Tesla's new solar energy storage facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai does what most solar power plants cannot: it stores energy from the sun during peak times for use when the grid (and its customers) needs it most.
But what the episode shows is the necessity of killing Comcast's pending deal to absorb Time Warner Cable, a combination of the nation's No. 1 and No. 2 cable/Internet providers that would make Comcast even less responsive to its customers' needs than it is now.
Its six-tonne capacity was designed to let it carry communications satellites in pairs, making it more profitable than the smaller Ariane 4. Now Ariane 5's competitors are catching up and its customers' needs are overtaking it: "commsats" are likely to grow even bigger in the next few years.
"Banks of this scale just can't be trusted to take its customers' needs into account, even when the only reason it's still around is because of our support," she added.
This would align Wall Street's incentives with its customers' needs, Mr. Fichera said.
But Ms. Lord said the company learned more about its customers' needs through conversations that provided important feedback.
Wal-Mart puts pressure on its suppliers to cut costs to ensure that its customers' needs are filled most "economically".
Analysts at Killik & Co said the news was positive for Centrica, and was part of the company's strategy to meet its customers' needs from its own reserves.
Likewise, Qwest said it needed to buy capacity on Global Crossing's trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic routes to meet its customers' needs.
Mr. Petta said that when the plant returned to full operation, the utility would no longer have to buy electricity from elsewhere to meet its customers' needs.
Beef, for example, is cut in a different way in Tucuman, in Argentina's interior, from how it is cut in Buenos Aires.Eduardo Orteu, Disco's boss, admits that the foreigners still have some advantages (Wal-Mart's cost of capital is much lower than Disco's), but he stresses his firm's local knowledge and its sensitivity to its customers' needs.
