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Enron Mail |
Carrie,=20
I am sending you, as promised, the draft of my proposal. Please, let me kno= w=20 if it meets your requirements. I shall be glad to revise it and send you th= e=20 final version.=20 Vince Kaminski=20 ***************************************************************************= *** **********=20 One of the most important trends in the energy industry during the last yea= r=20 was proliferation of electronic, Internet based, trading platforms for=20 wholesale markets and for retail operations. Websites such as=20 www.houstonstreet.com and www.altranet.com provide facilities for matching= =20 buyers and sellers. The website operated by Enron Corp. (EnronOnline)=20 represents an alternative solution under which Enron acts as a principal in= =20 every transaction. On the retail? side, many retail e-commerce companies=20 offering auctions, reverse auctions and platforms for creation of buyers=01= ,=20 clubs challenge incumbent utilities. The objective of this project is to=20 evaluate the impact of e-commerce (both at the wholesale and retail levels)= =20 on the energy industry. The study will start with comparative analysis of= =20 different wholesale trading and retail e-commerce business models and=20 evaluation of their long-term viability. The next step will be assessment o= f=20 the impact of e-commerce on price dynamics, profit margins and the level of= =20 competition in different energy markets. A separate section will be devoted= =20 to analysis of reaction of companies and organizations affected by e-commer= ce=20 (incumbent utilities, organized exchanges, energy brokers) to the new=20 competitive threat, and different strategies they implement to meet the=20 challenge. Organized exchanges have accelerated in many cases the transitio= n=20 to screen-based trading that has been already replacing open outcry=20 technology. Power and natural gas marketers have created alliances (with=20 other industry players, software companies and electronic exchanges) to=20 create their own trading platforms. Gas and electric utilities embarked on= =20 development of vertical and horizontal e-commerce platforms, offering=20 services to households and other companies in the energy industry. The=20 critical question is how quickly different companies should react to the=20 competitive threats and how fast they should exploit opportunities created = by=20 the Internet based economy. It's quite obvious that the Internet revolution= =20 will change the energy industry's landscape during the next few years. The= =20 objective of the project is to provide answers to the questions posed above= ,=20 based on the currently available information. Additionally, the participant= s=20 should come up with fallback strategies the energy companies should impleme= nt=20 in case the currently? expected trends fail to materialize. =20 =0F_
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