er in their history by Rheem, a leading American water heater manufacturer, pursuant to joint ventures between Rheem and BHP Pty. Ltd, SABH's affiliate and principal supplier of steel.
Many factors other than those indigenous to the work force itself bear on overall productivity and on labor productivity. In the water heater industry, the cost of steel is "the largest component of total costs" (Case, 1991, p. 136). One reason for the superior performance of the American plant vs. the Australian and New Zealand plants was the higher material costs (about 53 percent) of the domestic steel used by the Australian plants (Case, 1991, p. xii). An important factor leading to that result is that BHP has a quasi-monopoly on steel production in Australia, which in turn is a result of high tariffs, anti-dumping laws, government indifference to the lack of competition, as contrasted to American antitrust law enforcement, and frequent dock strikes which make steel imports less reliable. In the United States, domestic and imported steel was purchased through a competitive
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