How well does our system work? You can use the numerical index to check our blogs from the last big recession.
Much of the world suffered a severe recession from 2008 to 2011. During that time, we wrote more than 250 blogs using publicly available information and our Strategystreet system to project what would happen in various companies and industries who were living in those hostile environments. In 2022, we began to update each of these blogs to see what later took place and to check the quality of our conclusions. To date, we have completed the first 175 of our original blogs. You can use these updated blogs to see how well the Strategystreet system works.
Toys R Us has introduced a lay-away program for large ticket items that they sell. These items include bikes, dollhouses, play kitchens, car seats, cribs, strollers and other expensive items. This new program from Toys R Us follows successful similar initiatives by Sears and K-Mart last year. Lay-away programs have been relatively scarce for the last forty years. They were popular during the Depression. However, over the last couple of generations they have given way to the easy credit that consumers have had from credit card companies, banks and mortgage lenders. Of course, this day…
Read MoreThere is a new, small, credit card issuing company in the market. The company is PartnersFirst and they promise to change the credit card world by making that world more cardholder friendly. This new firm, based in Wilmington, Delaware, has introduced an unusual credit card. The card has no fees and relatively low borrowing rates, along with less onerous penalties. The upstart company challenges the four giants in the industry, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Capital One. Industry veterans formed and run this new credit card company. They believe that the company’s…
Read MoreThe NFL is the most popular sports league in the country. For years, it has been able to increase its revenues by selling television time, licensed products, and even tickets to games. This easy market came to an end with this recession. Three quarters of the NFL clubs have held ticket prices flat this year. Even then, only twenty clubs sold out the tickets for their home games. So, ticket sales revenues are likely to drop this season. All is not lost, however. The Fan Cost Index measures the average price for a family of…
Read MoreJust a few years ago, Dell Computer was the darling of the PC industry. Hewlett-Packard was an also-ran. Today the tables have turned. Over the last year, Hewlett-Packard’s market share has jumped from 18.5% to 20% of the global PC shipments. Dell’s market share has fallen from 15.7% to 13.7%. The change in market share is customers saying that HP offers a better value proposition. (See the Perspective, “The Two Best Consultants in the World” on StrategyStreet.com.) HP has strenuously reduced its costs at the same time it has gained market share. HP, at one…
Read MoreThe late 80’s and 90’s were hostile times for the beer industry. The period saw constant price wars. All the domestic competitors, except for Anheuser Busch, suffered from relatively low returns. A hostile industry is notable for constant pricing pressure and very low returns in the industry. The brewing industry certainly fit that description for a long period of time. Then came the 2000’s. This decade brought a great deal of consolidation to the market. InBev bought Anheuser Busch. SabMiller PLC consolidated operations with Molson Coors Brewing Company. These changes, and others, produced a consolidated…
Read MoreThose of us who fly a lot have noticed how few people have a meal on an airplane anymore. In-flight food was attractive when we got it for free, much less so when we have to pay for it. The WiFi industry is learning a similar lesson. A couple of WiFi suppliers to the airline industry are trying to figure out how to charge for their services. (The WiFi suppliers control the pricing so that the airlines cannot give it away, as they have tended to do in the past with other benefits…though that trend…
Read MoreDo you know what a Hyundai is? How about a Kia? Of course you do. They are South Korean automakers. Though they are not top of the consumer mind in the U.S., they are a rising pair. They both belong to the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group. Globally, this automotive group is the fourth largest automaker. Toyota, General Motors and Volkswagen rank ahead of them. And the South Korean Group is gaining share at a rapid rate. Ten years ago it was the eleventh largest global automaker. In the United States, Hyundai and Kia began life as…
Read MoreToys R Us has created the “Great Trade-In” event. This event offers consumers who bring used cribs, car seats or other baby products into a Babies R Us or Toys R Us location a 20% discount on any new product from selected manufacturers in the store. In a public relations explanation, the company calls this event an effort to keep potentially unsafe children’s items from being resold. But a more realistic spin on this event is that it is a trade-in discount that increases the company’s store traffic. The trick with discounts always is to…
Read MoreAfter several years of extreme drought in Israel, the prophet Elijah sent his servant to look on the horizon for a cloud. The servant returned to say that he had seen a cloud on the horizon but it was as small as a man’s hand. However, in short order, that little cloud turned into a deluge and ended the drought in Israel. This story had a happy ending. There is a small cloud on the horizon for consumer goods that may not have such a happy ending. The retail market share of branded consumer goods…
Read MoreChina has adopted an interesting plan to reduce the rate of cost it pays for the metals and ores it purchases. China is a big consumer of stainless steel. It needs nickel to produce this stainless steel. While it has some mines of its own, it needs to import nearly a quarter of its total needs. To fill part of these needs and to give itself some leverage against the largest suppliers of nickel, China has begun forming alliances with the smaller nickel companies. In some cases, China has made an investment in the smaller…
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