With the Beijing 2008 Olympics over, increased attention has been given to the after-effects that the event will have on the Chinese economy and, in particular, on the rapidly growing manufacturing sector. While other host countries such as South Korea (Seoul), Spain (Barcelona) and Australia (Sydney) saw a slowdown in economic growth after hosting the Olympics, the impact on Beijing and China is less clear cut due to the country’s status as an emerging economic superpower. China’s manufacturing industry will continue to slow as the business outlook within the manufacturing industry darkens.

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Eli Lilly has announced that it will hand over a large proportion of its R&D efforts to contract research organization Covance. The deal, which involves Covance acquiring Lilly’s 1,700-acre R&D site at Greenfield, is one of a number of major structural changes engineered by Lilly to improve its fiscal performance in the face of increasing market pressures, particularly the impact of generic drugs.

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Barclays‘ revelation this week that it would consider buying a US wealth management company has provided the latest indication of how highly sought after such operations are in the current financial turmoil. However, despite the lure of wealth, profiting from high net worth clients is not easy, and success will depend on good strategies and excelling at the basics.
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Independent aggregator, Go Compare, announced the inclusion of five new home insurance providers on its panel. The aggregator entered the home insurance market in September 2007 and has since quadrupled its coverage. Aggregators have not been as prominent in this market as in private motor insurance, but such rapid expansion suggests they will soon have sufficient share to affect the market.

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According to a new technical market research report, the global market for printed electronics is expected to be worth $3.1 billion in 2008. This will increase to $8.8 billion by 2013, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.2%.

The market is broken down by application and includes optoelectronics, radio frequency (RF), energy, sensors and other applications. Optoelectronics applications dominate the market with a share of more than 85% in 2007 and 2008, declining to 69% in 2013. Optoelectronics generated $2.5 billion in 2007, an estimated $2.7 billion in 2008 and $6.1 billion in 2013, for a CAGR of 18.1%. Continue reading “Printed Electronics Market is Booming” »

New research reveals the North American market for hosted outbound integrated voice response (IVR) services is set to more than double from an estimated $213 million in 2008 to $524 million by 2013. Outbound IVR is the next generation contact center technology used for automated, phone-based outbound communications. The report, “Hosted Speech and Outbound IVR Services”, explains that the global market is shifting towards a more personalized, directed method of enterprise communication with customers. At the same time, enterprises are looking for ways to maintain an increased level of communication with customers while controlling costs. Continue reading “Outbound IVR services to more than double by 2013″ »

As competitive pressure from the post-patent-expiry entry of generics and new brands onto the market mounts, drug product lifecycles are becoming shorter and shorter with lower peak sales – a double edged sword for pharmaceutical companies. In fact, products worth more than $100 billion in sales (1) will be going off-patent and subject to generic incursion between 2008 and 2012. Thus, effective lifecycle management is becoming a must for pharma companies looking to maximize the return on their considerable investment. Continue reading “Is drug lifecycle management the answer to the $100billion question?” »

Lending to consumers is set to contract by 13.5% in 2008. Lending markets are currently beset by high market uncertainties, with the ongoing credit crunch, falling house prices, rising arrears and repossessions, and indebted consumers struggling to find credit. In current uncertain market conditions, it is neither good to be a lender nor a borrower.

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Pharmaceutical markets in China and India reached $20.5 billion in 2007 and are expected to double over the next five years.

Companies in India and China are placing themselves in a good position to compete worldwide with developers of innovative biological products.

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As consumers were just getting used to the 3rd Generation wireless (3G), the 4th Generation (4G) is making great strides as the next evolutionary stage that will supersede a technology that is only just now becoming a common sight in the mobile market. Although there is no current definition of what the 4G standard actually includes, there are a number of technologies in the marketplace that claim to be the next evolutionary step up from 3G. The two major players vying for the largest slice of the pre-4G pie are LTE (Long Term Evolution) and WiMAX and both have their fair share of support. A recent report assessing the future market opportunities for the evolving 4G wireless platforms presents UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) LTE as the clear early favourite in 4G wireless.

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