Terrific page. Will definitely come back soon.

Dear Satish, Gary, Dan and Edwin,
What great teamwork! I so enjoyed your research discoveries. Thank you so much for participating in the first TechniTrader® case study. Sincerely, Adrienne

**************************************************************************************
SPRINGBOARD STUDY HALL - WEEK 5 REVIEW

Your week 5 summary is well done and concise. I liked the format Satish took also. I agree that ENER has strong points and challenges. Marketing wise all solar companies need to step it up.

A new industry can't rely solely on the government to get it going. Venture Capital is once again flowing into solar energy which should spur some new companies coming to market.

Price will definitely be a big factor especially since the solar panels are a long term investment.

But as utilities get involved in solar power, this should also impact price and lower costs as solar enters the mass production phase. Great work.

Martha
**************************************************************************************

**************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************
SPRINGBOARD STUDY HALL - WEEK 5 ASSIGNMENT

#1. Dan
Based on our analysis of ENER, I venture to say that ENER will be a player for years to come in the solar energy field as solar energy becomes an increasingly viable alternative to supplement, or eventually even replace fossil fuel sources of energy. However, without a full comparative analysis in front of me of other public and private companies implementing current technologies as well as those developing new-and-improved, cutting-edge technologies, it is hard to say at this point whether ENER will be able to DOMINATE the field. I believe the key to domination will ultimately lie with how well solar companies are able to market themselves and their products as well as their ability to bring product costs down to a level that is acceptable to both business and personal consumers for the amount of benefit they derive from it. Even if ENER were NOT to dominate, that is not to say that they could not satisfy the needs of a large portion of the market (compare the rival markets, Toyota vs. GM, among others)--continually evolving product offerings as well as the personal preferences of consumers will likely shape the playing field for this market over time. But again, marketing will be an extremely important factor for attaining a dominating share, even if products offered are not necessarily superior to others out there (compare the market dominance of the generally less-expensive, lesser-quality Microsoft / IBM compatible PC vs. the more-expensive, superior quality of the Apple Macintosh). The solar-energy market will likely evolve similarly to the PC market from its beginnings in the ‘80s to what it is today. Microsoft, Intel, IBM, Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard are some of the names associated with the PC market; some are still around--some in a diminished capacity, others in a more dominating capacity than at an earlier point in their history--and others have disappeared altogether. My guess is that the solar energy industry will evolve in much the same way. I do NOT think that a “battle” early on that will determine a single dominating product as happened in the Betamax vs. VHS battle or the more recent HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray battle. Instead, there will likely be a range of products for consumers to chose from several competing companies.

At this point it is anyone's guess as to where solar energy products will fit in the overall market. As Martha mentioned, solar energy products have been more of a novelty to date. It has only recently been getting serious attention as a possible alternative to current energy sources. If certain conditions begin to align themselves for that "perfect storm", it could move quickly into market acceptance. Until then, ENER and the solar energy field in general merits us keeping a close eye on them. Dan

#2. Satish
Hi Team,
Here is my summary based on the assignments so far. I tried to put the points for why they can dominate market and also what they need improve to achieve this. Please add your input.
ENER has a potential to become dominant player in solar power for following reasons:
1. ENER has a better solar cell product i.e. it works in not so ideal sunlight which means they can capture the market from competition in areas of cloudy condition.
2. They have been partnering with companies that manufacture commercial and residential roof top s so they can solve the building code problem for ENER and also give feedback for future products or enhancements.
3. ENER can offer complete solution for roof top solar panels by offering their NiMH batteries and can bundle the product by offering discounts, thus putting some barrier for competition or at least putting price pressure.
4. They are building new plants in area where they get tax break and get skilled work force to build their product. This should help lower their cost. They are actively working with administration to promote solar products for govt and commercial building.
5. ENER stock price is trying to form bottom (at least as of the chart analysis), and has enough shares for BOP and inst ownership to be effective. Their top inst holders are big institutions. Although BOP is not green recently it had not turned RED to indicate lot of distribution.
6. They have good market value that can be used to acquire companies for their technology for improving the product or buy displacing technology.
7. They will certainly benefit from the current administrations effort in promoting green energy. Their Chairman is on national and international photovoltaic committees and Advisory Board of National Center for Photovoltaic.

ENER need to overcome following hurdles to dominate market:
1. ENER need to market their product better so even end user can know why their product is superior and where to get their product. The company need to emphasize about efficiency in low light condition and also ease of installation.
2. ENER need to improve the efficiency of their solar panels and also improve their manufacturing process to have low cost product. ENER can emphasize on the integration of solar panels (roof tops) with supported battery technology to give a complete solution. The integrated solution can help them in bundling product with cost structure to make it difficult to competition.
3. Current economic and housing market will have adverse effect on their sales (all solar companies sales not just ENER).
4. ENER need to improve efficiency of the current product and also acquire new technology.

Based on this and also from the longer term chart analysis I would say that ENER is worth considering for watch list. Stock must move above ~20 - ~30 trading range and stabilize wit good volume. Satish

Hey Satish,
I like what you put together here. It is a fair assessment of ENER's potential as well as some of the hurdles to overcome.
Dan

#3. Edwin
In summary in order for ENER to have any chance of dominating the Solar Industry market it must:

1. It must work to solve as many of the barriers facing the solar industry. They may be addressing solving more of these barriers but it is not known at this time.

2. ENER must modify or improve its product or products such that they provide a technical advantage over their competition.

3. They must manage these product changes such that they can be placed into a solar systems that solves a technical barrier problem or they must create new products that will allow them to stay ahead of their existing competitors and the new ones that have not entered the market yet.

4. They continue to have increased revenues from their existing products so it can finance its R & D projects.

5. It must work on improving its EPS numbers to allow it to be appealing to new investors. It must do what is necessary to attach money.

6. Its management must be very creative in increasing revenue and obtaining R & D dollars. ENER's management must be savvy enough to encourage new projects to improve its existing products and to develop new ones.

7. Ener needs to understand that it must be creative in how it selects and markets its products such that one or many will attract the mass consumer.

8. ENER must position itself financially such that its price action doesn't mi mick the price action of the industry. It has to position itself to lead its competitors. It must not be as good or worst than its existing and new competitors. Edwin

Dan, Satish, and Edwin
**************************************************************************************
**************************************************************************************

Hello Team:

How are we going to approach Assignment 5? Assignment 5 is a total summary of Assignments 1-4 to determine a case that supports that ENER will be a dominant player or will not be a dominant player in the Solar industry.

I think we all should review the assignments and develop our own cases. We each should state in the introduction of our case summary if it is pro or con market dominance. Then based the number of pro vs cons the one that has the greatest number is how the final summary will be written. Let me know your thoughts.