Automobile Manufacturing Strategies

Since the time of the first Arab Crude Oil Embargo in the early1970s, the automobile manufacturing industry in the United States has been on the defensive. Although the major American automobile manufacturers have scored some successes since the end of the economic recession in the United States in the mid1980s, they have continued to see their market share in the United States eroded by competition from foreign automobile manufacturersparticularly the Japanese automobile manufacturers.1

The United States government, at the urging of the American automobile manufacturers, has initiated several efforts to protect the industry from foreign competition. In turn, foreign automobile manufacturers, again, the Japanese in particular, have adopted a variety of strategies, including voluntary cooperation in efforts to limit the number of Japanesemanufactured automobiles exported to the United States, to cope with the American automobile manufacturer instigated efforts of the United States government.

1M. Leach, "Auto & Truck Industry," Value Line Investment Survey (21 September 1990): 102.

The efforts of the American government to protect the domestic automobile manfacturers have been but partially effective. A major reason underlying the limited effectiveness of the government's efforts is the growing perception among American consumers that foreign manufactured automobilesparticu larly those manufactured in Japanare of a significantly

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Category: Business - A