The Scandinavian Pharmaceutical Market Outlook to 2013: Policy environment, market structure, pipeline analysis, growth opportunities – Aarkstore Enterprise

The Scandinavian Pharma Market Outlook to 2013: Policy environment, market structure, pipeline analysis and growth opportunities

The Scandinavian healthcare system and pharmaceutical market is well regulated, with the state bearing responsibility for a large proportion of an individual’s pharmaceutical expenses. Solidarity and equality are the ideological basis of these welfare states, and a significant public commitment exists towards ensuring access to high quality health care for all citizens. Sweden and Denmark have been the two biggest pharma and biotech markets in Scandinavia, while regional players such as Novo Nordisk have laid the foundations for this industry in the region.

‘The Scandinavian Pharmaceutical Market Outlook to 2013’ is a report published explores the healthcare systems and policy environments of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. This report examines the region’s market potential by assessing historic epidemiological data, sales trends, competitive intelligence and clinical data across each major country. The growth drivers of the region are identified and forecasts for major prescription drugs and markets are provided for the period 2009-13. The competitive landscape of the Scandinavian market is also evaluated, with the region’s five leading companies being assessed based upon their marketed product portfolios and R&D pipelines in order to forecast their future competitive positions.

Key Findings

The Scandinavian pharma market recorded sales of $10.1bn in 2007, a 16% increase over 2006. Sweden had the largest market share (38%), followed by Finland (23%), Denmark (22%), and Norway (17%). These countries possess developed infrastructures, advanced technologies, R&D support and business friendly cultures. Pfizer led the Scandinavian market in 2007 with sales of $696m, a 6.3% increase over 2006.

Pfizer has a significant presence in all four Scandinavian markets and in the leading therapeutic areas of the region. Drugs for the treatment of CNS disorders are the largest product class in Scandinavia, with a market share of 20.7% in 2007. Cancer and cardiovascular diseases are the next largest therapeutic categories in the region.

Well-developed biotech and life sciences clusters across the Scandinavian region enable world-class research and provide pools of well-educated personnel and versatile facilities to support start-up companies.

Parallel trade has become a major concern for the profitability of Scandinavia-based Pharma companies in recent years. Factors driving this include lower prescription drug expenditures sought by payors and parallel traders’ strategies benefit from price differentials for drugs across different countries.

Use this report to…

• Compare the healthcare markets of key Scandinavian countries with this report’s macroeconomic analysis of infrastructure, per capita health expenditure and Pharma sales growth vs. GDP growth across Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

• Understand how healthcare policy environments vary across the region with this report’s examination of drug approval processes, pricing regulations and reimbursement policies in each major country.

• Identify which indications have the greatest potential to provide franchise growth with this report’s evaluation of major therapy/sub-therapy areas and leading brands, including forecast sales over the period 2009-2013.

• Measure the performances and prospects of leading companies in the Scandanavian area with this report’s strategic analysis of leading pharma corporations based on sales focus by drug class, currently marketed products and R&D pipeline portfolios.

Explore issues including…

The threat to EU health spending. Pharma activity in the Scandinavian market is focused around cost containment, but in recent years the consumption of generics and parallel imports has slowly increased. A new pricing regime linked to other European countries has also had a moderating effect on price levels in Scandinavian countries over recent years.

Higher licensing deal values. Competition for promising projects (particularly drugs that have established solid proof-of-concept data) has not only boosted the deal values overall, but also increased the quantity and average value of deals in the early stages of product development.

Parallel trade influencing pricing. The prevalence of parallel trade is having a significant impact upon state expenditure on drugs and consumer prices. In Sweden, parallel imports have been included as substitutable products in accordance with the generic substitution policy, giving significant boost to parallel imported products in the country.

Support for generic substitution of patented drugs. A report by the National Trade Estimate of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) made special mention of Finland, due to the country’s Pharma Pricing Board not always waiting for the expiry of the analogous process patent before taking action.Discover…

• What will be the major growth drivers in the Scandinavian pharma market over 2009-13?

• Which companies were the winners and losers in the Scandinavian pharma market in 2007?

• Which companies will become key players over 2009 -13?

• Which products will be affected by generic competitors over the period 2009-13?

• Which pipeline products will be the growth drivers of the future?

• Which therapy areas and indications have the highest market potential over 2009-13?

• How will the Scandinavian pharma market’s competitive landscape change by 2013?

 For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/The-Scandinavian-Pharmaceutical-Market-Outlook-to-2013-Policy-environment-market-structure-pipeline-analysis-growth-opportunities-13979.html

Key Trends in Offshoring Pharmaceutical R&D: Company strategies, emerging markets and impact on ROI – Aarkstore Enterprise

Key Trends in Offshoring Pharmaceutical R&D: Company strategies, emerging markets and impact on ROIs

Offshoring and outsourcing have become an increasingly critical contributor to pharma and biotech R&D strategies in recent years. They enable companies to focus on core competencies such as drug discovery or technology development whilst contracting out non-core processes to experts, often at lower costs. As offshore investments begin to mature and provide returns on investment, the opportunity to migrate individual components or whole segments of R&D portfolios will continue to rise.

‘Key Trends in Offshoring Pharmaceutical R&D’ is a report published evaluates the offshore R&D strategies that can reduce development times and improve productivity, with analysis of a variety of strategic partnerships, academic collaborations, and outsourcing opportunities. This report identifies emerging areas of technological and scientific significance across the globe and examines the offshore strategies and investments of the top 20 pharma and biotech companies across Asia, Australia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Far East. This report also provides a financial and managerial valuation of leading companies based on their P/E ratio, return on assets (ROA) and return on investment (ROI) and measures company performance against the healthcare industry, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors and leading shares of the S&P500.

Key Findings

• Companies that have allocated over 60% of their R&D expenditure offshore have displayed greater shareholder return, operating margins, market capital growth and return on assets.

• The US currently attracts 53% of total industry R&D spend, however it is forecast that 20% of this expenditure will migrate to Asia Pacific by 2010. Australia, China and Singapore are emerging as key areas for scientific and technological investment.

• Leading pharma and biotech companies have undergone major R&D restructuring over the last five years and now adopt a focused, streamlined global approach which is increasingly reliant on offshore strategic partnerships, academic collaboration and outsourcing to establish networks of scientific expertise.

• Scientific and technological excellence within emerging economies is a key incentive for offshore investment, enabling companies to enhance innovation and productivity within their R&D programs.

• Managerial expertise is a critical factor driving the success of offshore investments, helping leading pharma and healthcare companies to outperform their peers and the S&P 500 index in 2008.

Use this report to…

• Assess the offshore R&D strategies of the top 20 pharma and biotech companies with this report’s analysis of offshore investment and deal trends over the last five years.

• Discover which geographic regions have the greatest potential for offshore R&D investment by identifying key areas of technological, scientific and academic expertise across Asia Pacific, Australia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and South Africa.

• Measure how the offshore strategies of the top 20 pharma and biotech companies have influenced their R&D productivity and efficiency with this report’s financial and managerial performance review, comparative analysis of healthcare/pharma/biotech sectors and S&P500 index assessment.

• Identify the key drivers and opportunities for offshore investment with this report’s analysis of major offshoring trends and R&D developments.

Explore issues including…

Shifting focus of R&D strategies. The industry has become more globalized in its R&D approach as part of efforts to improve productivity and efficiency. Networks of offshore partnerships and academic collaborations are now enabling companies to harness external expertise on a project by project basis.

Offshore investment in emerging economies. Companies are increasingly turning to emerging countries to counter the slowing growth of US and European markets. Investing in offshore R&D facilities provides companies with local expertise and a greater understanding of local economies.

Offshore opportunities in tertiary economies. The success of commercial opportunities in emerging markets has expanded the regional scope of investment, with Australia, Israel and Singapore all seen to provide labour arbitrage and access to specialists.

Focused managerial directives are critical. Successful R&D performance is underpinned by a streamlined R&D strategy which is well managed by a team of scientists, technologists and non-scientists which can guide global networks ensuring early go/no go decision making which builds on the core competencies of both internal and external researchers.

Discover…

• Which countries are attracting offshore investment?

• Which areas of research and technology are attracting offshore investment?

• How are the leading pharma and biotech companies changing their R&D programs?

• Which major companies and academic institutions have attracted offshore investment?

• What factors are driving offshore investment?

• What is the financial performance of the leading pharma and biotech companies based on P/E ratio compared to their peers and the S&P500?

• Which companies have delivered the best return on assets and return on investment during the last five years?

• How will offshore investment influence R&D productivity in the future?

 For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Key-Trends-in-Offshoring-Pharmaceutical-R-D-Company-strategies-emerging-markets-and-impact-on-ROI-13950.html

The Top Ten Global In-Vitro Diagnostics Companies: Positioning, performance and SWOT analyses – Aarkstore Enterprise

The Top 10 Global In-Vitro Diagnostics Companies: Positioning, performanceand SWOT analyses

The in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market continues to grow at a steady pace, driven by new fields such as molecular diagnostics and a growing consumer awareness surrounding disease management. There is also an increasing focus on emerging markets, where healthcare infrastructures are improving. The industry is highly competitive and continues to witness large scale consolidation. Major in-vivo players are beginning to enter the in-vitro market and the regulatory environment is becoming even more stringent, increasing the time to approval for new products.

‘The Top 10 Global In-Vitro Diagnostics Companies’ is a report published explores the global competitive landscape of the IVD industry. This report analyses the size and structure of the market and identifies the latest developments in service offerings, new technologies, strategic approaches and competitive dynamics amongst leading companies. This report assesses the opportunities and threats facing the top 10 IVD companies in the future, and examines their current structure, financial performance, growth strategies and R&D activity. Growth forecasts for key products and regions are also provided.

Key Findings

The global in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) market is forecast to grow at a rate of 6% to reach $50.0bn in 2012. The market has been growing at a rate of 5-6% in recent years, reaching a value of $36.5bn in 2007.

Roche is the largest player in the market with a share of 20%. It is followed by Siemens and Abbott, who both hold 12% of the market. The IVD market is highly consolidated, with the top ten players holding close to 80% market share.

Molecular diagnostics, diabetes care, and emerging markets are the key growth drivers of the IVD industry. Theranostics is an emerging field with great promise and a number of players are making extensive efforts in the area.

Abbott’s IVD revenues increased by 10.8% to reach $4.4bn in 2007. However, Abbott’s diagnostics margins have been falling and it has recently announced a cost-cutting plan to improve the operating margin of its diagnostics unit. Abbott has also been faced with regulatory issues, with its diagnostics business coming under FDA supervision.

A number of large in-vivo players have entered the IVD market recently, signalling the convergence of the two diagnostic fields. Siemens Healthcare is a prominent example of this trend, following their acquisition of DPC, Bayer Diagnostics and Dade Behring.

Use this report to…

• Compare the performances of the top 10 IVD companies across key business segments and geographies with this report’s analysis of Roche Diagnostics, Siemens Healthcare, Abbott, J&J, Beckman Coulter, Becton Dickinson, bioMerieux, Bayer Diabetes, Sysmex and Bio-Rad.
• Understand the market dynamics shaping the global IVD industry, forecast key growth areas by product/region and identify deal-making patterns across clinical trials phases and key therapeutic areas.
• Evaluate the future prospects of major IVD players with this report’s examination of R&D expenditure, M&A activity, growth strategies and SWOT analyses for each of the top 10 companies.
• Measure the progress of other leading IVD companies by analysing the financial performances of Inverness, Chiron (Novartis), Olympus, Gen Probe, Hologic/Cytyc, Qiagen, Arkray, DiaSorin, Radiometer, Werfen.

Explore issues including…

Industry consolidation. The IVD market is consolidating further due to a large number of smaller companies striving to increase their market share through M&A activity. Big Pharma is also entering the IVD market through acquisitions.

Growth of molecular diagnostics. Molecular diagnostics is one of the fastest growing segments of the IVD market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 14% over the next five years.

Stringent regulatory environment. Regulation within the IVD market is becoming increasingly stringent, particularly in the US where the FDA is intensifying its scrutiny on diagnostics companies.

Emergence of theranostics. Advances in the field of genomics are leading to the emergence of theranostics and personalized healthcare. Theranostics uses diagnostic testing to tailor disease treatment to individual needs through the application of molecular diagnostics. A number of players are currently conducting R&D and launching new products in the fields of theranostics and personalized healthcare.

Discover…

• What are the key trends and issues within the global IVD industry?
• Who are the top 10 companies in the IVD market?
• How do the leading companies compare in terms of financial performance, R&D capabilities and coverage by country and category?
• Who are the leading companies outside of the top 10?
• Which regions and segments offer the greatest growth opportunities for leading companies?
• What are the key strategies of the leading IVD companies and how do these strategies drive revenue and market share?
• What is the future outlook of the global IVD industry?

For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/The-Top-Ten-Global-In-Vitro-Diagnostics-Companies-Positioning-performance-and-SWOT-analyses-13958.html

Fighting the Market Slowdown in Alcoholic Drinks: Growth hotspots, innovation and changing consumer preferences – Aarkstore Enterprise

Fighting the Market Slowdown in Alcoholic Drinks – Growth hotspots, innovation and changing consumer preferences

Report Overview…

The global market for alcoholic drinks was worth US$979bn in 2007, equivalent to 1,460bn servings. Although sales of alcoholic drinks are typically relatively immune from recessions, although the current economic downturn has coincided with a period of higher inflation and rising prices which have dampened demand for alcoholic drinks. However, the downturn itself is likely to have a positive effect on demand. In developed markets consumers will spend more time socializing and drinking at home. In emerging markets consumers will buy fewer consumer durables and spend part of the savings on everyday treats such as beer, wine and spirits.

‘Fighting the Market Slowdown in Alcoholic Drinks: Growth hotspots, innovation and changing consumer preferences’ is a new report published by Business Insights that evaluates which regions, countries and products are expected to grow over the next five years. This report provides an understanding of underlying consumer purchasing triggers in alcoholic drinks as well as an in-depth analysis of regulatory developments and product innovations on a domestic and global scale.

Key Findings…

The volume of alcoholic drinks consumed in western Europe is forecast to decline over the period 2007-2012 by an average of 0.2% per annum.

Between 2007 and 2012 the annual sales of spirits globally is forecast to increase by over 1bn liters. 70% of this increase will take place in Asia-Pacific markets.

China is the largest beer market in the world, having overtaken the US in recent years. This growth is being driven by a growing middle class that has increasingly Western tastes plus a shift away from traditional spirits consumption.

Globally, there will be an additional 18.7bn liters of beer/cider/FABs sold in 2012 compared to 2007. 62% of this increase will take place in Asia-Pacific and 29% will be in Eastern Europe. Less than 8% of this growth will be in North America and these regional rises will be a result of the decline in the Western European market.

Use this report to…

• Quantify key beer, wine and spirits markets and growth potential based on market value and volume sales data between 2007 and 2012 by category, region, country and product tag.
• Improve the targeting and effectiveness of your NPD strategy using this report’s analysis of product launch data of 4,800 beer, wine and spirits products launched globally between 2005-2008.
• Identify key trends that are shaping the beer, wine and spirit market, and evaluate the trends likely to become important over the coming years.
• Understand consumption patterns of alcoholic drinks with this report’s detailed analysis of the changing share of throat held by beer, wine and spirits across key regions.

Key issues…

Changing consumer consumption. In terms of number of servings, spirits is the largest sector (accounting for 46% of servings), ahead of beer (43% of servings). The latter is expanding at the expense of the former and the two will almost be equal by 2012. Wine only accounts for a steady 11% of servings.

Emerging beer markets. Nine out of the ten countries with the highest levels of predicted sales over the next five years are emerging markets.

Premiumization. Multinational operators are facing increasing competition from local players that have started to develop their own premium and super-premium brands with high quality products, packaging and promotion.

Ageing population. In developed markets, the proportion of consumers in senior age groups continues to increase, and this will be reflected in increased upscale product sales. This is due to the population group having a more sophisticated palate.

Your questions answered…

• How is the share of throat held by beer, wine and spirits changing over time?
• Which alcoholic drinks categories and regions offer the greatest sales growth potential to 2012?
• What are the key trends that will shape the future of the beer, wine and spirits markets?
• Where will growth in the beer market be most significant?
• Which beer, wine and spirits product categories are growing fastest?
• What are the key consumer drivers of growth of beer, wine and spirits sales in emerging countries?
• Who is driving innovation in alcoholic drnks market?
• How is the growing trend of premiumization impacting product development and new product launches?

For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Fighting-the-Market-Slowdown-in-Alcoholic-Drinks-Growth-hotspots-innovation-and-changing-consumer-preferences-13961.html

Negotiating the Emerging Biosimilars Landscape: Key Developments in the Regulatory Environment

As regulatory obstacles to biosimilars development have become increasingly resolved, a growing number of opportunities have been created for generics companies in the biopharmaceutical market, which according to IMS data was valued at $85.9 billion in 2007. Conservative projections estimate that sales of biopharmaceutical products will exceed $135 billion by 2011. With some of the earliest biopharmaceuticals having already lost patent protection, the originators of biopharmaceutical products are facing intense competition from generics developers. In response, originators are resorting to a range of defensive tactics, including the reformulation of existing products to improve efficacy, the implementation of more efficient delivery systems and the pursuit of high-level intellectual property (IP) battles.

‘Negotiating the Emerging Biosimilars Landscape’ is a new report published by Business Insights that examines the structure of the biopharmaceutical industry and the strategic approaches taken to alleviate the threat posed by the biosimilar market. The key factors affecting market access within the biosimilars market are assessed and the latest issues surrounding bioequivalence are examined. This report also provides a comprehensive review of the current legislative and regulatory positions of key geographic regions in addition to evaluating their anticipated future legislative changes and outcomes.

Key Findings

European Union guidelines have been prepared which authorise the use of specific therapeutic biopharmaceutical medicines as biosimilars. However, despite the range of current European guidelines produced by the EMEA, many European governments have issued laws prohibiting the automatic substitution of original products.

No approval pathway for biosimilars (FOB) exists in the USA, and one is unlikely to exist before 2010. A complex range of Acts and Bills have failed to resolve a number of outstanding legal and regulatory issues.

India’s biopharmaceutical industry is projected to grow to almost $5 billion by the end of 2010, representing annual growth in excess of 30%. However, despite WTO membership and recent advances in compliance with international regulatory/intellectual property laws, there remains no formal regulatory framework for biosimilars in India or China.

Health Canada has not yet publicly announced a legal or regulatory framework for biosimilar approval, and no legal framework for biosimilars currently exists in Japan. New regulatory frameworks and biosimilar guidelines are currently under development in both countries.

Use this report to…

• Identify and respond to the challenges and threats posed by the emergence of the biosimilars industry with this report’s examination of key trends and strategic approaches used by the biopharmaceutical industry to protect market share and intellectual property.
• Examine details of expired patents or impending patent expiries for first-gen biopharmaceuticals derived from recombinant DNA such as interferons, human insulin and insulin analogs, monoclonal antibodies (Mab) growth hormone and epoietins.
• Evaluate the legislative and regulatory requirements for biosimilars across key geographic regions including Europe, the US, Japan, Australia, Canada as well as the strategically important emerging markets of China and India.
• Assess the factors affecting biosimilar market access with this report’s analysis of the drivers and restraints to biosimilar approval, use and uptake, in addition to an investigation of the problems associated with determining bioequivalence.

Explore issues including…

Impending patent expiries. The critical challenge facing the biopharmaceutical industry is the expiry or pending expiry of patents for first generation biopharmaceuticals derived from recombinant DNA such as interferons, growth hormone and epoietins.

Defensive strategies. As part of efforts to protect the market share of products with impending patent expiries, originator biopharmaceutical companies have begun to protect intellectual property and engage in strategic alliances, joint ventures and mergers between themselves and major pharma companies.

Geographical disparities in biosimilar legislation. Different geographic regions have varying legislative approaches to the regulation and/or approval of biosimilars. Such discrepancies often lead to misunderstandings and can result in complexity and complication during the approval process.

Discover…

• Which biopharmaceutical companies are at risk from product patent expires?
• What is the status of the analytical techniques used for determining bioequivalence?
• What tactics prove most effective for originator biopharmaceutical companies who wish to protect their market position?
• What effect the market entry of second generation biopharmaceuticals by originator companies have on the biosimilars market?
• What are the growth drivers and restraints of the biosimilars market?
• How are global healthcare costs influenced by biosimilar market entry prospects?
• What is the current legislative and regulatory status of biosimilars in Europe and the US?
• How will China and India influence the biopharmaceutical and biosimilars market in the future?

For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Negotiating-the-Emerging-Biosimilars-Landscape-Key-Developments-in-the-Regulatory-Environment-13944.html

Technology Transfer Strategies: Maximizing The Returns From New Technologies – Aarkstore Enterprise

Technology transfer is a long-established part of early-stage research within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Although technology transfer offices have traditionally been associated with inefficiency and a lack of commercial judgment, recent trends have shown improvements in staffing, expertise and service levels. However, the tech transfer function has recently suffered from ‘funding gaps’ for promising new technologies. A clear disparity exists between current service offerings and demand levels amongst investors/industry partners, while the lack of an established model for effective technology transfer function and significant regional variations are major obstacles to future progress.

‘Technology Transfer Strategies’ is a new, uniquely themed report provides a comprehensive examination of the major trends in technology transfer activity in the US, Canada and Europe. The report provides a detailed country-level analysis of technology transfer and associated intellectual property technology regulations, in addition to evaluating the key approaches to office structuring and strategies to negotiate the ’funding gap’. A series of in-depth interviews also document the experiences and insights of 11 tech transfer experts, and their recommendations for successful technology transfer strategies are revealed.

Key Findings

The number of new technology transfer licensing agreements ‘earned’ for every $1 billion of research expenditure has fallen from 115 to 109 between 2004 and 2006. However, the rate of return for licensing revenues per $1 million research expenditure has increased over the same period, from $34,806 to $40,837.

The efficiency of technology transfer outcomes varies across major regions. The UK produces the highest rate of invention disclosures, licensing agreements and new start-ups. The US produces the greatest rate of new patent grants, while Canada generates the most new patent applications. US institutions also generate the greatest technology licensing returns from research investments.

A common industry complaint about interactions with technology transfer offices is ‘a lack of understanding about customer needs’. Tech transfer executives are often viewed to better understand the merits of scientific over commercial solutions.

Generating a successful initial public offering (IPO) has become more difficult, putting increased pressure on associated royalty rates and spin-out terms. As venture capitalists become more conservative, moving new technologies from federal funding to proof-of-concept is increasingly challenging.

Use this report to…

• Identify the latest trends in technology transfer and compare the relative efficiencies of different regions with this report’s detailed survey data of technology transfer performances in the US, Canada and Europe.
• Compare the progress of leading peer-group universities and institutions by using this report’s league table assessment of leading technology transfer offices including healthcare patent data and overall technology transfer outcomes.
• Benchmark the best practices of leading technology transfer offices in the US and Europe by using in-depth case studies that examine successful strategies and approaches to office structuring.
• Assess the strategic recommendations and future predictions of technology transfer specialists based on insights from interviews with eleven experts from universities, hospitals, research institutions and independent companies, in addition to contributions from venture capital and pharmaceutical industry executives.

Explore issues including.

The funding gap. The difficulty of translating basic research to commercial licensing opportunities has never been greater, particularly as VCs and industry clients become more risk averse.

Defensive strategies. Moving technologies beyond basic research to proof of concept is expensive but has become a necessary step in the current technology transfer environment

Cultural differences. Technology transfer offices are positioned between the academic and business worlds, and must balance the non-profit and for-profit worlds accordingly.

Integration vs independence. Recent trends, particularly in the UK, have seen a move towards establishing independent technology transfer offices in order to facilitate greater levels of professionalism and commercialism.

Discover…

• How do intellectual property rights differ by geography?
• How does the availability of potential collaborators and licensing partners differ by geography?
• How does the availability of human resources vary by geography?
• What are the alternative models for delivering technology transfer?
• What impact does each model of tech transfer delivery have upon commercial returns, operational effectiveness and culture/process?
• What are the key lessons from current technology transfer best-practices?
• How does the funding gap influence returns from technology transfer?
• What strategies can effectively combat the funding gap?

  For more information, kindly visit :
  http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Technology-Transfer-Strategies-Maximizing-The-Returns-From-New-Technologies-13946.html

US Truckload Industry: An Analysis – Aarkstore Enterprise

Since the third quarter of 2006, number of factors have worked against the growth of the truckload industry. Factors that stymied the growth of the truckload industry were falling automobile sales, meltdown in the housing sector, sluggish growth in retail sales and overall slowdown in the US economy.

As a result of these factors, the trucking industry in the United States has suffered from weak volumes and a difficult pricing environment. The industry is currently challenged with lower demand and higher equipment availability as a result of many truckload companies pre-buying tractors before the more restrictive engine regulations took effect in 2007. Still the truckload industry is highly competitive based primarily upon freight rates, service, and equipment availability.

Due to the increasing challenges posed by significantly slower U.S. economic growth, the truckload industry is not expected to show any relevant growth in the year 2008 and 2009. However, after this period, the industry is likely to see sustained growth with a number of fiscal and monetary stimuli enacted like the US$700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The truckload industry is also facing supply-demand imbalance of capacity. But with the exit of small and underperforming carriers, declining orders for new tractors and trailers and downsizing of fleet by leading truckload companies is expected to bring a favorable balance of supply and demand in the future.

Further, with retail gasoline prices seeing around 40% fall in the last quarter of the calendar year 2008 from the early July 2008 highs, consumers have now extra discretionary dollars to spend and carriers will have meaningful operating ratio and higher profitability.

The report titled “US Truckload Industry: An Analysis” examines the current status of the truckload industry. It analyzes the growth of the truckload industry in the United States over the years and the factors that are recently obstructing its growth. Further, major trends in the industry and the challenges faced by the truckload carriers have been assessed. The report also presents the competitive landscape, performance of the leading companies and strategies adopted by them in this difficult economic environment.

For more information, kindly visit :
http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/US-Truckload-Industry-An-Analysis-2298.html

Application Development and Lifecycle Management: The Impact of Agile Practices on People, Processes, and Tools – Aarkstore Enterprise

The options available for building software applications have never been so wide ranging as they are today. This is largely to do with the impact of the Web, with different solution models available depending on user needs, from infrastructure to end device considerations. The most recent trend of cloud computing is also opening new possibilities that are lowering the cost barrier, increasing access to high performance computing, and also lowering the skill barrier for non-programmer information workers, whether in SMEs or departments in large organisations, to build business applications. KEY FINDINGS – ALM systems have improved considerably from the first generation of products; the new generation is Web-based and strong on collaboration. – Agile methodology adoption has entered mainstream development and is making developers and managers rethink how they carry out application development. – Agile practices are having a major influence on the ALM solutions market; supporting Agile processes is a hot area. – ALM system architecture identifies core lifecycle functions, including process support with workflow, integrated data repository, and reporting. – Business Intelligence (BI) for application development has now become an ALM system fixture, offering advanced analytics applied to project statistics. – Software estimation remains a niche activity but should, be a core lifecycle activity in ALM. – Defect and Issue Management is another core activity that cross-cuts the application lifecycle and is supported well by leading ALM systems. – ALM system users should have read-and-write features for process guides, allowing users to modify content, supporting collaboration and knowledge exchange. – ALM systems that alter the functionality exposed depending on the process selected represent an advanced, state-of-the-art technology, not yet seen in the market. – The rise in Software Systems Engineering reflects the increasing use of software CATALYST Application development continues to evolve with processes and methodologies receiving significant attention through Agile practices, while on the tooling side a new generation of Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) products are appearing with process and workflow support figuring largely. June 2009 ANALYSIS Introduction Software application development is one of those subjects that never disappears but is always evolving. Since the last general survey Report on this subject – Application Lifecycle Management (ALM), published in September 2005 – there has been a lot of activity in the ALM field. With our colleagues in Datamonitor we published an ALM Decision Matrix in 2007 that looked at the vendor ALM suite market, and we now repeat that exercise in this Report with all the leading vendors participating. (The Datamonitor Decision Matrix also replaces what used to be the Market Lifecycle Ratings in Technology Evaluation and Comparison Reports). The areas that are currently receiving the greatest activity in application development are: – Agile development and Agile project management. – ALM. – Testing and test management. – Enterprise Web 2.0. The application development subjects that are on the horizon, are: – Development in the Cloud. – Parallel programming (especially General Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units – or GPGPU). – Extension of ALM to overlap IT governance. – RESTful Service Oriented Architecture. (REST is Representational State Transfer). While what and how applications are being developed evolves, developers are still needed to programme the machines and create these applications. It had been considered that advanced modelling such as Model Driven Development (MDD) in the guise of software factories would at some point deliver on the next leap forward, a technological breakthrough such as a higher abstraction compiler that takes models rather than a high-level programming language to churn out the machine code. The Object Management Group’s Model Driven Architecture (MDA) appeared to be moving in that direction. This did not transpire, and is not likely to in the immediate future. These themes are expanded upon below.

For more information, visit us at:

http://www.aarkstore.com/reports/Application-Development-and-Lifecycle-Management-The-Impact-of-Agile-Practices-on-People-Processes-and-Tools-13959.html