Economic Experience of Mexico since North American Free

Economic Experience of Mexico since North American Free Trade Agreement Essay The Mexican automotive industry has undergone a lot of changes since the signing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Initially this industry was dominated by US assemblers and parts producers. Policies instituted by the Mexican government affected the industry. US automakers in Mexico purchased large quantities of raw materials for vehicle manufacturing from Mexican owned suppliers. These in many times did not meet internationally set standards in terms of quality and price. Many companies therefore like Acme motors operated inefficiently producing substandard vehicles. These constrained the export of vehicles to the US. (World Bank, 2000) NAFTA helped change the setup to rescue the automotive industry in Mexico. This benefited Acme motor company. The highly protected automotive market opened up allowing Acme to consolidate production across borders. The industrial restructuring has permitted Acme to enhance its competitiveness directing its massive production to meet the ever growing market abroad especially in North America. NAFTA has therefore enabled Acme to identify production sites based on business factors rather than trade barriers. (Adkisson, 2000). Since the industrial streamlining in Mexico, Acme has adopted new millennium vision to become an international firm and the world’s lowest-cost volume producer of super-quality vehicles. The company’s management strategy has enabled production of better vehicles, increase in global market share, increased profits and developed reputations internationally. Acme has since reduced its engineering personnel by over 29% decreasing the labor costs. The company also currently uses one process to develop cars. This is a different strategy since initially different engineering centers operated under varied processes. (Randall, 1996) From the year 2000, Acme has constructed an over 5 billion dollars facility in Mexico. The firm produces a new line of engines with high performance ratings for their efficient power train system. They include Auto turbo engines and V-8 Quattro engines. The company produces around half a million engines per year each type. This has enabled the company to increase efficiency and reduce freight cost per unit by over 50% . Industrial growth contributes to around 25% of Mexico’s GDP. Acme motors contributes a lot to the country’s economy. Mexico has since become one of the most open countries in the world of trade allowing access from various countries like USA, Canada, Europe and others. The trade liberalization has enabled the industry to grow and Acme has benefited much. The good relationship that Mexico enjoys with international organizations like IMF and World Bank has helped to develop various economic sectors like industrialization. The World Bank stands ready always to assist Mexican authority in implementing their policies. The Bank mobilizes resources to support Mexico’s effort in policy design and implementation and Acme is a beneficiary. There is more trade liberalization in Mexico and workers’ rights are protected. Acme has been in the forefront in implementing the workers rights leading to improved productivity. The country has a close relationship with members of World Trade Organization. This offers more economic grounds for Acme to find ready market for its products. Acme’s economic contribution has been instrumental in Mexico. NAFTA has therefore led to massive economic transformation in Mexico. The Mexican industrial set up led by Acme motor company has since grown to greater heights. This has led to a general development of the country’s economy. Acme is the major economic contributor in Mexico.

Peace Essay :: essays research papers

China and Iran: Transition to Democracy   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the course of history, there have been Communist, Socialist, Democratic governments and dictatorships, but the most equitable form of government has been Democracy. All these different forms of government have been successful at some time, but in today’s world in order for the process of democratization to succeed, many factors have to be favorable for success to be achieved. In this essay, the democratization of China and Iran will be discussed. One has been successful where the other has not emerged. The process and factors that lead to their present outcomes will be discussed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The democratization of China had been a very slow process. China’s process of democratization has been long in coming, â€Å"for 160 years since the Opium War, China has struggled through countless tortuous paths in pursuit of democratization. Millions of people with lofty ideals sacrificed for it; a number of them were killed by those who resisted democratization, but even more died as a result of internal conflicts.†1 These deaths were not in vain, they taught the people of China a very valuable lesson and after the Cultural Revolution(1966 to 1969), which was a crucial period when many political and social reforms were initiated, the people of China started to accept these political reforms. â€Å"The legitimacy of the Communist government had been exhausted. Cultural Revolution raised questions to the Chinese about the legitimacy of the former communist regime.†2   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There were many events that led to the democratization. The incident at Tiananmen Square was a major event (June 1989) in twentieth century Chinese history, as well as one of the causes of the downfall of communism in many countries. During this incident students marched and demonstrated against the CCP. It was watched by the world via television, it marked the beginning of the third period of modern Chinese foreign policy. The first was coterminous with Mao Zedong’s rule, 1949-1976, and the second was coterminous with the economic reform movement of 1977-1988, led by Deng Xiaoping. Under Mao, Beijing’s foreign policy was determined mostly by domestic factors. The first of these was revolutionary politics. The most important domestic change was replacement of Maoist radicalism by Dengist pragmatic moderation and a corresponding shift from the primacy of politics to that of economics. â€Å"Tiananmen symbolized the beginning of the end of communist r ule in China, contributed to the end of Marxism-Leninism globally, and affected China’s foreign relations in two ways.

Analysis of Sprint Nextel Essay

Sprint Nextel Corporation is principally a holding company operating principally through two divisions: Wireline and Wireless. Incorporated in 1938, Sprint is a communications company offering a range of wireless and wireline communications products and services that are designed and marketed to individual consumers, businesses, government subscribers and resellers. Its operations are organized to meet the needs of its targeted subscriber groups through focused communications solutions that incorporate the capabilities of its wireless and wireline services. Its services are provided through its ownership of extensive wireless networks, an all-digital global long distance network. The Company offers wireless and wireline voice and data transmission services to subscribers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands under the Sprint corporate brand, which includes its retail brands of Sprint, Nextel, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, and Assurance Wireless on networks that utilize third generation (3G) code division multiple access (CDMA), integrated Digital Enhanced Network (iDEN), or Internet protocol (IP) technologies. The Company also offers fourth generation (4G) services utilizing Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology through its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) wholesale relationship with Clearwire Corporation and its subsidiary Clearwire Communications LLC (together Clearwire) and, in October 2011, it announced its focus to deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology as part of its network modernization plan, Network Vision. Sprint Nextel’s headquarters are located in Overland Park, Kansas, United States. Dan Hesse is the President and C. E. O.  Sprint is a tier 1 global Internet access service provider. Sprint Nextel is the United States’ third largest long distance provider by subscribers. In 2006, the Sprint Nextel exited the local landline telephone business, spinning those assets off into a newly created company named Embarq, which CenturyTel acquired in 2008. Sprint owns a 47. 1% interest in Clearwire Corporation and also an 18% interest in NII Holdings, which operates under the Nextel brand in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru. Sprint Nextel was the first to offer a consumer available 4G phone, the HTC Evo 4G, in the United States on June 4, 2010. Prior to 2005, the company was known as Sprint Corporation. The company took its current name, Sprint Nextel Corporation, when it merged with Nextel Communications that year. Financial Performance for Periods 2008-2010 Over the three years under review, Sprint Nextel Corp. has revenue has dropped from $35. 6B in 2008 to $32. 2B in 2009, with a modest increase to 32. 5B in 2010. But overall Sprint revenue has been fairly consistent. Gross Profit margin has also been on a downward trend year over year; 2008 53%, 49% and 46%. Despite this trend Sprint has been performing better than the industry benchmark of 41%. EBITDA/Operating Income Margin has been consistently negative from -2. 44% in 2008 to -3. 15% in 2009, and -1. 63% in 2010. While this statistic is very worrisome, the company has been able to reduce selling, general and administrative costs over the three years from $11. 355B in 2008, to $9. 438B in 2009, to $9. 438B in 2010. Though this cost reduction imitative is very encouraging, Net Losses have been going in the wrong direction, increasing from-$2. 796B in 2008, to -$2. 436B, and -$3. 465B. Sprint’s debt ratio has hovered between 65% in 2008 to 71% in 2010. The company’s creditors would be concerned that there is not a greater cushion against losses in the event of liquidation, stockholders on the other hand would want more leverage because it magnifies expected earnings. Stockholders would be very concerned on the company’s return on common equity: which are -14. 03% in 2008, -13. 46% in 2009, and -23. 82% in 2010. From a cash perspective, Sprint has been managing it cash resources relatively well. There have been massive investments over this period most of which have capital expenditure ($3. 8B in 2008, $1. B in 2009, and $1. 9B in 2010). These investments in capital expenditure, highlights the firm’s serious emphasis on growing its product base, and improving the functionality and seamless integration of its technology. Stock Performance for Periods 2008-2010 Sprint’s stock price at the close of market in 2010 was $3. 77 which represents a 79. 31% drop from the period high price of $10. 53 at January 02 2008. The company’s stock price has reflected its struggling financial performance. The stock current 52 week range has been $2. 10-$4. 60, and beta of 1. 09. The stock beta measures the volatility of the security in relation to the volatility of the benchmark market indice (which in this case is the overall financial market) that the stock is being compared to. Beta measures the part of the asset’s statistical variance that cannot be removed by the diversification provided by the portfolio of many risky assets, because of the correlation of its returns with the returns of the other assets that are in the portfolio. Sprint’s stock Beta estimate Beta is calculated using regression analysis. A beta of 1 indicates that the security’s price will move with the market. A beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. Sprint’s beta of greater than 1 indicates that the security’s price will be more volatile than the market by 9%. However three of Sprint’s major competitors have signficantly better beta estimates; AT&T 0. 58, Verizon 0. 51 & Duetsche Telekom 0. 71 (Average Industry Beta 0. 60). When measured against the Industry, Sprint’s stock has more volatility and is more susceptible market forces. Conversely, most high-tech Nasdaq-based stocks have a beta of greater than 1, offering the possibility of a higher rate of return, but also posing more risk.

Conflict Resolution Is A Key Tenet Of Most Of The World s...

Conflict resolution is a key tenet of most of the world’s major religions. Each of the religions addresses the subject: whether directly, indirectly, or symbolically. Amongst the examples in many of the religious texts include the ending of wars, resolving oppression and the making of peace amongst many people. What also makes conflict resolution a key facet of religion is that it can lead to order from chaotic conditions, allowing for the unification of many people in the absence of other means of effective governance and in perpetuating a group of people’s survival for resources. However, it is long known that there is a constant struggle and conflict between the religions in various regions throughout the world. Conflict resolution within the five major religions has allowed for the expansion of individual religions but has placed it into conflict with other major religions. War and conflict has been recorded throughout human’s history with many resea rchers preforming studies that show the human species nurture, crave and enjoys conflict, war and killing. The human is the most sophisticated and intelligent being on the planet with our ability to critically think and reason. Humans remember the past, think of the future, and perpetuate our own survival far beyond what is imprinted in our DNA as instinct. We are cognizant of the afterlife and spirituality. The trepidation of death makes the human species extremely venerable to fear, driving us to seek divineShow MoreRelatedReligion Is A Double Edged Sword2565 Words   |  11 Pagesaware, religion is a double-edged sword. It can cause conflict or it can abate it. All too often, the religious contribution to social evolution has been characterized by intolerance, divisiveness, and resistance to change. 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