edison Company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crowley, J.C.; Donoghue, J.P.

1993-01-01

During the past twenty years, inordinate shifts in the supply and demand of energy have forced both electric utility companies and their customers to investigate new and innovative ways to satisfy the ever increasing demand for electricity. The Energy Efficiency Partnership, developed between Kraft General Foods and Boston Edison Company, presents an exemplary study of how two corporate giants creatively solved the problem of uncontrolled energy costs and its positive effect on the overall operations of Kraft General Foods, Framingham. But the Energy Efficiency Partnership did more than reduce energy costs, it provided benefits to all parties on the playing field. To understand its significance, a review of the partnership's history is paramount. The first official announcement of the Energy Efficiency Partnership was made on April 9, 1990. Framingham, MA, The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Kraft General Foods Framingham, and Boston Edison Company have joined forces in a $3.6 million dollar energy partnership that will help keep 250 industrial jobs in Massachusetts and could lead to the future expansion of the international food company's Framingham facility

Competitive Advantage through Innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brem, Alexander; Maier, Maximilian; Wimschneider, Christine

2016-01-01

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe how Nespresso achieved competitive advantage through innovation by changing the rules of the game in its industry. Design/methodology/approach Nespresso was analyzed based on public available secondary data, in combination with related academic...... concepts on innovation and competitive advantage. Findings The company succeeded by the thorough application of a strategy that, through perfect alignment, allowed the company to reach a unique market position. However, as described in the case, it took a relatively long time and the company came close...... as a source for competitive advantage. Research limitations/implications Especially given the current market situation, the case offers different starting points for discussion about innovation and long-term company success. Practical implications Especially before the current market situation, the case...

Current and future competitiveness of renewable energy carriers - Conceptions about competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundgren, K.

1998-01-01

The dissertation draws attention to the fact that in the world today 80% of the resources that are used are limited - non renewable energy carriers - and because of the long time between planning and doing (carrying out) within the energy sector, it is worthwhile from the long-term perspective to steer early on towards more sustainable solutions, such as renewable energy carriers. The State and the market have begun to adjust to concepts such as 'competitiveness', which can be viewed as containing both feasibility and legitimacy aspects - the state through different regulations and environmental taxes and environmental fees, and actors on the market that marginally produce/choose renewable energy carriers. The overlying methodology in the dissertation is an actor's viewpoint. This viewpoint brings forth, in turn, two different views, the analytical and the interpretative. The dissertation presents different stances within the energy sector: commercial production logic, commercial sustainability logic, and the socio-economic sustainability logic. By drawing one's attention to how one has the possibility to create (enact) his own reality, it is possible to highlight how organisations can increase their competitiveness by being conscious of their own view and others, logic, which in turn forms their views about competitiveness, which in turn determines which projects will materialize. Enterprises and individuals create a description of reality together through a dialectic process, i.e. by developing an environmental management system that contains elements of environmental auditing, environmental performance indicators, and environmental labelling, which 'reveal' the production conditions that lie behind the actualization of the final product. An example is the product, 'green' electricity, which, in spite of the fact that the final product - electricity - is identical irrespective of the production method, just at the moment can be sold at different prices according

Oil prices and the stock prices of alternative energy companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Henriques, Irene; Sadorsky, Perry

2008-01-01

Energy security issues coupled with increased concern over the natural environment are driving factors behind oil price movements. While it is widely accepted that rising oil prices are good for the financial performance of alternative energy companies, there has been relatively little statistical work done to measure just how sensitive the financial performance of alternative energy companies are to changes in oil prices. In this paper, a four variable vector autoregression model is developed and estimated in order to investigate the empirical relationship between alternative energy stock prices, technology stock prices, oil prices, and interest rates. Our results show technology stock prices and oil prices each individually Granger cause the stock prices of alternative energy companies. Simulation results show that a shock to technology stock prices has a larger impact on alternative energy stock prices than does a shock to oil prices. These results should be of use to investors, managers and policy makers. (author)

Open energy management systems as a tool for competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podmore, R.

1995-01-01

Energy Management Systems (EMSs) have been called the nerve center for an electric utility. These systems have the capacity to monitor the electrical grid by retrieving tens of thousands of MW/MVar flows, voltages and breaker/switch positions every few seconds. With data interchange agreements utilities can also monitor performance of neighboring systems. System dispatchers need to access more and more information sources and their job is becoming more complicated. Other departments need to access EMS related data and work more closely with system dispatch. To date, the role of Energy Management Systems has not been affected significantly by the prospect of competition. With the clean air act, emission allowance trading, open transmission access, and potential for customer choice it is likely that Energy Management Systems will play a more strategic business role in the future. In particular, Open Energy Management Systems that allow the utility the freedom to select applications from multiple vendors will have special advantages. This paper will address potential areas, where an Open Energy Management System can be used to obtain a competitive edge. It will also outline how competition is likely to affect Energy Management System architectures and procurement practices

Electric power distribution: in the direction of a competitive market?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Souza, J.R.A. de.

1993-01-01

This paper discusses the process of electric power sector deregulation, occurred in several countries, frequently followed of privatization, which the aim is activate the competition and, consequently, the efficiency between the companies of the electric power sector. The competition in the supply market of electric power, by the Great Britain, France, Spain and United States are shown as an example of this energy policy. (C.G.C.)

Nuclear power company activity based costing management analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Dan

2012-01-01

With Nuclear Energy Industry development, Nuclear Power Company has the continual promoting stress of inner management to the sustainable marketing operation development. In view of this, it is very imminence that Nuclear Power Company should promote the cost management levels and built the nuclear safety based lower cost competitive advantage. Activity based costing management (ABCM) transfer the cost management emphases from the 'product' to the 'activity' using the value chain analysis methods, cost driver analysis methods and so on. According to the analysis of the detail activities and the value chains, cancel the unnecessary activity, low down the resource consuming of the necessary activity, and manage the cost from the source, achieve the purpose of reducing cost, boosting efficiency and realizing the management value. It gets the conclusion from the detail analysis with the nuclear power company procedure and activity, and also with the selection to 'pieces analysis' of the important cost related project in the nuclear power company. The conclusion is that the activities of the nuclear power company has the obviously performance. It can use the management of ABC method. And with the management of the procedure and activity, it is helpful to realize the nuclear safety based low cost competitive advantage in the nuclear power company. (author)

The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue: Competition Versus Monopolies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milov, V.

2006-01-01

Russia and the European Union have clearly entered a new stage in their energy relations, defined by a growing asymmetry between a strengthened national monopoly on the supply side and a gradual opening of markets in Europe. In this context, a multitude of new approaches to EU Russia energy relations have been voiced recently by a wide variety of experts. Unfortunately, many of them involve 'defensive' solutions, driven by lack of mutual trust on both sides. Is a positive approach nevertheless still possible? The paper argues that competition is a key universal value in the development of a new and sustainable energy relationship between Russia and Europe. It is clear that EU competition regulators should take the lead in setting up a new framework for EU-Russia energy relations in the future. The success of their endeavors will not only determine the security of energy supply for European consumers, but also that of the Russian and Eurasian energy markets. (author)

Cost-competitive, inherently safe LFMBR pool plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McDonald, J.S.; Brunings, J.E.; Chang, Y.I.; Hren, R.R.; Seidensticker, R.W.

1984-01-01

The Cost-Competitive, Inherently Safe LMFBR Pool Plant design was prepared in GFY 1983 under a DOE-sponsored program. This plant design was developed as a joint effort by Rockwell International and the Argonne National Laboratory with major contributions from the Bechtel Group, Inc.; Combustion engineering, Inc.; the Chicago Bridge and Iron Company; and the General Electric Company. Using current LMFBR technology, many innovative features were developed and incorporated into the design to meet the ultimate objectives of the Breeder Program, i.e., energy costs competitive with LWRs and inherent safety features to maintain the plant in a safe condition following assumed accidents without requiring operator action. This paper provides a description of the principal features that were incorporated into the design to achieve low cost and inherent safety

Energy globalization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tierno Andres

1997-01-01

Toward the future, the petroleum could stop to be the main energy source in the world and the oil companies will only survive if they are adjusted to the new winds that blow in the general energy sector. It will no longer be enough to be the owner of the resource (petroleum or gas) so that a company subsists and be profitable in the long term. The future, it will depend in great measure of the vision with which the oil companies face the globalization concept that begins to experience the world in the energy sector. Concepts like globalization, competition, integration and diversification is something that the companies of the hydrocarbons sector will have very present. Globalization means that it should be been attentive to what happens in the world, beyond of the limits of its territory, or to be caught by competitive surprises that can originate in very distant places. The search of cleaner and friendlier energy sources with the means it is not the only threat that it should fear the petroleum. Their substitution for electricity in the big projects of massive transport, the technology of the communications, the optic fiber and the same relationships with the aboriginal communities are aspects that also compete with the future of the petroleum

Regulation of Danish energy markets with imperfect competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goertz, M.; Hansen, J.V.

1999-01-01

In this paper we use a new CGE model of the Danish economy with the acronym ECOSMEC (Economic COuncil Simulation Model with Energy markets and Carbon taxation). The model is a hybrid of two existing static models developed by respectively the Secretariat of the Danish Economic Council and by the MobiDK project in the Ministry of Business and Industry. Distinct features of the ECOSMEC model are a rather disaggregated modelling of energy demand and supply, introduction of various market structures in the energy sector, and a consistent specification of different household types. The simulations presented in the paper have the following implications: First, a uniform CO 2 tax of approximately 300 DKK per ton CO 2 could reduce emissions by 20 per cent in a scenario with perfect competition in the energy sector. However, assuming different market structures in the energy sector influences the uniform CO 2 tax needed to reach a given emission target. In the paper we assume that the Danish energy sector is a natural monopoly regulated to comply with average cost pricing, but we also discuss alternative descriptions of imperfect competition. Second, the empirical arguments for differentiated CO 2 taxes motivated by imperfect energy markets are weak. This is in line with earlier international studies on environmental taxes and imperfect competition. Third, the Danish economy could benefit from a deregulation of the electricity and district heating sector with respect to welfare and economic activity. This result holds also if CO 2 emissions are kept constant. (au)

A Company's Internal Potential to Implement a Strategy to Acquire a Competitive Advantage: Action-Research Within a Mexican CompanyHttp://Dx.Doi.Org/10.5585/Riae.V9i2.1657

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Víctor Gabriel Sánchez Trejo

2010-11-01

Full Text Available The small business in Mexico made an important contribution to the economic and social development of the country. Nevertheless, they present constant difficulties to reach a global and durable performance due to its specific characteristics. The generation of an internal development constitutes an alternative to compete with enterprises of the same size and with big companies in an external environment increasingly competitively and unstably. This article presents an intervention-research in a medium company where the socioeconomic theory was applied and developed dynamical strategic capacities having a direct impact in the organizational and social performance of the company.

Analysis of petroleum company investments in nonpetroleum energy sources. Book I

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryan, P. Jr.; Ryan, T.C.

1979-12-12

The purpose of this report is to analyze the investment strategies of US oil companies and the depth of their present and future investments in nonpetroleum energy sources. For purposes of this study, the nonpetroleum energy sources to be discussed are coal, uranium/nuclear, synthetics from coal, oil shale, geothermal, and solar. To gather necessary subjective data, the authors interviewed the managements of more than forty companies, the majority of which are directly involved in the production of various forms of energy. Others are substantial energy users. Interviews were also held with various federal and state regulatory agencies, with federal legislative groups, and with representatives of industry associations. These interviews were not intended to be a survey; their purpose was rather to explore the perceptions of petroleum company managements concerning nonpetroleum energy sources and the reasons for their company's participation, or lack of participation, in the development of these resources. Quantitative data came from reports prepared by federal investigative and regulatory agencies, from testimony given before investigative and regulatory bodies, from public company reports (annual reports, quarterly reports, 10-K's, 8-K's, registration statements, press releases, etc.), from industry, research and investment organizations, from universities, and from a variety of publications.

Diversification and Corporate Performance: Evidence from China’s Listed Energy Companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiming Li

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Recently, China’s energy industry has been continuously depressed due to a slowdown in its economic development. China’s energy companies have made considerable efforts to promote their corporate performance to mitigate this performance decline and to ensure the sustainable development of China’s energy industry, macro economy, society and environment. In this paper, the effects of two business strategies—industrial diversification and international diversification—on the performance of listed energy firms are empirically investigated. The empirical results show the following: (1 industrial diversification hinders corporate performance; (2 for industrially-diversified energy companies, related diversified strategies are more effective than unrelated diversified strategies; and (3 international diversification improves the performance of renewable energy firms, but hinders the performance of conventional energy firms. These results suggest that as economic conditions are not currently optimal, China’s energy companies should pay more attention to their main businesses and generate more products to satisfy market demand.

Competitive position of energy carriers in trade

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suding, P.H.; Forsbach, H.H.

Industrial consumers and public institutions, which are classed with the group of minor consumers, differ in their behaviour in energy consumption greatly from the structure of the whole group. Also the willingness to convert from fuel oil to natural gas in these trade groups is relatively high. Within the framework of 5 model enterprises, the profitability of energy carriers and economizing technology in trade is analysed. The model enterprises are a bakery, a meat purveyor, a restaurant, a laundry and a hospital. The basic data are compared with the data from 1985. The comparison shows that the competitive positions of energy carriers in business and public in the process heat sector here not changed dramatically. The competitiveness of natural gas has improved since 1985 through the changes in price. However, in the sectors in which it belongs to the group of economical alternatives (e.g. in the bakeries), electricity has not lost much ground. (BR)

COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE ANALYSIS - SCENARIOS METHOD

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Valeriu

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Keeping a company in the top performing players in the relevant market depends not only on its ability to develop continually, sustainably and balanced, to the standards set by the customer and competition, but also on the ability to protect its strategic information and to know in advance the strategic information of the competition. In addition, given that economic markets, regardless of their profile, enable interconnection not only among domestic companies, but also between domestic companies and foreign companies, the issue of economic competition moves from the national economies to the field of interest of regional and international economic organizations. The stakes for each economic player is to keep ahead of the competition and to be always prepared to face market challenges. Therefore, it needs to know as early as possible, how to react to others’ strategy in terms of research, production and sales. If a competitor is planning to produce more and cheaper, then it must be prepared to counteract quickly this movement. Competitive intelligence helps to evaluate the capabilities of competitors in the market, legally and ethically, and to develop response strategies. One of the main goals of the competitive intelligence is to acknowledge the role of early warning and prevention of surprises that could have a major impact on the market share, reputation, turnover and profitability in the medium and long term of a company. This paper presents some aspects of competitive intelligence, mainly in terms of information analysis and intelligence generation. Presentation is theoretical and addresses a structured method of information analysis - scenarios method – in a version that combines several types of analysis in order to reveal some interconnecting aspects of the factors governing the activity of a company.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL ENERGY MANAGEMENT STANDARDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PALIEKHOVA L. L.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of the presented research is to explore the potential of international energy management standards to increase competitiveness of industrial enterprises under conditions of Ukrainian transitional economy. The study had the following objectives: to trace the evolution of fundamental energy efficiency standards; to discuss experience in their use in various countries; to identify factors that are key to achieving competitive advantage under the implementation ISO 50001. Methodology. This article presents a historical overview of the standardisation of principles and approaches for the purpose of the energy-efficient management. The research was carried out by studying the international documents, voluntary standards and national practices in the field of energy efficiency. Conclusions. The study examines the experiences of different countries in the field of energy management systems. The authors conducted a comparative analysis of the ISO 50001 with the other basic standards for the organisation of management. The system approach enables to identify the main factors and their impact on capacity to achieve competitive advantages, which are possible to obtain after certification to ISO 50001. Originality. The study reviewed and analysed the energy management penetration within its dynamics at time and country level. After analysing the statistical data and the results of the interviews, the authors identified 20 key factors affecting the competitiveness of enterprises that are certified to ISO 50001. All of these factors were divided into four groups, two groups represent external environment – opportunities and threats, and two groups – internal capacity – strengths and weaknesses of enterprises. Practical value. The proposed system of factors may be useful for the planning of actions towards strengthening the capacity of energy management systems in the context of the formation competitive advantages on the industrial

Guide to UK renewable energy companies 2001. 6. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2001-01-01

This 2001 edition of the guide to UK renewable companies and equipment and service providers presents summaries of the different industry sectors covering wind power, photovoltaics, solar water heating, geothermal heat pump, hydroelectric power, marine current and wave technology, bioenergy, power generation from landfill gas, energy from waste, and cogeneration. A UK company classification listing and index is provided along with listing of UK organisations and companies and an index of advertisers

Seeking opportunities abroad : the challenges for small companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cej, R.P.

1999-01-01

The unique challenges facing small companies seeking opportunities in world hydrocarbon trading are discussed. The paper emphasizes how the global infrastructure of the industry has changed and describes what it takes for small companies to compete for opportunities in a global market. The biggest driver re-shaping the energy sector is the pace of global development led by the Asia-Pacific region. Canada's energy sector is well into the challenges created by market liberalization. Canada has evolved into a low cost energy supply and must remain so to support the competitiveness of other industry sectors. Overall, opportunities abroad for small companies are good. Commitment to the long haul, acquiring an understanding for the culture, the politics, and the way business is done in the country in question, careful attention to estimating the size and staying power needed to manage the opportunity, and avoiding cutting corners, or spreading oneself too thinly, are crucial to success

Implementation of marketing strategy: Factor of competitive advantage

OpenAIRE

Krstić Ivan; Becić Sonja

2011-01-01

Primary objective of the company is to reach the business success. Competitors have the same objective. Only the companies that really meet the consumer's needs and demands survive in the competitive struggle. The company who succeeds in it, has the possibility to achieve the competitive advantage as well. The company has to have the adequate marketing strategy in order to fulfill the marketing objectives and achieve the competitive advantage. The marketing strategy should be flexible and pro...

Towards an integration of affiliated companies energy audit process system at P.T Astra International

Science.gov (United States)

Telaga, Abdi Suryadinata; Hartanto, Indra Dwi; Audina, Debby Rizky; Prabowo, Fransiscus Dimas

2017-06-01

Environmental awareness, stringent regulation and soaring energy costs, together make energy efficiency as an important pillar for every company. Particularly, in 2020, the ministry of energy and mineral resources of Indonesia has set a target to reduce carbon emission by 26%. For that reason, companies in Indonesia have to comply with the emission target. However, there is trade-off between company's productivity and carbon emission. Therefore, the companies' productivity must be weighed against the environmental effect such as carbon emission. Nowadays, distinguish excessive energy in a company is still challenging. The company rarely has skilled person that capable to audit energy consumed in the company. Auditing energy consumption in a company is a lengthy and time consuming process. As PT Astra International (AI) have 220 affiliated companies (AFFCOs). Occasionally, direct visit to audit energy consumption in AFFCOs is inevitable. However, capability to conduct on-site energy audit was limited by the availability of PT AI energy auditors. For that reason, PT AI has developed a set of audit energy tools or Astra green energy (AGEn) tools to aid the AFFCOs auditor to be able to audit energy in their own company. Fishbone chart was developed as an analysis tool to gather root cause of audit energy problem. Following the analysis results, PT AI made an improvement by developing an AGEn web-based system. The system has capability to help AFFCOs to conduct energy audit on-site. The system was developed using prototyping methodology, object-oriented system analysis and design (OOSAD), and three-tier architecture. The implementation of system used ASP.NET, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 database, and web server IIS 8.

Which Companies Benefit form Liberalization?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baghdasaryan, Delia; la Cour, Lisbeth; Schneider, Cédric

2016-01-01

Theoretical research shows that competition has positive effects on productivity, for companies that are initially efficient, but not for unproductive firms. Our empirical analysis on a panel data of Czech companies, years 1995–2004, confirms this result. In addition, our analysis shows that when...... economic reforms affect both domestic and foreign competition, controlling for domestic competition is crucial when assessing the impact of trade liberalization. Otherwise, the effect of trade liberalization on firm productivity is upward biased....

U.S. Energy Service Company (ESCO) Industry: Recent Market Trends

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stuart, Elizabeth [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Larsen, Peter H. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Carvallo, Juan Pablo [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Goldman, Charles A. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Gilligan, Donald [National Association of Energy Service Companies, Washington DC (United States)

2016-10-01

This study presents an analysis of the market size, growth projections and industry trends of the U.S. Energy Service Company (ESCO) industry, drawing on information provided by ESCO executives in late 2015. We define ESCOs as energy service companies for whom performance-based contracting is a core business offering. We identified forty-seven firms that met our definition of an ESCO.1 Forty-three of these companies responded to our requests for information, representing a 91% response rate.2 We also report 2014 ESCO industry revenues by market segment, region and business activity type, and for new versus existing customers. Finally, we report on use of tax incentives and financing tools, and incorporation of non-energy benefits into performance-based project economics. We summarize key findings below.

Product Placement: A Smart Marketing Tool Shifting a Company to the Next Competitive Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kramolis Jan

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The primary aim of this paper was to discover connection between company’s competitiveness and product placement as a marketing tool. The secondary aim was searching for the genesis of product placement. The mentioned issues are explained from the perspectives of three groups: TV studios experts, directors and producers, and other experts (media agencies and advertisers. The Czech Republic market where product placement can be registered is very small – only few television companies. The survey was conducted during years 2011 and 2012 in the Czech Republic. There is no directly measurable tool to tell us exact outputs. However, the results reveal: Marketers are sure that product placement is efficient. The product placement belongs to a longterm marketing field where the brand building is also included. On the basis of the ascertainments acquired by the survey, the basic links between product placement, long-term marketing, and competitiveness are explained in this paper.

HOW COFFEE COMPANIES CAN STAY COMPETITIVE

OpenAIRE

RALUCA DANIELA RIZEA; ROXANA SARBU; ELENA CONDREA

2014-01-01

The coffee shop industry in the U.S. includes 20,000 stores with combined annual revenue of about $11 billion. Major companies include Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, Caribou, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, and Diedrich (Gloria Jean’s). The industry is highly concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom: the top 50 companies have over 70 percent of industry sales. Coffee is one of the world’s largest commodities. The top green coffee producing countries are Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam. Many...

Competitive market and sources of its advantages in the electric energy subsector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kazimierz Pająk

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The electric energy subsector varies considerably in terms of competitiveness depending on the area under analysis. Power generation, transmission and distribution have quite different characteristics of competitiveness than areas such as electricity trading. In the area of power generation, competitive advantage is developed by factors such as: skilful operation in the fuel market and targeted investments affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of equipment. In the area of energy distribution, despite the natural monopoly, some distribution system operators dynamically take over the market share of newly constructed networks. The area of energy trading can be successfully compared to other competitive market segments where mass sales of services and products occur.

Energy Tax and Competition in Energy Efficiency. The Case of Consumer Durables

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conrad, K.

2000-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of an energy tax on technical improvements and on prices of consumer durables induced by strategic competition in energy efficiency. If the gasoline tax is raised this does in principle not affect the producers of cars because the motorist pays for it in terms of a higher cost of using the car. This, however, affects the unit sales of car producers because of substitution towards other modes of transportation. A second element of reaction to energy price variation is an indirect one and relates to the effect of energy prices on technology. Competition forces car producers to develop more energy efficient cars in order to reduce the cost of using a car. This indirect effect can partly offset the direct effect of higher energy prices on demand if it is profitable for the automobile industry to engineer more energy efficient equipment. We will analyze the impact of an energy tax on energy efficiency and on the price of a durable good. This will be done within the framework of a duopoly competing in prices and in the energy efficiency of its products. The government chooses a welfare maximizing energy tax as an incentive to innovate. Then we will analyze a strategic two-stage decision process in which the duopolists first decide about energy efficiency and then compete in prices. 18 refs

Getting down to business with solar energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niederhaeusern, A.

2008-01-01

In this interview with Hans Ruedi Schweizer, President of the Board of Governors of the Swiss Ernst Schweizer AG company and this company's Head of Solar Energy Systems, Andreas Haller, the over thirty year history of the company's solar activities is examined. The company's efforts and its success in the area of solar energy and the efficient use of energy in the company's own facilities are discussed. The other areas of activity of the company cover facade elements, windows and doors through to mailboxes. Competition on the solar collector market and the need for more professional installation experts are discussed, as is the company's patented mounting system for photovoltaic panels. Finally, the wishes of the interviewees with respect to Swiss energy politics are noted.

Transnational Energy Companies' Investment Allocation Decisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osmundsen, Petter; Emhjellen, Magne; Halleraker, Morten

2001-10-01

When making international capital budgeting decisions, energy companies are often faced with capital and organisational constraints. The constraints may be real or management imposed. In addition, when entering into a new country or region the companies will incur fixed new area costs that must be considered before investment approval. The decision problem is therefore not a linear problem where the standard net present value rule applies, but a non-linear problem of selecting the combination of projects with the maximum aggregate net present value. New project investments will therefore be selected based on the size of the net present value (often referred to as financial volume or materiality) compared to the projects' use of capital and scarce personnel and organisational capacity. Consequently, projects with a positive net present value, but with low materiality, may not be approved. The portfolio choice has a parallel to the company's choice of core areas. Instead of complex portfolio models, the companies often apply simpler allocation mechanisms, e.g., combinations of fixed investment budgets and materiality requirements. Analysing petroleum cases, we compare the allocations decisions generated by portfolio models and simpler mechanisms. We also discuss the implications of this capital allocation pattern for governments' design of tax systems and license conditions. (author)

Future survival requires competitive skills

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adam, P.J.

1996-01-01

The companies that will succeed in the global power business in 25 years will be those that best understand the productivity implications of the current power game. In the competitive free market for electricity, the inefficient will be driven out. This will include the developer that is unable to achieve higher productivity in developing and financing projects, the engineer-constructor that longs for the old risk-free, cost-plus environment and the trading company that fails to enter into new relationships with the most productive companies in the world. Also in jeopardy will be the operator who can't reduce O and M costs and the manufacturer who is unable to control overhead or labor costs. Succeeding will be all about productivity. Free market competition drives productivity improvement. In a competitive environment, companies must operate at a more efficient level. The US learned this accidentally through the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act, getting us a side benefit of free market competition and lower electricity prices. In other countries the practice of socialism and its final bankruptcy forced adjustments to free market policies

Multi utility - a successful conception for energy supply companies?; Multi-Utility - Erfolgskonzept fuer Energieversorger? Zusammenwachsen der Maerkte

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schmidt, C. [LBD-Beratungsgesellschaft mbH, Berlin (Germany)

2003-06-02

Multi-utility is seen as the most promising marketing strategy for energy companies. In the future, experts say, only the combined supply of electricity, natural gas, water, waste management and services will allow companies to grow. But are today's multi-utility-products answering the needs of the customers? The author goes further into this question and finds the answer: Multi-utility needs to be further developed. Only products from growth and competition markets can generate additional margins. (orig.) [German] Multi-Utility gilt als die Marketingstrategie fuer Energieversorger. Nur wer zukuenftig Strom, Gas, Wasser, Entsorgung und Service aus einer Hand anbietet, heisst es in der Branche, kann im Markt wachsen. Doch inwieweit entspricht das heutige Multi-Utility-Angebot wirklich dem Kundenbeduerfnis? Die Verfasserin geht dieser Frage nach und kommt zu dem Schluss: Die Multi-Utility-Palette muss weiterentwickelt werden. Nur mit Produkten aus Wachstums- und Wettbewerbsmaerkten kann zusaetzliche Marge generiert werden. (orig.)

Competition in the electric utility sector?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olsen, O.J.; Fristrup, P.; Munksgaard, J.; Skytte, K.

2000-01-01

The book analyses some important problems for the liberaliaction of the electricity market in Denmark and its neighbouring countries. Will the competition and its potential for a more cost-effective electric supply be prevented by the electric companies' many possibilities to utilize market power? Can competition be combined with ambitious energy policy aims about reducing the environmental impacts of the electric supply? Does the Danish tradition for consumer ownership constitute an important supplement to the protection of the smaller consumers in a world of international competition? The intention with the book is not to take concrete position to the many topical problems in the Danish political discussion of restructurns of the electric sector, but to give a theoretical analysis to understand and analyse the development. On this basis the conclusion is, that the competition will work even in combination with ambitious environmental aims. (EHS)

Innovation and Market-Driven Management in Fast Fashion Companies

OpenAIRE

Elisa Arrigo

2010-01-01

In hyper-competitive markets, innovation is critical for the growth of market-driven companies. An examination of case studies of highly competitive global companies in the fast fashion sector, reveals that detailed understanding of the market, deriving from direct management of their stores, enables Zara, Gap and H&M to develop an innovation management capability. This is a fundamental competitive driver for the company's success.

Competitiveness measurement system in the advertising sector.

Science.gov (United States)

Poveda-Bautista, Rocío; García-Melón, Mónica; Baptista, Doris C

2013-01-01

In this paper a new approach to find indicators that can be used to measure companies' competitiveness and performance in an efficient and reliable way is presented. The aim is to assist managers of companies within a specific industrial sector by providing information about their relative position in the market so as to define better action plans that may improve the company's performance. The approach combines the use of the Analytic Network Process, a multicriteria decision method, with the Balanced Scorecard. It allows the definition of a number of competitiveness indicators based on the performance and setting of the advertising sector. In this way it is possible to obtain a Competitiveness Index that allows a company to know its relative position with respect to other companies in the sector, and establish a ranking of the companies ordered by their competitiveness level. A case study in the advertising industry of Venezuela is provided. Results show that improvement plans for the agencies analyzed should promote creativity, innovation and the use of new technologies, as a particular form of innovation. These factors were considered to be the most relevant indicators in the advertising sector. The participating experts agreed that the methodology is useful and an improvement over current competitiveness assessment methods.

Oil company mergers raise concern among some geoscientists

Science.gov (United States)

Showstack, Randy

With the blessings of the antitrust regulatory agencies and the ghost of John D. Rockefeller, the proposed marriage between Exxon and Mobil would create the world's largest energy company and corporation of any type. This merger also would reunite the two biggest pieces of Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, which the U.S. Supreme Court ordered dismantled in 1911 in an antitrust case.Exxon, Mobil, and financial analysts say the merger is driven by the need to operate more efficiently in a tough, competitive environment. The price of oil, after all, recently has been scraping near bottom of the barrel at about $11 per barrel, and companies often need to muster significant capital resources to develop more remote reservoirs.

Reducing barriers to energy efficiency in the German energy service companies sector. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koewener, D.; Schleich, J.

2000-12-01

This report describes the empirical research conducted in the German energy service sector to assess to what extent energy service companies (ESCOs) can help overcome the barriers to energy in the higher education, brewing and mechanical engineering sectors. This report complements the sector for Germany within the BARRIERS project (Sorrell et al., 2000; Schleich/Boede 2000a; Schleich/Boede 2000b; Schleich et al., 2000). The report characterises the German energy service sector, contains a description and analysis of four case studies in the energy service sector, identifies the main barriers and chances for ESCOs in the higher education, brewery and mechanical engineering sectors, and concludes with brief recommendations on how these barriers may be overcome. The results of the study are summarised here under the following headings: Characterising the energy service sector in Germany; - Case studies of energy service companies in Germany; - The role of ESCOs in the case-study sectors; - Policy implications. (orig.)

Energy savings certificates 2011-2013 - Companies. Knowledge for action

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-03-01

As fossil energy resources are depleted and the environmental impacts of their use are increasingly addressed, energy costs will continue to rise. In this context it is vital for businesses - in the service sector, industry or agriculture - to take steps now to start managing their energy consumption. A number of tools and mechanisms are currently being implemented to help companies in this process, at the national and European levels. Among these, Energy Savings Certificates (ESCs) were introduced in France by the Energy Policy Law of 13 July 2005, with the aim of achieving energy savings in sectors of dispersed activity, mainly buildings, but also light industry, agriculture and transport. For businesses this mechanism is an additional financial leverage tool that can be used to support their energy management projects. Under this scheme energy suppliers must promote energy-efficient investments, and thus are potential sources of financing for project owners. The Grenelle environmental conference forcefully reiterated the need to take action, in particular to renovate existing building stock. In order to achieve the ambitious goals that have been set, the financial mechanisms put into place, including the ESC scheme, must be amplified. Following the first conclusive test period (2006-2009), the ESC scheme is being ramped up during a second and more ambitious three-year period that began on 1 January 2011. The present document is intended to inform companies of changes in the ESC scheme to be implemented for the second period covering 2011-2013. This guidance is divided into two parts: the first section describes the principles of the ESC scheme, and the second offers advice to companies that want to use this scheme for an energy management project. You will also find a practical information sheet listing all the steps to be taken to submit an ESC claim

2012 Global Energy Competitiveness Index

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lorot, Pascal; Lauriano do Rego, Wilfrid

2012-01-01

The 2012 Global Energy Competitiveness Index, a survey jointly conducted by Institut Choiseul and KPMG, is the first of its kind. It ranks 146 countries, grouping them into 5 categories ranging from the best performers to under-performers. The first edition of this annual study ranks the countries surveyed not only by continent but also according to the quality of their energy mix, electricity access and availability levels and the compatibility of their energy policies with environmental challenges. The governing bodies of the countries in the panel (relevant ministries and regulatory authorities) can gain much from this decision-making support tool that fosters dialogue on energy-related issues. The targeted audience also includes industry professionals, NGOs, international organisations and other economic players such as banks, consulting firms and specialist commercial law firms commercial law firms. Europe is by far the best performing continent ahead of the best performing continent, ahead of the Americas and Americas and even further ahead of Asia/Oceania and Africa. Generally speaking, the Nordic countries are among the best performers: Norway, Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland rank, in this order, in the global Top 10. Four EU countries are among the global Top 10 (Denmark, Sweden, Finland and France) and five others (the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Slovakia and Spain) are in the Top 20. Surprisingly, Colombia stood out as the fifth most competitive country in terms of energy. Its outstanding performance is due to a strong energy mix (ranked second worldwide) and an energy strategy compatible with today's key environmental challenges. The apparent domination of Northern-hemisphere countries needs to be considered in conjunction with the results achieved by the other Seeming domination of be considered in conjunction with the results achieved by the other countries with regard to their energy mix and the environmental compatibility of

Ideas on a competitive structure for German energy supplies

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bennigsen-Foerder, R v

1985-12-20

The author expresses the future need for action on the part of energy policy at Federal level in no uncertain terms. Regional experiments in energy policy and state-induced limits on competition in the heat market have documented the fact that watchfulness is to be recommended even in a relatively relaxed energy market. The author does admit that the level of electricity prices in the Federal Republic is comparatively high; overall, however, energy prices are in line with the world market situation. This can only be explained by deliberate renunciation of extensive state control of the primary energy structure. The competitiveness of German energy supplies can thus be closely linked up to the question as to what strategy will be pursued with regard to preparations for 'crisis contingency X', i.e. for another sudden explosion of energy costs. The author supports the thesis 'that it is more expensive from the point of view of the economy as a whole to prepare ex-ante for 'Day X' than it is to adapt to it ex-post'.

RENEWABLE ENERGY, A KEY TO INTEGRATING COMPETITIVE POLICIES WITH ADVANCED ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION STRATEGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cinade Lucian Ovidiu

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Development of competitive policies and improvement of environment protection strategies are two basic trends of the development of the European Unique Market. Energy, also known as 'industry bread', is basic product and strategic resource, where energy industry plays an obvious role in the economic and social development of any community. Traditional energy production is marred by three major drawbacks: it generates negative externalities by polluting; it is totally in the hands of the producers; hence, prices rise at their will, of fossil fuels such as oil and gas. Present study focuses on electric energy industry, yet bearing over the whole length of the chain producer-to-end-consumer, thus revealed as particularly complex. The question is do alternative energy sources meet the prerequisite of market being competitive meanwhile environment protection being highly observed. We identify limits in point, of the energy market; effects of market liberalization; entry barriers; interchangeability level of energy sources; active forces on the energy market. Competitive rivalry has been expressed as per market micro-economic analysis, based on Michael Porter's 5-forces model. It will thus be noticed that, morphologically, competition evolution depends firstly on the market type. For the time being, the consumer on the energy market stays captive, for various reasons such as: legislation; limits of energy transfer infrastructure; scarcity of resources; resources availability imbalance; no integrative strategy available, of renewable energy resources usage. Energy availability is vital for human society to function. Comparative advantages of renewable energy resources are twofold, as manifested: in terms of economics, i.e. improving competition by substitute products entered at the same time as new producers enter market; and in terms of ecology, by reducing CO2 emissions. As to energy production technology and transfer, the complementary nature will

Evolution of competition in energy alternative pathway and the influence of energy policy on economic growth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Honglin; Wang, Lin; Tian, Lixin

2015-01-01

This work is devoted to the evolution of the competition of energy alternative pathway in China, and the influence of energy policy on economic growth by using a dynamical system method. Firstly, the relation between energy and economic growth is taken into account, and a dynamic evolution model is established. It is observed that Hopf bifurcation and chaotic behavior occurs with the varying investment in renewable energy production. Secondly, when there is no policy intervention in energy market, the evolution of competition in energy alternative pathway is also investigated. Thirdly, the system parameters are also identified by using an artificial neural network method on the basis of certain empirical statistical data in China, and the dynamics of the parameters-identified system are studied. Finally, the influences of energy policy on economic growth are empirically analyzed, and some policy recommendations are given based on the results of empirical analysis. - Highlights: • Modeling the energy economy system via the method of dynamic system. • Attaining the chaotic attractor of the energy production and economic system. • Discovering the Hopf bifurcation when the investment changes. • Proposing the alternative pathway of free competition in energy production. • Determining the turning points of parameters related to policy regulation

Influence of new customs procedures and logistic security standards on companies competiveness – a Croatian company case study

OpenAIRE

Erceg, Aleksandar

2014-01-01

In today’s global market, companies are constantly confronted with the competition on the local, national and international level. Companies therefore use a variety of strategies and tools to become and/or remain competitive. Potential areas for cost reduction in companies are supply chain management and logistic and customs procedures. Implementation of various logistic standards in supply chain management can provide significant cost savings for the company’s daily operations an...

Economic Optimal Operation of Community Energy Storage Systems in Competitive Energy Markets

OpenAIRE

Arghandeh, Reza; Woyak, Jeremy; Onen, Ahmet; Jung, Jaesung; Broadwater, Robert P.

2014-01-01

Distributed, controllable energy storage devices offer several benefits to electric power system operation. Three such benefits include reducing peak load, providing standby power, and enhancing power quality. These benefits, however, are only realized during peak load or during an outage, events that are infrequent. This paper presents a means of realizing additional benefits by taking advantage of the fluctuating costs of energy in competitive energy markets. An algorithm for optimal charge...

PRICES IN COMPETITIVE SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

VADUVA MARIA

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Regularities of competitive market determine rules for determining prices and their dynamics. Orientation prices to competition (competitive pricing is the strategy most frequently used in countries with market economies and especially for exports. Moreover, in an economy dominated by market competition it cannot be ignored without certain risks the prices resulting from competition between products bidders. Companies that use this type of strategy seek to maintain a level of prices linked to that charged by other competitors (or exporting producers generally no longer covering production costs or demand, relying on the assumption that the average market price is a reasonable basis of costs. But the way how practical guidance and reporting to the competition in every price strategy, will be determined by the company's market position, by the available power and enjoyed prestige, objectives and prospects of its market share etc. according to these elements, there may be several versions of pricing strategies oriented to competitors.

Hydrogen in the making: how an energy company organises under uncertainty

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Koefoed, Anne Louise

2011-07-01

This thesis combines an analytical interest in innovation process studies with an empirical interest in clean energy development. My work concentrates on innovation processes from initiation to realisation in a company setting focusing on hydrogen as an energy carrier. A Norwegian energy company, Norsk Hydro, is used as a case to explore the intraorganisational processes involved in business building. This is relevant to the research question - how hydrogen energy takes on reality and relevance for business activity? Further, a concrete hydrogen demonstration project involving research and development of a new technology combination, in collaboration with partners, has also been studied.(Author)

Responding to high energy prices: energy management services

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raynolds, M.

2001-01-01

Rapid growth in the number and sophistication of energy management companies has been observed in the wake of rising energy prices. These companies offer energy-efficiency consulting services to utilities, government and industry with the promise of improved cost efficiency, marketplace competitiveness and environmental commitments. The environmental benefits result from the reduction in emissions and pollutants associated with power production and natural gas used for space heating. In general, the stock in trade of these energy management companies is the energy audit involving evaluation of existing equipment in buildings and facilities and the resulting recommendations to install energy-efficient equipment such as lighting retrofits, boiler replacement, chiller replacement, variable speed drives, high-efficiency motors, improved insulation and weather proofing, water heaters and piping. The North American market for energy management services was estimated in 1997 at $208 billion (rising to $350 billion by 2004). Current market penetration is less than two per cent

75 FR 68607 - CenterPoint Energy-Illinois Gas Transmission Company; Notice of Baseline Filing

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-08

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. PR10-80-001] CenterPoint Energy--Illinois Gas Transmission Company; Notice of Baseline Filing November 1, 2010. Take notice that on October 28, 2010, CenterPoint Energy--Illinois Gas Transmission Company submitted a revised...

Diversification of companies' activity of the Arctic fuel and energy complex

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fedoseev S. V.

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The analysis of diversification role in company's activity has been considered. Special attention has been paid to the levels of strategy for a diversified company of the fuel and energy complex

Geothermal source heat pumps under energy services companies finance scheme to increase energy efficiency and production in stockbreeding facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Borge-Diez, David; Colmenar-Santos, Antonio; Pérez-Molina, Clara; López-Rey, África

2015-01-01

In Europe energy services are underutilized in terms of their potential to improve energy efficiency and reduce external energy dependence. Agricultural and stockbreeding sectors have high potential to improve their energy efficiency. This paper presents an energy model for geothermal source heat pumps in stockbreeding facilities and an analysis of an energy services business case. The proposed solution combines both energy cost reduction and productivity increases and improves energy services company financing scheme. CO 2 emissions drop by 89%, reducing carbon footprint and improving added value for the product. For the two different evaluated scenarios, one including winter heating and one including heating and cooling, high IRR (internal return rate) values are obtained. A sensitivity analysis reveals that the IRR ranges from 10.25% to 22.02%, making the investment attractive. To make the research highly extensible, a sensitivity analysis for different locations and climatic conditions is presented, showing a direct relationship between financial parameters and climatic conditions. A Monte Carlo simulation is performed showing that initial fuel cost and initial investment are the most decisive in the financial results. This work proves that energy services based on geothermal energy can be profitable in these sectors and can increase sustainability, reduce CO 2 emissions and improve carbon footprint. - Highlights: • Geothermal heat pumps are studied to promote industrial energy services. • Geothermal energy in farming facilities improves global competitiveness. • Research shows profitability of low enthalpy geothermal energy services. • Climatic conditions sensitivity analysis reveals IRR ranges from 10.25% to 22.02%. • Added market value for the product as carbon footprint reduction, are achieved

THE RESTRUCTURING OF ROMANIAN POWER SECTOR AT THE CROSSROADS: COMPETITIVE MARKETS OR NEO-COLBERTISM?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oana Diaconu

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Despite efforts made by European Commission to liberalize electricity markets and foster integration, there are still significant barriers to free competition. Until now, Romania was one of the countries that have been compliant to the European Union’s electricity directives, being ahead of several older member states in this area. However, reforms have not started to pay out, suggesting that the model of combining state-owned non-competing generators with private/privatized distributors and suppliers may not be the best model of market deregulation. As a result, Romanian authorities have started to talk about plans to restructure the sector, by re-consolidating the unbundled generation companies and the state-owned distribution companies into one national energy company, aiming to create a national champion, competitive on the regional markets. However, these proposals are based on questionable economics and their adoption will have negative effects on market competition and, thus, on consumers.

Companies in the Energy Industry in Sweden 2007-2011; Foeretag i Energibranschen i Sverige 2007-2011

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stroemgren, Samuel

2013-06-15

This is a comprehensive analysis of the energy industry in Sweden. More than 3000 companies have been analysed one by one. The companies have been categorised and systematised in a database that includes financial data, number of employees, geographic distribution, R and D- and environmental aspects as well as other industry specific characteristics. The data has then been analysed from a number of perspectives. The study is one in a series of analyses of industrial structure and strategic areas for innovation and renewal in various branches of industry that VINNOVA has initiated. Within the project, companies that work with energy, bringing energy to users as well as companies contributing to energy efficiency in industry, real estate and services and transportation have been identified. Twelve key companies as well as two trade organizations have been interviewed from a labour market perspective, in order to clarify the challenges regarding the future provision of skills facing the industry. The energy industry includes 1121 companies with 71105 employees at 2383 workplaces. In total, the companies had net revenues of 547 billion SEK. The energy industry is a major contributor to Swedish export. The energy industry has over the period been a stable labour market. When several other industries experienced cyclical fluctuations in 2007-2011 the energy sector showed a positive annual growth, 7 % over the studied five-year period. The energy industry's century-old is closely linked to the electrification and post war industrial development in Sweden, which together with the Swedish climate has contributed to the emergence and presence of global energy companies. An example is historical development of ASEA, that has led to a clear concentration of energy competence in some Swedish regions. The energy industry in general has a wide geographic spread of workplaces and infrastructure in Sweden. With a few exceptions, companies are found in all of Sweden's 290

Evaluation of energy saving tasks performed by the energy transmission and distribution companies; Denmark; Evaluering af energiselskabernes energibespareaktiviteter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Togeby, M. (Ea Energianalyse A/S, Copenhagen (Denmark))

2012-05-15

The evaluation is described in the Agreement of 20 November 2009 between the Danish Climate and Energy Minister and the distribution companies for electricity, natural gas, district heating and oil about the companies' future energy conservation efforts. The evaluation was conducted to provide recommendations for adjusting the system. The results of the evaluation show that energy companies and utilities meet the overall savings obligation. In 2011, 2,098 GWh savings are recorded, which is more than the obligation. The evaluation shows that the net effect is about 760 GWh (36%). When looking at types of energy companies, then the oil companies' activities generally have a low net effect and additionally is assessed to be low in relation to the district heating companies' renovation of the district heating network. The greatest additionally exists among large savings in the industry. The means that energy companies use to achieve savings obligations are significantly different today than a few years ago. Today there are grants for more than 85% of registered savings. Before 2006 primarily information and advice was used. Thus an estimated 400 million DKK annually is used for grants. Socio-economics is positive for the part of the effort that is aimed at businesses. The socio-economic value of the savings is calculated to be twice as large as the total cost when you only look at the industry. The system can thus be readily seen as a useful instrument to promote energy conservation in industry. For households, it is estimated that the net effect is 20% of the reported savings, while for industry the net effect is estimated to be 45%. Also, for renovations of the heat distribution networks the net effect is estimated to be low. (LN)

Brand values for consumers and companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Veljković Saša

2010-01-01

Full Text Available In contemporary business management, which is characterized by intense competitive pressure, marketing is getting more and more dominant role. Companies on the market are more exposed to competitive pressure due to the growing number of suppliers (bidders and substitutive products on the home market, and increase of foreign competition due to the world economy globalization. The success of marketing tools usage largely depends on the expected financial effects realization, as well as the survival of company on the market does, both in long and short terms. Brand marketing is a useful tool in modern business environment and it is an important source of competitive advantage. The concept and essence of brand have been significantly changed recently, compared to the period of twenty or more years ago. Brand is no more considered as just a label or sign, it is a tool that creates value for consumers and significantly contributes to improving the competitive position on the market. In brand creating process one should start from the elements that influence the creation of value for consumers and to consistently apply mechanisms to maximize the function of the brand on the market and enable companies to achieve maximum impact in terms of achievement of competitive advantage. It is important at the same time, in the respect of analysis of the financial payback investment in brand creating, to conceder brand impacts on the financial performance of the company. The aim of this paper is to point out the role, importance and concept of brand in modern marketing, and to highlight the role and way of creating value for consumers with help of the brand, which contributes to improving the competitive position and points out the brand influence on the financial performance of companies.

ORIENTATION OF ENTERPRISES TOWARD OBTAINING COMPETITIVE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PAUL BOGDAN ZAMFIR

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper I proposed to emphasize the importance of obtaining competitive advantage by companies on EU internal market. The huge EU market, offers for participating companies the possibility to achieve significant economies of scale and numerous niches (segments market, which can be covered with large quantities of goods, the condition is that niches to be discovered in time, and the firms to be able to adapt promptly at their needs. Thus, the most important positive effect derives from the fact that companies have at their disposal a vast market consisting approximately 500 million consumers, free of customs duties and other restrictions inhindering the movement of goods. On this background, the companies can achieve high series production and thereby can reduce their cost of production and increase their competitiveness. In this context, the companies must meet the standards of the European Union, if they really want to gain competitive advantage on EU market.

Competitive Advantage in the Service Industry : The Importance of Strategic Congruence, Integrated Control and Coherent Organisational Structure – A Longitudinal Case Study of an Insurance Company

OpenAIRE

Poth, Susanna

2014-01-01

Competitive advantage has received considerable attention. Few studies have however chosen a holistic approach taking multiple aspects and organisational levels into consideration. This research has the goal of filling parts of this void. The aim is to deepen the understanding of competitive advantage in the service industry by analysing how alignment of strategy, control and organisation structure on multiple organisational levels impacts competitive advantage of a service company over a lon...

Requirements for success in competitive energy markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallis, E.

1997-01-01

A summary of a lecture delivered to the Institute of Energy on a power generator's experience of the UK competitive electricity market is given. It is concluded that privatization has met the public interest better than nationalisation and that the future lies in international growth and globalisation. (UK)

Design + energy: results of a national student design competition

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1980-01-01

A national competition for students in schools of architecture was conducted during the Spring of 1980. The competition was the first of a series of competitions that emphasized the integration of architectural design and energy considerations in medium-scale building projects, and specifically applying passive solar design strategies and the appropriate use of brick masonry materials. Some 300 faculty members and over 2200 students representing 80 of the 92 US architecture schools participated in the program. A summary is presented of the program and the range of submissions grouped by problem types and general climatic region.

Made with Renewable Energy: How and Why Companies are Labeling Consumer Products

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baker Brannan, D.; Heeter, J.; Bird, L.

2012-03-01

Green marketing--a marketing strategy highlighting the environmental attributes of a product, often through the use of labels or logos--dates back to the 1970s. It did not proliferate until the 1990s, however, when extensive market research identified a rapidly growing group of consumers with a heightened concern for the environment. This group expressed not only a preference for green products but also a willingness to pay a premium for such products. The response was a surge in green marketing that lasted through the early 1990s. This report discusses the experience of companies that communicate to consumers that their products are 'made with renewable energy.' For this report, representatives from 20 companies were interviewed and asked to discuss their experiences marketing products produced using renewable energy. The first half of this report provides an overview of the type of companies that have labeled products or advertised them as being made with renewable energy. It also highlights the avenues companies use to describe their use of renewable energy. The second half of the report focuses on the motivations for making on-product claims about the use of renewable energy and the challenges in doing so.

40 CFR 35.6555 - Competition.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... current and include enough qualified sources to ensure maximum open and free competition. Recipients must... transactions in a manner providing maximum full and open competition. (a) Restrictions on competition... bonding requirements; (3) Noncompetitive pricing practices between firms or between affiliated companies...

The retail market : competition choice and challenges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiersma, J. [Veridian Corp., Ajax, ON (Canada)

2002-07-01

This presentation includes a brief overview of the corporate structure of Veridian Corporation and discusses the concept of customer choice and competition regarding the electric power industry in Ontario. Pricing and price stability was also discussed with reference to the outlook of electricity retailing. The Veridian holding company employs a total of 149 employees within its corporate structure which includes Veridian Energy Inc., Veridian Connections Inc. (a local electric distribution company), and Firstsource Inc. (an energy retailing business). Veridian operates in the Ontario cities of Pickering, Ajax, Clarington, and Belleville. The author notes that true customer choice occurs when customers have accurate price information before they buy a product, or when they have choice regarding who they buy the product from. Likewise, true competition occurs when there are multiple suppliers, when there is sufficient supply, and when prices are determined by demand. Although the electricity market in Ontario was opened to competition on May 1, 2002, customers do not really have a choice, nor does true competition exist. The author suggests that the Pickering generating station must be brought back on-line, as well as an investment climate that will attract new investors in power generation to Ontario. It was noted that government intervention is not helpful in stimulating investment in the power system. Pricing and price stability was discussed with reference to current trends in the import/export balance. The volatility in prices is expected to get worse in the near future, which is particularly detrimental to large power users who are seeking the assurance of a fixed price so that they could predict their production costs. 2 tabs., 4 figs.

The retail market : competition choice and challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wiersma, J.

2002-01-01

This presentation includes a brief overview of the corporate structure of Veridian Corporation and discusses the concept of customer choice and competition regarding the electric power industry in Ontario. Pricing and price stability was also discussed with reference to the outlook of electricity retailing. The Veridian holding company employs a total of 149 employees within its corporate structure which includes Veridian Energy Inc., Veridian Connections Inc. (a local electric distribution company), and Firstsource Inc. (an energy retailing business). Veridian operates in the Ontario cities of Pickering, Ajax, Clarington, and Belleville. The author notes that true customer choice occurs when customers have accurate price information before they buy a product, or when they have choice regarding who they buy the product from. Likewise, true competition occurs when there are multiple suppliers, when there is sufficient supply, and when prices are determined by demand. Although the electricity market in Ontario was opened to competition on May 1, 2002, customers do not really have a choice, nor does true competition exist. The author suggests that the Pickering generating station must be brought back on-line, as well as an investment climate that will attract new investors in power generation to Ontario. It was noted that government intervention is not helpful in stimulating investment in the power system. Pricing and price stability was discussed with reference to current trends in the import/export balance. The volatility in prices is expected to get worse in the near future, which is particularly detrimental to large power users who are seeking the assurance of a fixed price so that they could predict their production costs. 2 tabs., 4 figs

Energy and environmental efficiency in competitive power markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Warwick, W.M.

1995-02-01

For years the electric utility industry operated as a regulated monopoly, largely immune to market forces except those of competing fuels. That era came to an end with the Public Utilities Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) of 1974, which created a market for non-utility generated power. Within twenty years, non-regulated, non-utility generators had become the primary supplier of new energy resources. Their market power is matched by their political power, as evidenced in the Energy Policy Act of 1994 (EPAct), which requires open access to utility transmission lines to facilitate inter-utility bulk power sales. The conventional wisdom is that active wholesale power markets with competition among alternative generators will lead to lower power-development costs and cheaper retail power prices. The trend towards alternative bulk power sources at low prices intersects with large retail power customers' interest in accessing alternative power supplies. In most cases, these alternatives to local utilities are at a lower cost than retail rates. For the most part, proponents of generation competition have remained silent about potential environmental consequences. However, skeptics of increased competition, including major environmental groups, cite environmental impacts among their concerns. This report examines these concerns

75 FR 54618 - CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-08

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. EL10-84-000] CAlifornians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, California Public Utilities Commission; Notice of Complaint...

75 FR 66744 - Californians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-29

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. EL10-84-001] Californians for Renewable Energy, Inc. (CARE) v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, California Public Utilities Commission; Notice of Amended...

Competitive Intelligence in Perspective to be a Source of Competitive Advantage and Strategic Contributions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Felipe Gama Buzzerio

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This article examines the prospect of Competitive Intelligence (CI constitute a source of competitive advantage in light of the Resource Based View and its contribution to the strategic management of the company. Relies on exploratory and descriptive research using the qualitative method. Six managers responsible for CI activities institutionalized in large different business companies were interviewed. Data were processed and analyzed with the application of content analysis. It was concluded that the CI is unable to be a source of competitive advantage but rather as an effective support to decision making process in the surveyed companies. Apparently CI products meet the specific needs of internal customers, facilitate the integration of CI with marketing and operations, help in the identification of risks through the analysis of strategic information, which is a differentiator compared to other types of intelligences.

Simulation of power plant construction in competitive Korean electricity market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahn, Nam Sung; Huh, Sung Chul

2001-01-01

This paper describes the forecast of power plant construction in competitive Korean electricity market. In Korea, KEPCO (Korean Electric Power Corporation, fully controlled by government) was responsible for from the production of the electricity to the sale of electricity to customer. However, the generation part is separated from KEPCO and six generation companies were established for whole sale competition from April 1st, 2001. The generation companies consist of five fossil power companies and one nuclear power company. Fossil power companies are schedule to be sold to private companies including foreign investors. Nuclear power company is owned by government. The competition in generation market will start from 2003. ISO (Independence System Operator) will purchase the electricity from the power exchange market. The market price is determined by the SMP (System Marginal Price) which is decided by the balance between demand and supply of electricity in power exchange market. Under this uncertain circumstance, the energy policy planners are interested to the construction of the power plant in the future. These interests are accelerated due to the recent shortage of electricity supply in California. In the competitive market, investors are no longer interested in the investment for the capital intensive, long lead time generating technologies. Large nuclear and coal plants were no longer the top choices. Instead, investors in the competitive market are interested in smaller, more efficient, cheaper, cleaner technologies such as CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine). Electricity is treated as commodity in the competitive market. The investor's behavior in the commodity market shows that the new investment decision is made when the market price exceeds the sum of capital cost and variable cost of the new facility and the existing facility utilization depends on the marginal cost of the facility. This investor's behavior can be applied to the new investments for the

The use of corporate entrepreneurship by Gefeba Elektro GmbH : The case study of a German medium-sized company in the highly competitive process automation sector

OpenAIRE

Alami, Tarik; Montier, Cécile

2014-01-01

Corporate entrepreneurship has gained renewed interested in research since global markets are evolving and industries become more and more competitive. Information is transferred across the globe rapidly so that products and processes can be copied quickly. In order to be competitive, companies need to enhance creativity, their technological knowledge and market know-how. This high competitiveness leads to a dilemma where innovation is a key to survive whilst the size and administration may s...

Challenges of Iran's energy conversion agreements in future competitive market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sobhiyah, M.H.; Kashtiban, Y.Kh.

2008-01-01

Extensive need for electricity and lack of enough governmental resources for the development of related infrastructures forced the Iranian Government to invite private investors and to sign Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA) in the form of build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-operate-own (BOO) contracts with them. Accordingly, electricity purchase would be based on a guaranteed price. Changes in some laws in 2007 caused the management of the ECAs and electricity purchase based on guaranteed price to face challenges. Shortening the commercial operation period of the earlier ECAs and signing some new short-term ECAs were the steps taken by the authorities to resolve the problems. By shortening the ECAs' commercial operation period, it is likely to cause serious problems concerning the payments of the project companies, because of shortages in the government's financial resources. The findings of the present viewpoint suggest signing of new long-term contracts (20 years long) in the form of a combinational agreement for buying the produced electricity with a guaranteed price (in the first 5 years) and supplying it in the competitive power market (for the following years) would be a better way to reduce the problems

Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package. To build a low carbon, competitive and energy secure European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerin, E.; Spencer, Th.

2011-01-01

As the EU's climate and energy goals defined in its Climate and Energy Package (CEP) are to protect the climate, to protect EU economic competitiveness, and to protect EU energy security, the authors first define these notions (time consistency, competitiveness, energy security) and stress the importance of strengthening the CEP, notably by fostering low carbon technology investment and low carbon products and services innovation. They discuss several policy recommendations for the development of a low carbon, competitive and energy secure EU. These recommendations are notably based on the strengthening of current instruments and on the implementation of new tools to reach the 20% energy efficiency target, on an increase stringency and predictability of the EU ETS, and on the use of direct public financial support to facilitate the transition towards a EU low carbon economy

Polish model of electric energy market-bulk energy tariff

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malysa, H.

1994-01-01

The key problem of electric energy supply industry reform is gradually launching a competitive wholesale generation market since 1994. In process of this transformation the important role plays bulk energy supply tariff in electricity transactions between Polish Power Grid Company and distribution and retail supply companies (distributors). Premises, factors and constrains having influence on shaping of the bulk energy supply tariff are presented. A brief outline of economic foundation for calculation of demand charges and energy rate is given. Particular attention has been paid to description of bulk energy supply tariff structure. The scope and manner of adjustment of this tariff to circumstances and constrains in the initial stage of the wholesale electric energy market have been described as well. (author). 8 refs

Wood-energy market impact on competition, procurement practices, and profitability of landowners and forest products industry in the U.S. south

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conrad, Joseph L. IV.; Bolding, M. Chad; Smith, Robert L.; Aust, W. Michael

2011-01-01

Recent emphasis on producing energy from woody biomass has raised questions about the impact of a wood-energy market on the U.S. South's wood supply chain. We surveyed wood-energy facilities, fibermills, sawmills, private landowners, and government landholders to investigate the expected impact of a vibrant wood-energy market on the southern wood supply chain. Specifically, our study was designed to document potential competition for resources, wood supply chain profitability, and landowner willingness to sell timber to energy facilities. Results indicate that wood-energy facilities and traditional mills were not competing for raw material on a large scale at the time of the study, but competition is expected over the next decade. Almost 90% of fibermills reported that traditional forest industry mills should enter the wood-energy market, but most were skeptical that the new market would improve profitability. Ninety percent of responding landowners reported a willingness to sell to energy facilities if the right price is offered and all of those who had already sold timber to an energy facility were satisfied with the experience. Only 3.5% of respondents were unwilling to sell timber to an energy company, and only one of these respondents listed timber production as a primary objective, which indicates those who would not harvest timber for energy, may be unlikely to harvest timber for other purposes also. This study suggests that the southern wood supply chain is in position to profit from a wood-energy market; however, concerns remain about the coexistence of the forest products and wood-energy industries. (author)

Trading and risk management during the transition to competition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Palmer, A.

2001-01-01

This power point presentation outlined the risks facing companies active in competitive energy markets. It reviewed and explained various types of risks including physical, market, credit, liquidity, volumetric and operational risks. The management of price risks includes trading and risk management strategies aimed at exploiting the alternatives associated with highly volatile power and fuel markets. The presentation also reviewed financial energy management in terms of the fuel markets and wholesale markets. Approaches to trading were also presented. tabs., figs

Competitiveness of nuclear energy - Key findings from an OECD study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertel, Evelyne

2006-01-01

Economic competitiveness always has been a cornerstone in decision making for electricity generation options but the liberalization of energy markets has enhanced its importance. For private investors in de-regulated markets the economic attractiveness of a project is often 'the' driving factor. For plant owners and operators reducing costs is a key objective. The relative competitiveness of nuclear energy as compared with alternatives has been investigated in a recent OECD study which noted some evolution in the ranking of different options as compared with results published seven years ago. In particular the volatility of fossil fuel prices, notably natural gas for electricity generation, along with technical progress enhancing the reliability and availability factor of nuclear power plants have had a significant influence on comparative economic performance of base-load options. Furthermore, as governments implement progressively policies to address global climate change threat, the moves to internalize the costs of carbon emissions is increasing the competitiveness of low-carbon options such as renewable energy sources and nuclear power versus coal and to a lesser extent gas. (authors)

Probabilistic energy forecasting: Global Energy Forecasting Competition 2014 and beyond

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hong, Tao; Pinson, Pierre; Fan, Shu

2016-01-01

The energy industry has been going through a significant modernization process over the last decade. Its infrastructure is being upgraded rapidly. The supply, demand and prices are becoming more volatile and less predictable than ever before. Even its business model is being challenged fundamenta......The energy industry has been going through a significant modernization process over the last decade. Its infrastructure is being upgraded rapidly. The supply, demand and prices are becoming more volatile and less predictable than ever before. Even its business model is being challenged...... fundamentally. In this competitive and dynamic environment, many decision-making processes rely on probabilistic forecasts to quantify the uncertain future. Although most of the papers in the energy forecasting literature focus on point or singlevalued forecasts, the research interest in probabilistic energy...

NON-COMPETITION CLAUSES IN COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MIHAELA IRINA IONESCU

2011-04-01

Full Text Available We begin with an analysis of areas where rivalry between economic agents can not show (any act of competition committed in this area drawing the liability of the author, we will then analyze competition in relations between the trader and servant or other employees and continue with the analysis of the legal ban on competition in the limited liability companies and joint stock companies. So, the relevant provisions of Law 31/1990 are reviewed, views of legal doctrine and practice of judicial rulings on the nature and purpose of the relevant provisions referred to, their scope, applicability of statutory prohibition against competition in the profile activity of the company, the prohibition in the liquidation phase, procedural methods which can cover damage caused to the creditor’s violated rights, as well as statute of limitations for the right to action and prescription.

Transnational Energy Companies' Investment Allocation Decisions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Osmundsen, Petter; Emhjellen, Magne; Halleraker, Morten

2001-10-01

When making international capital budgeting decisions, energy companies are often faced with capital and organisational constraints. The constraints may be real or management imposed. In addition, when entering into a new country or region the companies will incur fixed new area costs that must be considered before investment approval. The decision problem is therefore not a linear problem where the standard net present value rule applies, but a non-linear problem of selecting the combination of projects with the maximum aggregate net present value. New project investments will therefore be selected based on the size of the net present value (often referred to as financial volume or materiality) compared to the projects' use of capital and scarce personnel and organisational capacity. Consequently, projects with a positive net present value, but with low materiality, may not be approved. The portfolio choice has a parallel to the company's choice of core areas. Instead of complex portfolio models, the companies often apply simpler allocation mechanisms, e.g., combinations of fixed investment budgets and materiality requirements. Analysing petroleum cases, we compare the allocations decisions generated by portfolio models and simpler mechanisms. We also discuss the implications of this capital allocation pattern for governments' design of tax systems and license conditions. (author)

Oil companies: institutional and economic transformation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clo, Alberto

2007-01-01

In the last century, experience in the oil industry, suggested that some particular conditions were functional to the success of big companies strategies when facing exogenous market conditions hold true even nowadays, in face of the energy market institutional and economic transformations which are in place since the start of the new century. In other ways, are the majors still able to anticipate the market shifts and changes and to profit of these in terms of growth opportunities and competitiveness? [it

Climate policy impacts on the competitiveness of energy-intensive manufacturing sectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bassi, Andrea M. [Millennium Institute, 2111 Wilson Blvd, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22201 (United States); University of Bergen, Postboks 7800, 5020 Bergen (Norway); Yudken, Joel S. [High Road Strategies, LLC, 104 N. Columbus Street, Arlington, VA 22203 (United States); Ruth, Matthias [University of Maryland, 3139 Van Munching Hall, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)

2009-08-15

This study examines the impacts of energy price changes resulting from different carbon-pricing policies on the competitiveness of selected US energy-intensive industries. It further examines possible industry responses, and identifies and provides a preliminary evaluation of potential opportunities to mitigate these impacts. The industry sectors investigated - steel, aluminum, chemicals and paper - are among the largest industrial users of fossil fuels in the US economy. The results of this examination show that climate policies that put a price on carbon could have substantial impacts on the competitiveness of US energy-intensive manufacturing sectors over the next two decades, if climate regulations are applied only in the United States, and no action is taken to invest in advanced low- and no-carbon technologies. The extent of these impacts will vary across industries, depending on their energy intensities, the mix of energy sources they rely on and how energy is used in production activities (heat and power, feedstock). Of relevance is also the speed and rigor with which industries adopt new technologies and retire (or replace) old ones. Other factors affecting these impacts include an industry's vulnerability to foreign imports and its ability to pass through cost increases to its customers in the face of international market competition. (author)

Climate policy impacts on the competitiveness of energy-intensive manufacturing sectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bassi, Andrea M.; Yudken, Joel S.; Ruth, Matthias

2009-01-01

This study examines the impacts of energy price changes resulting from different carbon-pricing policies on the competitiveness of selected US energy-intensive industries. It further examines possible industry responses, and identifies and provides a preliminary evaluation of potential opportunities to mitigate these impacts. The industry sectors investigated - steel, aluminum, chemicals and paper - are among the largest industrial users of fossil fuels in the US economy. The results of this examination show that climate policies that put a price on carbon could have substantial impacts on the competitiveness of US energy-intensive manufacturing sectors over the next two decades, if climate regulations are applied only in the United States, and no action is taken to invest in advanced low- and no-carbon technologies. The extent of these impacts will vary across industries, depending on their energy intensities, the mix of energy sources they rely on and how energy is used in production activities (heat and power, feedstock). Of relevance is also the speed and rigor with which industries adopt new technologies and retire (or replace) old ones. Other factors affecting these impacts include an industry's vulnerability to foreign imports and its ability to pass through cost increases to its customers in the face of international market competition.

Has renewable energy induced competitive behavior in the Spanish electricity market?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ciarreta, Aitor; Espinosa, Maria Paz; Pizarro-Irizar, Cristina

2017-01-01

Recent energy policy has favored a massive introduction of Renewable Energy Sources on electricity markets, which has greatly impacted their performance. First, the electricity price has decreased as a consequence of the so-called merit-order effect. Another relevant effect is associated to the intermittent nature of Renewable Energy, which has increased the cost of ancillary services. A third and important aspect, less addressed in the literature, is the induced change in the strategic behavior of the conventional electricity producers. In principle, the entry of new generators in a concentrated market would make it more competitive and change the strategic behavior of the incumbents. We test this hypothesis for the Spanish wholesale market. While we find no significant change in behavior for Nuclear, Hydropower and Coal, a change is observed in Combined Cycle bidding strategies after the entry of renewable generators. Our analysis shows that the massive entry of Renewable Energy Sources made other generators' behavior more competitive in the short run, but the effect was not persistent. - Highlights: • The indirect effects of RES affect prices in electricity markets. • RES induced little change in Nuclear, Coal and Hydropower generation. • Combined Cycle bidding strategies have evolved to adapt to the introduction of RES. • RES made Combined Cycle's behavior more competitive in the short run. • The competitive effect induced by RES is not persistent in the long run.

Competitive advantages in nets of micro, small and medium companies: the case of Brazil School Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaine Fermoseli Vilga

2008-09-01

Full Text Available In this article, it is presented a study about a stationery stores’ associativism called Brazil School Network. The objective was to verify the companies’ competitive advantages once taken part in this type of association. Primary data were collected in 45 stationery stores, starting from the 85 stores of São Paulo State. The productive, technological or services cooperation among micro, small and medium companies represent an alternative for the collective proits attainment among the actors. The strategical alliances, networks of companies, clusters, virtual organizations, incubators, local productive arrangements, condominiums and trusts represent forms of complementary resources coordination and management, distinct from the hierarchy and market. In the article, the typology and mechanisms for coordination of small and medium companies’ networks are also explored. The results show high beneits to the stationery stores associated to Brazil Scholar Network, which would not be possible if they were managed in isolated and independent way.

Competition, Ownership and Productivity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baghdasaryan, Delia; la Cour, Lisbeth

2013-01-01

Theoretical results support two concurrent views regarding the mediating role that ownership structure might play on the effect of competition on firm performance. According to one stream of literature, competition has a high, positive impact in companies that have an effective ownership structur...

Clusters and the new economics of competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, M E

1998-01-01

Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be a source of competitive advantage. Open global markets, rapid transportation, and high-speed communications should allow any company to source any thing from any place at any time. But in practice, Michael Porter demonstrates, location remains central to competition. Today's economic map of the world is characterized by what Porter calls clusters: critical masses in one place of linked industries and institutions--from suppliers to universities to government agencies--that enjoy unusual competitive success in a particular field. The most famous example are found in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but clusters dot the world's landscape. Porter explains how clusters affect competition in three broad ways: first, by increasing the productivity of companies based in the area; second, by driving the direction and pace of innovation; and third, by stimulating the formation of new businesses within the cluster. Geographic, cultural, and institutional proximity provides companies with special access, closer relationships, better information, powerful incentives, and other advantages that are difficult to tap from a distance. The more complex, knowledge-based, and dynamic the world economy becomes, the more this is true. Competitive advantage lies increasingly in local things--knowledge, relationships, and motivation--that distant rivals cannot replicate. Porter challenges the conventional wisdom about how companies should be configured, how institutions such as universities can contribute to competitive success, and how governments can promote economic development and prosperity.

STRATEGIES FOR ACHIEVING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

OpenAIRE

Jusuf ZEKIRI; Alexandru NEDELEA

2011-01-01

This paper is organized in three parts. A brief overview of the importance of strategies within companies, as well as literature review is presented along with traditional approaches on strategies for achieving competitive advantage, and new approaches for gaining a competitive advantage. The main objective of the paper is to outline and discuss the relevant issues and challenges from a theoretical viewpoint related with the possible strategy formulation of companies in order to achieve a com...

Regulatory competition in partnership law.

OpenAIRE

Siems, Mathias

2009-01-01

Regulatory competition in company law has been extensively debated in the last few decades, but it has rarely been discussed whether there could also be regulatory competition in partnership law. This article fills this gap. It addresses the partnership law of the US, the UK, Germany, and France, and presents empirical data on the different types of partnerships and companies established in these jurisdictions. The main focus is on the use of a limited liability partnership (LLP) outside its ...

High-resolution insight into the competitive adsorption of heavy metals on natural sediment by site energy distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Limin; Jin, Qiang; Tandon, Puja; Li, Aimin; Shan, Aidang; Du, Jiajie

2018-04-01

Investigating competitive adsorption on river/lake sediments is valuable for understanding the fate and transport of heavy metals. Most studies have studied the adsorption isotherms of competitive heavy metals, which mainly comparing the adsorption information on the same concentration. However, intrinsically, the concentration of each heavy metal on competitive adsorption sites is different, while the adsorption energy is identical. Thus, this paper introduced the site energy distribution theory to increase insight into the competitive adsorption of heavy metals (Cu, Cd and Zn). The site energy distributions of each metal with and without other coexisting heavy metals were obtained. It illustrated that site energy distributions provide much more information than adsorption isotherms through screening of the full energy range. The results showed the superior heavy metal in each site energy area and the influence of competitive metals on the site energy distribution of target heavy metal. Site energy distributions can further help in determining the competitive sites and ratios of coexisting metals. In particular, in the high-energy area, which has great environmental significance, the ratios of heavy metals in the competitive adsorption sites obtained for various competitive systems were as follows: slightly more than 3:1 (Cu-Cd), slightly less than 3:1 (Cu-Zn), slightly more than 1:1 (Cd-Zn), and nearly 7:2:2 (Cu-Cd-Zn). The results from this study are helpful to deeply understand competitive adsorption of heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Zn) on sediment. Therefore, this study was effective in presenting a general pattern for future reference in competitive adsorption studies on sediments. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sustainability and Financial Performance of Companies in the Energy Sector in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragos Paun

2017-09-01

Full Text Available In the article, we focus on the question of sustainability in the renewable energy sector of Romania. The aim of the current paper is to analyze the financial performance of the companies operating in the field. Our assumption is that the success of the implementation of the energy switch from classic to renewables relies on the businesses operating in this industry. In our article, we have selected the most prominent players in the energy industry, comparing the performance of those that are producing renewable energy to the ones that are producing energy using fossil fuels. Our analysis has shown that, starting with 2013, the companies have encountered financial difficulties, which has led to a halt in investments and the questioning of the sustainability of entering the market. After analyzing the data, we have seen that the investments have been rather opportunistic, based on the commitment of the government to keep the subsidies introduced by the policy, and have not been based on the realistic long-term financial performance of the companies in this area.

Nuclear energy in future sustainable, competitive energy mixes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Echavarri, L.

2002-01-01

nuclear power. For the medium term, 2030-2050, new reactors aiming at reducing capital costs, enhancing safety and improving the efficiency of natural resource use are being developed by designers. In order to address new challenges of deregulated markets, innovative reactor designs should enhance economic competitiveness and reduce financial risks of nuclear energy. The renewed interest of governments for the nuclear option (e.g., US, Finland) has triggered national and international initiatives (GIF, INPRO) aiming at defining and implementing co-operative R and D programmes leading to the deployment of a new generation of nuclear systems meeting the economic, environmental and social goals of sustainable development. International co-operation is essential for a successful renaissance of nuclear energy in the competitive context of the new millennium. Sharing experience, expertise and know-how across countries offers unique opportunities for synergy and cost effectiveness. Intergovernmental organisations such as NEA can play a key role in this regard through providing a framework for exchanging information and undertaking joint projects. (author)

Energy, enterprises and transports: how conciliate competitiveness and responsibility; Energie, entreprises et transports: comment concilier competitivite et responsabilite?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2003-05-01

The meeting on the enterprises and transports competitiveness in a context of energy conservation, organized in Nice the 15 april 2003, took place three topics: are the competitiveness of enterprises and the energy consumptions mastership reconcilable? What are the solutions to answer the market demands with a decrease of the energy consumption? Concerning the goods transport, must we leave the road transport? The whole texts of the round tables and the open and exit allocution are also provided. (A.L.B.)

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF HOTEL COMPANIES: CASE STUDY OF HOTEL COMPANIES IN VOJVODINA (SERBIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetlana VUKOSAV

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Contemporary approaches to the management of the company are focused on achieving long-term success of the company in its complex and changing environment. Company as part of the wider environment, must adapt to the changing environment in order to survive, growing and developing. The task of strategic management is to enable the enterprise in the tourism industry to rationally and promptly react to changes in the environment in which it carries out its business and general activity. The aim of this paper is to determine whether and to what extent the process of the strategic management is being implemented in hotels in Vojvodina(that are changed ownership structure and what is their response to the competitive pressures and opportunities, and demands and needs of consumers Strategic positioning in order to achieve sustainable competitive advantage through product differentiation and segmentation of demand is imperative for success of hotel companies in Vojvodina.

The account manager: Link between the customer and the energy distribution company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Gelder, J.W.

1993-01-01

The monopolistic utility companies are rapidly turning into customer-oriented and efficient organizations. To be able to put client-oriented ideas into practice the whole organization has to be changed. A new job is that of account manager, the satellite between customer and energy company. Views and experiences of two distribution companies and the Nederlandse Gasunie are given and discussed. 3 ills

Competitive intelligence: An instrument to enhance South Africa’s competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wilma Viviers

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The case for Competitive Intelligence (CI as an instrument that can enhance the competitiveness of South African companies and South Africa as a country is strong. Various global competitive rankings measurements have indicated over a number of years the areas in which competitiveness is lacking. Moreover, these rankings have indicated that South Africa has failed to improve its position year on year. The fact that the world is becoming increasingly competitive for South African entities is undisputed. Coupled with a fluctuating exchange rate and the country’s geographical proximity, this poses unique challenges facing South African managers who have to deal with various regulations and legislative matters. In order to create and sustain an effective knowledge economy and to enhance global competitiveness, South Africa however has to put appropriate strategies/measures in place to stimulate, encourage and grow knowledge practices. Competitive Intelligence (CI as a means of making more sense of the competitive business environment and to identify opportunities and risks in time to act upon can be effectively used as a means to enhance competitiveness. Valuable lessons from successful CI practices in the business sector and government can be learnt from elsewhere in the world. CI should be investigated and adapted for South Africa’s business environment. It is therefore the aim of this article to first attempt to describe the role of CI in enhancing competitiveness, specifically in South Africa and secondly, to stimulate thought on how to secure momentum in enhancing CI as an academic field by developing relevant CI courses as well as demonstrating the value of CI to companies in South Africa through research and collaboration between academics and the private and public sectors.

Competition Law and the Energy Sector (Konkurenčno pravo in energetski sektor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Grilc

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the influence and place of competition law in the energy sector. Since energy is considered an economic sector, which is regulated, it also touches the phenomenon of regulation itself, as well as the liberalization. In terms of content it is divided into two parts. The first set is of general and introductory character. It deals with regulation, liberalization and competition law from conceptual aspects and tackles the relationship between rules that constitute sectoral regulation and legislation in the field of competition law. The different packages liberalization in the EU, especially the sectoral report in 2007 are dealt with, as well. The second part goes deeper into the analysis of recent cases in the field of competition law in the EU. It deals with agreements which restrict competition, abuse of dominant position. In particular, it analyses the long-term supply contracts and all steps for their assessment, as well as the competitive problems of public undertakings and undertakings with exclusive rights, and the latest anti-competitive practices.

The energy sector at a cross roads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2000-01-01

The power and gas markets in Europe are changing radically. Increasing competition and comprehensive structural changes affect the conditions for value creation in the energy sector and the development of the Norwegian energy companies, which are mainly publicly owned. At the same time the demand on the owners is increasing, above all when it comes to strategic vigour in connection with necessary structural changes to adapt the companies to the new market conditions. The development of powerful Norwegian energy companies requires that the owners consider changes in the corporate structures, that the companies are partially privatised and at the same time that the goals of the ownership are clarified and the owner competence strengthened

Municipal energy and climate policy in a liberalized energy market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burger, H.

2001-05-01

Due to the ongoing process of liberalisation, Dutch municipal energy policy is undergoing significant changes. The probable privatisation of energy companies, the change from what used to be 'their' local energy company to what will become an energy company, results in a need for local administrations to build up energy knowledge, end-use information and financial resources that 'their' energy companies used to share but, because of operating in a competitive market, are now more reluctant to do so. On the other hand offers privatisation and the selling of shares the possibility for some local governments to collect a significant sum of money which can be addressed to energy policy. This process of growing responsibility of local administrations for their own energy policy coincides with the structural change of the nature of the energy supply in the Netherlands. The change towards a more decentralised energy supply results in more energy systems (e.g. PV and wind) coming under the influence of local regulations. Municipal governments will have to act more like actors in a complex policy network, playing different roles at different times in different situations, often stimulating and regulating at the same time. The growing popularity of platforms like energy agencies, bringing together parties like the local government, energy companies and commercial- and housing associations are examples hereof. In this report, another new role for local governments resulting from the liberalisation process is highlighted: the role of energy consumer. It is estimated that the aggregated electricity demand resulting from activities under direct municipal responsibility (e.g. municipal dwellings, traffic lights, public lighting) amounts to a fairly large share of the market. Due to the public interests vested in the local administrations, it is expected that an important part of this demand is demand for green electricity. Also, local governments can use the energy markets to act

Evaluating impacts of organizational intelligence in creating competitive strategy in companies producing powder coating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Somaye Nasiri

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Organizational intelligence (OI plays an important role on creating competitive strategy. This paper measure the effect of OI differentiation through value chain of organizational activities. The proposed study is applied in companies, which are active in the field of producing powder coating. Literature and background of research was reviewed to compile theoretical framework of the research model and after conducting library studies and performing exploratory interviews, important factors influencing OI on various sectors of the organization were extracted. In the same direction, these components were assessed through survey research and questionnaire tool. The proposed study uses structural equation modeling is implemented to study the effects of various factors and the validity of relationship among components was confirmed through a conceptual model.

Separation of energy companies. Judicial aspects. Fiscal aspects of unbundling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slotboom, M.M.; Ter Heegde, A.

2005-01-01

There is much discussion in the Netherlands about the plan of the Dutch government to separate (unbundle) energy companies into a commercial energy supply business and a network business. In a series of articles attention will be paid to the legal aspects of the separation (unbundling) [nl

Using the Web for Competitive Intelligence (CI) Gathering

Science.gov (United States)

Rocker, JoAnne; Roncaglia, George

2002-01-01

Businesses use the Internet as a way to communicate company information as a way of engaging their customers. As the use of the Web for business transactions and advertising grows, so too, does the amount of useful information for practitioners of competitive intelligence (CI). CI is the legal and ethical practice of information gathering about competitors and the marketplace. Information sources like company webpages, online newspapers and news organizations, electronic journal articles and reports, and Internet search engines allow CI practitioners analyze company strengths and weaknesses for their customers. More company and marketplace information than ever is available on the Internet and a lot of it is free. Companies should view the Web not only as a business tool but also as a source of competitive intelligence. In a highly competitive marketplace can any organization afford to ignore information about the other players and customers in that same marketplace?

Research on service strategy of electricity selling company under the reform of electricity market

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Zhuhan; Meng, Shiyu; Dou, Jinyue; Zeng, Ming; Sun, Chenjun

2017-10-01

The opening of the sale side of electricity market is an important goal of the new round of power system reform in China, and it is necessary to speed up the establishment and development of the electricity selling companies to achieve this goal. First of all, this paper defines the key problems, which are needed to be solved in the establishment of the sale side market, such as demand side response, optimization of users' power consumption mode, profit mode of electricity selling companies and fair competition in the market. On this basis, this paper analyzes the business of electricity selling company, from the aspects of the transition of business ideas, improving the energy efficiency level, providing integrated energy solutions and innovating business management mode; and then, the service strategies of electricity selling companies are put forward.

Weathering the competition through cooperation at customer service level; Erfolgreich im Wettbewerb durch Kooperation im Kundenservice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quante, Katrin [VISOS GmbH, Moers (Germany)

2012-01-15

Rising customer churn rates in the wake of stiffening competition are aggravating the cost pressure on energy supply companies. More and more energy suppliers are seeking cooperations as a means of countering the growing cost pressure, rapidity of change and growing complexity of their workflows. Especially small and medium-sized utilities see this as an appropriate means of holding their own against large energy suppliers. In other branches of industry inter-company cooperations at the economic or technical level are already established practice. Recent project experiences have shown that such cooperation models can be transferred with equal success to the energy sector at customer service level.

Competition Experiments as a Means of Evaluating Linear Free Energy Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Mullins, Richard J.; Vedernikov, Andrei; Viswanathan, Rajesh

2004-01-01

The use of competition experiments as a means of evaluating linear free energy relationship in the undergraduate teaching laboratory is reported. The use of competition experiments proved to be a reliable method for the construction of Hammett plots with good correlation providing great flexibility with regard to the compounds and reactions that…

78 FR 62615 - Healthy Planet Partners Energy Company, LLC; Supplemental Notice that Initial Market-Based Rate...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER14-96-000] Healthy Planet Partners Energy Company, LLC; Supplemental Notice that Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes Request... of Healthy Planet Partners Energy Company, LLC's application for market- based rate authority, with...

The vulnerability and resilience of the company in modern economic space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Denis Viktorovich Kopantsev

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Modern economic space is characterized by a multitude of emergencies, unusual situations, and interference to the development of business. In these conditions, competitive immunity of the company cannot always stay on the same level - a strategic essential characteristic of the company, revealing not only the company's ability to compete in the market of business entities, but also the company's ability to withstand the potential risks from external and internal shocks (in case of crisis, natural disasters, accidents and other emergencies and the company's ability to recover from disruptive events due to the presence of internal, sometimes not popular and not involved resources and assets. Among the possible approaches to monitoring of company's competitive immunity is a significant reduction in its assessment of vulnerability and enhancement of resilience. Reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience of the company in a competitive environment is a highly difficult strategic challenge, requiring maximum inclusion of intellectual capital and other intangible assets. The fact that for the long-term survival and growth of the company it is needed to understand how to anticipate market changes and, accordingly, adapt to those. Without strategic thinking it is hardly possible to speak about the viability of the company in today's competitive economy. In this connection, there is such a phenomenon emerging as an economic (competitive intelligence, which is broadly and more actively being positioned in today's marketing environment. Competitive intelligence is considered in this paper as a special tool for market research, aimed at formulating and implementing a proactive strategy, where the fragments of events in the marketing environment are put together - that allows identifying strategic risks and opportunities.

Government`s response to the competitiveness problem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gover, J.; Huray, P.; Carayannis, E.

1997-11-01

This paper presents an analysis of how the US government responded to the concern in the 1980`s that US companies were experiencing problems of competitiveness in international markets. By the mid 1980`s there was great and growing concern throughout the US that US companies were experiencing difficulties in international competition. Pressure on Congress to take action came from constituents seeking jobs and companies that would directly benefit (this usually means receive public money) from programs that Congress might initiate. The fact that most constituent calls to Congress were about job creation was lost in the on-rush of R&D performers seeking funds for their favorite R&D project. In response, Congress created the Advanced Technology Program, the Technology Transfer Initiative, and the Technology Reinvestment Project, expanded the responsibilities of ARPA/DARPA, increased funding for the Small Business Initiative, expanded the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, funded SEMATECH, and increased NSF funding for basic research at universities. Many of these programs were later criticized for being industrial welfare and several were cut-back or stopped. Retrospective analysis shows that few of these programs addressed the root cause of competitiveness difficulties. In fact, by the time most of these programs were in place, US companies were well on their way to correcting their competitiveness problems. In addition, few were relevant to companies` often expressed concerns about workforce training, regulatory costs, and access to foreign markets. Twenty percent reductions in health care costs, regulatory costs, and education costs could annually pump $500 billion into the US economy and make companies operating in the US much more competitive in international markets.

Energy and competition. Supplying Europe with safe and low-cost energy; Energie und Wettbewerb. Die Versorgung Europas mit sicherer und preisguenstiger Energie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuhnt, D [RWE Energie AG, Essen (Germany)

1994-01-01

The EC Commission and the Energy Committee of the European Parliament want to achieve more competition in energy supply. To this end, deregulation is to be carried out as a first step. The proposals under discussion are based on the English-Welsh model which, however, can hardly be applied to the whole of the EC and not at all to Germany, as it provides for government controlled ``pseudo``-competition to override real competition. At the same time, the German Federal Cartel Office tries to abolish altogether the concept of territorial protection. In a ``competition`` brought about by such means, foreign utilities operating in Germany would enjoy advantages over domestic utilities. From an all-European point of view, also the draft amendment to the Energy Economy Act proposed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics, and a number of regulations covering energy trust legislation, are appearing at the wrong time. (orig.) [Deutsch] Europaeische Kommission und Energieausschuss des Europaeischen Parlamentes wollen in der Energieversorgung mehr Wettbewerb, wozu zunaechst eine Deregulierung durchgefuehrt werden soll. Pate bei den zu diskutierenden Vorschlaegen hat das englisch-walisische Modell gestanden, das aber wenig auf die gesamte Europaeische Union (EU) und gar nicht auf Deutschland uebertragbar ist, da dem tatsaechlichen ein staatlich kontrollierter Pseudo-Wettbewerb uebergestuelpt wird. Gleichzeitig versucht das Bundeskartellamt, den Gebietsschutz radikal aufzuheben. Solcherart hergestellter ``Wettbewerb`` wuerde auslaendische EVU in Deutschland gegenueber heimischen bevorteilen. Auch der Entwurf des Bundeswirtschaftsministeriums zur Novellierung des Energiewirtschaftsgesetzes und einer Reihe von energiekartellrechtlichen Vorschriften kommt aus gesamteuropaeischer Sicht zur Unzeit. (orig.)

Effects of energy and carbon taxes on building material competitiveness

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sathre, Roger; Gustavsson, Leif [Ecotechnology, Mid Sweden University, 831 25 Oestersund, (Sweden)

2007-04-15

The relations between building material competitiveness and economic instruments for mitigating climate change are explored in this bottom-up study. The effects of carbon and energy taxes on building material manufacturing cost and total building construction cost are modelled, analysing individual materials as well as comparing a wood-framed building to a reinforced concrete-framed building. The energy balances of producing construction materials made of wood, concrete, steel, and gypsum are described and quantified. For wood lumber, more usable energy is available as biomass residues than is consumed in the processing steps. The quantities of biofuels made available during the production of wood materials are calculated, and the cost differences between using these biofuels and using fossil fuels are shown under various tax regimes. The results indicate that higher energy and carbon taxation rates increase the economic competitiveness of wood construction materials. This is due to both the lower energy cost for material manufacture, and the increased economic value of biomass by-products used to replace fossil fuel. (Author)

Competitive assessment of the US: Renewable energy equipment industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1984-12-01

This report is a competitive assessment of the U.S. renewable energy equipment industry. The contents include: Definition of technologies; Industry characteristics; Historical perspectives; Industry performance; Trends and projections; The world marketplace; and Issues and options.

Project safety as a sustainable competitive advantage.

Science.gov (United States)

Rechenthin, David

2004-01-01

To be consistently profitable, a construction company must complete projects in scope, on schedule, and on budget. At the same time, the nature of the often high-risk work performed by construction companies can result in high accident rates. Clients and other stakeholders are placing increasing pressure on companies to decrease those accident rates. Clients routinely demand copies of safety plans and evidence of past results at the "pre-qualification" or "request for proposal" stages of the procurement process. Are high accident rates and the associated costs just a part of business? Companies that deliver on scope, schedule, and budget have a competitive advantage. Is it possible for projects with low accident rates to use it as a competitive advantage? Is the value added by safety just a temporary or parity issue, or does a successful safety program offer significant advantage to the company and the client? This article concludes that in the case of a high-risk industry, such as the construction industry, an organization with a successful safety program can promote safety performance as a sustainable competitive advantage. It is a choice the company can make.

77 FR 2718 - CPV Cimarron Renewable Energy Company, LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-19

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Docket No. ER12-775-000] CPV Cimarron Renewable Energy Company, LLC; Supplemental Notice That Initial Market-Based Rate Filing Includes Request... of CPV Cimarron Renewable Energy Company, LLC's application for market- based rate authority, with an...

Analysis of the competitiveness of small business

OpenAIRE

KUČEROVÁ, Iveta

2011-01-01

The bachalorś thesis is described and characterized by a particular small business. Furthermore, its competitiveness, competitiveness analysis, and analysis of its major competitors. Based on a comparison of the chosen company to the competition is based on a proposal to improve business competitiveness and market position.

77 FR 73654 - Eau Galle Renewable Energy Company, Eau Galle Hydro, LLC; Notice of Transfer of Exemption

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-11

... Renewable Energy Company, Eau Galle Hydro, LLC; Notice of Transfer of Exemption 1. By letter filed October 12, 2012, Eau Galle Renewable Energy Company informed the Commission that its exemption from... transferred to Eau Galle Renewable Energy Company by letter.\\2\\ The project is located on the Eau Galle River...

LENIENCY POLICY FOR COMPETITIVE ACTIVITY

OpenAIRE

Ilie Moga

2013-01-01

A market driven economy is inconceivable without competition. In this system, the competition is beneficial firstly for consumers, but also for producers. The former have the ability to satisfy their needs according to taste and financial ability, while the latter are incentivized to innovate and increase efficiency. Competition induces natural selection among companies. This selection must adhere to strictly abiding by competition law regulation, while regulation must benefit both consumers ...

Private capital access: a new competition dynamic on electric power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luz, A.D. da; Ribeiro, H.M.

1990-01-01

This paper intents to elaborate an interpretation on the market structure changes of the electric power generation sector based on Competition Pattern concept. It proposes to demonstrate that the recent institutional reformulations are not causes, but results from the economic movements. Finally a prospective scenery and the State Company perspectives on energy generation are anticipated. (author)

Energy globalization; La globalizacion de la energia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Andres, Tierno

1997-08-01

Toward the future, the petroleum could stop to be the main energy source in the world and the oil companies will only survive if they are adjusted to the new winds that blow in the general energy sector. It will no longer be enough to be the owner of the resource (petroleum or gas) so that a company subsists and be profitable in the long term. The future, it will depend in great measure of the vision with which the oil companies face the globalization concept that begins to experience the world in the energy sector. Concepts like globalization, competition, integration and diversification is something that the companies of the hydrocarbons sector will have very present. Globalization means that it should be been attentive to what happens in the world, beyond of the limits of its territory, or to be caught by competitive surprises that can originate in very distant places. The search of cleaner and friendlier energy sources with the means it is not the only threat that it should fear the petroleum. Their substitution for electricity in the big projects of massive transport, the technology of the communications, the optic fiber and the same relationships with the aboriginal communities are aspects that also compete with the future of the petroleum.

Energy forum 2005: Nuclear power - in competition with sustainable energy supply in Europe. Lectures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2005-01-01

The forum of energy for future organized on 29st September 2005 the annual Energy Forum at Berlin. The Energy Forum 2005 dealt with nuclear power in competition with sustainable energy supply in Europe and didn't only give their members the possibility of a discussion on this actual theme. Furtheron demanding aims on CO2-reduction, increased raw material- and energy prices as the construction of a new Finnish nuclear power plant have countries moved to evaluate again the future-oriented role of nuclear power. (orig./GL)

Energy management оf industrial enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lyaskovskaya E.A.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the intensifying condition of economic situation and increasing competitiveness in domestic and foreign markets, the most important way to develop competitive ability of an industrial company is to reduce energy costs in the production process. Insufficient level of the efficiency of energy resources usage affects an industrial company’s performance indicators and its investment attractiveness. A promising way of solving this matter is to develop and implement a strategy of rational energy consumption, which is aimed at the realization of company’s potential to optimize the consumption of electric energy by using internal and external resources in order to minimize energy costs. The strategy of rational energy consumption defines how an industrial company acquires electric energy and uses it to sustain the production. While developing and implementing the strategy, one should use a systemic and complex way and consider the following: peculiarities of electric energy and power as products; the structure of electric energy market and the possibilities of its consumers; peculiarities of price-formation on electric energy market; technical and technological, organizational and administrative, social and economic parameters of a company, characteristic features of its resource potential and production processes; the results of company’s energy efficiency audit and energy problems; company’s reserves that can increase its energy efficiency. An integral strategy of energy consumption includes a strategy for energy preservation and efficiency and a strategy for energy costs management. Both strategies are interrelated and serve for one purpose, which is minimizing the energy costs. This division helps simplify the analysis, search for alternatives and realization of energy management on operative, tactical and strategic levels, considering the regional and industry-specific peculiarities of an industrial company, its financial performance and

The renewable energy development framework - I. The challenge of renewable energy development. Territorial challenges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fournier, Mauricette; Grison, Jean-Baptiste; Rieutort, Laurent

2012-01-01

The authors comment the evolutions of renewable energy production in the world during the last thirty years and notice how the geography of this production and of the associated consumption has changed while still displaying contrasts. They also notice the diversification of actors (big companies as well as small and medium sized companies and local communities). Then, they highlight the challenges of renewable energies at the local level: these energies can be tools for local development and competitiveness, but are also matters of either cooperation or conflict (they comment factors related to social acceptance or non-acceptance of wind farm projects in France)

Suffield a cornucopia for Alberta energy company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, A.

1995-01-01

Operations of the Alberta Energy Company's (AEC) Suffield properties in southern Alberta, the company's major production area, were reviewed. With a staff of just over 100, Suffield was said to produce an average of 180 million cubic feet of natural gas and more than 4100 barrels of oil per day. Suffield's remaining reserves were estimated to be 814 billion cubic feet of gas and 6.4 million barrels of oil. The field was expected to be in production for the next 20 years. A master plan to minimize normal field decline and control operating costs at Suffield was developed by AEC. Cloning gas storage plants was one of the methods used by for cost control. Designing and constructing identical gas plants was another means of producing major savings, especially in areas such as equipment purchase, and construction

The Internet as cannibal. Energy companies and E-commerce

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Gelder, J.W.

2000-01-01

It appears that Dutch energy companies are behind two years with respect to the use of electronic commercial services through the Internet. It is advised to study the different business models for E-commerce and to make a choice quick

EU Energy Law. Volume 2. EU Competition Law and Energy Markets. 2. ed.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cabau, E.; Jones, C.; Hancher, L.; Kjoelbye, L.; Landes, V.; Van der Woude, M.

2007-09-01

This completely revised and reworked second edition: incorporates the conclusions and consequences of the Sectoral Energy Competition Enquiry; contains an entirely reworked section on anti-competitive agreements and practices; examines in detail the developments in individual cases concerning long-term capacity reservation and sales/purchase agreements; considers recent developments on cases concerning collusion on price and quantity restrictions; looks into detail at the consequences of the Sectoral enquiry on abuse of a dominant position, particularly regarding discrimination in network access; revises the section on merger control to take account of developments in the methodology in defining markets and defining dominance /significant impediment of competition from the Sectoral enquiry; includes major new merger cases: Endesa, GDF/Suez, E.ON/MOL, DONG; and finally updates the State Aid section to take account of new decisions on renewable support schemes, security of supply

Increasing the competitiveness of wind energy. New technologies for advanced wind predictability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertolotti, Fabio

2013-01-01

The performance of thermal and nuclear power plants is assessed routinely and precisely, whereas the performance assessment of wind turbines is lagging far behind. This increases operational costs, reduces energy capture, and makes wind energy less competitive. The paper presents a technology and system with improved 24-h power forecasting, as well as condition monitoring of the rotor blades. The system can be employed by any wind power plant and offers potentials to increase the competitiveness of the power industry. (orig.)

Promoting healthy competition across the energy market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

2001-01-01

As of August 1 last year, Finland's Electricity Market Authority became the Energy Market Authority. The timing of the change coincided with the introduction of Finland's new Natural Gas Market Act and reflected the extension of the Authority's responsibility to cover promoting healthy and efficient competition on both the electricity and natural gas market and to secure reasonable and equitable service principles in the operations of both networks. The Electricity Market Authority began operations in mid-1995 as an expert body subordinate to the Ministry of Trade and industry when Finland's Electricity Market Act came into force, bringing with it a phased opening-up of the Finnish electricity market. The principle task of the Authority was, and remains, to supervise the pricing of transmission, distribution, and other network services, and to ensure a healthy level of competition

Global Infrastructure Investment, Competition,and the Japanese Companies

OpenAIRE

新保, 博彦; シンポ, ヒロヒコ; Hirohiko, SHIMPO

2011-01-01

This paper discusses four infrastructure industries all of which are expected to grow rapidly in the 21st century: the electric power industry, the water industry, the railroad industry, and the aircraft and space development. First, this paper describes the general trends of the FDI in the four noted industries. Based on the above examinations, this paper investigates these industrial trends, focusing on specific companies in various countries. To investigate each individual company, this pa...

AlintaGas perspective on evolving competition in the Western Australian energy market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harvey, Ph.

1999-01-01

The author discusses the evolving competition in the Western Australian energy market, with a clear focus on gas. Before considering the future energy market, he puts today's market in perspective and set the framework within which the development of the future markets should be considered. What is a competitive market? It is a market where there are enough producers and enough users for competition between them to determine prices, which are set prices, not costs. An example of a competitive gas market in Western Australia is the Pilbara. There are enough producers and enough users in the Pilbara area that gas prices are set by the normal forces of supply and demand and transport costs are essentially negligible. There is no need for regulation or any external price setting - the forces of supply and demand determine prices. In the south west gas market there are the same gas suppliers, but a different and larger group of customers. This market differs from the Pilbara market because now there are transport costs involved. The transport element is a natural monopoly - and it is important to ensure transport prices do not distort the competitive market established between producers and users. Hence, third party access to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP), under properly regulated access arrangements to ensure there is no market distortion, allows the forces of competition to set prices in the south west gas market. Western Australia is fortunate - and unique among the Australian states - in that it has a number of gas producers keen to sell into Western Australian gas markets. Hence, gas on gas competition - as well as inter-fuel competition - is setting prices. For historic reasons - and they are good reasons - energy markets in Western Australia are not yet completely open. There is however a program of market deregulation that commenced on I January 1995 and will be completed on July 2002, which means that all gas customers, even residential

Expert assessment of the current state of the energy management system in the company

Science.gov (United States)

Minnullina, Anna; Abdrazakov, Rais

2017-10-01

The authors’ expert assessment of the current state of the energy management system in the company is proposed in the article. The experts are invited to assess the status of the energy management system in the following categories: energy policy, organizational structure, training, motivation, control, communication, investment, and energy consumption culture. For the purposes of interpretation of the results of the expert evaluation obtained, a gradation based on a possible range of values is proposed. The expert evaluation allows representing the status of the energy management system in general and at each of its individual levels, which makes it possible to identify the problem areas more accurately. To confirm the applied nature of the proposed methodology, the authors assessed the opinions of 8 experts, employed by the road construction company of the Tyumen Region and related in one way or another to the process of energy consumption in the company due to the nature of their activities.

Energy issues, destabilization challenge? The nuclear power example

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castel, Viviane du

2010-01-01

The depletion of oil, geopolitical uncertainties resulting, fluctuation and price volatility leads, since the 2000's, a development in which the economy favors nuclear energy for civilian use. Thus, the development of the international market for nuclear industry is linked to the competitiveness of nuclear deal with their competitors using fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal). Nuclear power is both an energy benefit to the countries that we use (low emissions of greenhouse gas emissions, low pollution, stable prices and competitive supply without major obstacles) and worrying (no real solution for waste, transfer risk from civilian to nuclear weapons). The Business Intelligence (BI) appears to be essential for companies in this industry and is based on technical and urgent challenges. BI has become an imperative for companies in the energy sector

Economic efficency and competitive position of nuclear energy today

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmitt, D.

1988-01-01

In spite of the relaxation making itself felt at the moment on the world energy markets, the competitive position of nuclear power from either existing or shortly to be connected power plants remains safe. Any attempt at doing without this extraordinarily convenient vehicle of power generation would mean to severely force up costs and expenses. The competitive position of existing nuclear power plants is assumed to remain untouched through the coming decade. In spite of the presently very low world market prices imported coal is especially affected by, even abstract economic analyses show nuclear energy to come out superior to all other alternatives providing for the electric power supply of the Federal Republic of Germany. Once the over-capacity is reduced and under control, a longer-term superior competitive position of nuclear power, however, presupposes a rise in prices full level with those of the neighbor countries. At any rate and for the time being, the divergence of electric power from imported coal prices which was even obvious in the mean load range has diminished. The superior position of nuclear power in the base load range can be maintained through avoiding further rises in operating costs by gradual rationalization and standardization. (orig./HP) [de

THE R&D AND THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS. THE CASE OF PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandra-Maria GALAN

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Research and development represents one of the key activities of the business environment which shows company’s ability of continuous development. The interest in research and development can be observed in the global companies goals of being innovative by the goods and products offered. Combing these two elements helps improving company’s competitiveness which has a major contribution in the development of some strategic arias like health, energy or industry. The level of development of a company and the degree of diversification of the products and services offered is different from company to company, which highlights the fact that in the process of internationalization companies need to be focused to work on their advantages in order to keep the competition away. In these sort of cases companies decide to pay a particular attention in assigning resources for specific activities of research and development. The success of the pharmaceutical companies depends of the of research and development activity which objectives is to encourage creativity and innovation regarding the development of new medicines or other pharmaceutical products. The pharmaceutical industry would not be able to evolve without massive investments in research and development which is the base of the evolution of the company. On the other hand, the more they invest in research and development, the companies tend to expand their activity abroad in order to promote the comparative advantages obtained by the activity of research.

Southern company energy storage study :

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ellison, James; Bhatnagar, Dhruv; Black, Clifton; Jenkins, Kip

2013-03-01

This study evaluates the business case for additional bulk electric energy storage in the Southern Company service territory for the year 2020. The model was used to examine how system operations are likely to change as additional storage is added. The storage resources were allowed to provide energy time shift, regulation reserve, and spinning reserve services. Several storage facilities, including pumped hydroelectric systems, flywheels, and bulk-scale batteries, were considered. These scenarios were tested against a range of sensitivities: three different natural gas price assumptions, a 15% decrease in coal-fired generation capacity, and a high renewable penetration (10% of total generation from wind energy). Only in the elevated natural gas price sensitivities did some of the additional bulk-scale storage projects appear justifiable on the basis of projected production cost savings. Enabling existing peak shaving hydroelectric plants to provide regulation and spinning reserve, however, is likely to provide savings that justify the project cost even at anticipated natural gas price levels. Transmission and distribution applications of storage were not examined in this study. Allowing new storage facilities to serve both bulk grid and transmission/distribution-level needs may provide for increased benefit streams, and thus make a stronger business case for additional storage.

Features of formation of competitive advantages: a strategic dimension

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.Р. Pashchenko

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The article examines the features of formation of competitive advantages, the depth of theoretical and methodological basis for the formation of competitive advantages at an enterprise. The author has reviewed the approaches to the formation of stable and long-term competitive advantages. The author has also overviewed the requirements which are to be met by competitive advantages of a company and the factors that affect the possibility of competitive advantages. The author develops her own approach to the definition of «competitive enterprise strategy», suggests to understand the concept as the perspective of company development, the way of achieving the goals a company sets for itself guided by its policy, using internal and external competitive advantages. The author implements the model of strategic management of enterprise development based on competitive advantage creating. The suggested model will take into account the maximum possible factors that impact on the development and implementation of strategies. Due to the model risks will also be reduced. The paper determines that the important stage of enterprise development strategic management based on competitive advantage creating is the management of changes and the management of resistance to changes caused by the influence of factors of external and internal environment.

Competition and stability analyses among emissions, energy, and economy: Application for Mexico

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pao, Hsiao-Tien; Fu, Hsin-Chia

2015-01-01

In view of limited natural resources on Earth, linkage among environment, energy, and economy (3Es) becomes important perspectives for sustainable development. This paper proposes to use Lotka–Volterra model for SUstainable Development (LV-SUD) to analyse the interspecific interactions, equilibria and their stabilities among emissions, different types of energy consumption (renewable, nuclear, and fossil fuel), and real GDP, the main factors of 3Es issues. Modelling these interactions provides a useful multivariate framework for prediction outcomes. Interaction between 3Es, namely competition, symbiosis, or predation, plays an important role in policy development to achieve a balanced use of energy resources and to strengthen the green economy. Applying LV-SUD in Mexico, an emerging markets country, analysing results show that there is a mutualism between fossil fuel consumption and GDP; prey-predator relationships that fossil fuel and GDP enhance the growth of emissions, but emissions inhibit the growth of the others; and commensalisms that GDP benefits from nuclear power, and renewable power benefits from fossil fuel. It is suggested that national energy policies should remain committed to decoupling the relevance between non-clean energy and GDP, to actively developing clean energy and thereby to properly reducing fossil fuel consumption and emissions without harming economic growth. - Highlights: • LV-SUD is used to analyse the competition between environment-energy-economy (3Es). • The competitions between renewable, nuclear, and fossil energy are analysed. • Competition between 3Es plays an important role in policy development. • LV-SUD provides a useful multivariate framework for prediction outcomes. • An application for emerging markets countries such as Mexico is presented

75 FR 70224 - New York Tidal Energy Company; Notice Concluding Pre-Filing Process and Approving Process Plan...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-11-17

... DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Federal Energy Regulatory Commission [Project No. 12665-003] New York Tidal... Tidal Energy Company. e. Name of Project: East River Tidal Energy Pilot Project. f. Location: In the...-6405. i. FERC Contact: Timothy Konnert (202) 502-6359. j. New York Tidal Energy Company (NYTEC) has...

Commercial Activity or Banking Competition?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rose-Marie Pușcaciu

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The study analyzes the competition on the banking market and proposes an overview of debt collection companies through the economic crisis which has profoundly affected the banking sector. Article scroll through the main features of competition on the banking market as well as the domain weaknesses that negatively influenced the banking system performance. Even if there is not a sufficiently transparent and functional legal framework and debt recovery market is not supervised enough, it is among the few markets that increase from year to year. Increasing competition from adjacent companies that compete with banks, namely, a non-banking entity, it is stimulating the banking system which will thus become more constructive. It is estimated, that in terms of customers, there will be no differentiation between the banking industry and non-banking entities that will reshape the Romanian banking system soon. Also, the study aims to highlight the existence of debt collection companies, implicitly, the specific markets, it is only a consequence of excessive, unnecessary and dangerous borrowing from previous years. Avoiding bad loans from banks, a fair competition from banks and from non-banking institutions, in the long term, it will generate a balance in the market and it will support economic growth of Romania.

75 FR 57299 - First Energy Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-20

... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2010-0298; Docket No. 50-346] First Energy Nuclear Operating Company; Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Davis Besse Nuclear Power...Energy Nuclear Operating Company, filed pursuant to Section 104(b) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as...

How to make energy transition a lever for competitiveness

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellamy, Gilles; Ben Brahim, Hedi; Berger, Raphael; Dassa, Francois; Dreyer, Iana; Leger, Sebastien; Maneville, Frederic de; Perez, Yannick; Rosier, Philippe; Rusquec, Jean du; Servan, Thibault; Tlili, Cecile; Tran Thiet, Jean-Paul

2012-11-01

This note examines the major challenges faced by the energy sector in France in a context of continuous cost increase, of lack of domestic production, of high public expenses for the development of renewable energies, of low energy performance, of financial and regulatory framework which does not favour investments. It also highlights the central role of Europe to face these challenges although the European energy policy still lacks ambition, and is still dominated by the climate issue. It formulates a set of propositions about three main axes: a better management of energy consumption, a promotion of new emerging competitive industrial sectors without weakening the sectors of excellence France possesses in the field of energy, and to make the Europe of energy progress

Electricity between monopoly and competition. Selling at the marginal cost. The rational guidance of electric energy consumption by tariffs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boiteux, Marcel

2015-10-01

Within the perspective of the introduction of competition, the first article comments the issues related to the different professions: distribution (which solutions as multiple grids would be too expensive?), interconnection and transport grids (same questions), and production. The author outlines some characteristics of electricity: it cannot be stored, is a rigid product, has a price elasticity almost null on the short term. Then he discusses different problems to be solved: transport tolls, competition for production, difference between customers (big clients, households, handicraft). In the second article, the author discusses the issue of pricing (why selling at cost price or at marginal cost price?) and discusses the definition of this marginal cost. In the third article, the author comments the common use of tariffs by electricity distribution companies as an incentive for a rational use of electric energy by consumers. He describes how prices are factors of economic choice, the implication of selling at cost price and at marginal cost price. He discusses the relationship between marginal cost price and budget balance, and the practical adaptation of tariffs

Performance evaluation of the insurance companies based on AHP

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Manhong; Zhu, Kunping

2018-04-01

With the entry of foreign capital, China's insurance industry is under increasing pressure of competition. The performance of a company is the external manifestation of its comprehensive strength. Therefore, the establishment of a scientific evaluation system is of practical significance for the insurance companies. In this paper, based on the financial and non-financial indicators of the companies, the performance evaluation system is constructed by means of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). In the system, the weights of the indicators which represent the impact on the performance of the companies will be calculated by the process. The evaluation system is beneficial for the companies to realize their own strengths and weaknesses, so as to take steps to enhance the core competitiveness of the companies.

Using energy storage for strategic advantage in competitive electricity markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hurwitch, J.W.; Symons, P.

1998-01-01

Energy storage products are emerging for use in power quality, electric transmission and distribution, and renewable energy applications. Despite this emergence into high-value markets, widespread market penetration will only occur when the value of the services that energy storage products can deliver are clearly delineated. The emergence of competitive electricity markets will more clearly define the flexible benefits of energy storage devices. This paper presents a summary of the ESA's position of the status of energy storage technologies, the market barriers, and steps the ESA is undertaking to reduce these barriers. (author)

Recent progress in competitive intelligence, competitive technical intelligence and knowledge management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dou Henri

2011-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the role of competitive intelligence and knowledge management to create, maintain and sustain competitive advantages. The triple helix model, based on the integration of the public sector (government, business models (private corporations and universities to promote innovation is examined. Research trends in competitive intelligence are presented. It concludes that the systematic use of the technology monitoring should support the comparison between various business models of companies that hold the market best practices and form a basis to knowledge for the decision making process and strategies development.

Euro plays : Canadian companies find success in England and France

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marsters, S.

1998-01-01

A growing list of Canadian companies are searching for oil and gas onshore in England and France. Cirque Energy Corp., Vermilion Resources Ltd., Morrison Middlefield Resources Ltd., and Bow Valley Energy Ltd., are among the companies that are taking advantage of the underexplored basins, little competition, availability of land, and (in the case of the United Kingdom) a superior fiscal regime. Cirque Energy Corp. entered the U.K. in 1995 and currently has a 220,000 acre land position in the East Midlands basin, 250 km north of London. The main producing reservoirs are Permo-Carboniferous in age. The geology is similar to that in the North Sea. In November 1998, Cirque plans to build a 2,500 metre, six inch pipeline to transport up to 1,500 gross bbls of oil per day. Vermilion Resources Ltd. acquired oil and gas assets in the Paris and Aquitaine basin. The company has executed a $10.1 million workover and recompletion program on 42 wells which has increased production to more than 6,000 BOE per day from the previous 4,000 BOE per day. 3 figs

Cooperative relationships and competitiveness in supermarket sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andressa Centenaro

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Purpose – This article aims to investigate the influence of cooperative relations in the performance of companies in the supermarket sector, comparing the companies associated networks with companies not associated. Design/methodology/approach – The research method employed was a survey research with 31 companies. Findings – The results indicate that the cooperative relationships with suppliers have a positive impact on companies of performance, while the cooperative relationships with competitors and local institutions do not influence the performance. Moreover, it appears that there is no relationship between participation in a network of cooperation and achieving superior performance. However, companies linked to the network present better cooperative relationships with suppliers, which positively impacts the performance and therefore have competitive advantages over companies not associated to networks. Originality/value – The cooperative relationships with suppliers can provide benefits such as reducing logistics costs, improved product portfolio, better negotiating prices and terms, partnership for conducting marketing strategies among others, thus increasing the competitiveness of companies in the supermarket sector.

The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy.

Science.gov (United States)

Porter, Michael E; Kramer, Mark R

2002-12-01

When it comes to philanthropy, executives increasingly see themselves as caught between critics demanding ever higher levels of "corporate social responsibility" and investors applying pressure to maximize short-term profits. In response, many companies have sought to make their giving more strategic, but what passes for strategic philanthropy is almost never truly strategic, and often isn't particularly effective as philanthropy. Increasingly, philanthropy is used as a form of public relations or advertising, promoting a company's image through high-profile sponsorships. But there is a more truly strategic way to think about philanthropy. Corporations can use their charitable efforts to improve their competitive context--the quality of the business environment in the locations where they operate. Using philanthropy to enhance competitive context aligns social and economic goals and improves a company's long-term business prospects. Addressing context enables a company to not only give money but also leverage its capabilities and relationships in support of charitable causes. The produces social benefits far exceeding those provided by individual donors, foundations, or even governments. Taking this new direction requires fundamental changes in the way companies approach their contribution programs. For example, philanthropic investments can improve education and local quality of life in ways that will benefit the company. Such investments can also improve the company's competitiveness by contributing to expanding the local market and helping to reduce corruption in the local business environment. Adopting a context-focused approach goes against the grain of current philanthropic practice, and it requires a far more disciplined approach than is prevalent today. But it can make a company's philanthropic activities far more effective.

The impact of marketing resources on corporate competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamás Gyulavári

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to analyze the association between marketing resources and corporate competitiveness. Empirical data were collected by a survey of 300 domestic organizations and the results were compared to the ones of a similar research conducted five years before. We have found that all the marketing resources investigated have a significant effect on marketing performance. Among them the most marketing-related resource dimension, called market management, excels regarding the strength of the association with competitiveness. Clusters of companies were formulated and analyzed. A small group of the companies investigated (12% managed to advance in the development and possession of marketing resources whilst maintaining competitive product supply and price. The proportion of successful companies among them is highly significant.

A novel two-stage stochastic programming model for uncertainty characterization in short-term optimal strategy for a distribution company

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmadi, Abdollah; Charwand, Mansour; Siano, Pierluigi; Nezhad, Ali Esmaeel; Sarno, Debora; Gitizadeh, Mohsen; Raeisi, Fatima

2016-01-01

In order to supply the demands of the end users in a competitive market, a distribution company purchases energy from the wholesale market while other options would be in access in the case of possessing distributed generation units and interruptible loads. In this regard, this study presents a two-stage stochastic programming model for a distribution company energy acquisition market model to manage the involvement of different electric energy resources characterized by uncertainties with the minimum cost. In particular, the distribution company operations planning over a day-ahead horizon is modeled as a stochastic mathematical optimization, with the objective of minimizing costs. By this, distribution company decisions on grid purchase, owned distributed generation units and interruptible load scheduling are determined. Then, these decisions are considered as boundary constraints to a second step, which deals with distribution company's operations in the hour-ahead market with the objective of minimizing the short-term cost. The uncertainties in spot market prices and wind speed are modeled by means of probability distribution functions of their forecast errors and the roulette wheel mechanism and lattice Monte Carlo simulation are used to generate scenarios. Numerical results show the capability of the proposed method. - Highlights: • Proposing a new a stochastic-based two-stage operations framework in retail competitive markets. • Proposing a Mixed Integer Non-Linear stochastic programming. • Employing roulette wheel mechanism and Lattice Monte Carlo Simulation.

BP Canada Energy Company energy efficiency and GHG reduction opportunities

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Forsyth, B. [BP Canada Energy Company, Calgary, AB (Canada)

2004-07-01

This paper presented an outline of the BP Canada Energy Company's energy efficiency program, which uses an innovative approach that relies on front line operations staff to generate, evaluate and implement ideas for energy reduction projects. An outline of the organization team was presented, with details of the small central Calgary group responsible for coordination, technical support and tracking of data. Key objectives of the team were identified as: the promotion of energy efficiency; sharing of best practices; and coordination of efforts at operations at both the development and corporate level. An outline of BP upstream operations and emissions reduction strategies was provided along with a timeline of BP Canada greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and sustainable reductions projects. A chart representing energy savings through conversion to natural gas was also presented, sorted by project type. Results included over 400 GHG or energy reduction projects completed, with an average pay out of 30 months as well as 300,000 tonnes equivalent of GHGs reduced at an estimated value of of $13,000,000. Areas of focus for future projects include: compression; fired equipment; flaring; venting; and fugitive emissions. Strategies to reduce emissions in all areas of future research were also provided. tabs, figs.

Challenges of Iran's energy conversion agreements in future competitive market

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sobhiyah, M.H.; Kashtiban, Y.Kh. [Project Management Department, Tarbiat Modares University, Jalale Ale-Ahmad Avenue, Tehran (Iran)

2008-08-15

Extensive need for electricity and lack of enough governmental resources for the development of related infrastructures forced the Iranian Government to invite private investors and to sign Energy Conversion Agreement (ECA) in the form of build-operate-transfer (BOT) and build-operate-own (BOO) contracts with them. Accordingly, electricity purchase would be based on a guaranteed price. Changes in some laws in 2007 caused the management of the ECAs and electricity purchase based on guaranteed price to face challenges. Shortening the commercial operation period of the earlier ECAs and signing some new short-term ECAs were the steps taken by the authorities to resolve the problems. By shortening the ECAs' commercial operation period, it is likely to cause serious problems concerning the payments of the project companies, because of shortages in the government's financial resources. The findings of the present viewpoint suggest signing of new long-term contracts (20 years long) in the form of a combinational agreement for buying the produced electricity with a guaranteed price (in the first 5 years) and supplying it in the competitive power market (for the following years) would be a better way to reduce the problems. (author)

Alternate Energy Report, Koleda Childress and Company

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1989-10-01

This is a NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) report of October 1989, based on a Koleda Childress and Company of EPA report. Recent trends in U.S. policies toward the development of fossil and synthetic fuels are stated. President Bush has signed into law an appropriations bill for Round 3 of the Clean Coal Technology Program. The $575 million budget will become available in fiscal 1990. Forty-eight projects are planned to be selected, including the energy repowering and retrofitting programs. The President has further approved a $422 million Department of Energy budget for fiscal 1990 for the development of synthetic fuels by coal liquefaction, coal gasification, etc. The Department of Energy now considers a strategy in which energy security and environmental matters are linked. The amendment of the Clean Air Act proposed by President Bush last summer now activates Congress towards its enactment, which involves acid rain, automobile exhaust, etc. Trends in measures to deal with global warming are stated. Under consideration about tax policy is the extension of tax incentives for new energy technologies. Topics of coal/oil coprocessing, etc., are mentioned. (NEDO)

Annual report 2007 - CPFL Energy - Light and Power Company from Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2008-01-01

This document presents the balance of the economic, social, environmental performance of the Sao Paulo Light and Power Company (CPFL), during the year of 2007 as follows: highlights of 2007; profile of the CPFL Energy group; corporative performance; strategy of the company; performance in 2007 (the best year of the company); social responsibility

The principal-agent problem and transport energy use: Case study of company lease cars in the Netherlands

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Graus, Wina; Worrell, Ernst

2008-01-01

Barriers exist for improvement of energy efficiency, of which the principal-agent problem is considered an important one. The principal-agent problem is a potential barrier for energy policies based on economic instruments, as the decision maker may be partially insulated from the price signal given by such policies. We estimate the size and the impact of the principal-agent problem for cars provided by companies as a benefit to employees in the Netherlands. Of all passenger cars in the Netherlands, 11% is classified as company cars, which consume 21% of the total energy consumption by passenger cars. As company cars are newer, operate more diesel engines, but are also larger, the fuel efficiency is slightly worse than that of private cars. Company cars seem to drive longer distances for commuting than the national average of private cars. Together, this might result in a net 1-7% increase of all fuel use of passenger cars in the Netherlands. This indicates that there is potential to reduce energy consumption of company cars and a need for policies aimed at improving energy efficiency of company cars

Meeting the challenge of competition in the energy marketplace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thompson, A.A. Jr.

1994-01-01

Changes in the electric utility business are reviewed which have been leading the industry away from its traditional monopolistic position to a more competitive situation similar to that experienced in other industries. In many areas of the USA and other countries where deregulation or market liberalization has occurred, the trend is toward encouragement of independent power producers to enter monopolisitic generation areas and generate power in competition with established utilities. Large-scale users may be able to solicit bids for power from a choice of suppliers, as the British example illustrates. In addition, since most utilities are fairly mature industries experiencing growth of only 2-3%/y, another trend is for utilities to seek international business opportunities and to encourage local industrial development. For example, Alabama Power played a prominent role in attracting a new automobile plant to the state. Other revenue-generating opportunities for utilities are noted in the areas of wheeling, selling and servicing of electric appliances, analysis of customer power quality problems, building mine-mouth power plants, forming cogeneration supply companies, using real-time pricing, and even making use of communications infrastructure to provide such services as cable television, remote monitoring of building security, remote metering, and facsimile transmission

Effects of the energy and mining industry on management of national competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter Madzík

2016-04-01

influence of energy and mining industry on competitiveness over the last 40 years has increased, particularly in the case of countries with low or medium economic development, and it has decreased in developed countries. The resulting information about the intensity of the mutual relations might be useful for management of competitiveness and planning of strategic economic tools.

75 FR 16524 - FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, Perry Nuclear Power Plant; Exemption

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... Company, Perry Nuclear Power Plant; Exemption 1.0 Background FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC... the Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 (PNPP). The license provides, among other things, that the... date for all operating nuclear power plants, but noted that the Commission's regulations provide...

To make a competitiveness lever out of energy transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellamy, Gilles; Ben Brahim, Hedi; Berger, Raphael; Servan, Thibault; Dassa, Francois; Dreyer, Iana; Leger, Sebastien; Maneville, Frederic de; Perez, Yannick; Rosier, Philippe; Rusquec, Jean du; Tlili, Cecile; Tran Thiet, Jean-Paul

2012-11-01

This note focuses of the major challenges for the French energy sector within a context of continuous cost increase, and outlines the central role of Europe to face the energy challenges. The authors state proposals under three main themes: a better management of energy consumption, a support to the emergence of new competitive industrial sectors without weakening the existing ones, and make the Europe of energy progress. The authors address the challenge of energy cost increase (a traditionally efficient French energy mix but with costs to increase in the future, a weak energy performance, a financial and regulatory framework not favourable to investments and innovation), discuss the European energy policy which, according to them, lacks ambition (a policy unbalanced by the prevalence of the climate issue, a national independence in contradiction with increasing interdependencies) and then make their proposals

Competitive advantage on a warming planet.

Science.gov (United States)

Lash, Jonathan; Wellington, Fred

2007-03-01

Whether you're in a traditional smokestack industry or a "clean" business like investment banking, your company will increasingly feel the effects of climate change. Even people skeptical about global warming's dangers are recognizing that, simply because so many others are concerned, the phenomenon has wide-ranging implications. Investors already are discounting share prices of companies poorly positioned to compete in a warming world. Many businesses face higher raw material and energy costs as more and more governments enact policies placing a cost on emissions. Consumers are taking into account a company's environmental record when making purchasing decisions. There's also a burgeoning market in greenhouse gas emission allowances (the carbon market), with annual trading in these assets valued at tens of billions of dollars. Companies that manage and mitigate their exposure to the risks associated with climate change while seeking new opportunities for profit will generate a competitive advantage over rivals in a carbon-constrained future. This article offers a systematic approach to mapping and responding to climate change risks. According to Jonathan Lash and Fred Wellington of the World Resources Institute, an environmental think tank, the risks can be divided into six categories: regulatory (policies such as new emissions standards), products and technology (the development and marketing of climate-friendly products and services), litigation (lawsuits alleging environmental harm), reputational (how a company's environmental policies affect its brand), supply chain (potentially higher raw material and energy costs), and physical (such as an increase in the incidence of hurricanes). The authors propose a four-step process for responding to climate change risk: Quantify your company's carbon footprint; identify the risks and opportunities you face; adapt your business in response; and do it better than your competitors.

Analysis Of Employee Engagement And Company Performance

OpenAIRE

Mekel, Peggy A.; Saerang, David P.E.; Silalahi, Immanuel Maradopan

2014-01-01

Employee could be a competitive advantage of a company if company manages its employees well. The success of a company could be seen from how a company manages their employees and engages their employees. Most of big companies put their employees in top priority in order to keep their top performance. These big companies manage their employees and try to engage their employees so that their employees could generate high performance. In this study, employee engagement is the factor to examine ...

COMPETITIVENESS THROUGH INFORMATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raluca Daniela RIZEA

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Intelligence competitiveness has already started to build its road in the company’s long term strategies. Nonetheless, business executives continue to look for ways to apply information technology strategically to their businesses. Using information managers manage to communicate, to convey their knowledge about markets, competitors, products, services and operations. Even if data and information are all over there are few amounts of managers that realize the importance of them to the success of the business. This article will review competitive forces and competitive information systems strategies for gaining competitive advantages, explain concepts of value chain, value co-opetition (competition and cooperation, and discuss innovation strategy. Co-opetition is a strategy whereby companies cooperate and compete at the same time with their competitors, complementors (i.e. hardware and software businesses, customers, suppliers. The article discuss an important dimension of information system, identifies competitive advantages and enhancing competitive strategies thought information systems.

The Effect of Advanced Management Accounting Practices on the Competitive Strategies and Performance

OpenAIRE

Rahmi Yücel; Kayhan Ahmetoğulları

2015-01-01

This study is based on a sample of 300 managers from the production industry of West Marmara Region. The goal of this study is to examine the interaction among advanced management accounting practices, competitive strategies and company performance. As a result of study, it is found that advanced accounting management practices have a positive effect on the company performance and competitive strategies. In addition, competitive strategies have an effect on the company performance positively....

A Time Efficient Supply Chain Model for an Apparel Company

OpenAIRE

Gustafson, Annika; Ng, Sze Lit (Philip); von Schmiesing-Korff, Alice

2005-01-01

In most market places today competition has become stronger, not only between single companies but between networks of linked partners, known as supply chains. Consumer demands are changing more often and companies have to react quickly when new trends and consumer requirements appear, thus the competition becomes more time-sensitive. This is especially true in the apparel fashion industry because time is a crucial factor and can make the difference between the success or failure of a company...

The European Private Company: Do We Need Another 28th Private Legal Form in the EU? On Regulatory Competition of Corporate Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martina Eckardt

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs are of vital importance for employment, innovation and growth in the EU member states. However, so far only a rather small number participates in international business activities. The European private company is intended to support SMEs’ internationalization. In this paper we analyse whether such an additional supranational legal form is necessary. In a first step we show that from the normative point of view of interjurisdictional competition arguments from welfare economics, public choice and evolutionary economics are mainly in favour of it. In a next step we ask from a positive point of view whether it is nevertheless necessary at all. We discuss to what extent horizontal competition on legal forms is already working within the EU. We find that there is some competition taking place, however, so far it does not address specifically the needs of SMEs when doing business internationally

Marketing research model of competitive environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krasilya Dmitriy

2015-11-01

Full Text Available To support its competitive advantages in current market conditions, each company needs to choose better ways of guaranteeing its favorable competitive position. In this regard, considerable interest lies in the structuring and algorithmization of marketing research processes that provide the information background of such choice. The article is devoted to modeling the process of marketing research of competitive environment.

Project X: competitive intelligence data mining and analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Gilmore, John F.; Pagels, Michael A.; Palk, Justin

2001-03-01

Competitive Intelligence (CI) is a systematic and ethical program for gathering and analyzing information about your competitors' activities and general business trends to further your own company's goals. CI allows companies to gather extensive information on their competitors and to analyze what the competition is doing in order to maintain or gain a competitive edge. In commercial business this potentially translates into millions of dollars in annual savings or losses. The Internet provides an overwhelming portal of information for CI analysis. The problem is how a company can automate the translation of voluminous information into valuable and actionable knowledge. This paper describes Project X, an agent-based data mining system specifically developed for extracting and analyzing competitive information from the Internet. Project X gathers CI information from a variety of sources including online newspapers, corporate websites, industry sector reporting sites, speech archiving sites, video news casts, stock news sites, weather sites, and rumor sites. It uses individual industry specific (e.g., pharmaceutical, financial, aerospace, etc.) commercial sector ontologies to form the knowledge filtering and discovery structures/content required to filter and identify valuable competitive knowledge. Project X is described in detail and an example competitive intelligence case is shown demonstrating the system's performance and utility for business intelligence.

How to Apply Sustainable Competitive Advantage for Regional Developments (Case: Ostrobothnia Region of Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Takala Josu

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays companies concern more about how to survive and extend their own business in future in their current marketplace. However, developing and prospering a region of the country is becoming more crucial question. Successful cooperation and partnership between different sectors of economy (for instance, between companies, public and academic sectors leads to the flourishing and prosperity of the region and consequently of a country. European Commission established smart specialization platform, which is a strategic approach to economic development of a region. By defining and developing of vision, competitive advantages and strategic preferences, region will determine knowledge-based potential. The purpose of this paper is to assign and define the collaboration/relations existed, how strong these relations are and what the expectations are between 3 sectors of economy: public, academic and business. Area of carrying out this research is Ostrobothnia region, however, connections in other regions of Finland and internationally is also presented. There have been chosen 3 industrial peaks from Ostrobothnia region: Energy, Fur and Boat industrial peaks. Analysis is conducted by implementing two core methods: Sense & Respond (S&R and Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA. The goal of this research is also to use S&R method so as to allocate efficiently resources, and to define competitive priorities in cooperation. The main results show that the most tight collaboration and partnership is observed between companies and companies in all around Finland and internationally. While concerning other relationships, companies expect to have tighter cooperation especially in Ostrobothnia and other regions of Finland.

Alternate Energy Report, Koleda Childress and Company

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1990-01-01

This is a NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization) report of January 1990, based on a Koleda Childress and Company of EPA report. Comments are made on the development status of fossil and synthetic fuels in the U.S. In the Department of Energy budget, emphasis is placed on environments, science, and national security, and the budget for fiscal 1991 is 17.5 times 1 billion dollars which is 6% higher than the ordinary level. In Round 3 of the Clean Coal Technology Program, the Department of Energy has selected 13 programs for negotiations. NEDO has completed its national energy strategy draft. What attracts attention is the synthetic fuel as an alternative fuel. It is expected that coal, oil shale, and tar sand will be the raw materials. Combined cycle power generation is recommended for coal gasification. As for indirect coal liquefaction, technology of conversion to syngas will be accelerated. In the future, the direct coal liquefaction product will compete with oil in terms of cost. Oil shale retorting and tar sand processing are taken up. Recent global warming measures and energy forecast into 2010 are shown. (NEDO)

The Dutch private company: successfully relaunched?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Elst, C.F.; Vermeulen, E.P.M.; De Cordt, Y.; Navez, E.J.

2014-01-01

This Chapter in a comparative book on private limited liability companies starts with an illustration of the former success of the Dutch limited liability company (BV). Next it addresses the competitive European legal environment within which the Dutch BV has to operate. The study shows how the

Saving Energy in Industrial Companies: Case Studies of Energy Efficiency Programs in Large U.S. Industrial Corporations and the Role of Ratepayer-Funded Support

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None, None

2017-03-08

This paper is designed for companies looking to cut costs through energy savings, ratepayer-funded program administrators interested in increasing large industrial company participation in energy efficiency program offerings, and state utility commissions.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF EXCLUSIVE AND INCLUSIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT STRATEGY IN COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asta Savanevičienė

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article deals with the practical application of exclusive and inclusive talent management strategies in order to form and maintain a competitive human resource potential of the company. The features of both exclusive and inclusive talent management strategies were defined and their practical appication in companies of various Lithuaniam industries was studied. The input from the respondents suggests that major companies prefer the inclusive talent management strategy, rather than exclusive. Summing up all the research results, the following conclusions were formulated: the features characteristic to inclusive talent management strategy dominate in the companies of manufacturing, banking, catering, consulting, trade, energy, transport, and agribusiness industries. In the company of technology industry, features of a mixed (having both exclusive and inclusive talent management strategy are apparent. The company in the construction-engineering industry has the dominating features of exclusive talent management strategy. Inclusive talent management strategy responds to the principles of human potential development-oriented expression and is an important message for the formulation of further insight into talent management, based on the use of internal potential.

Caffeine-containing energy drink improves sprint performance during an international rugby sevens competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Del Coso, Juan; Portillo, Javier; Muñoz, Gloria; Abián-Vicén, Javier; Gonzalez-Millán, Cristina; Muñoz-Guerra, Jesús

2013-06-01

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a caffeine-containing energy drink on physical performance during a rugby sevens competition. A second purpose was to investigate the post-competition urinary caffeine concentration derived from the energy drink intake. On two non-consecutive days of a friendly tournament, 16 women from the Spanish National rugby sevens Team (mean age and body mass = 23 ± 2 years and 66 ± 7 kg) ingested 3 mg of caffeine per kg of body mass in the form of an energy drink (Fure(®), ProEnergetics) or the same drink without caffeine (placebo). After 60 min for caffeine absorption, participants performed a 15-s maximal jump test, a 6 × 30 m sprint test, and then played three rugby sevens games against another national team. Individual running pace and instantaneous speed during the games were assessed using global positioning satellite (GPS) devices. Urine samples were obtained pre and post-competition. In comparison to the placebo, the ingestion of the energy drink increased muscle power output during the jump series (23.5 ± 10.1 vs. 25.6 ± 11.8 kW, P = 0.05), running pace during the games (87.5 ± 8.3 vs. 95.4 ± 12.7 m/min, P caffeine concentration than the placebo (3.3 ± 0.7 vs. 0.2 ± 0.1 μg/mL; P caffeine in the form of a commercially available energy drink considerably enhanced physical performance during a women's rugby sevens competition.

The co-evolutionary relationship between Energy Service Companies and the UK energy system: Implications for a low-carbon transition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hannon, Matthew J.; Foxon, Timothy J.; Gale, William F.

2013-01-01

The Energy Service Company (ESCo) business model is designed to reward businesses by satisfying consumers’ energy needs at less cost and with fewer carbon emissions via energy demand management and/or sustainable supply measures. In contrast, the revenue of the incumbent Energy Utility Company (EUCo) model is coupled with the sale of units of energy, which are predominantly sourced from fossil fuels. The latter is currently dominant in the UK. This paper addresses two questions. First, why has the ESCo model traditionally been confined to niche applications? Second, what role is the ESCo model likely to play in the transition to a low-carbon UK energy system? To answer these, the paper examines the core characteristics of the ESCo model, relative to the EUCo model. The paper then examines how ESCos have co-evolved with the various dimensions of the energy system (i.e. ecosystems, institutions, user practices, technologies and business models) to provide insight into how ESCos might help to shape the future UK energy system. We suggest that institutional and technological changes within the UK energy system could result in a more favourable selection environment for ESCos, consequently enabling the ESCo model to proliferate at the expense of the EUCo model. - Highlights: • Comparison of Energy Utility and Energy Service Company (ESCo) business models • Limited uptake of ESCos in UK energy system, which is dominated by Energy Utilities • The ESCo model has a poor fit with the existing selection environment • System changes are improving ESCo model's fitness within its selection environment • ESCo population will coevolve with UK energy system

The integration of gas and electricity: potential effects on competition in markets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez Milla, J.

2007-01-01

During the last years, an increasing number of gas and electricity companies have integrated their activities in both sectors. Following this trend, several Mergers and Acquisitions between gas and electricity companies have emerged, and some of them have been cross-borders operations that have given rise to multinational enterprises. This paper analyses the causes of the integration of gas and electricity activities, and examines its implications on regulation and competition policy, showing that these changes in the energy industry raise new challenges and compel to adopt new measures in that field of the economic policy. (Author) 25 refs

The future of energy markets: tensions between the conflicting demands of competition and politics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wild, E.

2000-01-01

It clearly shows that the whole energy sector is on the move, pulled this way and that by the conflicting demands of competition and politics. The utilities face enormous pressure on costs, while customers enjoy an unprecedented measure of freedom. No one can avoid the pressure of the market, not even politicians. The latter should recognize that there is no point in hobbling an industry that has to face up to the European competition, and that fair conditions of competition are essential. If the political conditions are right, the current tensions may ultimately turn out to be fruitful and release new energies from which all will profit. (orig.) [de

An energy service company's perspective on demand-side management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bullock, C.G.

1993-01-01

In 1985, Massachusetts Electric Company held a bid for demand reduction to be supplied by energy service companies (ESCOs). It was one of the first demand-side management (DSM) bidding programs held in the United States. Since then, several DSM auctions have been held. Many people expected DSM bidding to be a key component in integrated resource planning. Many observed similarities with supply side bidding, and expected DSM bidding to grow according. Today, more than $2 billion annually is being spent by utilities on DSM programs. Less than $100 million is spent with ESCOs. This chapter explores some of the reasons for the current situation and suggests some alternatives, which could benefit all of the players

The competitiveness of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewiner, C.

1993-01-01

A detailed review of cost factors affecting the final production cost of nuclear KWh is made in comparison with coal, oil, and natural gas. Investment costs are higher for nuclear plants because they require higher quality (design and engineering). Additionaly thereis a 15% of provision cost for spare equipments (e.g. steam generators) with an impact of 5% in KWh cost. Fuel acquisition is a very fluctuant term. Reprocessing would be essential for cost saving. It is estimated for the french case a 30% of use of MOx type fuel. The studies performed taking into account investment, O+M and fuel show a clear competitiveness of nuclear energy. Fuel represents a relatively low part of the total cost, being the initial investment the most important percentage of cost

Efficiency and regulation of the Slovenian electricity distribution companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Filippini, Massimo; Hrovatin, Nevenka; Zoric, Jelena

2004-01-01

The Slovenian Energy Law, adopted in 1999, has opened the internal market to competition up to 64% of the final consumption. The opening of the internal market to foreign competition is envisaged for 2003. With regard to the methodology of price regulation, the Energy Law introduces the 'price-cap' regulation, which aims to give firms incentive for cost reduction. To provide information for effective price regulation, we estimated a cost frontier function on a sample of Slovenian electricity distribution utilities over the 1991-2000 period. The estimated efficient frontier could be used by Slovenian regulatory agency as a benchmark to regulate network access prices. Our results show that Slovenian distribution companies are cost inefficient. We have also proved the presence of increasing returns to scale with most utilities not achieving the minimum efficient scale. Thus, the Slovenian regulatory authority should consider how to induce mergers of small electricity distribution utilities into larger units

Globalisation of accounting standards and competitive posture of Indian companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Monica Singhania

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Unification of the global financial reporting system is essential to enable comparability of financial statements at the international level in post crisis competitive environment. IFRSs are increasingly gaining acceptance as global accounting standards. With European Union adopting the IFRS in 2005, as on date over 116 countries have already either converged their accounting standards with IFRS or adopted IFRS as such and many more are in the process. Countries refusing IFRS are likely to be viewed as more risky by the international investors thereby affecting the inflow of capital to such countries. In India, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI the apex body dealing with accounting standards has declared the roadmap of IFRS convergence in a phased manner from April 1, 2011. Our paper highlights the status of Indian accounting standards converging to IFRS as of now. In addition, a full fledged theoretical framework is developed showcasing, the convergence timeline, the major differences in the treatment of select items under these two alternative accounting environments, exact stage at which the Indian accounting standards are today in view of the announced convergence to IFRS and the legal and regulatory issues in converging to IFRS in India. We investigate the case of 150 odd firms and show the impact of convergence on financial ratios and the related valuation concerns. Finally, we indicate the strategic implications of IFRS adoption to Indian companies.

Economic competitiveness of fuel cell onsite integrated energy systems

Science.gov (United States)

Bollenbacher, G.

1983-01-01

The economic competitiveness of fuel cell onsite integrated energy systems (OS/IES) in residential and commercial buildings is examined. The analysis is carried out for three different buildings with each building assumed to be at three geographic locations spanning a range of climatic conditions. Numerous design options and operating strategies are evaluated and two economic criteria are used to measure economic performance. In general the results show that fuel cell OS/IES's are competitive in most regions of the country if the OS/IES is properly designed. The preferred design is grid connected, makes effective use of the fuel cell's thermal output, and has a fuel cell powerplant sized for the building's base electrical load.

Implementation of marketing strategy: Factor of competitive advantage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krstić Ivan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Primary objective of the company is to reach the business success. Competitors have the same objective. Only the companies that really meet the consumer's needs and demands survive in the competitive struggle. The company who succeeds in it, has the possibility to achieve the competitive advantage as well. The company has to have the adequate marketing strategy in order to fulfill the marketing objectives and achieve the competitive advantage. The marketing strategy should be flexible and properly implemented to fulfill the expected results. The best solution is developing the credible strategies. Researching of the strategic marketing literature, the authors have noted down that the greater attention is given to the formulation than the implementation of the marketing strategy. In this text, focus is on the research of the marketing strategy implementation as a significant factor of the competitive advantage. The traditional concept of the marketing strategy implementation is taken into consideration first, as well as the risks the enterprise is facing with in that case. Thereafter, the testing and developing of the credible marketing strategy is represented, as well as the problems the enterprise is facing with in the implementation. Finally, the executive skills and control are analyzed as important factors of the successful implementation of the marketing strategy. .

POSSIBILITIES OF APPLYING THE DEA METHOD IN THE ASSESSMENT OF EFFICIENCY OF COMPANIES IN THE ELECTRIC POWER INDUSTRY: REVIEW OF WIND ENERGY COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dario Maradin

2014-07-01

Full Text Available One of the fundamental tasks of modern power system is finding ways to produce stable and continuous electricity from scarce energy resources. One of the possible solutions is introduction, implementation and improvement of alternative forms of energy such as renewable energy sources, particularly wind energy as an increasingly important energy source which is expected to further increase its share in total electricity production. Numerous methods can be used in assessing the efficiency of wind energy companies, and in the focus of this research is the Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA, a widely accepted methodology given its interdisciplinary approach and flexibility. This method represents a step forward in the field of renewable energy management, because it provides the possibility to compare the selected companies with the best in the industry (the most efficient and the possibility of determining sources of inefficiency and, consequently, the possibilities of their elimination.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE

OpenAIRE

PRUNEA Ana Daniela

2014-01-01

Rapid changes in market characteristics and the technological innovations are common and faster challenges, resulting in products, processes and technologies. The competitive advantage is volatile, difficult to obtain and more difficult to maintain and strengthened with consumers who through their individual choices polarization confirms the recognition performance and award competitive advantages, thus causing the competitive ranking of companies present in a particular market. The competiti...

Inventory management of spare parts in an energy company

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Guajardo, Mario; Roennqvist, Mikael; Halvorsen, Ann Mari; Kallevik, Svein Inge

2012-06-15

We address a problem of inventory management of spare parts in the context of a large energy company, producer of oil and gas. Spare parts are critical for assuring operational conditions in offshore platforms. About 200,000 different items are held in several inventory plants. The inventory system implemented at the company corresponds to a min-max system. The control parameters are decided based mainly on the expert judgment of the planners. Also, though the inventory plants can in practice be supplied from each other, the inventory planning is performed separately by the plant planners. This is because of different ownership structures where the studied company has the operative responsibility. The company is pursuing a system in which all planners conform to the same inventory management approach and evaluation, as well as being more cost efficient. Our work focuses on supporting this goal. We apply methods to decide the inventory control parameters for this system under a service level constraint. The methodology we use distinguishes unit-size and lot-size demand cases. We perform computational experiments to find control parameters for a sample of items. After the control parameters are found, we use them to explore the impact of risk pooling among the plants and inaccuracy arising from duplicate item codes.(Author)

The equipment supply industry to sugar mills, ethanol and energy in Brazil: an analysis based in leading companies and key-organizations of sector and of LPA of Sertãozinho

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle Castro Carrijo

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This study aims to analyze the profile, organization, efficiency and innovation in the supply industry equipment for sugar mills, ethanol and energy in Brazil, contributing to an important discussion on the competitiveness of this industry. Therefore, the study was based on analysis of information obtained from two surveys: the first held with representative organizations and two industry-leading companies located in the cities of Sertãozinho and Piracicaba; and the second, through interviews with companies in the Local Productive Arrangement (LPA of Sertãozinho, known as the Silicon Valley Ethanol. The results suggest that the increasing modernization of the sector will require greater efforts from equipment industry to provide plants with the necessary technological innovations and potential efficiency gains and that the constituent companies of this industry, few invest in technology and professional training, in other words, are lacking in management training, which leads to loss of valuable opportunities, international market share is tiny, most companies turn to private sources of financing, and companies seem unaware of the real benefits of cooperation, although they appear in most companies in this industry.

Concept analysis of competitiveness

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bychkovskii Andrei Yurevich

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Approaches to determine the competitiveness of enterprises. The techniques of estimating the probability of bankruptcy as the lowest level of competitiveness of the organization. Asked to assess the competitiveness on the basis of the analysis of internal and external factors of the company. External factors are asked to provide a financial and economic, political, industrial, technological, social, environmental. Internal factors proposed to explore, using the model of "the golden rule of business economics" in conjunction with approaches for assessing the ability of the enterprise to create value.

Successful renewable energy development in a competitive electricity market: A Texas case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zarnikau, Jay

2011-01-01

The development of renewable energy in markets with competition at wholesale and retail levels poses challenges not present in areas served by vertically-integrated utilities. The intermittent nature of some renewable energy resources impact reliability, operations, and market prices, in turn affecting all market participants. Meeting renewable energy goals may require coordination among many market players. These challenges may be successfully overcome by imposing goals, establishing trading mechanisms, and implementing operational changes in competitive markets. This strategy has contributed to Texas' leadership among all US states in non-hydro renewable energy production. While Texas has been largely successful in accommodating over 9000 MW of wind power capacity, this extensive reliance upon wind power has also created numerous problems. Higher levels of operating reserves must now be procured. Market prices often go negative in the proximity of wind farms. Inaccurate wind forecasts have led to reliability problems. Five billion dollars in transmission investment will be necessary to facilitate further wind farm projects. Despite these costs, wind power is generally viewed as a net benefit. - Research Highlights: → Texas rapidly emerged as a leader in renewable energy development. → This state's experiences demonstrate that the right combination of policies to lead to rapid renewable energy development in a region with a very competitive electricity market. → Wind power development has lead to various operational challenges.

Separation of energy companies. Judicial aspects. The separation and the European law

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slotboom, M.M.; Ter Heegde, A.

2005-01-01

There is much discussion in the Netherlands about the plan of the Dutch government to separate energy companies into a commercial energy supply business and a network business. In a series of articles attention will be paid to the legal aspects of the separation [nl

Market integration of local energy systems: Is local energy management compatible with European regulation for retail competition?

OpenAIRE

Eid, Cherrelle; Bollinger, L. Andrew; Koirala, Binod; Scholten, Daniel; Facchinetti, Emanuele; Lilliestam, Johan; Hakvoort, Rudi

2016-01-01

The growing penetration of distributed energy resources is opening up opportunities for local energy management (LEM) – the coordination of decentralized energy supply, storage, transport, conversion and consumption within a given geographical area. Because European electricity market liberalization concentrates competition at the wholesale level, local energy management at the distribution level is likely to impose new roles and responsibilities on existing and/or new actors. This paper prov...

Wind energy in a competitive electricity supply environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strbac, G; Jenkins, N [Manchester Centre for Electrical Energy, Manchester (United Kingdom)

1996-12-31

In the UK, there has been an increasing interest in the commercial aspects of the impact of wind energy on transmission and distribution networks. In a competitive electricity supply environment, mechanisms for pricing network services are considered to be the main vehicle for evaluating that impact. This article reviews the major pricing strategies based on embedded costs, short and long run marginal costing theory as well as time-of-use pricing, and comments on the influence of each particular strategy on the calculated value of wind energy. Also, prospective tools for evaluating savings in capital and operating network costs due to wind generation, are identified. (author)

Wind energy in a competitive electricity supply environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Strbac, G.; Jenkins, N. [Manchester Centre for Electrical Energy, Manchester (United Kingdom)

1995-12-31

In the UK, there has been an increasing interest in the commercial aspects of the impact of wind energy on transmission and distribution networks. In a competitive electricity supply environment, mechanisms for pricing network services are considered to be the main vehicle for evaluating that impact. This article reviews the major pricing strategies based on embedded costs, short and long run marginal costing theory as well as time-of-use pricing, and comments on the influence of each particular strategy on the calculated value of wind energy. Also, prospective tools for evaluating savings in capital and operating network costs due to wind generation, are identified. (author)

Optimization of finances into regional energy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexey Yuryevich Domnikov

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The development of modern Russian energy collides with the need for major investments in the modernization and renewal of generation and transmission capacity. In terms of attracting sufficient financial resources and find ways to increase, energy sector profitability and investment attractiveness of particular importance is the problem of investment financing optimizing aimed at minimizing the cost of financing while maintaining financial stability of the power companies and the goals and objectives of Russian energy system long-term development. The article discusses the problem of investment projects financing in power generation from the point of view of the need to achieve optimal investment budget. Presents the author’s approach to the investment financing optimization of power generation company that will achieve the minimum cost of resources involved, taking into account the impact of the funding structure for the power generating company financial sustainability. The developed model is applied to the problem of investment budget optimizing, for example, regional power generating company. The results can improve the efficiency of investment in energy, sustainable and competitive development of regional energy systems.

Renewable energy production - A business for the future?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2002-01-01

The report is the result of a study performed in 2002. Main objectives of the study were: Is there a potential for growth for the Swedish companies active in the business of renewable energy? Can these companies develop into internationally competitive industries? The areas studied are: Biofuels, Bio-based transportation fuels, Wastes, Small scale hydro power, Wind power, Solar cells and Hydrogen

Competitive solar heating systems for residential buildings

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Furbo, Simon; Thür, Alexander; Fiedler, Frank

2005-01-01

The paper describes the ongoing research project “Competitive solar heating systems for residential buildings”. The aim of the project is to develop competitive solar combisystems which are attractive to buyers. The solar combisystems must be attractive compared to traditional energy systems, both....... In Denmark and Norway the focus is on solar heating/natural gas systems, and in Sweden and Latvia the focus is on solar heating/pellet systems. Additionally, Lund Institute of Technology and University of Oslo are studying solar collectors of various types being integrated into the roof and facade......, are the universities: Technical University of Denmark, Dalarna University, University of Oslo, Riga Technical University and Lund Institute of Technology, as well as the companies: Metro Therm A/S (Denmark), Velux A/S (Denmark), Solentek AB (Sweden) and SolarNor (Norway). The project consists of a number of Ph...

Competition Law and the Nuclear Sector: An EU Outlook

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sousa Ferro, M.

2010-01-01

Competition law essentially aims at preventing harmful distortions of competition in the market which may be caused by agreements between companies, by the abusive behaviour of dominant companies, by structural changes in the market due to mergers or by state aid.1 However, often such practices and measures are actually necessary to render certain services viable, to obtain new or better products, to pursue other policies for the greater benefit of the collective, etc. Occasionally, this raises interesting issues in the nuclear sector. This paper aims to provide European competition law practitioners with a summary of the leading legal issues and precedents in this domain, alerting them to relevant specifics. It also aims to introduce nuclear lawyers to the reality and potential of antitrust enforcement in this sector. For the purposes of this paper, the 'nuclear sector' shall be broadly defined so as to include any activity which, given its link to nuclear energy or to ionizing radiation, is (at least partially) subject to special regulation under nuclear law. While many nuclear-related activities will not, in principle, require a special analysis beyond the usual parameters of competition law enforcement, others present distinct challenges to practitioners. Some of these challenges are specific to the European legal order and justify the restriction of the scope of this analysis to the European Union. That being said, the extensive harmonization of the national competition law of member states, as well as the fact that national competition authorities are required to enforce EU competition law, makes it advisable to look simultaneously at European-wide and national antitrust enforcement. The relationship between EU competition law and the nuclear sector remains somewhat shrouded in mystery - perhaps excessively so. The issue has been tackled to some extent in general works on competition law and energy law. As one would expect, research developed in the framework

Nuclear energy in the increasingly deregulated brazilian energy market

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathias, Sergio G

2003-01-01

The Brazilian Electric Energy Market is presently undergoing an institutional transition from a strictly regulated to a commercially competitive market, due to be completed by January, 2006. The operation and maintenance costs of the two presently existing Brazilian nuclear power plants allow them to be economically competitive with other types of plants for meeting the load demand in the country. The commercialization of the energy produced by the two existing nuclear power plants must cope with the impact of the new market rules, which establish that power purchase contracts must be freely negotiated between generating and distributing companies. The projected costs for the construction and operation of a third NPP also indicate that it may be economically feasible under the new market rules (author)

Current Size and Remaining Market Potential of the U.S. Energy Service Company Industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stuart, Elizabeth [Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Larsen, Peter H. [Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Goldman, Charles A. [Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Gilligan, Donald [Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); National Association of Energy Services Companies

2013-06-27

In this study, we analyze the market size, growth projections and industry trends in the U.S. ESCO industry, drawing on information from interviews with ESCO executives conducted in late 2012. We define ESCOs as energy service companies for whom performance -based contracting is a key business activity; 45 companies met our definition of an ESCO. We were able to interview 35 of these companies, which represents ~78% response rate. The non-respondent ESCOs were small companies in terms of revenue, representing about 2% of industry revenues.

Energy Service Companies as a Component of a Comprehensive University Sustainability Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

Pearce, Joshua M.; Miller, Laura L.

2006-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to quantify and critically analyze the best practices of a comprehensive environmental stewardship strategy (ESS), which included a guaranteed energy savings program (GESP) that utilized an energy service company (ESCO). Design/methodology/approach: The environmental and economic benefits and limitations of an approach…

Which Subsidy Mode Improves the Financial Performance of Renewable Energy Firms? A Panel Data Analysis of Wind and Solar Energy Companies between 2009 and 2014

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huiming Zhang

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The effectiveness of subsidies in improving the performance of renewable energy firms has aroused significant research attention in recent years. As subsidy modes may affect corporate financial performance,we have chosen companies specializing in wind and solar energy in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets as samples.The relationships between the subsidy modes and financial performance of these two types of companies are investigated with a panel data model. Results of the total sample indicate that both indirect and non-innovative subsidy have significant effects on the financial performance of renewable energy companies. The regressive coefficient of the former,however, is a negative value, which illustrates that taxation, bonus, and other market-based mechanisms impair corporate profitability. Moreover, the influence of innovative subsidy is weak, which means that the subsidy used for research and development, technical demonstration, and other innovations of renewable energy enterprises have failed to effectively enhance corporate financial performance. In terms of sub-industries, the direct subsidy for wind energy companies has achieved a significant effect. Incomparison, the indirect subsidy and innovative subsidy acquired by solar energy companies have notably reduced corporate profitability. Thissuggests an urgent reform of subsidy policy for this industry is needed. The government should consider differences in the effects subsidies have for wind and solar energy companies when improving subsidy policy. In addition, market-based subsidy mechanisms should be perfected, and the structure of innovative subsidies should be ameliorated.

Energy management via Internet. Process control system helps companies save energy; Energiemanagement via Internet. Prozessleitsystem hilft Unternehmen Energie sparen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Anon.

2009-02-15

In view of constantly rising oil and natural gas prices and the demand for environmentally compatible production processes, efficient use of energy is a decisive factor governing the productivity of an industrial company, now more than ever. (orig.)

Energy storage reinforces competitive business practices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Makansi, J.

1994-01-01

This article examines how the ability to ''store'' electricity can pay handsome dividends in a competitive environment. Priorities change when industries are deregulated. Indeed, new priorities are being established for electric generation--low cost, efficiency, product distinction for marketing purposes, etc. are all more critical today. Perhaps not so obvious is the fundamental role of energy storage in a fully competitive marketplace. In fact, rarely do a technology development and a changing business climate play off against each other so nicely. Consider the function of the emerging electricity broker, or power marketer. Imagine the premium that broker could command with access to a large increment of electricity--purchased at a low price--and supplied at a moment's notice for a substantially higher price. Storage of electricity would mean that the investment in excess available generation capacity to supply so-called peak demand could be avoided. It also means that electricity could be brokered like other commodities--that is purchased, stockpiled, and sold to reflect market conditions across a wider geographical region and time spain. Benefits accrue to transmission and distribution, in addition to generation. Energy storage helps to manage the increasing stress placed on the grid as a result of intermittent sources of power and large numbers of cogenerators and small power producers. On the customer side, any ratepayer large or small could, theoretically, play the spot market in electric supply with a reserve to tap in emergencies. For a parallel in other deregulated markets, recall how storage has become an important factor in natural-gas contracting. Quality of electricity also can be improved by applying storage to stabilize the grid, especially along the distribution system at substations. And the opening of vast markets for electricity consumption, such as electric vehicles, depends in large measure on electric storage

The Resilient Economy: Integrating Competitiveness and Security

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Debbie van Opstal

2009-01-07

Globalization, technological complexity, interdependence, terrorism, climate and energy volatility, and pandemic potential are increasing the level of risk that societies and organizations now face. Risks also are increasingly interrelated; disruptions in one area can cascade in multiple directions. The ability to manage emerging risks, anticipate the interactions between different types of risk, and bounce back from disruption will be a competitive differentiator for companies and countries alike in the 21st century. What Policymakers Should Know The national objective is not just homeland protection, but economic resilience: the ability to mitigate and recover quickly from disruption. Businesses must root the case for investment in resilience strategies to manage a spectrum of risks, not just catastrophic ones. Making a business case for investment in defenses against low-probability events (even those with high impact) is difficult. However, making a business case for investments that assure business continuity and shareholder value is not a heavy lift. There are an infinite number of disruption scenarios, but only a finite number of outcomes. Leading organizations do not manage specific scenarios, rather they create the agility and flexibility to cope with turbulent situations. The investments and contingency plans these leading companies make to manage a spectrum of risk create a capability to respond to high-impact disasters as well. Government regulations tend to stovepipe different types of risk, which impedes companies abilities to manage risk in an integrated way. Policies to strengthen risk management capabilities would serve both security and competitiveness goals. What CEOs and Boards Should Know Operational risks are growing rapidly and outpacing many companies abilities to manage them. Corporate leadership has historically viewed operational risk management as a back office control function. But managing operational risks increasingly affects real

U.S. Wind Energy Manufacturing and Supply Chain: A Competitiveness Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fullenkamp, Patrick H; Holody, Diane S

2014-06-15

The goal of the project was to develop a greater understanding of the key factors determining wind energy component manufacturing costs and pricing on a global basis in order to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, and to reduce installed systems cost. Multiple stakeholders including DOE, turbine OEMs, and large component manufactures will all benefit by better understanding the factors determining domestic competitiveness in the emerging offshore and next generation land-based wind industries. Major objectives of this project were to: 1. Carry out global cost and process comparisons for 5MW jacket foundations, blades, towers, and permanent magnet generators; 2. Assess U.S. manufacturers’ competitiveness and potential for cost reduction; 3. Facilitate informed decision-making on investments in U.S. manufacturing; 4. Develop an industry scorecard representing the readiness of the U.S. manufacturers’ to produce components for the next generations of wind turbines, nominally 3MW land-based and 5MW offshore; 5. Disseminate results through the GLWN Wind Supply Chain GIS Map, a free website that is the most comprehensive public database of U.S. wind energy suppliers; 6. Identify areas and develop recommendations to DOE on potential R&D areas to target for increasing domestic manufacturing competitiveness, per DOE’s Clean Energy Manufacturing Initiative (CEMI). Lists of Deliverables 1. Cost Breakdown Competitive Analyses of four product categories: tower, jacket foundation, blade, and permanent magnet (PM) generator. The cost breakdown for each component includes a complete Bill of Materials with net weights; general process steps for labor; and burden adjusted by each manufacturer for their process categories of SGA (sales general and administrative), engineering, logistics cost to a common U.S. port, and profit. 2. Value Stream Map Competitiveness Analysis: A tool that illustrates both information and material flow from the point of getting a

U.S. Wind Energy Manufacturing & Supply Chain: A Competitive Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fullenkamp, Patrick [Global WindNetwork, Cleveland, OH (United States)

2014-06-15

The Global Wind Network (GLWN) assessed the key factors that determine wind energy component manufacturing costs and pricing on a global basis in order to provide a better understanding of the factors that will help enhance the competitiveness of U.S. manufacturers, and reduce installed system costs.

Impact of gas on utilities - competitive energy options

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coolican, M.

1997-01-01

The initiatives taken by Nova Scotia Power to have natural gas as a generating fuel was discussed. Nova Scotia Power customers have indicated to the Utility that along with reduced energy costs, they want choices, better services and innovative products. It was noted that coal is currently Nova Scotia Power's principal fuel, but the utility is working with the Cape Breton Development Corporation, their supplier, to bring the cost of coal down. The utility is also exploring the potential of coal bed methane in Pictou and Cumberland counties of Nova Scotia. However, the most promising competitive energy option for their customers is Sable Offshore natural gas. To bring natural gas as the generating fuel for electricity, the Utility is taking steps to convert its Tufts Cove Thermal Generating Station to natural gas and to pipe natural gas to the Trenton Generating Station by November 1999. Bringing natural gas to these two stations would establish a critical base level of demand for natural gas in the Halifax and New Glasgow-Trenton area. One of the important ingredients of this plan is the cost of piping the gas to market. It was suggested that the 'postage stamp' tolling system (i.e. one price for the gas delivered anywhere along the pipeline) favored by some, would not give Nova Scotians the economic advantages that they deserve. For this reason, Nova Scotia Power favours the 'point to point' tolling system, a system that is considered fair and efficient, and the one that has a better chance of producing competitive energy prices

Effect of Customer Satisfaction on Company Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petr Suchánek

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The subject of this article is customer satisfaction and its impact on company performance through satisfaction with its products, including a comparison with the competition. Research was conducted in search of factors which affect customer satisfaction on the one hand and the performance of the company on the other hand. We constructed a model explaining what specific factors (affecting customer satisfaction have an impact on the performance of a company. This model can help management to better run the business and achieve higher performance. The article is based on research that focused on companies in the food industry in Czech Republic and on their customers. First, we found the financial performance of surveyed companies (based on indicators ROA, ROE and assets turnover and on this basis they have been divided on companies efficient and inefficient. Furthermore factors were identified (based on previous research of authors that have an impact on customer satisfaction (among these factors include product quality, customer requirements for product, comparison with competitive products, etc.. With the use of non-parametric statistical methods, logistic regression and discriminant analysis was analyzed, what factors affecting customer satisfaction also affect business performance.

Financial instruments supporting for energy and sustainability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maino, R.

1999-01-01

The article discusses the close connection between the production and consumption of energy and environmental sustainability. Saving and rational use of energy on the one side, and reduction of environmental impacts of the energy production on the other, are by now constantly recurring among the strategic objectives of modern energy policies. In this scenario the financial aspect is crucial; it may remove obstacles to competition, giving innovative companies greater opportunities [it

Competition in energy markets - law and regulation in the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cameron, Peter Duncanson; Brothwood, Michael

2002-03-01

Analysis of the origins, aims and implementation of the EU energy directives is essential to an understanding of the emerging internal market in energy in the European Union. This book provides a detailed and practical account of the legislation and the various developments in the Member States that are leading to a competitive energy market for the first time. It explains the legislation, EU case law and the relevant national laws, regulations and competence of the enforcing authorities. (Author)

Energy diagnoses to the small company; Diagnosticos energeticos a la pequena empresa

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ambriz Garcia, Juan Jose; Ortega Navarro, Hermilio Oscar [Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana, Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

2005-07-01

In this work are presented some results of the application of energy diagnoses to small companies. These diagnoses use the methodology developed by the Department of Energy of the United States of America and are performed by advanced students of engineering and university professors. The results of four energy diagnoses applied to companies of different branches are presented. In the studies the energy saving alternatives are evaluated, as well as their economic impact and their economic viability. The annual energy saving according to the company goes from 25,600 to 596,000 MJ (from 1.2 to 10.5%), which means a saving from $5,300 to $165,000 Mexican Currency (1.43 to 9.27%). The simple rate of return goes of 0.5 to 9.3 years. From the work it is concluded that the application of that methodology of energy diagnoses in Mexico is very feasible, since with very low costs opportunities of energy savings are identified and evaluated for this section of companies that traditionally have not been taken care of by the official programs and allows them to give launch to a solid program of energy improvement. [Spanish] En este trabajo se presentan algunos resultados de la aplicacion de diagnosticos energeticos a pequenas empresas. Se utiliza la metodologia desarrollada por el Departamento de Energia de los Estados Unidos de America, en donde, los estudios los realizan alumnos avanzados de ingenieria y profesores de universidades. Como ejemplo se presentan los resultados de cuatro diagnosticos energeticos aplicados a empresas de distintas ramas. En los estudios se evaluan las alternativas de ahorro de energia, tanto en la energia ahorrada, como su impacto economico, asi como su viabilidad economica. El ahorro anual de energia segun la empresa va de 25,600 a 596,000 MJ (de 1.2 a 10.5%), lo que significa un ahorro de $5,300 a $165,000 (1.43 a 9.27%). La tasa simple de retorno va de 0.5 a 9.3 anos. Del trabajo se concluye que la aplicacion de esa metodologia de diagnosticos

THE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF NATIONS AND THE PARTICULARITIES OF ROMANIAN COMPANIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alina HAGIU

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The theory of competitive advantage of Michael Porter stated that national competitive advantage is a reflection of a "diamond" which is running properly and efficiently. But if a developing country like Romania does not have the right conditions for effective functioning of the "diamond", what happens? This is the question to which we try to give an answer within this paper. In this respect, the paper aims to analyze the theory of competitive advantage of Michael Porter, followed by an identification of the advantages and criticisms of this theory over time. Finally we make a customization of this theory in the context of the competitive environment in Romania.

Energy and Russia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corbeau, A.S.; Noel, P.; Finon, D.; Baudrand, D.; Zaki, M.; Chevallier, Bruno

2012-01-01

Five issues are addressed concerning energy and Russia: energy perspectives in Russia (according to world energy outlook for 2011 and to Russia energy outlook), notably in terms of energy mix by 2035; the relationship between geopolitics and the gas market in Russia and for the European Union; the possibility of a European common foreign policy in front of a supposed Russian risk (involved actors, the issue of corridors); the refining industry in Russia (key figures, obstacles to its competitiveness improvement); and Total as a major company operating in Russia (context, projects). Questions concerning these issues are briefly answered

PECULIARITIES OF THE RENEWABLE ENERGY BUSINESS MODELS

OpenAIRE

BĂLOI Ionut-Cosmin

2014-01-01

By exploring the competitiveness of industries and companies, we could identify the factors whose importance is likely to generate competitive advantage. An inventory of content elements of the business model summarizes the clearest opportunities and prospects. The objectives developed throughout the paper want to identify the pillars of a renewable business model and to describe the strategic dimensions of their capitalisation in regional and national energy entrepreneurship. The trend of in...

Engie. Group dynamics and activities. Competitive environment and strategic perspectives. Release - October 2017

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2017-09-01

After a synthesis, this report proposes a presentation of the Engie Group (general overview, activities in the different parts of the world, evolution of human resources, share-holding structure, stock market data, high management, competitive environment). It gives an overview of the Engie group dynamics and of its activities through a presentation of an environment analysis (world energy market, European gas and electricity market, gas consumption in France, regulated tariffs and spot prices, temperatures in France, regulatory evolutions), a presentation of the group activity (turnover in France, gas and electricity sales, turnover per area and market segment), a performance analysis (operating income), and a competitive analysis (comparison with the main European energy companies). It analyses the different development axes and discusses main events regarding Engie's strategy, the implementation of a large asset disposal, how Engie gets on the path of renewable energies, and the development of energy services. Financial data are presented along with the main economic and financial indicators. Important statistical data are provided

Competitive Effects of Mass Customization

OpenAIRE

Oksana Loginova

2010-01-01

Earlier theoretical literature on mass customization maintains that customization reduces product differentiation and intensifies price competition. In contrast, operations management studies argue that customization serves primarily to differentiate a company from its competitors. Interactive involvement of the customer in product design creates an affective relationship with the firm, relaxing price competition. This paper provides a model that incorporates consumer involvement to explain t...

The impact of the energy cost on the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. A review of the contributions of research in economy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bordigoni, Mathieu

2013-01-01

After a large introduction on the variations of energy prices (in relationship with energy sources, with end users, with competitiveness), on what can be found in the literature on competitiveness in the industry in relationship with energy, and on the current debates on energy prices and energy transition, this report discusses the variations of energy prices among countries and among industrial sectors, outlines that high oil prices threaten more economic growth than competitiveness, notices that countries possessing abundant energy resources tend to be specialised in intensive industries, that energy prices tends to have an important impact on competitiveness in some specific sectors, outlines that shale gases boost the demand of the whole American economy but that the associated competitiveness improvement rather concerns energy intensive sectors, and finally discusses the energy issue at a European level

Predators and prey: a new ecology of competition.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, J F

1993-01-01

Much has been written about networks, strategic alliances, and virtual organizations. Yet these currently popular frameworks provide little systematic assistance when it comes to out-innovating the competition. That's because most managers still view the problem in the old way: companies go head-to-head in an industry, battling for market share. James Moore sets up a new metaphor for competition drawn from the study of biology and social systems. He suggests that a company be viewed not as a member of a single industry but as a part of a business ecosystem that crosses a variety of industries. In a business ecosystem, companies "co-evolve" around a new innovation, working cooperatively and competitively to support new products and satisfy customer needs. Apple Computer, for example, leads an ecosystem that covers personal computers, consumer electronics, information, and communications. In any larger business environment, several ecosystems may vie for survival and dominance, such as the IBM and Apple ecosystems in personal computers or Wal-Mart and K mart in discount retailing. In fact, it's largely competition among business ecosystems, not individual companies, that's fueling today's industrial transformation. Managers can't afford to ignore the birth of new ecosystems or the competition among those that already exist. Whether that means investing in the right new technology, signing on suppliers to expand a growing business, developing crucial elements of value to maintain leadership, or incorporating new innovations to fend off obsolescence, executives must understand the evolutionary stages all business ecosystems go through and, more important, how to direct those changes.

Incorporating Renewable Energy Science in Regional Landscape Design: Results from a Competition in The Netherlands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Renée M. de Waal

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Energy transition is expected to make an important contribution to sustainable development. Although it is argued that landscape design could foster energy transition, there is scant empirical research on how practitioners approach this new challenge. The research question central to this study is: To what extent and how is renewable energy science incorporated in regional landscape design? To address this knowledge gap, a case study of a regional landscape design competition in the Netherlands, held from 2010–2012, is presented. Its focus was on integral, strategic landscape transformation with energy transition as a major theme. Content analysis of the 36 competition entries was supplemented and triangulated with a survey among the entrants, observation of the process and a study of the competition documents and website. Results indicated insufficient use of key-strategies elaborated by renewable energy science. If landscape design wants to adopt a supportive role towards energy transition, a well-informed and evidence-based approach is highly recommended. Nevertheless, promising strategies for addressing the complex process of ensuring sustainable energy transition also emerged. They include the careful cultivation of public support by developing inclusive and bottom-up processes, and balancing energy-conscious interventions with other land uses and interests.

Quality management in shipping companies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Đergović Dragana M.

2017-01-01

Full Text Available As international business becomes more competitive, companies are finding that they need to work more effectively to stay in business. Quality assurance has become very important to the majority of production and service companies with international activity. Shipping companies were also required to implement a quality management system. The huge importance of safety in maritime transport operations resulted in the International Safety Management Code (ISM Code by the International Maritime Organization. The general management system principles embodied by the maritime ISM Code and generics ISO standards, have enabled their complementary application in establishing a quality management system in shipping companies, within a safety management system as its subset.

Competitive Advantages of Indonesian Plywood Industry: A Perspective from Porter???s Five Forces Model

OpenAIRE

Makkarennu

2015-01-01

The Understanding industry structure is of great concern to industry strategic since depending against the competitive forces and shaping them in a company???s favor area essential to strategy. Competitive advantages provide the framework for assessing strategy and understanding the source of competitive advantage. This paper applies Porter Five Forces Model to identify the positioning of competitive advantages of plywood industry in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Qualitative research was carried...

A Strategic Analysis of a Valve Manufacturing Company

OpenAIRE

Schlesinger, Victor

2012-01-01