Consumer Opinions And Observations Regarding The American Auto Industry

American way of life. The US is sometimes referred to as “a nation on wheels.”

The question to whether we should buy strictly American made products has been around for a long time many people think it’s a good idea and many think it’s a bad idea. I think that we should buy strictly American made products because if we start making these products our self it could open up more jobs for Americans to fill and it could help to drop the unemployment rate. It has been stated by Roger Simmermaker that “In just the last 10 years the United States has lost out on approximately 2 trillion dollars in cumulative trade deficits with china alone”(Simmermaker 1). That is money that we the Americans could have profited from if we would just make the products ourselves and buy from other

     The exporting of American jobs is an issue that is important and will become increasingly so as more and more white collar jobs are shipped overseas. American companies in the past few decades have been sending American jobs overseas paying residents of other countries pennies on the dollar what they had paid American workers to do. This saves the companies millions of dollars on labor costs but costs Americans precious jobs.

If you ever question whether American made matters, consider the way that the U.S. automotive industry has devolved. At one time, American auto makers led the world in their sector. Today, jobs that were formerly held by Americans have been outsourced to workers in other countries. In order to inject new life to the Middle Class and level the playing field once again, we must insist on the availability of American made products. Our buying decisions could make all the difference for Americans now and in the future.

One of the main reasons to buy American made is jobs. Jobs drive our economy. Financial analysts pay close attention to the monthly jobs report. The monthly jobs report is a direct indicator of how healthy our economy is and a forecast for the future. It’s like the doctor taking a persons pulse. A good strong pulse indicates you appear to be healthy, but a weak pulse indicates you may have problems. It would be hard to pay for even the basic necessities without a job. When you buy American made products you are supporting your friends, family and neighbors. Those folks are the ones getting paid to manufacture products that you find on the shelf at your local stores. If they don’t sell those products then there is no need to manufacture them. We can no survive with just a service economy. Meaning someone to fix your furnace or change the oil in your car. We need manufacturing jobs to have a healthy economy.

"Made in America" is a label that people often see on a variety of goods they purchase in the United States. For years, people have been opening their eyes to the importance of American manufacturing and taking steps toward supporting the manufacturers of these goods, as it has a positive effect on the population, economy and more. The desire to purchase only American-made items has grown, and whether it be because of the price or quality is not fully known, but it can be said that it is good for America.

Because corporations are so utterly focused on attaining high profits, they often lie or mislead in order to get consumers to buy their products. There are many examples of this, one of these involving Wal-Mart. “A Brief History of Wal-Mart.” is an article written by T.A. Frank for the Washington Monthly, about Wal-Mart’s beginnings and it’s long history of deceit and abuse. Frank explains that in 1985, the “Made in America” campaign was introduced the corporation. This policy stated that the Wal-Mart would buy American-made products if the price was within 5 percent of a foreign factory’s. In 1992, while this campaign was still technically in effect, Dateline NBC revealed that Wal-Mart employees were putting “Made In America” signs next to products made in other countries. (Frank) In this case, Wal-Mart advertised these products as American made, misleading customers into buying items that they might not have otherwise bought. Even when it comes to things as individually as insignificant as false information on a sign at Wal-Mart, corporations have become pathological liars. It is a bad idea to have dishonest corporations affecting so

The article goes on to state that we could be the leader of industry again. Americans need to relearn how to be a patriot again we have lost sight of this and we have become more divided then any time in our history. When I was growing up the saying was cheap junk made in Japan now that is how other countries view our products.

Attempts to protect U.S. firms from foreign competition, such as the Buy American provision are good ideas. These are good ideas because at the end of the day, it creates jobs for the American people. Creating jobs, means unemployment rates decrease, which results in more spending by the American people, which leads to a better economy. Some American companies might be opposed to this provision because of the quality of their product or cheap labor. Companies who have high expectations might get their product manufactured in a third world country, where they pay employees $2.00 an hour, but the overall product would be high class, for example, Apple Inc. manufactures its products in China for cheap, but their product is long lasting. Due to

challenges, however, are the most difficult ones to face and overcome. Some environmental issues that

As residents of Southeast Michigan, we all share one common connection, the auto industry. For people in this area, it is almost impossible to not to work for or at least know someone that works for one of the big three or one of their many suppliers. Because of this very intimate relationship we have with the auto industry, we are all greatly affected by their success or failure. If the industry succeeds, jobs are created, and economy boosted. However, if it fails, people lose their jobs and the economy crashes. For this reason, the leadership in this industry is important to all of us. The leaders do not only determine the fate of their company but the fate of the region with each decision they make. One company that has been doing very well is Ford. Ford managed to make it through the 2008 recession relatively unscathed compared to the other auto giants and has continued on a successful path. The current leader of Ford is Mark Fields. While Fields was not at the helm of Ford during the 2008 recession, his mentor was. Living and working through that crisis helped to instill many great leadership qualities into Fields that he now uses to lead the company and all of southeast Michigan down a successful path.

It is significant in understanding the cultural values and perception of the consumers you are trying to target since cultural values can change over time. Recent observation of the vehicles General Motors offered was viewed negatively by society. This allowed competitors to expose that weakness by comparing their vehicles in a greater light. In summary, changing the public perception of General Motors is vital, especially with their upcoming products since their standards need to adhere to the current cultural values.

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.

If Schwinn is able to successfully market mountain biking as truly American than "Made in America" will positively impact consumer purchasing. As with automotive purchases, consumers of bicycles are driven to purchase the product that best meets their needs. Country of origin matters greatly when the quality is lacking. Schwinn will need to market American made the whole time knowing most of their bicycle frames are made outside of America.

The point is well taken, but Holland gives it excessive weight. Like their brethren in Detroit and Pittsburgh, domestic tool-makersin the 1970s were too complacent when imports seized the lowerend of the product line. The conservatism that had for years servedthem in their cyclical industry left them ill-prepared for change. Evennow some of the largest U.S. tool-makers are struggling to restructure. Blame the government, yes. But blame the industry, too.