Competitive Advantage

You may already own some Nasdaq stocks. Companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and Cisco Systems. You may even own shares of Qubes (the Nasdaq 100 index). But what about owning shares of the Nasdaq stock market itself? Buying into an operation such as Nasdaq may sound confusing, rather like buying a stake in the department of motor vehicles rather than simply investing in a car. The DMV doesn't make or sell cars, but you can't drive on the roads without paying it a visit and ponying up fees for a driver's license and plates for your car. That gives it a type of monopoly, permitting it to thrive without competition.

Economic experts say it all the time: Amid the fierce competition of the new global marketplace, job one for America is getting the most out of our human capital. Yet even as this asset is deemed of high importance to individual companies and the overall economy, managers have become increasingly reluctant to invest in employee education and training. Labor Day's arrival can serve to remind employers that such investments are critical to an economy whose competitive advantage stems not from how inexpensive our labor is relative to other countries', but rather how capable it is of doing complex work with cutting-edge technology.

Armed with three-ring binders, color graphs and pages of analysis, Maryland aviation officials launched a campaign last winter to stop the proposed merger of US Airways and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. The $11.6 billion cash and debt deal would leave Baltimore-Washington International Airport users with fewer choices, less competition and higher airfares, state transportation officials charged. But with U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and a growing number of antitrust experts predicting that the merger will never win Justice Department approval, BWI officials may have little to celebrate in victory.

In the Middle Ages moats were deep water-filled trenches that encircled castles to protect kings. The wider, the better. In 2007 moats are the competitive advantages that protect dominant companies and their shareholders. The wider, the better. The goal in trying to pick companies with wide moats is to give investors the security of knowing that a firm isn't likely to see its products or services overtaken by rivals.

A bill that may have given an edge to Harford companies seeking county government construction contracts was withdrawn by its sponsor Tuesday after local businesses said it would do more harm than good.The bill, proposed by Councilman Robert S. Wagner, R-District E, would have reduced the prices bid by Harford-based companies by 1 percenton bids of $1 million or more. The reduction was intended to give Harford-based businesses a competitive advantage on landing county government construction contracts.

The state's third annual "state of the economy" report has found slowdowns in housing, retail sales and construction, and extremely slow growth in employment and personal income.But on the whole, says J. Randall Evans, Maryland's secretary of economic and employment development, the state's economy is out-performing the national averages, and Evans paints an optimistic picture for Maryland as the new year opens."It's clear the country is in a recession," Evans said yesterday, "and areas of Maryland's economy are in recession."

.TC TECHNICAL TRAINING is a subject many Americans consider arcane and not applicable to the things that matter in their daily routines. Some 2,500 technical trainers from all over have converged on Baltimore for a conference taking the opposite view. Consider a few statistics, and it's clear they have a point:* Seventy-five percent of all workers will need retraining, mainly to deal with new technology, by the year 2000.* Sixty-five percent of all jobs, whatever the industry, will require training beyond high school.

Economic experts say it all the time: Amid the fierce competition of the new global marketplace, job one for America is getting the most out of our human capital. Yet even as this asset is deemed of high importance to individual companies and the overall economy, managers have become increasingly reluctant to invest in employee education and training. Labor Day's arrival can serve to remind employers that such investments are critical to an economy whose competitive advantage stems not from how inexpensive our labor is relative to other countries', but rather how capable it is of doing complex work with cutting-edge technology.

At least he will have more time to follow college football now, mainly the Oregon Ducks in his hometown of Eugene, or Stanford, where he went to school and earned a degree in economics 10 years ago. What Casey Martin is leaving out of his life is playing the pro golf tour, which is really all he ever wanted to do, withered leg and all, through drawn-out legal battles, a faceoff with golf's establishment, unwanted appearances in the court of public opinion...

A House panel approved yesterday Gov. Parris N. Glendening's proposal to reduce Baltimore's high auto insurance rates, but only after significantly weakening the legislation.On a 13-5 vote, the House Economic Matters Committee endorsed the insurance reform proposal minus a provision that would have required major insurers to write more policies in the ++ city under a formula that was based on each company's statewide market share.Instead, the committee chose a less precise standard. The bill now requires companies to submit annual reports demonstrating that they are marketing their insurance policies in the city comparably to how they market them in the rest of the state.

Many at home with cheating The din produced by Indianapolis Colts fans on Nov. 28 grew so loud that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger couldn't bark signals to the center crouching just before him. It was so loud that, according to some commentators, it couldn't have been human. After the Colts won, 26-7, several media figures accused the team of pumping artificial noise into the RCA Dome during Steelers possessions. The practice would be against league rules (the Washington Redskins drew a $20,000 fine in 2000 for blasting cheerleader noise)

At least he will have more time to follow college football now, mainly the Oregon Ducks in his hometown of Eugene, or Stanford, where he went to school and earned a degree in economics 10 years ago. What Casey Martin is leaving out of his life is playing the pro golf tour, which is really all he ever wanted to do, withered leg and all, through drawn-out legal battles, a faceoff with golf's establishment, unwanted appearances in the court of public opinion...

WASHINGTON - When airlines undergoing bankruptcy reorganization continue flying, as United Airlines and US Airways are, they don't inflict unfair competition on other carriers, a federal investigator told Congress yesterday. JayEtta Z. Hecker, of the Government Accountability Office, told the House aviation subcommittee that investigators "found no clear evidence that, historically, airlines in bankruptcy have financially harmed competing airlines." Since the industry was deregulated in 1978, all but a handful of the 160 airlines that filed for bankruptcy disappeared, she said.

Groups of investors have different motivations and time horizons, which affect stock prices. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; there's no such thing as a single "fair value" for a company. It depends on who's doing the valuing. This can present opportunities for long-term investors. How can you determine when one of these opportunities is present - that is, how do you recognize the fat pitches? Here are some thought processes I follow. 1. Develop a logical strategy. Many people think the key to success is to outsmart the market.

The fragile balance of power in the telecommunications industry may have tilted a bit more toward the powerful regional Bell phone companies after Tuesday's national elections. Legislation that would help local phone giants such as Verizon Communications Corp. gain in areas such as broadband Internet service has been blocked by the Democratic-led Senate. And the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Michael K. Powell, has been restrained from pushing an aggressive deregulatory agenda that might favor the Bells because of the party split in Congress.

You may already own some Nasdaq stocks. Companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and Cisco Systems. You may even own shares of Qubes (the Nasdaq 100 index). But what about owning shares of the Nasdaq stock market itself? Buying into an operation such as Nasdaq may sound confusing, rather like buying a stake in the department of motor vehicles rather than simply investing in a car. The DMV doesn't make or sell cars, but you can't drive on the roads without paying it a visit and ponying up fees for a driver's license and plates for your car. That gives it a type of monopoly, permitting it to thrive without competition.

WASHINGTON -- Consigned to extinction by the Republican Congress, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in 1995 sang a troublesome swan song. We'd soon be deserting cities, migrating to calm rural places, it predicted.And why? Computers and modems would free us from offices, let us work anywhere. So why not bow to the inevitable and just spread a thin, sprawling layer of homes and settlements across the countryside?But now comes the Silicon Valley consulting firm of Collaborative Economics, with a radically different tune for the times.

Groups of investors have different motivations and time horizons, which affect stock prices. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder; there's no such thing as a single "fair value" for a company. It depends on who's doing the valuing. This can present opportunities for long-term investors. How can you determine when one of these opportunities is present - that is, how do you recognize the fat pitches? Here are some thought processes I follow. 1. Develop a logical strategy. Many people think the key to success is to outsmart the market.

Armed with three-ring binders, color graphs and pages of analysis, Maryland aviation officials launched a campaign last winter to stop the proposed merger of US Airways and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines. The $11.6 billion cash and debt deal would leave Baltimore-Washington International Airport users with fewer choices, less competition and higher airfares, state transportation officials charged. But with U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and a growing number of antitrust experts predicting that the merger will never win Justice Department approval, BWI officials may have little to celebrate in victory.

WASHINGTON -- Consigned to extinction by the Republican Congress, the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment in 1995 sang a troublesome swan song. We'd soon be deserting cities, migrating to calm rural places, it predicted.And why? Computers and modems would free us from offices, let us work anywhere. So why not bow to the inevitable and just spread a thin, sprawling layer of homes and settlements across the countryside?But now comes the Silicon Valley consulting firm of Collaborative Economics, with a radically different tune for the times.