Industry Analyses & Trends

Three Imperatives for Improving US Health Care

Paul D. Mango, Vivian E. Riefberg — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:19:15 GMT

The United States health care system has several desirable features compared to those of other countries, but it suffers from a central, major problem: a relentless annual growth in its cost. As the authors emphasize, any reform effort that doesn’t tackle this directly and firmly will ultimately be inadequate and unsustainable. While it’s true that the high number of uninsured Ameri ......

Tilting at Windmills: Managing Uncertainty in Renewable Energy Investments

Roland Rechtsteiner, Bob Kopech, Paul Kunkel — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:49:06 GMT

This article surveys the outlook for renewable energy over the next 15 to 20 years. But what exactly is “renewable” energy? The idea is to contrast energy sources such as coal and oil that exist in fixed quantities with those such as wind and solar that can be drawn on indefinitely. Although the distinction points to a real difference, it’s more fuzzy and a bit less helpful th ......

Handicapping the Energy Shift

Eric Spiegel, Neil McArthur — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:13:46 GMT

Spiegel and McArthur point out some parallels between our energy situation in early 2009 and that of the late 1970s, although they actually understate the case. Among the differences between then and now they list energy insecurity, growing worldwide demand, and global climate change—but in the 1970s the last of these was very much an issue, though then it was worries about global cooling ......

Using Power Curves to Assess Industry Dynamics

Michele Zanini — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:18:21 GMT

Regular visitors to ManyWorlds.com will have previously read about power laws, “black swans,” and the Long Tail. In this article, Michele Zanini applies some of that thinking to help executives better grasp the structure and dynamics of industries across markets and geographies. Over the last decade in particular, a trend toward increasing inequality in the size and performance of l ......

The Coming Boom in Hybrid Cars

Christopher Giliberti — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 09:25:40 GMT

Hybrid cars, with their combination of electric motor and internal combustion engine, hold a share of the new-car market that is only in low single digits, as of late October 2008. With gasoline prices currently down to around half their recent high, will hybrids really break into the automotive mainstream, or will sales tail off? Projecting sales growth to date is unlikely to yield an ac ......