Here is the synopsis of our sample research paper on AT&T Consumer Products: Move to Mexico?. Have the paper e-mailed to you 24/7/365.
Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page paper based on
Harvard case 392-108 discussing the rationale for AT&T Consumer Products to locate an
offshore manufacturing facility in Mexico rather than in Malaysia or the US in the late
1980s. Manufacturing costs were far too high in the US in the era of such sweeping
change in American manufacturing, and the paper maintains that Malaysia is not politically
stable enough to ensure that the country will not nationalize an AT&T facility constructed
there. The paper recommends that the company locate in Mexico, putting into practice
those programs it would have in a US facility - environmental standards and employee
assistance programs - to create an intensely loyal and qualified workforce while still
realizing greatly reduced manufacturing costs. Bibliography lists 1 source.
Page Count:
5 pages (~225 words per page)
File: CC6_KS-ATTMex.doc
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
manufacturing had become fat and lazy between the decades of the 1960s and the 1980s. Union presence was strong in most industries, and manufacturers labor costs continued to increase
dramatically. US manufacturing had begun to learn lessons, however, in the aftermath of the worldwide oil crisis of 1973-74, when gasoline prices in the US increased from $0.25 a
gallon to well over $1.00. Japanese imports had been available in the US for some time, but few American car buyers took the
products seriously. We still bought and fueled our land boats, and those Japanese cars were just so tiny. Additionally, Japanese products still had the illusion of the kind
of cheap product that the phrase "made in Japan" formerly had carried. US car makers felt the pinch first; eventually there were questions
of whether Chrysler could survive. Only GMs vast size allowed it to continue in business while regularly losing more than $1 billion annually. The electronics industry was next
as Americans discovered the surprise of Japanese quality combined with much lower price. Eventually all consumer products were expected to provide both value and quality, and manufacturers were obliged
to achieve the greatest manufacturing cost efficiencies possible. AT&Ts Dilemma AT&T Consumer Products shared in
this trend while also facing another significant challenge. The giant AT&T had been broken up in antitrust action into several smaller, more targeted companies in the early- and mid-1980s.
All of AT&Ts manufacturing operations had been within the US, and all manufacturing facilities were unionized. This labor organization prevented AT&T from taking the steps necessary to bring
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