Loreal Strategic Analysis free essay sample

L’Oreal then regains this investment through the sales of its new globally launched products. This core competency is cstly for competitors to imitate and adds a lot of value. This focus on innovation ensures growth and helps L’oreal to have a huge competitive edge over its domestic rivals. Another part of Loreal’s core competencies can be seen in L’oreal’s marketing campaign. By using high profile celebrities in it’s ad campaigns, L’oreal is able to greatly enhance its global image and is able to differentiate it’s products and brand name through the use of a celebrity face. This marketing technique gives L’oreal high brand esteem and gives L’oreal a valuable advantage over it;s competitors. Exclusive contracts with these celebrities gives L’oreal a non-substitutable competitive advantage. In addition, L’oreal uses web-enabled information and customization sites which further adds to it’s portfolio. We will write a custom essay sample on Loreal Strategic Analysis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page At the heart of L’Oreal’s core competencies is the level of diversification of it’s products. By offering several product lines including makeup, perfume, hair and skin products, L’oreal has created a big global brand name, which in turn, helps L’oreal to have superior brand recognition and esteem over competitors. L’Oreal’s strategy is to create unique products that catered to the beauty needs of different ethnic groups and to each gender. This allows L’oreal to diversify it’s product selection and reduced the risk to the company in that it did not have to rely on a small group of products for success. These core competencies allowed the L’Oreal group the capacity to offer over 500 brands, consisting of over 2,000 products, permitting them to market to more potential customers over a larger range of income levels and cultures than any other competitor in the world. Competitive Advantage †¢They cater to the beauty needs of many different ethnic groups all over the world. Different cultures have different beauty needs. Their products differ from county to country, catering to the specific needs of the people in the geographic location they are sell in. â€Å"L’Oreal sees the world as a mosaic of different cultures† (L’Oreal Bus. Strat. Case). This strategy is why their products are very popular and sell well all over the world. Many other cosmetic companies focus on a much smaller market segment, such as just the United States. They currently have the highest market share in the cosmetic industry. This allows them to spend more money on research and development than its competitors. L’Oreal tries to introduce 1 to 2 new products to each one of its worldwide markets every year. Other companies cannot afford to spend the high amounts of money that L’Oreal does on RD to do things like this. †¢L’Ore al has 4 different product categories: 1) Consumer 2) Luxury 3) Professional 4) Active. These four categories allow L’Oreal to sell to any market it chooses. Most other companies focus on just one of these categories. Since L’Oreal is able to make quality products in all four, they have the best selling potential. Recommended Future Mission Statement â€Å"To promote an approach to beauty that is fun, affordable, and fulfilling for the global marketplace. To further the cause of beauty through the progress and discoveries of our research laboratories and to expand and diversify our brand portfolio to satisfy all consumer needs, with additional efforts to cut costs and re-direct our innovation efforts on consumer products, where most of our growth is presently occurring. We aim to give our customers the right to be beautiful day after day: because they’re worth it. † Recommendations for the Future Business Strategy Diversification is one of the great successes in Loreals business strategy, but it must shift its focus on improving its current companies. The focus on innovation should be the critical success factor. L’Oreal should rid itself of the trickle down technology and develop a more direct approach. The direct approach will make innovations more available to lower income consumers and will broaden their segmentation of the population. Presently, consumer products make up 54. 8%, which seems to under-represent this sector of the population. The direct approach will increase the percentage of consumer products sold, which better represents the consumer products sector and demonstrates an increase in growth. L’Oreal should also develop a new business strategy that will give them more of a competitive advantage against companies such as Estee Lauder, Proctor Gamble and Nivea’s face cream. One way that they can do this is by catering to a further range of ethnic groups. In addition to specific product lines for African-American and Asian-Americans, Loreal should look into product lines and marketing for the huge Hispanic population in the U. S, which is virtually untapped. L’Oreal may be able to apply some of the differentiation strategy they used for the African American market, considering that they have similarities in skin care with the Hispanic market. They could create a testing facility in Los Angeles where there is a large population of Hispanic people as they did with the African-American Research Laboratory in Chicago. There are many stores in Los Angeles such as La Curacao, a Hispanic pharmacy, which could help test some of the new Hispanic products to be integrated into the national market at some point in the future. L’Oreal could improve its marketing strategy and improve products for males as well. Research shows men are becoming increasingly concerned with their appearance and mens skin care product sales are growing. Loreal should capitalize on this growing interest by creating a new line of mens skin care products. They could differentiate themselves further by conducting research in order to develop male skin care products that tailor to certain ethnic groups. This would fit into the company’s culture of seeing the world as a mosaic of cultures and gender. Organizational Strategy Loreal’s organizational strategy has been the key to its international growth and success. With operations in over 130 countries and different products offered in each country, the structure and strategy of the Loreal group is what will determine their future. Carrying forward, the Loreal group should set up their organizational structure so that there is a good deal of control over the different product brands in different countries. Each brand name should have its own organizational head and strategy. For example, Maybelline and Garnier should continue to operate as separate business units. In addition, large regions and/or countries should be analyzed as separate business units. The purpose for such divisions is not to put these groups in competition with one another, but rather to monitor and control performance of the company as a whole. Communication channels and regular meetings should be implemented to foster communication and the sharing of resources and ideas. Centralized research and development sites in key cities will be responsible for new products and the marketing departments will decide which mix of products to carry in each market. The most important part of Loreal’s organizational strategy into the future will be to continue the growth that Loreal has experienced in previous years. This is done by setting up organizational strategies and structures that foster innovation, learn consumer trends, successfully market products and earn substantial profits. This growth can be fueled by setting up separate business units that can be monitored and controlled by upper management and the board of directors. The monitoring and effective controls implemented by top management will bring Loreal’s previous and present successes into the future. Information Strategy L’Oreal’s Business Strategy is built on innovation and diversifying strategies. This stance allows L’oreal to be successful throughout the world. The objective of Information Strategy is to develop a plan for implementing business systems to support business needs. For this company to tay successful in the future, they have to take specific actions that will improve and benefit the company. First, we believe L’Oreal needs to increase the awareness of management about new upcoming technology and developments. Consistent meetings between management, research laboratories and marketing could foster product ideas and lead to greater innovation. Such mee tings should occur at regional, national, and international levels several times throughout the year. Also, it is important to constantly survey competitors in the cosmetic market in order to be aware of upcoming trends and fads. This will give the company the upper hand on what new innovations or products can be developed next in order to gain an advantage over competition. Secondly, the company will have to improve communications within the organization about the effective use of information technology. Implementing some sort of customer relationship management program will help to consolidate and efficiently use customer data. This will allow the organization to collect useful data and ultimately, it will help L’oreal to become more efficient in order to satisfy customer needs and expectations. In addition, improving communication from within should improve work flow among employees. Lastly, we believe L’Oreal needs to continue to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of its existing systems along with it’s competitors. L’Oreal should make changes and improvements, but also needs to continue assessing it’s past while observing its competitors in order to stay on top of the cosmetic market. We believe that if L’Oreal successfully implements these three strategies in the future they will continue to be the finest and most well known company in the cosmetic world.

The Battle of Dunkirk Essays

The Battle of Dunkirk Essays The Battle of Dunkirk Essay The Battle of Dunkirk Essay Essay Topic: Dunkirk Source A, B and C are useful when finding out what the Battle of Dunkirk was like because they are three different accounts of a personal experience of Dunkirk. The first source, source A is useful because it describes the evacuation of men from the beaches of Dunkirk back to Britain. The author of source A describes it as a terrible night for there was hardly any army and the ones they did have were useless. This suggests that the situation was very disorganised as they would have been retreating from constant German attacks. The phrases rabble suggests disorganisation and the odds and ends of an army implies something rather dreadful has happened to the men. For example they may have been hit by German dive bombers and so consequently many troops have been split up from one another in the rush to retreat from the Germans and mixed with the French and Belgium. The source is written by Thomas Kerr who was one of the naval officers sent to organise the evacuation, so therefore he should know what was actually going on. From the source it appears that he was pessimistic about the evacuation. He felt that the army were being overly optimistic; according to the source the army had great faith in the navy, it inspired them to carry on and gave them a sense of hope. But Kerr genuinely felt that many men could not be rescued as they had a small and hopeless navy. Although in hindsight many more men that he ever though could be evacuated were actually evacuated. Around 338,000 soldiers were rescued, 198,000 of these being British and 139,000 being French. Source B describes a scene from the battle, where German Fighter planes cut through those columns of soldiers like a reaper slicing through corn. This suggests that the German machine guns were successful at killing many of the British men. They do, however, seem to be exaggerated. Compared to Source A, Source B has a completely different opinion to source A about the Battle. Source A talks about how the men were the odds and ends of an army but sources B and C talk about how brave and heroic the soldiers were and in columns which suggests organisation. This difference of opinion may be because Source B was written by a seaman, manning one of the boats from the minesweeper. This was a small boat rescuing people from the land to bigger boats. This was only one end of the beach and very close to it, further up the beach and further away there may have been less chaos and organisation. Source C describes one man opinion of another mans bravery during the evacuation of Dunkirk. According to the author an RASC sergeant was the bravest man I ever saw. When the German Heinkel planes came back to attack, he grabbed his gun and shot at them. This then tells us, that some men knew what they were doing and had some bravery and also some skill. The source also shows a sense of desperation and no organisation though when it describes the RASC sergeant blazing away at the Germans. As it shows that there was panic and that he was lucky he had his gun to shoot at the Germans. Source C contradicts source A, as source A says that the men were completely useless, where as source C demonstrates the bravery of this one man although there was still a lack of organisation. In conclusion, none of the sources have dates with them, so they could have been written at anytime. This makes them less reliable because if they were written after the time of the evacuation, it is likely details may have been forgotten or made up. All 3 sources were personal accounts written by men on board the ships. This is a disadvantage because there is no information from the men who were contributing in other parts of the country for example in the army or from the civilians. Also none of them were on the beach itself therefore wouldnt know the position or attitudes of those men who were trying to escape of the beach. Sources B and C are written by men who were working the ships, and were not trained officers, while source A was written by Commander Thomas Kerr, who was one of the naval officers sent to organise it. Therefore his opinion will be more reliable than the others as he was in a high up and respected position of the navy. Also he would therefore have had an overview of everything and had a better idea of the plans for the evacuation. What could make it even more reliable was if we had a German point of view in one of these sources, because they are all from British men therefore only have one countrys point of view of it all. If there was a German point of view, the reader could learn about the evacuation from their knowledge and gain information as they may have had a different experience as they were the attackers. Although the sources are not useful because they are all only one mans opinion of the evacuation and it took place at only one place of the beach. For perhaps on another part of the beach they were lined up in columns with great organisation. Furthermore, this was only one moment out of the whole of the Battle which lasted from the 24th of May to the 4th June 1940, on other days it may have been worse or more unperturbed for the men.

The effect of oil price changes on stock markets of the GCC Essay

The effect of oil price changes on stock markets of the GCC - Essay Example In addition, the effects of the oil price trend to the leading beneficiary of oil in the GCC, Qatar, will be addressed. Over the past year, the price of oil has reduced significantly. Numerically, the price of oil has lost 40% of its value. The minimized price of oil has led to the global decrease of oil and oil products. The trend has been welcomed by the consumer as countries enjoy a record low price of oil. Regardless of the benefits, oil producers have suffered massively due to losses incurred. Specifically, GCC countries have recorded reduced low markets. With the price of oil dwindling further, the stock market of GCC countries face the risk of an economic crisis unless an intervention is developed to minimize the risks (Arouri, Bellalah & Nguyen, 2011). Over the years, GCC countries have been best placed to manipulate oil prices thus creating price targets that would suit their economic demands. With the new changes, how much of effect does it have on the GCC countries? The GCC comprises of six countries. They are Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, United Arab and Saudi Arabia. The six nations develop their economic background from the export of oil. The nations produce 20% of the world oil (Arouri, Bellalah & Nguyen, 2011). This places them as the greatest oil producers globally. In addition, the GCC has 47% of the global oil reserves. This is in addition to that the control 36% of the global oil exports. It is evident that the GCC is massively dependent on oil. In an argument by Arouri, Bellalah & Nguyen (2011) the influence of the oil prices has a massive influence on the stock market of the GCC countries. The change in oil prices is directly proportional to the changes in the stock market. Specifically, an increase in the oil prices influences a massive influence on the GCC stock market. This is based on that there is massive investments in the oil industry in the market. Arouri, Bellalah & Nguyen (2011) are of the assumption that the

Is Marriage a Dying Institution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Is Marriage a Dying Institution - Essay Example and ways of leading life and gay marriages, marriage is still considered a platform to ensure stability in the society and is not really a dying institution although its form and outlook have changed overtime. Few believe in the traditional words of the Book of Common Prayers that marriage is meant to last till death part the two partners. The few people who marry in UK have majority of then ending in divorce. This has even raised the concerns of the church leaders who are constantly trying to build a rescue plan. In this age of Information Technology cyber divorce ensures that a marriage can end with the click of a mouse. According to the Archbishop of Canterburry, the consumer culture has been on the rise and this has influenced the institution of marriage where people are constantly moving with the hope of finding someone better and worthier than whom he or she has. Apart from the rate of divorce, there are other factors that need to be considered. (BBC Online Network, 2007) In the modern times, the idea of living together and getting into an intimate emotional and physical relationship with one another is not much of an issue especially when some states like Canada have legalized the act. In California, such partners are known as â€Å"domestic partners†. Despite all states like North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, Florida, North Dakota and Michigan still deem the act as a crime in the eye of law. Therefore there is no reason to lose all hope and faith in marriage and give the entire credit to cohabitation. Also, in places like India the idea of opposite sex people cohabiting without the bond of marriage is taken as a taboo. Thus, there are ways and scope to ensure that the institution of marriage still retains its bliss. Though homosexual relationships are increasingly gaining acceptance in different nations, yet these couples are not permitted to marry. Some states have identified a form of civil union, which is in practice marriage without the term

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 20

Philosophy - Essay Example Propositions are most securely knowable and most vulnerable to doubt are based on the idea that doubting, understanding, asserting, denying, willing, refusing, imagining, and seeming to perceive. That proof for body does not involve the inspection of entities in an inner arena, although it is a reflective exercise laying out various possibilities and probabilities, arriving slowly at the conclusion that bodies exist even though they may not be as they seem. Descartes argues that any of the three main truths in the Meditations â€Å"I exist, God exists, bodies exist† is reached by the inspection of entities; certainly they are not modeled on retinal images. These truths are the result of careful analysis of ideas and, in the case of the cogito, of the activity of trying to doubt that a person exists. There really is no account in the Meditations of perception of bodies, no analysis of knowledge of physical objects, of scientific knowledge. When Descartes wanted to discover the nature of some object, event, or activity, such as light, vision, or the mechanism of the body, he resorted to observation and experiment--at least, to what he took to be observation, as with the examination of the eyes of buffs. By his doubt, Descartes does not mean to reject permanently all of his former beliefs. Some of them may well be true. Descartes wants to rediscover them, in the sense of showing that they follow logically from basic, indubitable propositions. The main purpose of the doubt is to find these indubitable propositions, so that Descartes can use them as "foundations" upon which to rebuild his knowledge. The doubt is a way of rethinking everything from the beginning, so as to achieve the certainty that Descartes is seeking. One standard interpretation of Descartess notion of clarity and distinctness sees it as being inspired by mathematics. The truth of the substance theory is based on the correctness of a particular

Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry

Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Abstract The purpose of this research is to come across an effective and implemental strategy for Iranian car industry to become an export player in the Middle-East region. With consideration the importance of market development for international auto makers, the Middle-East market is evaluated and Iran as a case study is looked over in terms of its potential automobile market and developing opportunities in Iranian car industry to become a manufacturing partner for international players. Through out a review of Iranian economy and the position of auto sector in Iran economy, the difficulties of growth and development, the role of government- as the regulator- are discussed briefly and the effect of international auto makers -in the past and future- is analyzed. On this basis, we point out the main troubles of the current auto industrys structure and the government dilemma to set its policies. At the end we suggest a reform in the structure and strategy of both assemblers and suppliers to ent er to the international markets. Keywords: Operation strategy; Iran auto industry; Globalization, Regionalization, Industry study Introduction Irans economic performance has begun to improve slowly after a decade of recession which was caused by the long and costly war with Iraq and fluctuations in oil prices. In the decade ending in 1998, GDPs growth per capitals started to rise, although the average was only 3 percent per year. (Economic reports, the World Bank Group) The automotive industry, as one of Irans most promising industries, was the countrys fastest growing industry with the average annual growth of 27.2% between 1995 and 2000 which was 5.5 times of the country average industrial growth. (Economic Focus, Iran Daily News). The domestic vehicle production is growing quickly but it is highly protected, and only in highly exceptional circumstances can Iranians import cars from abroad. Locally produced cars have a reputation for poor quality and have contributed to the dangerously high pollution levels. Also, Iranian firms were not able to satisfy the domestic market in terms of quantity. Demand for automobiles, particularly passenger vehicles, far exceeds the supply. In fact, more than 450,000 people pre-purchase automobiles every year and wait approximately two years to receive them. As a result the government, which wants to raise unit production and improve domestic industry in line with industrialization program, hopes to stimulate competition as part of the effect to make the economy less dependent on oil. In order to follow the market reform plans and provide better circumstances for the countrys main industries such as petrochemical industry, textile and etc, President Khatami (since August 1997- 2005) in 1999, announced an ambitious program to privatize several major industries which included auto industry as a part of total restructuring of Iranian economy. Currently 13 public and privately owned auto maker exist in Iran. The largest vehicle manufacturing company is Iran Khodro with an average share of 60.90% percent of domestic vehicle production, as the main government-controlled carmaker and Saipa is the second one with 32.70%. Subsequent to the development program, automakers have been encouraged to review the way in which their strategies will be developed in the future and to extend a range of strategy options that might enhance their position. Consequently, most Iranian auto makers have been encouraged to join ventures or any other strategic alliances with foreign auto manufacturers to meet the increasing demand (www.ikco.com). On the other hand, in looking at the automobile market generally, during the past few years, it might be observed that after a period of growth from 1997 to 2000 -resulting from the exceptional boom in US economy and the upturn in Europe-but the automobile market especially in North America and Europe has entered a consolidation phase because of overcapacity. The market is mature in developed countries such as those of Western European countries and US market where nearly 90% of sales of new vehicles are now accounted by replacement purchases. Also, in Far East-Japan and South Korea-, overcapacity is a highly sensitive problem (REINAUD, 2001), whereas in Middle-East region, vehicle out put is 6% of total global output in comparison with 29% in Europe and 30.2% in US (carmakers Annual report,*DRI). Thus, some auto manufacturers might be looking for new methods to penetrate the auto market in Middle-East in order to gain more market share over their competitors. If these companies do become partners, Iran will be an option to emerge as a major regional car manufacturer, serving the Middle East beside Other countries in the region, particularly Egypt and Turkey which have substantial car assembly arrangements. The following companies have signed cooperative agreements and their products are either already on the market or are to be introduced in the near future: Frances Peugeot with Iran Khodro. Koreas Kia Motors with Saipa. Frances Citroen with Saipa. Korean Daewoo and Kerman Motors. Optimus of the UK with Renus. Proton of Malaysia with Zagros According to the French automaker Peugeot, Iran has one car for every 21 people. Turkey has one for every 12, while Western European countries and Japan have nearly one car for every 2 people (www.peugeot.com). That indicates market growth potential, and the reason that foreign car manufacturer might be interested in the Iranian auto market. In this research the current auto industry situation in Iran will be analyzed and it will be evaluated in relation to its future strategy consequent upon growth in terms of output quality and ability to serve the domestic market, but also to play a major rule in region and become a truly international car manufacturer and exporter in Middle-East. To achieve a rich understanding of the current situation and examine the environmental position to meet the research objectives, other developing countries auto industry examples like China, India and Turkey will be investigated and analyzed as examples, while the regional circumstances, business environment and other specific characters of Irans economy e.g. the role of government , economic condition and Irans regulations will be considered to find out the most appropriate strategy for Iran car industry. The research question for the chosen topic is What would be the most effective strategy for Iranian car industry to become a major player in the Middle-East market? From this research question, the following objectives would be appropriate to evaluate: To evaluate existing methods of development strategy in the Iranian auto industry, To identify the best possible methods of development strategy for domestic and foreign companies, To recommend how such a strategy can be implemented. The background of the research is set with a brief discussion on the changes have happened in the world of auto industry, the consequent of globalization, the dynamic and diversity of demand in auto market and the auto makers difficulties to respond to new market characteristics while maintain the ability to make profit. Our goal in this paper is to propose an efficient strategy to . The paper has the following structure. Section 2 gives the brief literature review. Section 3 analyses the competitors in automobile Middle East market. Section 4 introduces the Iranian auto industry case. Section 5 presents the growth and development problems in Iranian auto industry. Finally, section 6 is devoted to conclusions and future works. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 summarises the development of Iranian production and exports in the car industry compared to other major exporters in the world. It also explains why Iranian export growth has remained much below production growth. Section 3 develops the empirical export model and describes the variables and data. Then, the model is estimated in Section 4. Estimation results are analysed and a sensitivity analysis is proposed. Section 5 estimates the Iranian export potential with regard to the main foreign markets, while Section 6 concludes. Literature review History of globalization Humans have coined the word Globalization to describe widely traded activities that take place across the continents which are aided immensely by diminishing international trading regulations negotiated through the World Trade Organisation. Globalization is a combination of many -manufacturing, trade in services, supply chain management activities which have been affected positively by a fast technological development in few last decades. As Friedman (1999) argues, what is new today is the degree and intensity with which the word is being tied together in to a signal globalized market place and village. What is also new is the sheer number of people and countries able to partake of today globalized economy and information network, and to be affected by them this new era of globalization is turbocharged. As it can be observed, that this noticeable international integration is not just in economics, but in politics and cultures are as well. However, it needs to be recognised that the speed of these changes and growth of integration is different across the world. In some countries and regions the trend of globalization is rapidly increasing while in other parts the pace is much slower and globalisation is not welcomed at all. Nevertheless, regardless of the effects of globalisation no country can afford to ignore its impact on their political and economical circumstances. Likewise, the rate of change is different in various industries as is the strategic response of different business sectors to take advantages of exploiting new business opportunities. Although the merchandise trade, capital investment and labour migration started from 1850-1914, and the economy was more open than it is today in terms of the existing tariffs and trade barriers, but it was not globalized. Just the year following the Second World War and through reconstruction of war, the world has started to establish institutions to open up trades and ensure currency stability such as GATT and IMF, which caused massive increase in the economic growth level. According to Dicken (2003), world trade increased at an average annual rate of 6.7 per cent between 1948 and 1953. Between 1958 and 1963 the rate rose to 7.4 per cent and between 1963 and 1968 it accelerated further to 8.6 per cent. So people experienced a boom period up to 1970s when the first oil crisis has occurred. The United States, which suffered less during the Second World War, increased its foreign investment and after a while the US companies started to move into Western European countries and create interdependencies across world markets. Europe and Japan which mainly focused on rebuilding their economies after the war joined in this and also expanded their positions in the market place and on the economic map after the mid-1980s. (Hill, 2005) Also, because of the necessity of promoting global interdependencies, the United Nations was established to maintain world peace and security and so help the spread of industrialisation and world trade. The main drivers of globalization Apart from the history of globalization there were several main drive points that enhanced the process of globalisation. From the Johnson and Turners (2003) point of view one of the main globalization drivers was the changing economic paradigm. The new approach for managing economy was based on limitation the government role and neo-liberalism. Limiting the role of government provides the situations for businesses to progress and boom. As the Hill (2005) says, major changes occur as new economic and political institutions develop, with movement from traditional, non competitive institutions to competition-based capitalistic economies and democratic institution. So the market was relied on to force the pace of competition. Little by little the liberal economy became an external economic policy and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades (GATT) set up to support this philosophy. As a result of GATT and afterwards its successor organization- WTO-, there was a great reduction in tari ffs barriers and non-tariffs barriers for participating countries which help them established and spread their liberal economic policy. The second globalization driver is the spread of international governance and regulation. More international rules and policies developed for business environment, especially in regional level aimed at reducing the barriers in economic market among GATT contracting and WTO members. Also spreading e-commerce as a technological consequent has brought new issues in terms of traditional governance structure. Therefore, by passing the time and more international integration, the trade and market regulation were less under the national states control. According to Johnson and Turners (2003) argument finance and capital spread is another driver of globalization. Necessity of financial and capital movement following the market deregulation and economic liberalization has supported by national rules and has facilitated by technological development and ease the financial transactions. All might agree that the technological development, mainly in information technology and communication sector, has played an important role in globalization. However none of them is the cause of globalization, Dicken (2003) argued, without these technologies the current complex global economy system could not exist. Shrinking time and space by innovated technologies was a great opportunity to reorganization and redefinition the commercial and economical structure. Most of industrial sectors are affected by innovations and changes in technologies especially in manufacturing system with a high influence on value chain. Transportation technology has changed dramatically from 1840 to 1960 which was a development period from steam locomotives to high speed aircraft. Therefore, new transportation systems and their wide usage with cheaper prices have brought global shrinkage. Also in communication and its convergence with computer technology development has facilitated more effective networ ks within and between enterprises. All of these technological conveniences provide links across borders and spread globalization in economic term. Social and cultural convergence might be seen as a driver for globalization. The effect of mass media and usage of internet make the consumer preference more common in global market. As Johnson and Turner (2003) mentioned, similar taste of consumer in different parts of the market creates the opportunity to promote global product. So we can claim that the cultural and social similarities make the conditions available for globalization. Also transferring new technologies has brought about more products in greater varieties at lower costs and prices. Consequently standards of living and peoples expectations rise as well. Mode of entry and expansion methods In simple terms, globalization is an opportunity for companies to expand their market, their value chain and their business across borders. But the point is how effective can companies use these opportunities to make more profit and enjoy sustainable growth. What factors should they consider to make decision to choose an investment option to carry on their development strategy? Global supply chain and its dimensions Apart from different modes of entry available for firms to get advantages from globalization and to move across borders to expand their market, other advantages may be gained through developing global supply chains. The production of any good or service can be conceived as a production chain that is, as a transactionally linked sequence of functions in which each stage adds value to the process of production of goods and services. (Dicken, 2003) The firms try to differentiate their value chain in order to add more competences by using the advantages of each production chain requirement in different part of the world. However, build a global value chain might make it fragmented while the control and management of a global network is more difficult. From Dickens point of view there are three important dimensions in production networks: First is governance which means how they are coordinated and regulated. In the case which varying combinations and interrelationships of different kind of companies and firms might perform in a production network, As Dicken says, the market is the main organizer of external transactions, in contrast with the case which the entire network operated with a single firm and internal organizational structure governs transactions. (Dicken, 2003) The second important dimension in production network is spatiality and how they are conFigured geographically. By increasing the emergence of global production network, network organizing is changing from geographically concentrated to geographically dispersed. The third issue is territorial embeddedness the extent to which they are connected in to particular bounded political, institutional and social setting. (Dicken, 2003) information technology and other new technologies have made space and distances meaningless. Most types of capitals are mobile and all of them can easily move from one place to another. However transportation and communication technology has developed as well, capital does moves within spaceless world. Place is still an important issue, as firms are highly affected by the cultural, socio-political and institutional context of the territorial they are embedded. Therefore multinational firms try to take advantages of differences within regulations and socials in various places while, bringing different state with different regimes in count within a production network makes the situation more complex to control and to take benefits from. Since 1999 and strongly growth of globalization, the same as other important and effective phenomena, globalization has a positive view wave that strongly recommend it and a negative wave against it which moves from developing country to developed countries during these years. Arguments about globalization success or failures do not have any satisfactory result, while globalization can be observe and discussed to understand both negative and positive sides of it. Growth of regionalism Although the speed of globalization and integration in the world market has increased during past decades under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and more recently by World Trade Organization (WTO), the regional agreement and the debate on the desirability of regionalism has grown as well. By the beginning of twentieth century most of the counties were part of a regional integration. However one might argue that the reason of regional integration is more political than economic explanation, it can not be ignored any more as almost 50 per cent of all world trade is within regional trade agreement. As a result of that, there is fear within WTO and other international institutions that regionalism takes the place of globalization and make a stumbling block toward further global trade integration. (Lung Van Tulder, 2004) Nevertheless there are different forms of regional integration and each of them affects global market more or less while the time of their integration pr ocess is various. The dynamics of automobile market Although some changes had happened in the composition and geography of automobile demand, the concentration of automobile industry in three major global regions face auto companies in these regions with the overcapacity problem. The highly market-oriented of automobile production caused its development be based on affluent consumer markets to achieve the economy of scale. But during the years, the automobile consumer markets in three developed region has developed as well. As Dicken argued in the Global Shift (2003), the changing demand for Automobiles has three major characteristics: It is highly cyclical. There are long term (secular) changes in demand. There are signs of increasing market segmentation and fragmentation. ( Dicken, 2003) The competitors Despite the fact that NAFTA, EU and Japan are the main developed region in both production and trade in auto industry sector, other countries have started restructuring this sector in line with their economic reform. The obvious example might be China and India which both are gaining a sustainable growth in the last decade. Also Turkey has emerged as a new automobile producer in line with other industrial changes aim to become qualified to join European Union. Turkish auto industry Turkey auto industry has been developing due to the well strategic planning applied by the Turkey government by the way in which they opened their country to the global world. They have started their industry as a montage (CKD or SKD) in 1960 and have turned it to manufacturing part after a few years in 1966 trough licensing agreement and dealer-assembler with American and European firms. Gradually the government attempted to adapt an export-oriented strategy; consequently it started to liberalize the importation of cars gradually and reducing the tariffs. Meanwhile it provided some financial supports for upgrading themselves to international acceptable condition. But the main change which caused a revolution in Turkey car industry was the customs unionization agreement in 1995 with European Union which followed by a new restructuring in their auto industry. To harmonization the administrative and regulatory structure of the industry, Turkish government has established an accreditation council to prepare the documents for new adaptation the issues and procedures of exporting in line with European countries. However the Turkey supposed to complete the adaptation and remove all tariffs by 2001, they have not completed it yet and it seems the Turkeys auto industry has not well prepared for full liberalization. Although adaptation a new regime from Turkey government which obligate importing vehicle companies to prepare service facility and aftermarket parts for customers within a country was a great opportunity for domestic firms to become involved with providing spare parts and services. Even though it was not a stable macro environment after 1997-1998 Russian and Asian crisis and again December 2000 crisis, the restructuring program caused some investment in car companies in Turkey in order to support economy of scale and encourage them to developed more update types of automobiles. Turkish manufacturers have operated in two car segment; low medium and medium models and the produced cars have already been phased out in their country of origin, added that these segments account for 90 per cent of the Turkish market. (Duruiz, 2004) Governmental financial supports and investment on auto sectors attracted many foreign investors from 1995 onward, especially with aim to develop new generation cars and modernization the industry. Most of foreign car firms have gained relatively high share of the auto industry after liberalization to use the resources in Turkey and export to European countries through Turkey. Table 1 shows the main auto manufactures in Turkey and their share. As the effect of custom utilization agreement, the automotive sector had the 5th place in Turkey exporting in 2000, but the main effect has happened in component sector and it has increased relatively higher then auto sector export. It was also easier for component producer to upgrade their standard of their firms to get a competitive position in EU base on their lower labour wages. (Duruiz, 2004) Nevertheless Turkey has accepted liberalization in their trade but as they have not done the full integration, their case has become special. Mostly the Turkeys future economy highly depends on the European Union decision to accept it or not as a member of European Union which lead to change their economic structure with the support from the IMF and European Union. Indian auto industry Emerging of India in the world economy has been started by implementing liberalization and opened up most of the economic sectors to the global world in 1992. Looking historically at Indian car industry, it can be divided in four phase from the view point of Kim (2004). The starting point was in 1920s with assembly which was established by foreign companies. (General motor and Ford) It took two decades up to 1952 that Indian build up their domestic production firm. The governmental policy in auto sector is known as the main reason of no progress in productivity and technology in this sector for long period. (Kim, 2004) The third phase was started, after three decades, by making a join venture of Maruti Udyog -became nationalized in 1980- with the Suzuki motor company. According to this agreement a revolution had happened in Indian car industry. Increase the volume and standard was not just in auto makers but the change was occurred in the components industry as well. (Venkataramani, 1990) The main and last phase was started by Indian economic reform after 1992 under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank. As it was anticipated, deregulation of auto industry in 1993 and the expectation of market growth in India according to the population have attracted international auto makers to invest in India. According to the foreign existence it was a dramatically fell of domestic firms share in India. Investment of foreign car makers, which were mainly in the form of joint venture with domestic firms, caused there-restructuring in the Indians motor industry. Apart from promotion of new models with more stylish design, significant changes have happened in auto financing as well. Also numbers of component manufacturers invested in local firms to supply their assemblers. So Indian witnessed a fundamental change in the technology, infrastructure and managerial systems. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all expectations and anticipations about the fast economical growth after regulations in India and a positive view of auto makers about Indian market because of the sizable population of middle-class, the estimates about rising in demand did not turn to reality. Apart from the problems which multinationals generally face in new emerging countries such as undeveloped supplier base, weak infrastructure and undeveloped regulations (Kim, 2001), Indian environment seems more complicated for them. Although the population was far enough to support ten auto makers, the companies face with overcapacity. The lack of demand in both domestic and regional market has become the major problem for multinationals auto makers in India. In terms of export from India to the neighbour countries also, the multinational car makers have not achieved any remarkable result. However the main reason might be the economic situation and poverty of South Asian countries which limit the demand for passenger car, we should not ignore the political and economical relation of India with its neighbour. Despite the hopes after the South Asian Association for Region Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 and the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995, there was no significant growth observed in the South Asian trade relationship. Although the auto industry in India has not succeeded as it was anticipated, the auto component industry has occurred high progress in quality, technology and international standards. Now, in collaborate with foreign companies, they have become competitive in international markets and auto makers in India use their Indian suppliers to supply their other operation plant around the world. Moreover, Indian government regulations disable multinational to import completely build automobiles to India. However the Indian government did not define any limitation for on foreign ownership, instead 123 per cent tariff rates on import cars were forced multinationals to set up their assembly plant fully within India. And a high tariff on finished components also was another issue that multinationals prefer to find their supplier within domestic firms. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all mentioned problem in India, multinational car makers seems still have a positive view about the Indian market. The potential existing market is there, but the matter is that when it will become visible. Chinese auto industry Following the economical reform in China, the Chinese policy makers focused on auto industry as a symbolic sector which shows the industrial development within a country. The need for technology and knowledge caused them looking for foreign partner to provide the required technology by setting up assembly plant which also generate and improve numbers of domestic firms as the suppliers to support the main assembly plants. So, in the mid-1980 three main cities of China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai) established a joint-venture with foreign auto makers supported by central and local government. (Thun, 2004) Each local government aimed to improve the local supplier network by its JV, but the assembly plants were looking for the better quality and lower price. Therefore in contrast with the local government and despite of geographical advantages of supplying from local firms, assemblers were dependence on outside supplier and most of them imported 100 per cent of the components from outside unless they were forced by Chinese government to increase their required components from domestic firms. But even after the time assemblers shifted from outside supplier to domestic firms, the local government aim to improve their local network were failed as the JV sourced their parts from other regions. Therefore, as of 2003, just Shanghai could relay on their local auto sector and even though it did not meet the international standards, it became a dominant firm in Chinese auto market. (Thun, 2004) The Shanghai success was the result of well support and strategic plans of local government and Shanghai Automobile industry corporation (SAIC). In 1984, when the Shanghai established a joint-venture with Volkswagen (VW), non of local firms were able to supply the required component for the assembling plant and after two years their share increased by just 2.7 per cent. (Li, 1997) No significant achievement after two years caused Shanghai municipal government began to re-evaluate the problems within the sector and the capacity of individual firms to solve these problems. (Thun, 2004) Consequent of problem solving process, they discovered two necessity preconditions to facilitate improvement in domestic firms. The first one was a reorganization of the municipal bureaucracy responsible for auto sector oversight. They have set up an Automobile Industry Leading Small Group in order to control the local actors. (Li, 1997) The second precondition was the capital accumulation and investment. To solve this problem the local government defined a localization tax and set up the localization office which was responsible to carry out a straightforward import-substitution policy for the imports in auto sector even from other Chinese regions. Also, the localization office checked out the list of imported components and their domestic firms which are capable of produce them successfully, then it provided a suitable investment capital as well as managing the firms relationship with the main assembler plant. (Thun, 2004) Apart from the local government programs, SAIC had its own way to support the Shanghai auto sector, however in some areas their activities overlappe Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Abstract The purpose of this research is to come across an effective and implemental strategy for Iranian car industry to become an export player in the Middle-East region. With consideration the importance of market development for international auto makers, the Middle-East market is evaluated and Iran as a case study is looked over in terms of its potential automobile market and developing opportunities in Iranian car industry to become a manufacturing partner for international players. Through out a review of Iranian economy and the position of auto sector in Iran economy, the difficulties of growth and development, the role of government- as the regulator- are discussed briefly and the effect of international auto makers -in the past and future- is analyzed. On this basis, we point out the main troubles of the current auto industrys structure and the government dilemma to set its policies. At the end we suggest a reform in the structure and strategy of both assemblers and suppliers to ent er to the international markets. Keywords: Operation strategy; Iran auto industry; Globalization, Regionalization, Industry study Introduction Irans economic performance has begun to improve slowly after a decade of recession which was caused by the long and costly war with Iraq and fluctuations in oil prices. In the decade ending in 1998, GDPs growth per capitals started to rise, although the average was only 3 percent per year. (Economic reports, the World Bank Group) The automotive industry, as one of Irans most promising industries, was the countrys fastest growing industry with the average annual growth of 27.2% between 1995 and 2000 which was 5.5 times of the country average industrial growth. (Economic Focus, Iran Daily News). The domestic vehicle production is growing quickly but it is highly protected, and only in highly exceptional circumstances can Iranians import cars from abroad. Locally produced cars have a reputation for poor quality and have contributed to the dangerously high pollution levels. Also, Iranian firms were not able to satisfy the domestic market in terms of quantity. Demand for automobiles, particularly passenger vehicles, far exceeds the supply. In fact, more than 450,000 people pre-purchase automobiles every year and wait approximately two years to receive them. As a result the government, which wants to raise unit production and improve domestic industry in line with industrialization program, hopes to stimulate competition as part of the effect to make the economy less dependent on oil. In order to follow the market reform plans and provide better circumstances for the countrys main industries such as petrochemical industry, textile and etc, President Khatami (since August 1997- 2005) in 1999, announced an ambitious program to privatize several major industries which included auto industry as a part of total restructuring of Iranian economy. Currently 13 public and privately owned auto maker exist in Iran. The largest vehicle manufacturing company is Iran Khodro with an average share of 60.90% percent of domestic vehicle production, as the main government-controlled carmaker and Saipa is the second one with 32.70%. Subsequent to the development program, automakers have been encouraged to review the way in which their strategies will be developed in the future and to extend a range of strategy options that might enhance their position. Consequently, most Iranian auto makers have been encouraged to join ventures or any other strategic alliances with foreign auto manufacturers to meet the increasing demand (www.ikco.com). On the other hand, in looking at the automobile market generally, during the past few years, it might be observed that after a period of growth from 1997 to 2000 -resulting from the exceptional boom in US economy and the upturn in Europe-but the automobile market especially in North America and Europe has entered a consolidation phase because of overcapacity. The market is mature in developed countries such as those of Western European countries and US market where nearly 90% of sales of new vehicles are now accounted by replacement purchases. Also, in Far East-Japan and South Korea-, overcapacity is a highly sensitive problem (REINAUD, 2001), whereas in Middle-East region, vehicle out put is 6% of total global output in comparison with 29% in Europe and 30.2% in US (carmakers Annual report,*DRI). Thus, some auto manufacturers might be looking for new methods to penetrate the auto market in Middle-East in order to gain more market share over their competitors. If these companies do become partners, Iran will be an option to emerge as a major regional car manufacturer, serving the Middle East beside Other countries in the region, particularly Egypt and Turkey which have substantial car assembly arrangements. The following companies have signed cooperative agreements and their products are either already on the market or are to be introduced in the near future: Frances Peugeot with Iran Khodro. Koreas Kia Motors with Saipa. Frances Citroen with Saipa. Korean Daewoo and Kerman Motors. Optimus of the UK with Renus. Proton of Malaysia with Zagros According to the French automaker Peugeot, Iran has one car for every 21 people. Turkey has one for every 12, while Western European countries and Japan have nearly one car for every 2 people (www.peugeot.com). That indicates market growth potential, and the reason that foreign car manufacturer might be interested in the Iranian auto market. In this research the current auto industry situation in Iran will be analyzed and it will be evaluated in relation to its future strategy consequent upon growth in terms of output quality and ability to serve the domestic market, but also to play a major rule in region and become a truly international car manufacturer and exporter in Middle-East. To achieve a rich understanding of the current situation and examine the environmental position to meet the research objectives, other developing countries auto industry examples like China, India and Turkey will be investigated and analyzed as examples, while the regional circumstances, business environment and other specific characters of Irans economy e.g. the role of government , economic condition and Irans regulations will be considered to find out the most appropriate strategy for Iran car industry. The research question for the chosen topic is What would be the most effective strategy for Iranian car industry to become a major player in the Middle-East market? From this research question, the following objectives would be appropriate to evaluate: To evaluate existing methods of development strategy in the Iranian auto industry, To identify the best possible methods of development strategy for domestic and foreign companies, To recommend how such a strategy can be implemented. The background of the research is set with a brief discussion on the changes have happened in the world of auto industry, the consequent of globalization, the dynamic and diversity of demand in auto market and the auto makers difficulties to respond to new market characteristics while maintain the ability to make profit. Our goal in this paper is to propose an efficient strategy to . The paper has the following structure. Section 2 gives the brief literature review. Section 3 analyses the competitors in automobile Middle East market. Section 4 introduces the Iranian auto industry case. Section 5 presents the growth and development problems in Iranian auto industry. Finally, section 6 is devoted to conclusions and future works. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 summarises the development of Iranian production and exports in the car industry compared to other major exporters in the world. It also explains why Iranian export growth has remained much below production growth. Section 3 develops the empirical export model and describes the variables and data. Then, the model is estimated in Section 4. Estimation results are analysed and a sensitivity analysis is proposed. Section 5 estimates the Iranian export potential with regard to the main foreign markets, while Section 6 concludes. Literature review History of globalization Humans have coined the word Globalization to describe widely traded activities that take place across the continents which are aided immensely by diminishing international trading regulations negotiated through the World Trade Organisation. Globalization is a combination of many -manufacturing, trade in services, supply chain management activities which have been affected positively by a fast technological development in few last decades. As Friedman (1999) argues, what is new today is the degree and intensity with which the word is being tied together in to a signal globalized market place and village. What is also new is the sheer number of people and countries able to partake of today globalized economy and information network, and to be affected by them this new era of globalization is turbocharged. As it can be observed, that this noticeable international integration is not just in economics, but in politics and cultures are as well. However, it needs to be recognised that the speed of these changes and growth of integration is different across the world. In some countries and regions the trend of globalization is rapidly increasing while in other parts the pace is much slower and globalisation is not welcomed at all. Nevertheless, regardless of the effects of globalisation no country can afford to ignore its impact on their political and economical circumstances. Likewise, the rate of change is different in various industries as is the strategic response of different business sectors to take advantages of exploiting new business opportunities. Although the merchandise trade, capital investment and labour migration started from 1850-1914, and the economy was more open than it is today in terms of the existing tariffs and trade barriers, but it was not globalized. Just the year following the Second World War and through reconstruction of war, the world has started to establish institutions to open up trades and ensure currency stability such as GATT and IMF, which caused massive increase in the economic growth level. According to Dicken (2003), world trade increased at an average annual rate of 6.7 per cent between 1948 and 1953. Between 1958 and 1963 the rate rose to 7.4 per cent and between 1963 and 1968 it accelerated further to 8.6 per cent. So people experienced a boom period up to 1970s when the first oil crisis has occurred. The United States, which suffered less during the Second World War, increased its foreign investment and after a while the US companies started to move into Western European countries and create interdependencies across world markets. Europe and Japan which mainly focused on rebuilding their economies after the war joined in this and also expanded their positions in the market place and on the economic map after the mid-1980s. (Hill, 2005) Also, because of the necessity of promoting global interdependencies, the United Nations was established to maintain world peace and security and so help the spread of industrialisation and world trade. The main drivers of globalization Apart from the history of globalization there were several main drive points that enhanced the process of globalisation. From the Johnson and Turners (2003) point of view one of the main globalization drivers was the changing economic paradigm. The new approach for managing economy was based on limitation the government role and neo-liberalism. Limiting the role of government provides the situations for businesses to progress and boom. As the Hill (2005) says, major changes occur as new economic and political institutions develop, with movement from traditional, non competitive institutions to competition-based capitalistic economies and democratic institution. So the market was relied on to force the pace of competition. Little by little the liberal economy became an external economic policy and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades (GATT) set up to support this philosophy. As a result of GATT and afterwards its successor organization- WTO-, there was a great reduction in tari ffs barriers and non-tariffs barriers for participating countries which help them established and spread their liberal economic policy. The second globalization driver is the spread of international governance and regulation. More international rules and policies developed for business environment, especially in regional level aimed at reducing the barriers in economic market among GATT contracting and WTO members. Also spreading e-commerce as a technological consequent has brought new issues in terms of traditional governance structure. Therefore, by passing the time and more international integration, the trade and market regulation were less under the national states control. According to Johnson and Turners (2003) argument finance and capital spread is another driver of globalization. Necessity of financial and capital movement following the market deregulation and economic liberalization has supported by national rules and has facilitated by technological development and ease the financial transactions. All might agree that the technological development, mainly in information technology and communication sector, has played an important role in globalization. However none of them is the cause of globalization, Dicken (2003) argued, without these technologies the current complex global economy system could not exist. Shrinking time and space by innovated technologies was a great opportunity to reorganization and redefinition the commercial and economical structure. Most of industrial sectors are affected by innovations and changes in technologies especially in manufacturing system with a high influence on value chain. Transportation technology has changed dramatically from 1840 to 1960 which was a development period from steam locomotives to high speed aircraft. Therefore, new transportation systems and their wide usage with cheaper prices have brought global shrinkage. Also in communication and its convergence with computer technology development has facilitated more effective networ ks within and between enterprises. All of these technological conveniences provide links across borders and spread globalization in economic term. Social and cultural convergence might be seen as a driver for globalization. The effect of mass media and usage of internet make the consumer preference more common in global market. As Johnson and Turner (2003) mentioned, similar taste of consumer in different parts of the market creates the opportunity to promote global product. So we can claim that the cultural and social similarities make the conditions available for globalization. Also transferring new technologies has brought about more products in greater varieties at lower costs and prices. Consequently standards of living and peoples expectations rise as well. Mode of entry and expansion methods In simple terms, globalization is an opportunity for companies to expand their market, their value chain and their business across borders. But the point is how effective can companies use these opportunities to make more profit and enjoy sustainable growth. What factors should they consider to make decision to choose an investment option to carry on their development strategy? Global supply chain and its dimensions Apart from different modes of entry available for firms to get advantages from globalization and to move across borders to expand their market, other advantages may be gained through developing global supply chains. The production of any good or service can be conceived as a production chain that is, as a transactionally linked sequence of functions in which each stage adds value to the process of production of goods and services. (Dicken, 2003) The firms try to differentiate their value chain in order to add more competences by using the advantages of each production chain requirement in different part of the world. However, build a global value chain might make it fragmented while the control and management of a global network is more difficult. From Dickens point of view there are three important dimensions in production networks: First is governance which means how they are coordinated and regulated. In the case which varying combinations and interrelationships of different kind of companies and firms might perform in a production network, As Dicken says, the market is the main organizer of external transactions, in contrast with the case which the entire network operated with a single firm and internal organizational structure governs transactions. (Dicken, 2003) The second important dimension in production network is spatiality and how they are conFigured geographically. By increasing the emergence of global production network, network organizing is changing from geographically concentrated to geographically dispersed. The third issue is territorial embeddedness the extent to which they are connected in to particular bounded political, institutional and social setting. (Dicken, 2003) information technology and other new technologies have made space and distances meaningless. Most types of capitals are mobile and all of them can easily move from one place to another. However transportation and communication technology has developed as well, capital does moves within spaceless world. Place is still an important issue, as firms are highly affected by the cultural, socio-political and institutional context of the territorial they are embedded. Therefore multinational firms try to take advantages of differences within regulations and socials in various places while, bringing different state with different regimes in count within a production network makes the situation more complex to control and to take benefits from. Since 1999 and strongly growth of globalization, the same as other important and effective phenomena, globalization has a positive view wave that strongly recommend it and a negative wave against it which moves from developing country to developed countries during these years. Arguments about globalization success or failures do not have any satisfactory result, while globalization can be observe and discussed to understand both negative and positive sides of it. Growth of regionalism Although the speed of globalization and integration in the world market has increased during past decades under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and more recently by World Trade Organization (WTO), the regional agreement and the debate on the desirability of regionalism has grown as well. By the beginning of twentieth century most of the counties were part of a regional integration. However one might argue that the reason of regional integration is more political than economic explanation, it can not be ignored any more as almost 50 per cent of all world trade is within regional trade agreement. As a result of that, there is fear within WTO and other international institutions that regionalism takes the place of globalization and make a stumbling block toward further global trade integration. (Lung Van Tulder, 2004) Nevertheless there are different forms of regional integration and each of them affects global market more or less while the time of their integration pr ocess is various. The dynamics of automobile market Although some changes had happened in the composition and geography of automobile demand, the concentration of automobile industry in three major global regions face auto companies in these regions with the overcapacity problem. The highly market-oriented of automobile production caused its development be based on affluent consumer markets to achieve the economy of scale. But during the years, the automobile consumer markets in three developed region has developed as well. As Dicken argued in the Global Shift (2003), the changing demand for Automobiles has three major characteristics: It is highly cyclical. There are long term (secular) changes in demand. There are signs of increasing market segmentation and fragmentation. ( Dicken, 2003) The competitors Despite the fact that NAFTA, EU and Japan are the main developed region in both production and trade in auto industry sector, other countries have started restructuring this sector in line with their economic reform. The obvious example might be China and India which both are gaining a sustainable growth in the last decade. Also Turkey has emerged as a new automobile producer in line with other industrial changes aim to become qualified to join European Union. Turkish auto industry Turkey auto industry has been developing due to the well strategic planning applied by the Turkey government by the way in which they opened their country to the global world. They have started their industry as a montage (CKD or SKD) in 1960 and have turned it to manufacturing part after a few years in 1966 trough licensing agreement and dealer-assembler with American and European firms. Gradually the government attempted to adapt an export-oriented strategy; consequently it started to liberalize the importation of cars gradually and reducing the tariffs. Meanwhile it provided some financial supports for upgrading themselves to international acceptable condition. But the main change which caused a revolution in Turkey car industry was the customs unionization agreement in 1995 with European Union which followed by a new restructuring in their auto industry. To harmonization the administrative and regulatory structure of the industry, Turkish government has established an accreditation council to prepare the documents for new adaptation the issues and procedures of exporting in line with European countries. However the Turkey supposed to complete the adaptation and remove all tariffs by 2001, they have not completed it yet and it seems the Turkeys auto industry has not well prepared for full liberalization. Although adaptation a new regime from Turkey government which obligate importing vehicle companies to prepare service facility and aftermarket parts for customers within a country was a great opportunity for domestic firms to become involved with providing spare parts and services. Even though it was not a stable macro environment after 1997-1998 Russian and Asian crisis and again December 2000 crisis, the restructuring program caused some investment in car companies in Turkey in order to support economy of scale and encourage them to developed more update types of automobiles. Turkish manufacturers have operated in two car segment; low medium and medium models and the produced cars have already been phased out in their country of origin, added that these segments account for 90 per cent of the Turkish market. (Duruiz, 2004) Governmental financial supports and investment on auto sectors attracted many foreign investors from 1995 onward, especially with aim to develop new generation cars and modernization the industry. Most of foreign car firms have gained relatively high share of the auto industry after liberalization to use the resources in Turkey and export to European countries through Turkey. Table 1 shows the main auto manufactures in Turkey and their share. As the effect of custom utilization agreement, the automotive sector had the 5th place in Turkey exporting in 2000, but the main effect has happened in component sector and it has increased relatively higher then auto sector export. It was also easier for component producer to upgrade their standard of their firms to get a competitive position in EU base on their lower labour wages. (Duruiz, 2004) Nevertheless Turkey has accepted liberalization in their trade but as they have not done the full integration, their case has become special. Mostly the Turkeys future economy highly depends on the European Union decision to accept it or not as a member of European Union which lead to change their economic structure with the support from the IMF and European Union. Indian auto industry Emerging of India in the world economy has been started by implementing liberalization and opened up most of the economic sectors to the global world in 1992. Looking historically at Indian car industry, it can be divided in four phase from the view point of Kim (2004). The starting point was in 1920s with assembly which was established by foreign companies. (General motor and Ford) It took two decades up to 1952 that Indian build up their domestic production firm. The governmental policy in auto sector is known as the main reason of no progress in productivity and technology in this sector for long period. (Kim, 2004) The third phase was started, after three decades, by making a join venture of Maruti Udyog -became nationalized in 1980- with the Suzuki motor company. According to this agreement a revolution had happened in Indian car industry. Increase the volume and standard was not just in auto makers but the change was occurred in the components industry as well. (Venkataramani, 1990) The main and last phase was started by Indian economic reform after 1992 under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank. As it was anticipated, deregulation of auto industry in 1993 and the expectation of market growth in India according to the population have attracted international auto makers to invest in India. According to the foreign existence it was a dramatically fell of domestic firms share in India. Investment of foreign car makers, which were mainly in the form of joint venture with domestic firms, caused there-restructuring in the Indians motor industry. Apart from promotion of new models with more stylish design, significant changes have happened in auto financing as well. Also numbers of component manufacturers invested in local firms to supply their assemblers. So Indian witnessed a fundamental change in the technology, infrastructure and managerial systems. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all expectations and anticipations about the fast economical growth after regulations in India and a positive view of auto makers about Indian market because of the sizable population of middle-class, the estimates about rising in demand did not turn to reality. Apart from the problems which multinationals generally face in new emerging countries such as undeveloped supplier base, weak infrastructure and undeveloped regulations (Kim, 2001), Indian environment seems more complicated for them. Although the population was far enough to support ten auto makers, the companies face with overcapacity. The lack of demand in both domestic and regional market has become the major problem for multinationals auto makers in India. In terms of export from India to the neighbour countries also, the multinational car makers have not achieved any remarkable result. However the main reason might be the economic situation and poverty of South Asian countries which limit the demand for passenger car, we should not ignore the political and economical relation of India with its neighbour. Despite the hopes after the South Asian Association for Region Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 and the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995, there was no significant growth observed in the South Asian trade relationship. Although the auto industry in India has not succeeded as it was anticipated, the auto component industry has occurred high progress in quality, technology and international standards. Now, in collaborate with foreign companies, they have become competitive in international markets and auto makers in India use their Indian suppliers to supply their other operation plant around the world. Moreover, Indian government regulations disable multinational to import completely build automobiles to India. However the Indian government did not define any limitation for on foreign ownership, instead 123 per cent tariff rates on import cars were forced multinationals to set up their assembly plant fully within India. And a high tariff on finished components also was another issue that multinationals prefer to find their supplier within domestic firms. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all mentioned problem in India, multinational car makers seems still have a positive view about the Indian market. The potential existing market is there, but the matter is that when it will become visible. Chinese auto industry Following the economical reform in China, the Chinese policy makers focused on auto industry as a symbolic sector which shows the industrial development within a country. The need for technology and knowledge caused them looking for foreign partner to provide the required technology by setting up assembly plant which also generate and improve numbers of domestic firms as the suppliers to support the main assembly plants. So, in the mid-1980 three main cities of China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai) established a joint-venture with foreign auto makers supported by central and local government. (Thun, 2004) Each local government aimed to improve the local supplier network by its JV, but the assembly plants were looking for the better quality and lower price. Therefore in contrast with the local government and despite of geographical advantages of supplying from local firms, assemblers were dependence on outside supplier and most of them imported 100 per cent of the components from outside unless they were forced by Chinese government to increase their required components from domestic firms. But even after the time assemblers shifted from outside supplier to domestic firms, the local government aim to improve their local network were failed as the JV sourced their parts from other regions. Therefore, as of 2003, just Shanghai could relay on their local auto sector and even though it did not meet the international standards, it became a dominant firm in Chinese auto market. (Thun, 2004) The Shanghai success was the result of well support and strategic plans of local government and Shanghai Automobile industry corporation (SAIC). In 1984, when the Shanghai established a joint-venture with Volkswagen (VW), non of local firms were able to supply the required component for the assembling plant and after two years their share increased by just 2.7 per cent. (Li, 1997) No significant achievement after two years caused Shanghai municipal government began to re-evaluate the problems within the sector and the capacity of individual firms to solve these problems. (Thun, 2004) Consequent of problem solving process, they discovered two necessity preconditions to facilitate improvement in domestic firms. The first one was a reorganization of the municipal bureaucracy responsible for auto sector oversight. They have set up an Automobile Industry Leading Small Group in order to control the local actors. (Li, 1997) The second precondition was the capital accumulation and investment. To solve this problem the local government defined a localization tax and set up the localization office which was responsible to carry out a straightforward import-substitution policy for the imports in auto sector even from other Chinese regions. Also, the localization office checked out the list of imported components and their domestic firms which are capable of produce them successfully, then it provided a suitable investment capital as well as managing the firms relationship with the main assembler plant. (Thun, 2004) Apart from the local government programs, SAIC had its own way to support the Shanghai auto sector, however in some areas their activities overlappe

abuse :: essays research papers

Its natural for children to be raised in a warm and loving home and growing up in a nice environment ,but in todays society that is not what our children get to experience. On Feb. 14th,Albany police removed three unattended children from a home on Sheridan Ave.. Conditions in the apartment included rats and mice running around. Feces clogged the bathtub and squalor throughout the apartment and endangered the safety of the children. The children were taken and removed quickly from the apartment and placed in a caring household. Police told reporters that they had been at the house for three months earlier on November 4th, however, caseworkers found conditions better than what they were on the 14th. The apartment was warm and clean and also had food. The mother told caseworkers she was to get foodstamps the next day but caseworkers insisted on getting some more food . On Dec. 6th, the mother visited the office of child protection services with her children. She was offered assistance and told them she needed some help. At no time, however, the caseworkers note the condition in the house that justified the removal of the children. The county is required to do everything possible to keep a family together . This story is still being looked into, but as of now the children are staying in a warm home. This is strictly child abuse, not much as hitting but neglect. These children were left for days without food, water, baths, or a place to use the restroom. It is said each day in the United States, more than three children die as a result of child neglect and/or abuse. Most of the children who die are younger than the age of five. These children are innocent and have done nothing wrong, but the mother seemed not to be able to take care of them. Child abuse is reported on average every ten seconds, and these types of abuse are as follow, Neglect- 53.5percent, Physical Abuse- 22.7percent, Sexual Abuse-11.5percent, Emotional Abuse-6percent,and Medical Abuse 6percent. The statistics say that neglect is the number one abuse that children experience. Parents are not understanding when a child is abused, it effects their whole life, and it will stay with them forever. Men and women who today are serving time in jail and prison have incidence of

Looking Back by Guy de Maupassant

[Enter Post Title Here] Second language acquisition Foreign language: Learning language that is not generally spoken in the surrounding community. Second language: Learning a language that is spoken in the surrounding community. Acquisition and learning: Activities associated with learning have traditionally been used in language teaching in schools and have a tendency when successful to result in more knowledge about language.Acquisition barriers: The optimum age for learning may be during the years from about ten to 16 when the flexibility of our inherent capacity for language has not been completely lost. Affective factors: If we are stressed, uncomfortable, self-conscious, or unmotivated we are unlikely to learn anything. Focus on method: Despite all these barriers, the need for instruction in other languages has led to a variety of educational approaches and methods aimed at fostering l2 learning.The grammer_translation method: Vocabulary lists and sets of grammar rules are used to define the target of learning , memorization is encouraged and written language rather that spoken language is emphasized. The audio lingual method: A systematic presentation of the structures of the l2 moving from the simple to the more complex in the form of drills that the student had to repeat.Communicative approaches: The reaction against the artificiality of pattern practice and also against the belief that consciously learning the grammar rules of a language will necessarily result in an ability to use the lang. Transfer: Using sounds, expression or structures from the L1 when performing in the L2. Interlanguage: Process that certainly contains aspects of the L1 and L2 but which is an inherently variable system with rules of its own. Communicative competence: The general ability to use language accurately appropriately and flexibly.

Hitler vs. Martin Luther King essays

Hitler vs. Martin Luther King essays The following is comparison between two very famous people in history. Although they were both completely different, they both had a great impact on people. I compared Adolph Hitler and Martin Luther King. Future generations will always remember both, Hitler as the incarnation of absolute evil and Martin Luther King for his courage, achievement and high moral leadership. Adolph Hitler knew how to please, impress and charm his supporters. The savior admired by his own as he dragged them into his madness, the Satan and exterminating angel feared and hated by all others, Hitler led his people to a shameful defeat without precedent. His endless hatred of Jews, whose survival enraged him. He invested so much energy in his hatred of Jews. He had night trains that took them to their death. Even up the end Hitler still had the mind to come up with the Final Solution. In his testament, drafted in underground bunker just hours before his suicide in Berlin, Hitler returns again to this hatred of the Jewish people that had never left him. His kingdom collapsed after 12 years in a war that remains the most atrocious, the most brutal and the deadliest in history. Whenever evil is mentioned among the first names that will surge to mind will be that of a fanatic with a mustache called Hitler. Three decades after King was gunned down on a motel balcony in Memphis, Tenn., he is still regarded mainly as the black leader of a movement for black equality. For all King did to free blacks from the yoke of segregation, whites may owe him the greatest debt, for liberating them from the burden of America's centuries-old hypocrisy about race. It is only because of King and the movement that he led that the U.S. can claim to be the leader of the "free world" without inviting smirks of disdain and disbelief. Had he and the blacks and whites that marched beside him failed. Even after the Supreme Court struck down segregation in 1954, what t ...

Interesting Facts About Metal Alloys

Interesting Facts About Metal Alloys Chances are you often encounter metal alloys in your everyday life in the form of jewelry, cookware, tools, and most other items made of metal. Examples of alloys include white gold, sterling silver, brass, bronze, and steel. Here are some interesting facts about metal alloys. Facts About Common Alloys An alloy is a blend of two or more metals. The blend can form a solid solution or can be a simple mixture, depending on the size of the crystals that form and how homogeneous the alloy is. Here are some distinctive alloys: Although sterling silver is an alloy consisting mainly of silver, many alloys with the word silver in their names are only silver in color. German silver and Tibetan silver are examples of alloys that have the name but dont contain any elemental silver.Many people believe steel is an alloy of iron and nickel, but it consists primarily of iron, carbon, and any of several other metals.Stainless steel is an alloy of iron, low levels of carbon, and chromium. The chromium gives the steel resistance to stain, or iron rust. A thin layer of chromium oxide forms on the surface of stainless steel, protecting it from oxygen, which is what causes rust. However, stainless steel can be stained if you expose it to a corrosive environment, such as seawater. That environment attacks and removes the protective chromium oxide coating more quickly than it can repair itself, exposing the iron to attack.Solder is an alloy used to bond metals to each other. Most solder is an alloy of lead and tin. Special solders exist for other applications. For example, silver solder is used in the manufacture of sterling silver jewelry. Fine silver or pure silver is not an alloy and will melt and join to itself. Brass is an alloy consisting primarily of copper and zinc. Bronze, on the other hand, is an alloy of copper with another metal, usually tin. Originally, brass and bronze were considered to be distinct alloys, but in modern usage, brass means any copper alloy. You might hear brass cited as a type of bronze or vice versa.Pewter is a tin alloy consisting of 85 to 99 percent tin with copper, antimony, bismuth, lead, and/or silver. Although lead is used much less often in modern pewter, even lead-free pewter typically contains a small amount of lead. Lead-free is defined as containing no more than 0.05 percent (500 ppm) lead, which remains appreciable if the pewter is used for cookware, dishes, or childrens jewelry. Facts About Special Alloys These alloys have interesting properties: Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver with small amounts of copper and other metals. Considered by the ancient Greeks to be white gold, it was used as far back as 3000 B.C. for coins, drinking vessels, and ornaments.Gold can exist in nature as a pure metal, but most of the gold you encounter is an alloy. The amount of gold in the alloy is expressed in terms of karats, so 24-karat gold is pure gold, 14-karat gold is 14/24 parts gold, and 10-karat gold is 10/24 parts gold or less than half gold. Any of several metals can be used for the remaining portion of the alloy.An amalgam is an alloy made by combining mercury with another metal. Almost all metals form amalgams, with the exception of iron. Amalgam is used in dentistry and in gold and silver mining because these metals readily combine with mercury.

Review a song called Wagon Wheel Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Review a song called Wagon Wheel - Essay Example The singer has employed the use scuffling drums to complement the signature rip-off melody. Guitars have also been used as part of the instrument. Darius Rucker also made good use of Lady Antebellum. This was extremely important as she offered the supportive lyrics on the track and facilitated to seal it out. Overall, it is however noted that the song is not original and distinguishing. A person would easily be tempted to think that the song is similar to the â€Å"Brown Eyed Girl† by Van Morrison or â€Å"The joker† by Steve Miller Band. The singer has therefore unfortunately failed to distinguish his song which would have been a good starting point in order to capture a wide market base. Listeners would have enjoyed more if the song did not sound too familiar to them. The singer should have tried to differentiate it from the original recording that was done was Old Crow Medicine Show. Nonetheless, I think the song has a healthy commercial potential especially in bars and other alcoholic joints. This is because the singer has kept it loud and flashy, just like it ought to be. It is definitely going to sound like a success in its radio sustainability as the singer has tried to use some broadcaster tone. Lastly, the song has an excellent and familiar arrangement of sections (Guz, 2013). This makes it easy for the listener to be more comfortable with

Is our planet in trouble Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Is our planet in trouble - Essay Example Diamandis does acknowledge that the world does indeed face numerous challenges; however, advancements in technology by virtue of Moore’s Law, increase in the number of people entering into the Internet and increased funding of innovation by techno-philanthropists are some of the factors that will lead to the development of solutions to these global challenges. The arguments raised by Gilding and Diamandis have their merits and demerits. Gilding looks at situation from a more conservative perspective and uses pessimism or more rightly fear to push us towards incorporating environmental sustainability in all our endeavors. Diamandis on the other hand is more liberal and uses optimism or opportunities to push us towards seeking innovative solutions to facing our current global challenges. Ultimately, though, we do agree with Gilding that we have to incorporate environmental sustainability in all our endeavors. The unarguable fact is humanity does need what nature provides (â€Å"Footprint Basics - Overview†). We do need resources derived from nature to build the technology needed to face our global challenges. So, yes, technology can save us from ecological overshoot however we do need the ecology first in order to build the