F1 case Studay answering some questions using some markiting Assignment - 1

F1 case Studay answering some questions using some markiting methodology - Assignment Example All Ferrari cars are red in colour representing Italy’s national colour. The factory at Maranello is a state of the art infrastructure and is an up-to-date facility. Ferrari cars have always been low on displaying their sponsors logo and names. Being one of the oldest companies in the business Ferrari has had its share of ups and downs. The journey has not been a smooth one for Ferrari. New Zealander Bruce McLaren, who was a F1 driver himself, founded by McLaren in 1966. McLaren registered its first victory in 1968 but the true dominance of McLaren was in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The domination was such that McLaren won 15 out of the 16 races in a year in the period. Williams was founded by Frank Williams and again Frank too was a driver. Williams lead the technological development in F1 that was triggered in the early 1990s. William dominated F1 from 1992 – 1994. 1975 – 1978 was a great time for Ferrari as it dominated F1. Ferrari bagged both drivers and constructors world championship in 1975 and followed it up with the constructors championship in 1976. The tragic accident of Lauda which kept him away from action for nearly 6 weeks was the reason that Ferrari could not get the drivers’ championship in 1976. Ferrari won both drivers and constructors championship in 1977, and the drivers’ championship in 1978. During this period Ferrari made few changes to its structure. Montezemolo was promoted to head the entire motorsport operations of Fiat, while Danielle Audetto was made Ferrari’s sporting Director. The strategy here was to replicate the success of Ferrari with Fiat. This strategy backfired as Audetto was not able to fill in the shoes of Montezemolo. He failed to develop a strong relationship with the lead driver and the design team. This eventually led to Lauda moving out of Ferrari. Also during this time, Ferrari became complacent and adopted a short-termed focused strategy wherein it tried to develop their

Arab-Israeli War of 1973 Essay Example for Free

Arab-Israeli War of 1973 Essay The Arab-Israeli War was an armed conflict initiated by the Arab nations of Egypt and Syria against Israel on October 6, 1973 in an effort to reclaim territories that Israel had controlled since the Six Day War of 1967. The date holds special significance to the Jewish calendar, being Yom Kippur, hence this war is also known as the Yom Kippur War. Though Israel was caught by surprise and experienced severe losses during the war, assistance from the United States military led to a cease-fire less than three weeks later. In the aftermath, Israel retained its territories and its aftermath had far ranging effects on the geopolitics of the Middle East. First, the victory of Israel had an uplifting effect on its population. Its military had been seen to have grown largely complacent following the Six Day War. However, despite initial defeats, they managed a successful turnaround of the Yom Kippur War’s outcome. As such, despite the surprise advantage of Egypt and Syria they had regained the upper hand in less than two weeks, though at a high cost in casualties. In effect, Israel woke up to the reality that their military supremacy in the region was not absolute. (Rabinovich 498) Second, by granting support to Israel, the United States invited the ire of oil-producing Arab states. This manifested itself in the actions of Saudi Arabia, which not only reduced its oil production but declared an embargo against the United States. Saudi Arabia was later joined by other oil-producing Arab states and together they extended their embargo against other import dependent nations in Western Europe as well as Japan. The result was the 1973 energy crisis that sent oil prices spiraling past $60 per barrel and close to $100 per barrel in 1979. (Smith 329) Third, on the geopolitical front, enemy states of Israel concluded in the aftermath that they could not defeat it by force, and thus turned towards diplomatic tactics in antagonizing it. The effect was that many African and Third World nations, under pressure from the Arab states, broke their diplomatic ties to Israel. Works Cited No author. â€Å"The 1973 Yom Kippur War. † Anti-Defamation League, 1999. Retrieved September 24, 2008 from: http://www. adl. org/ISRAEL/record/yomkippur. asp Smith, Charles. Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. New York, NY: Bedford, 2006. Rabinovich, Abraham. The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle eAst. New York, NY: Shocken Books, 2005. Rabinovich, Abraham [2005]. The Yom Kippur War: The Epic Encounter That Transformed the Middle East. New York, NY: Schocken Books. ISBN 0 8052 4176 0. Charles D. Smith, Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, New York: Bedford, 2006, p. 329.

Erectyle Dysfunction :: essays research papers fc

Will we ever be able to produce something capable of making us reach the optimum of one of humankind's most basic needs? Will there always be a side effect?Since the beginnings of civilization, people have been obsessed about their sexuality. Men and women have always tried to achieve a maximum amount of pleasure in any possible way. For human beings this is obtained through the orgasm. Humans usually attain this is goal through sexual intercourse or masturbation. However, sometimes the psychological and physical conditions of a person can deprive him or her from reaching that goal. Thankfully, science and anatomy have also always interested mankind. This has helped to find solutions for problems dealing with our sexuality, which, as a matter of fact are very common. The most recurrent and drastic of all these dilemmas is that of impotence.The term "impotence" has traditionally been used to signify the inability of the male to attain and maintain erection of the penis sufficient to permit satisfactory sexual intercourse. However, this use has often led to confusing and uninterpretable results in both clinical and basic science investigations. This, together with its pejorative implications, suggests that the more precise term "erectile dysfunction" be used instead to signify an inability of the male to achieve an erect penis as part of the overall multifaceted process of male sexual function. Erectile dysfunction affects millions of men. Although for some men erectile function may not be the best or most important measure of sexual satisfaction, for many men erectile dysfunction creates mental stress that affects their interactions with family and associates. All these things might be very interesting, but to fully understand erectile dysfunction we must first take a look into the physiology of the male erection.In its most common form, the male erectile response is initiated by a central nervous system event that integrates psychogenic stimuli (perception, desire, etc.) and controls the sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation of the penis. Parasympathetic input allows an erection by relaxation of trabecular smooth muscle and dilation of the helicine arteries of the penis. This fills the spongy tissue that forms the penis with blood; a process referred to as the corporal veno occlusive mechanism. The erectile tissues must have sufficient stiffness to compress the blood vessels penetrating it so that venous outflow is blocked and sufficient tumescence and rigidity can occur. Constriction of the trabecular smooth muscle and helicine arteries induced by sympathetic innervation makes the penis flaccid, with blood pressure in the cavernosal sinuses of the penis near venous pressure.

Costco Wholesale Corporation Essay

Costco Wholesale Corporation was created in 1983 when its first store opened in Seattle. Costco runs on a membership warehouse concept, which was first created by Price Club in 1976. Now, though Costco has only subsidiaries in eight countries, but Costco is the ninth largest retailers around the world, and is one of the most successful discount warehouse firms in North America. In 2008, Costco open the store in Australia. Through the leadership of Jim Sinegal, Costco has been able to create value for shareholders as well as consumers. Part of Costco’s strategy is to attract customers through a combination of low prices. Although it is a success strategy, they will not likely has the same level of success moving forward due to intense competition in the industry. Costco began its e-commerce business in November 1998. According to a Compete.com survey in 2008, the Costco’s website attracted at least 58 million visitors. In addition, Costco online shop provide the membership additional products which can not find in store, and also provide digital photo processing, pharmacy, travel, and membership services. However, Costco operates Costco Online, electronic commerce web sites only in Unite States, Canada and UK. Objective: This report will through analyze Costco internal and external environment, potential customers, and online market needs to make a strategy plan to expand Costco’s e-commerce into the international market, and bloom it’s online sales. Costco Wholesale Corporation was created in 1983 when its first store opened in Seattle. Costco runs on a membership warehouse concept, which was first created by Price Club in 1976. Now, though Costco has only subsidiaries in eight countries, but Costco is the ninth largest retailers around the world, and is one of the most successful discount warehouse firms in North America. In 2008, Costco open the store in Australia. Through the leadership of Jim Sinegal, Costco has been able to create value for shareholders as well as consumers. Part of Costco’s strategy is to attract customers through a combination of low prices. Although it is a success strategy, they will not likely has the same level of success moving forward due to intense competition in the industry. Costco began its e-commerce business in  November 1998. According to a Compete.com survey in 2008, the Costco’s website attracted at least 58 million visitors. In addition, Costco online shop provide the membe rship additional products which can not find in store, and also provide digital photo processing, pharmacy, travel, and membership services. However, Costco operates Costco Online, electronic commerce web sites only in Unite States, Canada and UK.

Global warming †a serious warning Essay

I have a dream, that in a near future, the people of this world will come together as one. We could all come together as one and leave all our differences of color, religion, and political views behind us, to stand together to face what Bill McKibben calls the greatest challenge and threat mankind has ever faced: global warming. In 2007 Bill McKibben, an author, educator, and environmentalist, wrote the article, â€Å"Global Warning: Get Up! Stand Up!† to persuade people that we, the people on earth, have caused, and are still causing, the climate changes that have been taking place over the past decades. More than that, however, McKibben explains that something still needs to be done about it. McKibben uses extreme, yet reasonable, examples and methods to convey this message effectively. Global warming is the result of the greenhouse effect, which has increased since the human race started to burn fossil fuels in order to extract energy. When fossil fuels are being burnt, greenhouse gasses, such as carbon dioxide, set free into the atmosphere. The accumulative pollution causes the atmosphere to reflect heat radiation back towards the earth, instead of letting the gasses disappear into space, because the ozone layer gets thicker. However, without the greenhouse effect, our planet â€Å"would be 33 degrees Celsius coolerâ€Å" (â€Å"McKibben† 4). Since the carbon dioxide has already increased by one third in the atmosphere since the nineteenth century, the effect will be stronger and therefore more heat will be kept inside the atmosphere than before. This phenomenon, called global warming, leads to a hotter climate; as a matter of fact, the earth is today hotter than it has been in over 2000 years (â€Å"McKibben† 5-9). Warming – that word almost sounds inviting, like we all might live in a world twenty years from, that could be a tropical paradise where the extent of our problems would be pondering what Spf sunscreen to use. That is not the case, though. Thousands and thousands of climate scientists agree that  global warming is not only the most threatening environmental problem, but one of the greatest challenges facing all of humanity throughout humanity’s entire history (McKibben 595). To maintain the average temperature we need here on earth, the glaciers and the North Pole ice are a big factor because when the exact amount of ice melts, it evens out the ocean’s temperature and therefore stabilizes all the different ecosystems. All ecosystems are dependent on whether the temperature is just where it should be or not. In addition, some experts and people argue that it is not us, the people who have caused the climate changes; they claim global warming is a natural occurring phenomenon which has nothing to do with the actions of humans. They say there is not enough of proof to say that the human race is 100% responsible for the changes now taking place. They claim that events like these have been taking place regularly throughout the long history of earth, and there is nothing we can do about this (â€Å"The Galileo† 591-593). â€Å"A 54-year-old oceanographer [†¦] discovered that temperatures a thousand years ago, during the so-called medieval climate optimum, were two degrees Celsius warmer than today’s [average] and that the average temperature over the last three millennia was slightly warmer than today’s† (â€Å"The Galileo† 591-592). As a pretty active environmental activist from Brazil, a country advocating a change of living to reduce global warming, I can relate to many of McKibben’s attacks and aspects expressed in his article. According to McKibben, the most urgent thing right now is to recognize that there is a mix of solutions that can be implemented worldwide and instead of focusing on arguing about what is needed to be done, we need to take action. In other words, the most important thing is not what we do about it, but that we do something about it. All the people in the world have to start living under the â€Å"same roof†; we need to do what it is good for the world. To me, stopping global warming is so much more than just â€Å"saving electricity† or â€Å"walking instead use a car’’. Stopping global warming is about taking responsibility, not just for ourselves and our own actions, but for our friends and family, as well as our nation and the world that we live in — Earth. Stopping global warming is about the most honorable thing a man can  do — saving lives. Works Cited â€Å"About Bill McKibben.†Bill McKibben. N.p., 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2010. â€Å"The Galileo of Global Warming.† Perspectives on Contemporary Issues. Ed. Katherine McKibben, Bill. â€Å"Global Warning: Get Up! Stand Up!† Perspectives on Contemporary

Data Analysis of American House Price Essays

Data Analysis of American House Price Essays Data Analysis of American House Price Essay Data Analysis of American House Price Essay 1. Terms of Reference This report is the outcome of an analysis and investigation of American house price in order to consider which factor influence the price. It is submitted as my project for Essential Data Analysis module on the Business Studies Programme. 2. Executive Summary The data was investigated using the software Minitab ver. 14. This program is very useful for analyzing big data set faster and easier. Through Minitab were created a graph for each requested point. In order o make the graph more understandable, it is provided a table with the more relevant statistic information. This allows a more comprehensive and understandable reading of the report and an easier and more efficient comparison among 2 or more variables in order to make a proper analysis. Correlation and Regression analysis was applied in order to establish the relationship between the price with the size and the distance to the nearest large town. The data set given as a sample to analyse contain data collected of 100 houses in America from 5 different township numbered from 1 to 5. Each house is described by its price, size, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, if it has or nor a pool and a garage, the distance from the nearest large town, how desirable it is (scale of value among 1 = very undesirable to 7 = most desirable), the township of belonging and its age. The aim of this report is to assess and evaluate the distribution of house price in America in the 5 townships used as sample. A conclusion is provided to summarise all the findings, interpretations and explanations followed by suitable suggestions. This report should help an investor to have a more clear background of which factor take into consideration before buying a house. 3. Introduction House and properties are ones of the fixed assets that have shown to have an increasing trend of value. Every year house prices in America increase with the inflation and gain even more value. The same applies worldwide to most of the house values. As the value of houses tend to increase overtime, a lot of people have decided to invest in properties. However, there are more factors to take into consideration before buying a house in order to evaluate if it worth the money asked on the market and if it will keep and increase its value. 4. Statistical Analysis: Findings The Findings of the report has been dived into 3 parts: a. The overall distribution of the house prices in the survey; this take into account all the house price within the 5 township without distinguishing for any other factor such as bedrooms and bathrooms number or size. b. An examination of the proportion of the houses with a pool. This proportion was then investigated in relation to the garage and in the 5 townships. c. An investigation of possible factors affecting the price such as the presence of a pool, the relationship with its size, the possibility of a link with the desirability and the distance to the nearest large town. 4.1 Overall Distribution of the house price By lLooking at Graph 1 it appears that the overall distribution is symmetrical. This is confirmed by comparing the value of the mean with the median: as the two figures have approximately the same value, it implies that the distribution is roughly symmetrical. The mean is the sum of all values divided by the datea set, 100. The distribution of house price varies between a minimum value of $127,70 and a maximum of $284,00 with a range of $156,30. However, 25% of the houses have a price between the minimum value of $127,70 and the value of the first quartile $179,93. 25% of the houses have a value between the third quartile $221,15 and the maximum value $284,00. The graph clearly shows that there is a higher concentration of houses with a price between Q1 ($127,70) and Q3 ($221,15). These represent 50% of the overall distribution. The value of the standard deviation indicates how spread are the data is spread in respect to the mean. 4.2 Examination of house with a pool As shown in the Graph 2 above, 55% of the houses (that represent 55 out of 100 houses in the data set given) have a pool. In the Minitab output the percentage equal the count because it is out of a sample of 100. As a result, 45% of the houses analysed does not have a pool. The Graph 3 shows the proportion of the houses with a pool and a garage. By looking at the table it is clear that the majority of the houses with a pool have also a garage, with 58,18% (32 out of 55 houses with a pool); while 41,82% (23 out of 55) houses with a pool do not have a garage. However, for houses without a pool, the proportion of houses without a garage is higher than houses with a pool where 82,22% (37 out of 45 houses) do not have a pool nor a garage. It is evident from Graph 4 that the proportion of the houses with a pool is not the same in all the 5 townships. In township 5, all the houses (100%) have a pool; followed by township 4 with a 94,4% of the houses. On the other extreme there is township 1 with only 13,33% (2 out of 15 houses) have a pool, followed by township 2 with 22,22% (6 out of 27 houses). As table 4 shows the proportion of houses with a pool are in ascending order with the number of township: township 1 has the lowest percentage and township 5 has the highest. This could be a coincidence. However, on the overall distribution, township 4 has the highest percentage of houses with a pool, with 32,73% (18 out of 55 total houses with a pool). 4.3 Investigation of Factors affecting the house price The box plot clearly shows that the overall distribution of the price for the houses with a pool is higher than houses without a pool. By comparing the data from table 5 it is clear that all the values relative to the distribution (mean, median, min, 1st quartile, 3rd quartile and maximum) for houses with a pool are higher. This leads to state that the houses with a pool are generally more expensive that houses without. Moreover, by comparing the mean and the median value for both groups, it is possible to identify that the distribution for the houses without a pool is skewed to the left or negatively skewed. This indicates that there are a few extreme low values that pull down the value of the mean. However, the * indicates that there is also an extreme high value of $250,20. By comparing at in the same way the houses with a pool it emerges that the distribution is roughly symmetrical because the value of the mean and the median are very close. Another important consideration about the distribution is given by the quartiles that in the graph are represented by the lower and higher limits of the boxes. The 1st quartile of the houses with a pool ($195,90) is higher than the 3rd quartile of houses without a pool ($192,05). This implies that 75% of houses without a pool haves prices similar to the lowest 25% of houses with a pool. However, the standard deviation measures how spread the data set is. The houses with a pool have a higher standard deviation, which impliesy that they have a more variable set in which each value is more distant to each other and to the mean while they are slightly more concentrate for the houses without a pool. By comparing the values of the range and inter-quartile range in relation with the standard deviation, it is clear that the houses with a pool have a higher dispersion in price and the prices are more spread out than houses without a pool. The scatter plot in graph 6 gives an indication that there is a relationship between the house price and the size of the house. The upward trend indicates that there is a positive linear relationship as both variables are moving in the same direction: when the size rises, the price rises as well. In this case it worth to continue investigating the relationship. However, the point are scattered quite broadly, so it is necessary to analyse the value of r in order to determine how strong the relationship is. The correlation coefficient (0,65) indicates that there is a positive (given by the sign +) relationship, and not very strong given by the value being lower than 0,8. The regression equation is Price = -11,1 + 0,0979 * sqrFt However, the value of the intercept is not statistically meaningful. This is given by the value T being -0,44 and also because logically a house price cannot be negative. In spite of this, the model is still good because the value T of the gradient (or slop) is statistically significant as T = 8,46. Nevertheless, the slope is very low and it indicates in increment of $0,0979 for each extra sqrFt. The value of R-Sq suggests that only 42.2% of the house prices are explained by the size. This implies that there are other more significant factors that explain the changes in price. By eye it is also possible to estimate that the houses with a square feeootage between 1900sqrFt and 2300sqrFt are more frequent. However, it is important to consider that this graph takes in consideration the houses over the 5 townships with or without pool and with different numbers of bedrooms and bathrooms numbers. The scatter plot shows the relationship between the house price and the distance to the nearest large town. It actually clearly illustrates that there is not a relationship between the two variables. This is confirmed by the correlation coefficient equal to 0,042. Moreover, as it is explained by the R-sq value, only 0,2% of the house price is related to this relationship. It is not necessary to continue this investigation any further. 5. Conclusion The following is a summary based on the findings: 1. The overall price distribution is roughly symmetrical and there is a higher concentration (50%) of houses with a price between $127,70 (Q1) and $221,15 (Q3). (Graph 1 Table 1) 2. The proportion of houses with a pool is slightly higher than houses without a pool: 55% against 45%. (Graph 2 Table 2) 3. The majority of houses with a pool have also a garage but the highest proportion does not have neither of the two. (Graph 3 Table 2) 4. The percentage of houses with a pool increase with the township with number 1 having a minority of houses with a pool and 5 having 100% of houses with a pool. 3 out of 5 towns have a higher proportion of houses with a pool. (Graph 4 Table 4) 5. Houses with a pool are more expensive that houses without. 75% of houses without a pool have a lower price than the 25% lowest prices for houses with a pool. (Graph 5 -Table5) 6. There is a positive relationship between the price and the size of the house; although this relationship is not very strong. Per each extra square feet the price rise of $ 0,0979. There is a higher concentration of houses with square footage between 1900sqrft and 2300sqrft. (Graph 6 Table 6) 7. There is a link between the price and the desirability of a house. However, this relationship is not very strong. (Graph 7 Table 7) 8. The distance between the house and a large city does not affect the price. (Graph 8 Table 8) 6. Recommendations Based on the above conclusions of the analysis, the following are suggestions for an investor interested in buying a house in one of the 5 townships: 1. The most popular and thus more demanded price for a house is between $127,70 and $221,15. For a Luxury house the highest demand would be between $245 and $275. Over this amount the demand is very low which imply that it is very exclusive. It depends by the main aim of the investor. 2. There is a slightly higher demand for houses with a pool. 3. If the investor decides to buy a house with a pool, it is suggestible to have a garage as well. Otherwise it is more convenient to have a house without any of the two. 4. If the house is in township 3 to 5, it is highly recommend to have a pool, especially for the last one. 5. The pool will make a huge difference for the value of the house. The value will rise by about 75% if it has a pool. 6. The bigger the house is, the more it values. However, houses with less than 1900sqrft are not very demanded. There is a medium demand for houses with a bigger size. 7. Desirability scale 6 has a highest average and median price and it had a good demand. 8. It is not relevant the distance between the house and a big city. NOTES: All the figures used to refer to the price are expressed as thousands of dollars ($ ,000). In order to determinate the demand, it has been used the assumption that the higher frequency has a higher demand. For example: in township 5 all the houses have a pool. It implies that every

rainbows essays

rainbows essays A rainbow is one of our atmospheres most exquisite and marvelous creations; "one of the most spectacular light shows observed on earth" (Ahrens, 1998). When a person views a rainbow, they are getting a personal light show that no other person can see as they do. Humphreys points out that: "Since the rainbow is a special distribution of colors (produced in a particular way) with reference to a definite point - the eye of the observer - and as no single distribution can be the same for two separate points, it follows that two observers do not, and cannot, see the same rainbow." (Humphreys, 1929). Of course, a camera lens will record an image of a rainbow which can then be seen my many people (Lynds, 1995). A rainbow is essentially made up of seven brilliant colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; moreover, it is comprised of many coloration that the eyes cannot see. No painter can manufacture the colors of the rainbow, for they create color by mixing, but no mixing will give red, green, or purple. These are the colors of the rainbow, though between the red and the green an orange color is often seen (Aristotle, 350 BC). To understand how the awesome production of a rainbow occurs is a feat of physics and mathematics. The two most important ingredients are light and drops of water. The manner and position in which the light and water droplets transverse, and the reactions between the two, are complex formulas of nature. Additionally, certain circumstances make it possible for a rainbow to occur. You cannot have a rainbow without some source of light. It is possible to create an artificial rainbow utilizing artificial light, but for this paper, I will only use instances and circumstances of naturally occurring light which produce naturally occurring rainbows. The sun is natures primary source of rainbow creating light; however, occasionally, the light of the moon can produce a rainbow....

Blanche of Castile, Queen of France

Blanche of Castile, Queen of France Dates: March 4, 1188 - November 12, 1252 Known for: Queen of France, 1223-1226; Queen Mother 1226-1252regent of France 1226-1234 and 1248-1252queen consort of King Louis VIII of Francemother of King Louis IX of France (St. Louis) Also known as: Blanche De Castille, Blanca De Castilla About Blanche of Castile:Â   In 1200, the French and English kings, Philip Augustus and John, signed a treaty which gave a daughter of Johns sister, Eleanor, Queen of Castile, as bride to Philips heir, Louis. Johns mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, traveled to Spain to look over her two granddaughters, daughters of Eleanor of England and King Alfonso VIII. She decided that the younger, Blanche, was more suited for the marriage than the year-older Urraca. Eleanor of Aquitaine returned with the 12-year-old Blanche, who was married to the 13-year-old Louis. Blanche as Queen Accounts of the time indicate that Blanche loved her husband. She delivered twelve children, five of whom lived to adulthood. In 1223, Philip died, and Louis and Blanche were crowned. Louis went to southern France as part of the first Albigensian crusade, to suppress the Cathari, a heretical sect that had become popular in that area. Louis died of dysentery which he contracted on the trip back. His last order was to appoint Blanche of Castile as the guardian of Louis IX, their remaining children, and the kingdom. Mother of the King Blanche had her oldest surviving son crowned as Louis IX on November 29, 1226. She put down a revolt, reconciling (in a story with chivalric tones) with Count Thibault, one of the rebels. Henry III supported the rebelling barons, and Blanches leadership, with the help of Count Thibault, put down that revolt as well. She also took action against ecclesiastical authorities and a group of rioting university students. Blanche of Castile continued in a strong role even after Louis 1234 marriage, taking an active role in selecting his bride, Marguerite of Provence. Granted dower lands in Artois as part of the original treaty that brought her to her marriage, Blanche was able to trade those lands for ones closer to Louis court in Paris. Blanche used some of her dower income to pay dowries for poor girls, and to fund religious houses. Regent When Louis and his three brothers all went on crusade to the Holy Land, Louis selected his mother, at age 60, to be regent. The crusade went badly: Robert of Artois was killed, King Louis captured, and his very pregnant Queen Marguerite and, then, her child, had to seek safety in Damietta and Acre. Louis raised his own ransom, and decided to send his surviving two brothers home while remaining in the Holy Land. Blanche, during her regency, backed an ill-fated shepherds crusade, and had to order the destruction of the resulting movement. Death of Blanche Blanche of Castile died in November, 1252, with Louis and Marguerite still in the Holy Land, not to return until 1254. Louis never accepted Marguerite as the strong advisor his mother had been, despite Marguerites efforts in that direction. Blanches daughter, Isabel (1225 - 1270) was later recognized as Saint Isabel of France. She founded the Abbey of Longchamp, connected with the Franciscans and Poor Clares. Marriage, Children husband: Louis VIII of France (married 1200)children who survived to adulthood (of 12):1214: Louis IX, fifth child, first to survive1216: Robert, Count of ArtoisAlphonse of PoitiersSaint Isabel of FranceCharles of Anjou (Charles I of Sicily) Ancestors Father: Alfonso VIII of CastileMother: Eleanor, Queen of Castile (also known as Eleanor of England)Eleanor was the daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine

Management Information Systems Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Management Information Systems - Article Example For the establishment of the online business, we can purchase the land and establish a shop or mall for the business and deal with physical world products. Through deep assessment of overall online network, I have decided to sell online multimedia products. Our business will deal with physical multimedia products. In this scenario, we will plan to establish the terms of the online payment details. This will ensure that online user will perform the transaction in a better way. The website of eBay offers the Second Life Land 4096 Sq Met, 937 prim, Beachfront for the auction. Here we also find the books and multimedia for the sale and auction. This offers a great opportunity for the online dealing and business on the sponsor website. Second life offers a great opportunity for the online users to have the sense of the real world existence. The online social networks such as YouTube, MySpace, and Amazon offer the better opportunity for sharing the knowledge, news, videos, and for carrying out the business activities. However, there is no feeling of real world. The business and community on the Second-Life offer a feel of the real world dealing and online interaction. Therefore we can expect that the future of the Second-Life is really bright and hope that this online business and community platform will offer a great opportunity for enhancement and market domination. There are lots of different obstacles in the way of the Second-Life. These can be related to the online marketing and operations. The business and community of the Second-Life need to be more attracted to the other market businesses because a lot of different big business such as Toyota has established its online shops but still it is not operational. This happens due to less market coverage and marketing opportunities. Here Second-Life needs to attract more people regarding the enhanced experience of the new Physical World experience on the web.

Week 1 dissc 1 hist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 1 dissc 1 hist - Essay Example Some slaves did have contacts on the ‘outside’ and they had a bit of an education, so they were more able to fit into mainstream society, find work or a farm to tend, and begin to rebuild their lives. In this context, many would argue that a freed slave was better off remaining in their original slave state than moving to a former non-slave state in the North. It is a false assumption to think that the North was truly anti-Slave. While it is true that they did not allow slavery within their borders, many were still highly discriminatory against the African American. On the contrary, while many slave owners were guilty of crimes against their slaves, many did provide for them, gave them training and skills, and took care of their basic needs. While they were not free, they were taken care of. So, upon the abolition of slavery, many slaves found themselves confused as to where they wished to uproot and move their family. Naturally, these desired to be free and to live out their remaining days, not as a slave, but as a provider to their own family (Berwanger, 1979, p. 103). On the other hand, however, they had to face reality and felt the need to reside in a place that they felt comfortable and could put food on their table. Many slaves opted to remain in the South. They understand the plantations and felt at home working the fields. Now, many of them found employment on their original homesteads. Rather than being a slave, they were able to earn an honest days wage and provide for their family. While they were still discriminated against, they felt more at home than they would have in the North, where employment would have been difficult at best and the cities would have been foreign to

Not sure Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Not sure - Essay Example Buddhism has a significant following in China since its introduction in the first century from India (Adler, 2002). It is based on the teachings, beliefs and practices of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama, widely known as Buddha. From its inception, Buddhism has existed under two main categories – the Theravada and Mahayana – and each had followers in different parts of Asia. Initially, Buddhism teachings and beliefs met a stiff resistance from the Chinese society due to its concept of monasticism and repugnance to social affairs. This beliefs and practices went against the traditional Chinese norms and standards. Buddhism was seen as retrogressive and barbaric practice that was a threat to the state authority; and that Buddhist monasteries were of no value to the economy of the state. As a way of making it appeal to the Chinese society, Buddhism concepts were matched to Taoism by the first Indian translators (Adler, 2002). Subsequently, it started to appeal to the elites and intellectuals, and a new genre of Buddhism was formed as an alternative to Taoism and Confucianism. Taoism is a belief and philosophical tradition that is based in living in harmony with Tao. Tao is a principle of â€Å"path† or â€Å"way† and is also found among other Chinese traditional religions and philosophies (Adler, 2002). ... This different schools are not institutionalized and do not forbid their followers from believing and practicing multiplicity of school’s of beliefs and philosophies including, Confucianism and Chinese folk religion. Chinese folk religions comprise of traditional beliefs system based on mythology that practice the worship of deities – clan, cities, national and cultural deities - and demigods. Folk religion in china has been classified with Taoism since mainstream Taoism has been trying to assimilate customary religions. Confucianism is a belief system based on ethics and philosophical teachings of Confucius. Confucianism has been the official state ideology of the country since the fall of the Qin dynasty (Adler, 2002). Traditional Chinese religions have been largely an individual focused beliefs and philosophy that never demand exclusive adherence of followers. Existence of religion in China before the influence of the West Religion in China existed in the form a beli ef systems developed by philosophers and other idealist based on the traditional Chinese folk religion. These belief systems were never forced upon the people and were adhered in order to realize high moral and intellectual understanding of life. Buddhism for instance, was introduced to china from India along the Silk Road region and to make it appeal to the Chinese society and political class, it had to assimilate traditional, folk practices (Adler, 2002). Some of the beliefs of traditional Chinese society fit the description of religious rites such as veneration of ancestors. This practice is aimed at showing a deceased family member respect and cements the family ties between the dead and

Introduction to Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Business - Assignment Example While raising capital to start a small business, an individual can start by financing the businesses himself. Several benefits such as retaining all the profits are associated with this form of financing, but if a small business need to grow large then it needs to look for other options (Alterowitz, 2007. P.14). Next best alternative is to ask for assistance from family members and relatives for finance. For this purpose an entrepreneur has to make the effort of making his relatives realize that he/she has a great investment plan and will be quite successful. In very rare instances family and friends invest in a business; if an entrepreneur faces such a scenario, he/she can obtain assistance from the government (Great Britain, 2006, p.18). Government has various plans where they finance small businesses or provide money in shape of grants to entrepreneurs to start up their own business. If an entrepreneur is not eligible for such government support options, the business can obtain a loan from banks to start small businesses. Due to failure of large businesses and the risk of high amount of loss associated with large businesses, banks and governments are more willing to finance small businesses. One of the major decision made by a manger is to identify the cost of producing a product and then price the product according to make profit when they sell their goods and services. For this purpose they can use activity based costing method, by using this method they can calculate the cost of an activity.

Alcoholism Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Alcoholism - Assignment Example o a physiological need and that is where human physiology outraces human psychology or will power since even if the patient is aware of the habit or outcomes of the habit, the physiologic consequences of limiting alcohol consumption becomes almost unbearable without support hence the aim of a nurse is to intervene and support the patient. Being a RN responsible for care of such patients it is an obligation on my part to understand the needs of the patient without making any kind of assumption and keeping the dignity of the patient (NMC,2008). A RN needs to understand the want for mental, emotional and physiological support during withdrawal period and provide care accordingly. The aim is to support them in since the phase of withdrawal is extremely tough and in many cases converts into aggressive behavior. Care and safety of the patient also comes under the duty of a RN besides confidentiality. Psychological support must also be rendered to not only ensure that the patient gains enough mental strength to stop the intake of alcohol but also motivate the patient through the entire intervention

Introduction to Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to Business - Assignment Example While raising capital to start a small business, an individual can start by financing the businesses himself. Several benefits such as retaining all the profits are associated with this form of financing, but if a small business need to grow large then it needs to look for other options (Alterowitz, 2007. P.14). Next best alternative is to ask for assistance from family members and relatives for finance. For this purpose an entrepreneur has to make the effort of making his relatives realize that he/she has a great investment plan and will be quite successful. In very rare instances family and friends invest in a business; if an entrepreneur faces such a scenario, he/she can obtain assistance from the government (Great Britain, 2006, p.18). Government has various plans where they finance small businesses or provide money in shape of grants to entrepreneurs to start up their own business. If an entrepreneur is not eligible for such government support options, the business can obtain a loan from banks to start small businesses. Due to failure of large businesses and the risk of high amount of loss associated with large businesses, banks and governments are more willing to finance small businesses. One of the major decision made by a manger is to identify the cost of producing a product and then price the product according to make profit when they sell their goods and services. For this purpose they can use activity based costing method, by using this method they can calculate the cost of an activity.

What are the arguments for and against the dropping of the atomic Essay

What are the arguments for and against the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan Was this decision justified What alternatives existed - Essay Example Did President Truman authorize the bombing solely as a means to put an end to a bloody, prolonged conflict and to ultimately save both American and Japanese lives due to an impending invasion on Japan’s homeland or was the decision based on assuring that the Soviet Union would not have a say in post-war Asia is it had in post-war Europe? Finally, even if it is assumed that the first bomb dropped on Hiroshima was necessary and justifiable, was the second bomb on Nagasaki justifiable as well? While the battles for the Philippines and Okinawa were taking place, President Truman, who had become president following the death of Roosevelt, was considering an invasion of the Japanese mainland. By now, the U.S. Navy had ships stationed just off the Japanese coast while its submarines were deployed in the Sea of Japan. Because the battles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa were very fierce, it was estimated that half a million to a million soldiers would be killed if the scheduled November 1, 1945 invasion of Japan occurred (â€Å"Decision to Drop†, 2003). In addition, President Truman was contemplating that if the Japanese would quickly surrender prior to the Soviet Union becoming involved in the war, set for August 15, Russia could not demand a part in the post-war settlement. When America unleashed the atomic bomb on Japan, the act infuriated the Soviet Union because it wanted its say just as it had in the carving up of Eastern Europe. This was the beginning of the Cold War betw een the Soviet Union and the U.S. (Lewis, 2002). The war in the Pacific theater culminated in the dropping of two atomic bombs in 1945 on cities in Japan affecting surrender (Goldstein & Dillon, 1981). On the clear morning of August 6, the first atomic bomb, nicknamed Little Boy, was dropped on the city of Hiroshima† (â€Å"Atomic Bomb†, 2007). The blast leveled more than half of that city. Seventy

Nietzsches Attitude to Religion Essay Example for Free

Nietzsches Attitude to Religion Essay I carefully read Ms S Ramola Naidu’s Ph. D. dissertation entitled â€Å"Culture, History, Politics: The Representation of Women in the American War Novels of Ernest Hemingway, e. e. cummings, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. † submitted at Osmania University, Hyderabad. Divided into four chapters, the dissertation is neatly chalked out with a very informative introduction and a befitting conclusion. All the four novels undertaken for the study dwell upon the image of the American women against the background of the World Wars. Chapter I, â€Å"Fragmentation of Society: The Enormous Room,† shows that women are not the weaker sex but are the pillars that support family and society. Chapter II entitled â€Å"Triumph of Love: A Farewell to Arms† deals with the evil effects of the First World War on society in general and on women in particular. Chapter III, â€Å"Parental Indifference: Mother Night,† focuses on the catastrophe of the Second World War disapproving â€Å"the ultra-modern American woman who sacrifices the basic demands of her family† (page 9, Abstract). The last chapter, â€Å"Bureaucratic Callousness: Catch 22† depicts the chaotic military organizations and the ugliness and brutality of human exploitation. Ms Naidu’s topic has a great relevance to the present political context in the entire world standing on the threshold of another atomic war. It has become our responsibility to avoid war upto the possible limit for the peace, prosperity, and happiness of human beings. Through her study Ms Naidu tries to evince that the holocaust of World Wars has engendered a lot of human miseries problems, the loss of human dignity and ntegrity, eventually reducing man to the status of a tragic figure. She is also sure that women problems cannot be solved through any slogan or being a liberate women or feminist. A woman can achieve her dignity cherishing a firm faith in the sanctity of true love, basic emotions and feelings, sacrifice and moral and social values. Ms Naidu is quite successful in delineating the writers’ vision about a bright future that is not far fetched provided every individual develops a positive attitude towards life. It is good piece of research embodying clarity, critical acumen, and hard industry of the candidate. The thesis is characterized by a refined and chiselled language, though a few syntactical, grammatical, and punctuation errors are also visible here and there. It is a purely thematic study. The candidate has adopted an analytical method; and the representation of women in the American novels of the mentioned writers has been highlighted through the analysis of plots, characters, dialogues, and settings. She is capable enough to display her critical insight, logical coherence, and the skill of the assimilation of material in the corpus of the thesis. It is well-written and fulfils all the requirements of a good dissertation. In view of the above, I am pleased to recommend that Ms Ramaola Naidu deserves the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English of Osmania University, Hyderabd.

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