Competition is generally considered to be a source of growth for companies as well as for the general economy. Studies confirm that competition leads to more efficient resource use. Yet, competitive forces also result in firms being driven out of the market. Moreover, firms compete through innovations and introducing new products to the market. Some of these products will be successful and others will end up failures. Why is competition important for efficient use of resources? What can the company you researched do to compete effectively? How may the company avoid business failure competitions induce? What determines whether the new products are successful or failures? How important is innovation and product differentiation as the source of growth for the company of your research? Business cycles lead to fluctuations of macroeconomic indicators, and hence they have impacts on the performance of firms. Suppose the economy is under recessionary pressure. The uncertainty about the future causes households to increase their saving and reduce their consumption. In another situation, suppose the household saves little and spends most of its income on current consumption. How does a company prepare to weather the ups and downs of the business cycles? How will the situations that