Comparative Advantage

Cars are necessities for daily transportation in a modern society. Cars have been part of almost everyone’s lives since the 1930s, when Henry Ford invented the Model T (History.com). Many people are accustomed to a lifestyle with cars. Without them, many cannot get anything done. Every day, cars are getting better and more affordable. Two of the many nations that mass produce cars are Japan and the United States. Both country’s cars have their own strengths and weaknesses. With that being said, Japanese cars are better than American cars because of their reliability, engineering, and price.

Comparative advantage is the concept that production can be conducted with lower opportunity cost than a competitor. The lower cost of

The growth rate of the U.S GDP stands at 3.23 percent from 1947 up to 2016(Cuñat & Melitz, 2012). In the international trade, the absolute advantage indicates the ability of the economy to conduct tasks appropriately. The comparative advantage identifies the economy, which produces the goods with the lowest opportunity cost.

America had a global competition as it was not the only country who had the industry. China, South Korea, Japan and India were also procuring automobiles. In 1995 America and Japan made an agreement on having more outlets in each countries, to be able to sell their products. This agreement created job opportunity and made their cars and parts available in both countries. This agreement also invented computation. Japan was producing good quality and affordable automobile such as Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and more. Japan’s automobile became well known all over the world.

Absolute advantage is the ability to produce more than one product efficiently and at the lowest cost. Comparative advantage is the ability to specialize in producing one product at the lowest cost. Comparative advantage affects trade the most because with specializing in producing one product the companies must trade to receive other products. Comparative advantage also considers the opportunity of cost to produce one product verse the other.

Comparative advantage in economics is when a country can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost relative to other producers. It is because of this theory that output will increase because a producers within a country specializes Countries will gain the ability to maximize their efficiency and their labor force which facilitates mass-production of products, resulting in higher profits and international trade. This is because the economies of scale reduces overall cost, by producing more units. If the two countries moved towards protectionism and attempted to become self-sufficient then the production of goods would then

Comparative advantage states that the division of labor should operate freely, without outside interference, because some countries, people, states, etc., have special advantages over the others, that allows them to produce certain goods more

Combining imported technology with their domestic innovation was translated in the inception of the Japanese low-cost mass productions system. Technological improvements such as the one mentioned above played a huge role in the country’s economic growth, as improvement of technology in one industry often influenced the growth of other industries. For instance, Japan’s steel industry was successful in improving the quality of steel used in manufacturing automobiles, due to the technological process in the casing of parts; the automobile industry too benefited and hence could reach a level where it could compete with its international

The last several years were also tumultuous for the U.S. auto industry. After dominating the market for decades, American automakers had grown complacent about product development. At the same time, rising gas prices and uncertainty about the economy caused consumer preferences to shift from SUVs to more fuel efficient vehicles. Foreign competitors entered the U.S. market offering more reliable, higher quality and more fuel efficient vehicles at a lower price and began to steal market share away from American automakers. In order to remain competitive, U.S. automakers need to focus on increasing production efficiencies and developing innovative product offerings. Firm Analysis

Over the years, the U. S. auto industry's market has been experiencing fluctuations due to many reasons including: price, quality and foreign competition. General Motors Corporation (GM) which had been the leading car and truck manufacturer had been experiencing declining market share and facing stiff competition from both U.S manufacturers and foreign imports such as the Asian auto producers that included Toyota, Honda and Nissan. The main reason for increased foreign competition was that foreign cars were more fuel efficient, smaller, less expensive, and often more reliable than their American counterparts.

Since the end of World War II, Japan's economic strategy for growth was based on exports, that allowed the development of its powerful industrial sector. During the 1980s, Japanese automakers in particular were enjoying an unprecedented and largely unexpected period of prosperity. They managed to establish a successful domestic automobile industry and to gradually sell their products abroad. Thanks to their competitive advantage in producing cars with respect to foreign competitors, due to labor differences, technical efficiencies (lighter and fuel-efficient cars), better designs, and of

The United States Automotive industry has been dominated by five major auto manufacturers: GM, Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, and Honda. As globalization increases the domestic automotive market (GM, Ford, Chrysler) suffers from foreign competitors. Although with high entrance barriers the market suffers little to none from new entries. There are several reasons for this the largest being capital. It takes a lot of capital to obtain manufacturing plants, raw materials, as well as to hire and train employees. PASTEL Analysis

Comparative advantage is when an individual or company is made to produce services or goods at a lower opportunity cost than other individuals or companies. Opportunity cost is what you give up when you make a certain choice. When you make a decision you are valuing one decision over another and that decision that you did not choose is your opportunity cost.

Economists use the term absolute advantage when comparing the productivity of one person, firm or nation with that of another. The producer that requires a smaller quantity of inputs to produce a good is said to have an absolute advantage in producing that good (Gans, King, & Mankiw, 1999).

main strategy for the North American market is to aim for higher sales, while raising the proportion of locally produced automobiles. Toyota Motor Corp have reached a stage where investments made over the last several years to expand production capacity are beginning to show returns and improved profitability can be expected. Toyota’s goal is to bolster local production through additional investment, and contribute to the regional economy by expanding its operations. At present, our production capacity in North America is approximately 1.25 million units (including our joint venture with GM). However, Toyota Motor Corp plan to boost this to 1.45 million units during 2003.