3 Ways To Indirectly Invest In Apple

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Apple shares have been on a roll for the past few years: up approximately 50% within the last year, 265% over the three previous years and 8,000% in the past 10 years. To put the gain into perspective, in July of 2002, Apple stock traded for around $7 per share. Had you invested $10,000 you could have bought roughly 1,429 Apple shares. If you held onto those shares, they would be worth over $894,000 today.

Apple has come a long way and revolutionized several industries over the past decade: iTunes changed the music industry, the iPhone has transformed the telecom sector and the iPad has created an entirely new market. The company is on a roll and with the tablet market barely penetrated and a potential Apple television in the future, Apple's stock could have even further gains ahead.

One issue that arises in purchasing stock in the company is that Apple's stock is no longer $7. As of closing on August 13, 2012, Apple traded at $626. The stock is no longer cheap and investing $10,000 will only allow you to buy about 15 shares. The solution: invest in Apple suppliers. Below are a few companies that should profit off of the success of Apple and may be a more viable investing option for many.
1.Qualcomm

2.Akamai

3.Skyworks Solutions

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WHERE THE WORLD'S WEALTH IS STORED?

Gold
The Federal Reserve Bank Of New York
New York, N.Y., U.S.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York holds the prize as the world's biggest known stockpile of bullion, some 550,000 glistening bars of the stuff, buried deep into the bedrock of lower Manhattan. Just 2% to 5% of it is owned by the U.S. government; the rest is owned by foreign countries. That's $203.3 billion worth of gold in a single place.

Silver
JPMorgan Bank
London, U.K.
JPMorgan bank keeps 155 million ounces of silver for Barclays Bank, to back its IShares silver electronically traded fund, which debuted in 2006.

Diamonds
De Beers Headquarters
London, U.K.
De Beers holds 40% of the world's market share in diamonds. But don't imagine the company's Charterhouse Street headquarters has vaults ankle-deep in sparkle. At any given time only "a few weeks" of supply are stocked there, a spokesman says, with an estimated value around $5 billion, according to press reports. In March, Botswana will become the new king of the diamond trade, when De Beers and the Botswana government unveil an $80 million state-of-the art sorting facility there.

Emeralds
Muzo, Colombia
Colombia dominates the emerald market, and Victor Carranza dominates Colombia's emerald business. His territory includes the Muzo region, near Bogata. He is credited with stopping drug cartels from trying to take over the emerald mines during the 1980s, but more recently ran into trouble himself when he was arrested in 1998 and charged with organizing death squads. He was released from prison in 2002.

Rubies
Myanmar And Chataburi, Thailand
About 90% of the world's rubies come from Myanmar, the subject of considerable controversy these days. Last year, there were widespread calls for boycotts of government auctions of raw gems. U.S. first lady Laura Bush said buying the gems supports the "repressive" government of Myanmar, which, last October, resorted to a violent suppression of protests by monks and students. Once plucked from the ground, most rubies are sent to Chataburi, Thailand, to be cut

Sapphires
Sri Lanka And Madagascar
Sapphires are mined in Sri Lanka and Madagascar, but, like rubies, are sent to Thailand, and increasingly, to Hong Kong, for cutting.

Platinum
Various Sites
Unlike the other metals, platinum is spoken for almost before it leaves the ground. The mines are mostly in South Africa. Platinum, which trades at about $1,600 an ounce, is in high demand by manufacturers of flat screen televisions, iPods and other consumer electronics, and makers of catalytic converters. In Europe, it's also used in diesel fuel production.

BEST BRANDS 2007

Brand Name
1Coca-Cola
2Microsoft
3IBM.
4GE.
5Nokia
6Toyota
7Intel
8McDonald's
9Disney Walt Disney
10Mercedes-Benz
11Citi Citigroup
12Hewlett-Packard.
13BMW
14Marlboro
15American Express
16Gillette
17Louis Vuitton
18Cisco
19Honda
20Google

Hot companies in America

Forbes announced their 10th year of selecting the 400 Best Big Companies in America. Top companies in terms of revenue are given below.
1.Bank of America- $19970m
2.Chevron-$17585m
3.JP Morgan Chase-$16920m
4.Microsoft-$14876m
5.Toyota Motor-$13927m
6.Berkshire Hathway-$13852m
7.AT&T-$10753m
8.Procter Z& Gamble-$10721m
9.Johnson & Johnson-$10370m
10.Wells Fargo-$8987m
11.GlaxoSmithkline-$8296m
12.Cisco Systems-$7930m
13.Hewlwtt-Packard-$7264m
14.Metlife-$7062m
15.Philips Electronics-$6816m
16.Intel-$6206m
17.PepsiCo-$6180m

What Consumers' Wants in the Future?

The consumer needs are indeed changing and the way they behave in the future will be different from what we are used to as an industry today. The key areas the retailers and manufactures has to look into and the consumer expect are:

1.Shopper Dialogue:
Establish and maintain a true two-way dialogue with individual consumers.
Improve your face to the shopper – both in physical stores and online.
Take advantage of emerging technologies.
2Information Sharing:
Be transparent in your information management.
Manage consumer information (personal profiles) effectively.
3.Synchronized Production:
Personalize the offerings – and be able to deliver.
4.Integrated Logistics/ Home Delivery:
Extend the distribution chain to the consumer’s home.
Consider new integrated approaches for streamlining neighborhood services.
5.Sustainability:
Address sustainability in a serious manner – and communicating about it.
6.Company Culture and Behavioral Changes:
Being open to new ways of working – driven by consumers.

MEASURING INNOVATION

Better measurement practices will yield more better, which can translate into a significantly higher return on innovation spending.
According to a report by BCG one of the best ways to think about what does and doesn’t need to be measured is through the lens of the cash curve. The cash curve is a depiction of the cumulative cash investments and returns for an innovation over time, from idea generation through to the point when the product or service is removed from the market.
The curve makes explicit four factors that affect the success of an innovation and its ability to generate a return. Those factors are
1.Start-up costs or prelaunch investment:
a)The number of full-time staff involved
b)Operating expenses
c)Capital expenditures
2.Speed or time to market:
a)Actual time to market
b)Time to key checkpoints
c)Actual versus planned full-time-employee hours
3.Scale:
a)Actual versus planned volume produced.
b)Actual versus planned product availability
c)Actual versus planned distribution.
4.Support costs:
a)Cannibalization of existing products in the portfolio
b) Pricing actions
c) Marketing and promotional activities

Viewing the measurement efforts through the lens of the curve, in combination with the frame work of inputs, process and outputs will enable the company to develop measurement systems that capture the data executives need in order to manage the innovation process more profitably.

MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES PHARMA/BIOTECH/HEALTHCARE

1.Pfizer
2.Genentech
3.Merck
4.Amgen
5.Johnson & Johnson
6.GlaxoSmithKline
7.Novartis
8.Eli Lilly
9.Roche
10.Bristol-Myers Squibb

MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES--FINANCIAL SERVICES

1.Citigroup
2.Goldman Sachs
3.Bank of America
4.ING Group
5.Fidelity Investments
6.HSBC
7.Charles Schwab
8.American Express
9.JP Morgan Chase
10.Merrill Lynch

MOST INNOVATIVE TECHNOLGY COMPANIES

TECHNOLOGY/TELECOM
1.Apple
2.Goggle
3.Microsoft
4.Cisco systems
5.AT&T
6.Nokia
7.Verizon
8.IBM
9.Intel
10.Motorola

Bank on Lean Advantage

The imprint of operations on a bank’s performance is hard to overstate-and extends well beyond the back office. Although the word operations implies something mechanical, perhaps impersonal-such activities and processes have a profound impact on customer satisfaction and retention. In the late 1970’s, for example, Toyota began reengineering operations to deliver not only huge cost efficiencies but also a superior customer experience, which led to an enviable strategic advantage.
The BCG has used similar approach in financial services, they identified four phases,
1.Understand the drivers of customer value: Defining the optimal customer experience and the sources of customer value.
2.Define the target operating model: Review the operating model as a whole to determine how to transform end-to-end processes and deliver customer value.
3.Implement cell-based transformation: Segment the organization into cells to ensure that change occurs systematically and in manageable increments.
4.Pursue continuous improvement: Following the initial transformation, keep the cells in tact to continue finding ways to improve operations

Eight business technology trends to watch

A number of new and emerging technologies, many aimed at enhancing the way Internet is used, promise to change how companies innovate, managers make decisions, and business lower costs, tap talent, or realize new business opportunities.
Although technology always promises benefits, actually gaining them requires a good understanding of its real business implications and of the concomitant managerial changes. The trends fall within three broad areas of business activity: managerial relations, managing capital and assets, and leveraging information in new ways.
According to Mckinsey report the eight business technology trends to watch are:
1.Distributing co creation
2.Using consumers as innovators.
3.Tapping into a world of talent.
4.Extracting more value from interactions.
5.Expanding frontiers of automation.
6.Unbundling production from delivery.
7.Putting science in Management
8.Making businesses from information.

The Logistical Challenges of Doing Business in India

India has long been a fertile ground for sourcing highly skilled IT and engineering services, but it’s estimated that manufacturing and retailing is the next boom.Fueled by a rising young, highly-educated, middle-class population, India’s economic boom is not expected to slow in the near future.
Currently, India sits atop the global retail opportunity index as the greatest underserved market in the world. This has significant opportunities for companies waiting to sell in this market. India’s retail industry, the 9th largest globally and valued at $330 billion, is mostly divided among 12 million 'mom-and-pop’ stores. But as the consumer market grows and demand for more luxury items increases, global leaders are hoping the planned $1 trillion in new investments in mall retail space, logistics infrastructure, and distribution capability will open opportunities to create organized retailing—multi-branded hypermarkets and mall-style shopping experiences.
Logistics’ Infrastructure Will Slow India’s Progress:
1.Insufficient channels: India is a diverse market, with 28 different states and many languages. Companies accustomed to national distribution agreements will find those opportunities virtually non-existent.
2.Limited physical infrastructure: These national highways account for less than 2 percent of the total road network, but carry 40 percent of the traffic. This is one reason the average speed in India is 20 miles per hour, compared to the West’s 60 miles per hour.
3.Over-burdened ports: Over-burdened ports:India has a long coastline, but its port system isn’t well utilized. 180 minor ports go virtually unutilized.. Even within its large ports, India can’t support 6,000 TEU containerships, which make up 25 percent of today’s shipping volume.
4.Disorganized trucking operations: Two-thirds of fleets have less than five vehicles, making it difficult for shippers to manage the plethora of carriers required to handle shipment volumes.
5.Limited technology basis: Firms don’t use technology to plan, execute or communicate logistics operations

Measuring the immeasurable

The rise of the "intangible economy" shows no sign of abating. Traditionally, companies have been valued on the strength of their financial and tangible assets, but the elements of business which drive real value in today's economy are R&D, innovation, customer relationships, staff motivation, loyalty and intellectual know-how. The question is, how do you measure something defined as intangible?
The Standard and Poor's method:
One of the most effective mechanisms for representing non-numerical data is the Standard and Poor's method, which has been used successfully in over 200 organizations. It uses a very simple but effective scale to express non-tangible value. The scale ranges from a score of AAA (maximum score), AA, A, BBB etc., to the lowest score of D for a category of measurement. The key to using this scale successfully is to ensure that the lowest levels of data are captured correctly through analysis and questionnaires, so the data feeds upward into a justifiable final rating.
This scoring method facilitates not just the provision of "health and vitality" measures of a business, but is also ideal for inter-departmental comparisons or for merger and acquisition decisions. In addition to measuring intangibles in this way, most companies will also want to measure business risk. The same principles can be applied using a scale of R (minimal risk) to RRR (maximum risk). Again, the final scoring is generated from the data collected through analysis and targeted questionnaires.

Defining 2.0

Terms To Know
It’s easier to show than tell, so here’s a quick rundown of nine 2.0 terms along with a representative link.
1. Blogs: Interactive online journal or commentary on one or many topics (see http://forums.industryweek.com).
2. Collective intelligence: any system that attempts to tap the expertise of a group. Examples include Dell’s Idea storm “crowd sourcing project” and the research connection site www.yourencore.com.
3. Mashups: aggregations of content from different online sources to create a new application or service. See a Google map mashup of the IW Best Plants 2006 winners at www.industryweek.com/iwbestplantsmashup.
4. Podcasts: audio or video recordings available over the Internet, such as the IFS Radio Network, available at http://ifsradionetwork.na.ifsworld.com.
5. RS (Really Simple Syndication): a method of pushing internet content to subscribers. Subscribe to the IW RS news feed for up-to-the-minute manufacturing information at www.industryweek.com/rss.
6. Social networking: online communities that allow members to learn about each others’ skills, talents, knowledge, etc. Some companies use internal systems to help identify experts, or use external networks, such as www.LinkedIn.com for recruiting.
7. Web services: systems that automatically communicate to pass information or conduct transactions over the Internet, such as online inventory updates or the free Goggle Apps software-as-a-service office suite.
8. Web widgets: scripted online tools that present an easily accessible way of viewing and performing independent tasks on one Web page (visit www.pageflakes.com).
9. Wikis: systems that allow users to add and edit content for collaborative publishing. Visit www.socialtext.com/ wikinomics to view the continually evolving last chapter of this bestselling book.

Popular business Strategies

Here are few examples of firms’, popular business strategies that have pursued them:
•Grow larger (General Electric, AHERF).
•Downsize (Avon, Sara Lee).
•Diversify into new markets (Wal-Mart, PepsiCo).
•Dominate a niche (Starbucks, Jiffy Lube).
•Outsource the production process (Nike, IKEA).
•Integrate the production process (Armani, Tiffany).
•Become the cost leader, even if quality is sacrificed (Kia, Motel 6).
•Become the quality leader, even if costs increase (BMW, Four Seasons Hotels, Samsung).
•Drive rivals from the market (Philip Morris, Microsoft).
•Cooperate with rivals (Philip Morris, Soy).
•Be an innovator (Intel, Philips Electronics).
•Be an imitator (Microsoft, Dell Computer).

How to win emerging consumer markets

What must global consumer businesses do in emerging countries that is radically different? How should consumer goods multinationals target the right markets? What sort of business model is needed for emerging markets, and how does it differ from the model to which multinationals are accustomed? What strategies and organizations work most effectively in countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, India and China?
The most important lessons for what it takes to build a large and profitable presence in emerging markets can be summarized in five rules:
1. Reach the masses: Manage affordability
Structuring their product lines for the emerging-market consumer requires that multinationals challenge their product development process and investments.Reaching the masses frequently means that consumer goods companies need to rethink their product lines with a sharp eye on the price/performance equation. In India, Unilever was ambushed by a local detergent maker, Nirma, that captured a substantial portion of the market with a low-cost alternative to Unilever's premium brands.
2. Be ubiquitous: Invest in distribution
Distribution is one of the most challenging problems for consumer-products businesses in emerging markets. While supermarket and hypermarket retailers are increasingly present in major capital cities, consumers living on the peripheries of these cities and in the countryside continue to purchase the large majority of goods through local shops.
Interestingly, despite the limited financial means of the emerging market consumer, branding could well be more important in these markets than it is in markets such as the United States or Western Europe. In part, this is due to the aspirational attraction that strong brands have for lower-income consumers, particularly in "badge" categories.
4. Play to win: Pick your fights well
Multinationals must play to win in the emerging markets. Too many companies fool around in the high end of these markets and remain timid about investment. Rather than shielding these companies from losses, this flag-planting strategy only exacerbates them.
5. Be local: Foster emerging-market entrepreneurs
The extreme volatility and unconventional business methods in emerging markets require different management skills than are needed in mature, Western markets. For emerging market managers, raging inflation, currency swings, new taxes, continually changing business regulations and interest-rate instability are all part of the normal macroeconomic environment.

Threats to growth in china

Executives see a variety of social, economical, and environmental threats to china’s continued growth and development. They economic and social issues are far more important than environmental ones.
For instance, though 63 percent of the respondents cite pollution as a threat to the growth, when asked to weigh it against economic and social issues, 80 percent choose a treat other than pollution as the most significant.
Across all issues, pollution is the only health or environmental issue among the top five. The other issue poses the greatest threat to China’s continued growth and development:
1. Rising income inequality
2. Poor enforcement of commercial laws and regulations
3. Shortage of qualified talent
4. Aging population
5. Official corruption
6. Weak financial institutions.

The story of slice

Slice is a carbonated soft-drink that was introduced by Pepsi-cola as both a sugared product and a diet product. It would have recommended as slice be a die only? The reason for this recommendation is to better position slice as fitness and a health product.
The diet-only strategy also would have ignored the sugar element, which represents 80 percent of the market. So the slice was introduced as a two-way planner. It’s done well but in our opinion not as well as it could have done as a pure diet product only.
As things turned out, the diet segment of the drink market is growing at the expense of the sugared versions. Currently 27 percent of all the cokes sold, for example, are of the diet variety. With slice, as you might expect, the variety outsells the sugar version. By focusing on the diet version only, we believe that the product would have an even higher market share. The advertising would have been better focused on fitness and health.
“Slice add the fruit juice and subtracts the calories”, for example. Individual products do it always ”Follow the market”, in spite of the fact that sugared products represent 73 percent of the Cola market, the diet version of the caffeine free cola outsells the sugared version more than four to one.