The North American Free-Trade Agreement: An Opportunity to Restructure the us Automobile Industry
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Authors
Lakkides, Brian Stephen
Issue Date
1991
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
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Abstract
Initially, US automakers dismissed the rise in power of
the Japanese automakers as insignificant. However, when these
and other minimal efforts failed to effectively combat the
Japanese's growing US market share, the US automakers were
required to look inward to find the source of their ills.
What followed was an ever increasing knowledge of the
evolutionary superiority of lean production (Japanese
automakers) over the more traditional mass production system
(US automakers). With this knowledge in hand, ways were
sought to minimize the competitive gap between lean and mass
production without the pain a massive restructuring would
cause. When these efforts failed, it was realized that the
only real solution was for the us automotive industry to
restructure itself in a lean production format.
This paper seeks to explore the thesis that the proposed
North American Free-Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an ideal
opportunity to undertake this task. A belief expressed
throughout this paper is that the survival of the US
automotive industry is dependent on a successful
restructuring. The foundation for this belief will be laid by
first demonstrating the inherent superiority of lean
production over mass production. Once this is accomplished,
background information on NAFTA, the Mexican economy, and the
US automotive industry will be provided. With a general
understanding of these three components in hand, an
examination of the necessity and ramifications of NAFTA will
be conducted.
This paper will conclude that NAFTA is an opportunity
which the us automotive industry (and overall US economy) can
ill afford to miss. Although NAFTA will result in the painful
dislocation of many American workers, NAFTA will dampen these
negative results through the accruement of numerous other
positive benefits associated with free-trade. Among these
benefits are new job opportunities in all sectors of the US
economy and increased profits throughout the US automotive
industry. The greatest benefit to be gained from NAFTA,
however, is the long term survival of the us automotive
industry.
Description
vi, 79 p.
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License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.