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ganesh as a kid

GANESH AS A KID

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CASE STUDY ECONOMICS

 Firms in India are losing productivity because of Facebook. Office staff are spending too long on the social networking site. According to The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) employees use Orkut, Facebook, Myspace, and Linkedin for "romancing" and other purposes. On average, employees spend an hour a day on sites like Facebook. This reduces productivity by 12.5%. Nearly half of office employees accessed Facebook during work time. Some 83% saw nothing wrong in surfing at work during office hours. In September 2009 Portsmouth City Council in England banned staff from accessing Facebook on its computers when it was discovered that they spent, on average, 400 hours on the site every month.  

Question  

1. What is meant by productivity?  

2. Analyze the impact on a fall in productivity on costs.  

3. Analyze the possible consequences for businesses in India of banning access to Facebook and other social networking sites.  

4. Do you think access should be denied? 

CASE STUDY ECONOMICS

 The freezing cold spell at the beginning of 2010 not only increased demand for road salt,  but it increased demand for gas in the UK. Usage reached 454 cubic metres; the previous record was 449m set in January 2003. The National Grid which is responsible for energy in the UK issued several warnings in a matter of days that demand could outstrip supply and asked supplier so increase the supply. The National Grid also told major gas users, such as power plants, to reduce demand.  

Big generators, such as E.On, have both gas-fired and coal-fired power stations and are able to choose between the two. In total, 27 large gas users were asked to switch - 12 in the East Midlands and 15 in the North West.  

Questions  

1. Illustrate the effect of the cold spell on the demand for gas using a demand curve diagram.  

2. Illustrate the effect of the National Grid instructing major gas users to reduce their demand.  

3. Analyse two other factors that you think influence demand for gas.  

4. Do you think demand for gas is price elastic or price inelastic? Explain your reasoning.

CASE STUDY ECONOMICS

 At the start of 2010 a new free trade area was established incorporating China and the six founding members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). These countries are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The aim is to eliminate 90% of imported goods. This deal created the largest trade area in the world, with nearly 1.9bn people. Although there are undoubted gains there have also been warnings from South East Asia that some industries are not ready to compete with China and that jobs will be lost.  

Questions  

1. What is a free trade area?  

2. Outline the potential advantages and disadvantages of joining this area for the member countries.  

3.  What factors determine the extent to which industries within a country gain or lose?