Making and Selling Cars or Uniting North American Business

Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U. S. Automotive Industry

Author: James M M Rubenstein

From the creation of fast food, to the design of cities, to the character of our landscape, the automobile has shaped nearly every aspect of modern American life. In fact, the U.S. motor vehicle industry is the largest manufacturing industry in the world.

James Rubenstein documents the story of the automotive industry... which despite its power, is an industry constantly struggling to redefine itself and assure its success. Making and Selling Cars: Innovation and Change in the U.S. Automotive Industry shows how this industry made adjustments and fostered innovations in both production and marketing in order to remain a viable force throughout the twentieth-century.

Rubenstein builds his study of the American auto industry with care, taking the reader through this quintessentially modern history of production and consumption. Avoiding jargon while never over simplifying, Rubenstein gives a detailed and straightforward account of both the production and merchandising of cars. We learn how the industry began and about its methods for building cars and the modern American marketplace. Along the way there were many missteps and challenges -- the Edsel, the fuel crisis, and the ascendancy of Japanese cars in the 1980s. The industry met these types of problems with new techniques and approaches. To demonstrate this, Rubenstein gives the reader examples of how the auto industry used to work, which he alternates with chapters showing how the industry has reinvented itself. Making and Selling Cars explains why the U.S. automotive industry has been and remains a vigorous shaper of the American economy.

Booknews

Rubinstein (geography, Miami U.) describes the changes in the structure of the automobile industry over the past 100 years and the changes it wrought on American society in a series of six paired chapters. He examines the changes in mass production, the outsourcing of portions of manufacture and research, and the changes in the workforce required to manufacture automobiles. The development of the market is the topic of final chapters, including a discussion of how the automobile industry developed an army of advertisers and salesmen offering a profusion of styles, rather than suggesting that consumers can have their car in any color, "as long as it's black." Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Table of Contents:

	Preface
Pt. I	Making Motor Vehicles
1	From Fordist Production...	3
2	...To Lean Production	30
3	From Making Parts...	56
4	...To Buying Parts	88
5	From Deskilling the Work Force...	119
6	...To Reskilling Labor	151
Pt. II	Selling Motor Vehicles
7	From a Class-based Market...	183
8	...To a Personal Market	217
9	From Dealing with Customers...	251
10	...To Serving Customers	278
11	From a National Market...	307
12	...To a Global Market	331
	Conclusion	353
	Notes	357
	Bibliography	371
	Index	387

Books about: Fantastic Food with Splenda or Anorexia Workbook

Uniting North American Business: NAFTA Best Practices

Author: Robert T Moran

Presents the opportunities, changes, and case studies of major corporations doing cross-border business in NAFTA countries Part of bestselling Managing Cultural Differences Series Case studies and clear directions show you how to make NAFTA work to achieve business success.

In today's global economy, NAFTA continues to present unprecedented opportunities for companies in cross-border commerce. 'Uniting North American Business: NAFTA Best Practices' focuses on best business practices and lessons learned in the years since the NAFTA agreement was first signed, and their impact on both the economy and society.

'Uniting North American Business' provides you with the skills and competencies necessary to become more effective business managers and citizens in NAFTA countries by considering:
* What is the scope of the NAFTA agreement itself?
* What are some of the positive benefits of NAFTA?
* What is really causing job loss attributed to NAFTA?
* What should we know about Canada, the United States, and Mexico to better understand the culture and management philosophies of our partners?
* What will society look like if current trends continue?

Author Biography: Jeffrey D. Abbott is Consultant in Corporate Strategy at Brown-Forman Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky; Robert T. Moran, Ph.D., is Organizational and Management Consultant with specialties in Cross-Cultural Training, Organizational Development, and International Human Resource Management.

Alfonso Sapia-Bosch

An essential primer and resource for those interested in or working toward an effective Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Richard D. Mahoney

Will NAFTA survive? In this much-needed book, Dr. Robert Moran and Jeffrey Abbott set forth the key mechanisms to move the agreement forward and describe the cultural and political synergies required for a breakthrough. In clear and persuasive prose, the authors make the case for that most elusive feature in market integration....'the development of trust.

Neil R. Abramson

This is an important and timely book for American, Canadian, and Mexican managers and business students who seek to be truly effective within the NAFTA environment. ...The book is inclusive in its relevance not only for mainline industries but also for the high tech world of the 21st century. ... The section on 'NAFTA Best Practices' is worth the price of admission all by itself...

Luis M. Milan

...this book is a must-have. Not only does it explains the 'How's' and 'What's' of NAFTA, but most importantly the 'Why's.'

What People Are Saying

Richard D. Mahoney
Will NAFTA survive? In this much-needed book, Dr. Robert Moran and Jeffrey Abbott set forth the key mechanisms to move the agreement forward and describe the cultural and political synergies required for a breakthrough. In clear and persuasive prose, the authors make the case for that most elusive feature in market integration....'the development of trust.'
—Richard D. Mahoney, Ph.D. L.L.D., John F. Kennedy Scholar, University of Massachusetts; Former Arizona Secretary of State

Alfonso Sapia-Bosch
An essential primer and resource for those interested in or working toward an effective Free Trade Area of the Americas.
—Alfonso Sapia-Bosch, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor of Global Business, The American Graduate School of International Management

Neil R. Abramson
This is an important and timely book for American, Canadian, and Mexican managers and business students who seek to be truly effective within the NAFTA environment. ...The book is inclusive in its relevance not only for mainline industries but also for the high tech world of the 21st century. ... The section on 'NAFTA Best Practices' is worth the price of admission all by itself...
—Neil R. Abramson, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Business Policy, Simon Fraser University

Luis M. Milan
...this book is a must-have. Not only does it explains the 'How's' and 'What's' of NAFTA, but most importantly the 'Why's.'
—Luis M. Milбn, Director, Organization Planning and Development, FEMSA