Exercise 1: Question 1. Everyone’s Gasoline Problem
For any consumer who owns a vehicle and has to commute daily, the rise and fall of gas prices can be difficult to comprehend. In order to understand the variances for gas and oil prices, one must evaluate the core reasons for the fluctuation. According to recent research, the quick changes in oil and gas prices can be directly associated to several factors, which include supply and demand, market speculation, taxes and the expense of refining crude oil into gasoline (Herbert, 2008). These factors affect the price of oil and gas in independent ways, but also are related. Supply and demand has a direct affect on the price of crude oil and when supply is high, usually the price of oil decreases. When supply is low, the price of oil increases. In terms of demand for example, an oil price increase is seen as reducing aggregate demand because of a reduction in spending on goods and services (Olatubi & No, 2003). In terms of supply, this increase will likely produce even more widespread effects and oil price increases will cause overall production costs to rise, shifting the aggregate supply curve to the left (Olatubi & No, 2003). According to research, growing economies globally have increased the demand for crude oil while the supply has remained fairly constant. According to the Associated Press (2013), the average price for regular unleaded gasoline, which is $3.25 per gallon, is the lowest since December 26, 2012. In September 2013, AAA Mid-Atlantic said that the average price of a gallon of regular gas in the D.C. metro area was $3.55, compared to $3.56 the prior week (AP, 2013). Market speculators play a role because oil is a product to them that can be bought and sold based on instability of prices. Speculators try to forecast world events that could impact supply and demand. They buy contracts for oil to protect themselves from sudden increases in the price of oil and when prices rise, they can then sell their contracts that were purchased at a cheaper price for a significant profit (Herbert, 2008). Taxes also effect the variances in prices around the country. Refining oil to gas and transporting it to the marketplace also has a significant impact on the price of gas. A portion of the cost of gasoline goes to turning crude oil into fuel, moving it to gas stations, and retail markup.
UK economy goes through difference series of pattern with booms to slumps. Every business does well in the time period of boom and most businesses collapse in the time period of slump or recession. Other economy changes that have influence on ASDA are interest rate, wage rate and inflation rate.
Gasoline is one of the many conversation starters anywhere you go. People have different opinions on why gasoline prices are fluctuating at such a rapid pace. Some Americans have chosen a way of thinking towards the prices. Whether it be making up rumors or just plainly trash talking towards our government. You make ask yourself the same questions many economist do, why has the price of oil been dropping so fast?
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
scream when it hits a $1.35 to $1.75 a gallon, which if adjusted for inflation
Since the 19th century, gas has gradually become a necessity to mankind. It has been used for lighting our houses, to produce heat, to cook our food and to run our vehicles. As time passed, the price of gas has known many changes in Montreal. By the year of 2008 the price was relatively low, but suddenly became very high in 2014. This year in Montreal, the prices are as low as 3.4 US $/G. When considering the previously mentioned facts, we ask ourselves why the price of gas is low and what are the factors fluctuating its price. The main factor responsible of gas price changes is the cost of oil.
The focal article I chose is Dynamic Pricing: The Future of Ticket Pricing in Sports by Patrick Rishe published on January 6th, 2012 through Forbes. Pricing is an important component of the marketing mix because it is the element where managers have expectations of customers paying their money to the organization (Kopalle, 2009). Compared with other elements of the marketing mix, pricing has the advantage because there is a high level of flexibility. The flexibility is because prices change continually (Smith, 2008). The opportunity of quick price changes also has disadvantages. For much of the 20th century, the vast majority of sport managers employed one of two pricing strategies: the one-size-fits-all approach, where every ticket price
The modern world of today runs on fossil fuels with crude oil being the live blood of industrialized countries. Though much of the twentieth century old was plentiful easily acquired and low in cost it has only been in the past thirty years that we have seen oil prices rise substantially. This can be attributed to many different reason. These price changes have challenged the industrialized world to become more creative with their techniques of both acquiring oil and using it.
To understand the increase in gas prices, one must first identify the distribution of dollars paid per gallon at the pump. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (eia) in 2010, the annual average paid at the pump consisted of 68% crude oil, 7% refining, 10% distribution and marketing, and 15% taxes (see Fig.1). This shows an increase of crude oil over the 2000-2009 average of 51%. (e. I. Administration)
Dr. Carl Hart had a very rocky childhood and through his own determination to not repeat the past has gotten to where he is now in life. He comes from a broken family plagued by domestic violence, divorce, and a lack of support while he was growing up. Dr. Hart’s views on; social support, addiction and the physiological effects on the brain, factors to take into account when assessing drug abusers, drug policies influencing discrimination, and decriminalizing drug use are well articulated through his book High Life; in which enabled the audience to have raw reactions to his personal views.
Another key cause to the price inflation issue is the extended period of bitterly cold weather that loomed in the northern and midwestern parts of the U.S. throughout the winter months. This led to an “increased demand in home heating oil, which is widely used in the region and is virtually identical to diesel fuel” (Lang1). This increased demand for fuel coupled with the restrictions on exported oil allowed OPEC to jack up their prices an exorbitant amount in a relatively short period of time.
Mast, Tom R. Over a Barrel: A Simple Guide to the Oil Shortage. Austin: Hayden, 2005. Print.
Chaos theory has numerous application including helping explain phenomena or helping to predict the future. Chaos theory is applicable in various fields ranging from weather, business to medicine. Chaos theory explains the reason why it is practically improbable to predict the weather with the current technology as well as providing a way for people to find patterns in the chaotic system of stock exchange. It also helps with the running of organisation by showing what sort of condition is needed for a profitable business as well as helping doctors predict when heart failure may occur. Fractals which is a concept of chaos theory also is portrayed in the natural world in examples such as lightning and neurons in the brains. Chaos theory has
Retail sales is over 5 billion rand in 2007. Mr. Price is in competitive position in clothing industry of South Africa. Their
The market price of a good is determined by both the supply and demand for it. In the world today supply and demand is perhaps one of the most fundamental principles that exists for economics and the backbone of a market economy. Supply is represented by how much the market can offer. The quantity supplied refers to the amount of a certain good that producers are willing to supply for a certain demand price. What determines this interconnection is how much of a good or service is supplied to the market or otherwise known as the supply relationship or supply schedule which is graphically represented by the supply curve. In demand the schedule is depicted graphically as the demand curve which represents the amount of goods that buyers are willing and able to purchase at various prices, assuming all other non-price factors remain the same. The demand curve is almost always represented as downwards-sloping, meaning that as price decreases, consumers will buy more of the good. Just as the supply curves reflect marginal cost curves, demand curves can be described as marginal utility curves. The main determinants of individual demand are the price of the good, level of income, personal tastes, the population, government policies, the price of substitute goods, and the price of complementary goods.
There is one thing that differentiates the international business with the domestic business where it uses more than one currency in the commercial transaction. For example, if a company from British purchases some goods from a company from US, the international transaction will require for exchanging pounds and U.S. dollars which involve the foreign exchange market. In the foreign exchange market, any country that wish to do business with foreign country, the country need to convert their domestic currency into the foreign currency that they are wish to cooperate with through foreign exchange.