Globalization of the Korean Auto Industry Research Paper

Globalization of the Korean Auto Industry - Research Paper Example State also opted for industry restructuring/ regulating, and concentrated on export led strategy. Rise in domestic demand due to the betterment of economic condition of the country, further enhanced the auto industry of Korea. It took Korea barely three decades to move along the learning curve and secure the place of fifth largest automobile manufacturer in the world. It is notable that exports and foreign auto manufacturers have played a key role in supporting and pulling through the industry in the worst times. This paper throws light on the road taken and success achieved by the Korean automobile industry along with its impact on the economy of Korea. It also aims to explain the reasons for its global competitiveness and what distinguishes it from American automobile industry. The next section of the paper would compare the Korean and American automobile industries which would then be elaborated by an example. It would be followed by the challenges faced currently by the Korean au tomobile industry. Lastly, the paper would conclude with some recommendations to tackle the challenges. Korean Auto Industry Development The history of Korean Automobile Industry can be traced back to 1960s when the Government of Korea took a policy decision to develop auto industry in the country. In the first five year plan of the country, initiated in 1962, emphasis was laid on the creation of indigenous automotive industry. In its initial phase, i.e. in 1960s, the automobile majors were largely involved in assembling of semi knocked down and fully knocked down kits which were nothing but imported components of automobiles. To ease out the conditions for the development of the industry, the state banned import of fully assembled cars although it encouraged foreign partnerships for transfer of technology to the domestic players. With the support of the state, the industry progressed to give rise to four major players which were Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo and Samsung Motors. Hyundai was formed in 1967 with the aim of manufacturing a wholly indigenous car. It started on the learning curve by creating an assembly line to assemble fully knocked down kits. It tied up with Ford, Mitsubishi and Honda for technology transfers in order to initiate local manufacturing of automobiles. It was not until 1976, that Korea achieved the feat of manufacturing automobiles domestically. After eighteen technology transfers, from its foreign partners, Hyundai launched ‘Pony’, in 1976. Pony was the first Korean developed automobile (Korean Development Bank 175). It also holds the distinction of being the first Korean car to be exported. In 1985, Hyundai achieved the landmark quality certifications to meet the quality requirements of EEC, Canada and America which enabled it to export to these geographies also apart from Middle East and Africa. Kia, another automobile firm owned by a chaebol (large Korean business house) was established in 1971. Kia started its product line w ith three wheeled trucks and in a span of three years graduated to manufacture four wheel vehicles. Kia produced its first passenger car ‘Brisa’, in 1974 in technological partnership with Japan’s Honda. Similarly Shinjin Motors (now Daewoo) tied up with Japan’s Toyota to acquire capital and technical knowhow in automobile production. In 1972, Toyota’s share was taken over by General Motors which steered the firm to become the largest automobile

E-procurement and E-supply Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

E-procurement and E-supply - Coursework Example Internet and e-business has become so much popular these days and a lot of business is moving towards e-business. This is specially the case with both large and small business. People like to market their product or project online as it takes less cost and benefits are much higher if properly planned. E-business and marketing are indispensible to each other, if one has a marvelous goods, products or services but he doesn’t have accurate and strong market skills; there are less chances of its success. On the other hand, if a person has normal quality products but he knows how to market them at economical rates, its results will be much better. E-procurement is an accommodative procurement of products, services and tasks using any electronic procedure in every stage for boosting in efficiency & transparency of the goods or services. Unified theory of acceptance and use of technology According to Venkatesh et al. (2003), there is a requirement to improve business’s men kno wledge of technology Utilization by investigating newer applications, accounting for additional difference in usage attitude and connecting it to individual usage results. the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) that incorporates major drivers and balks of web systems usage for e-procurement, investigates the consequence of such usage on corporate buyers and heightens the overall view of the UTAUT. It is calculated that eighty to ninety percent of the deals conducted over the Internet are business-to-business deals (Rosen and Howard, 2000). Although, little research has incorporated on web systems utilization from the point of view of corporate buyers. Figure 1: Research Model E-procurement has many objectives, few of them are: To perform as the catalyst for procurement reclaim, to improve transparency, supervising and manage in procurement procedure, to add in economies of scale via accumulation of demand, to cut off the cost of doing business for both suppli ers and government, to launch level playing field and â€Å"fair† private-enterprise platform for the suppliers. E-tendering is the second concept of e-procurement, features of e-tendering are: Publication of NIT, downloading of tender documents by contractors and suppliers, bids opening, Auto-bid evaluation, award publication. There are some famous examples of e-procurement: Public procurement service, Korea, Gebiz Singapore and Indian railways. E-procurement methodologies include software that allows purchasing agents to book their required items from various locations and generate invoices, purchase orders, receipts and request for quotations. Online auctions are another tool of e-procurement. Cathy-Pacific had a good plan to e-procurement but there are some flaws in their plan. Website marketing and online auction, selling is one of the best options via the web but it needs proper management, they had focus on –procurement but they didn’t focus on management and maintenance of such a long project. No doubt, their plan is good for cost reduction but some areas need proper attention like ticket booking and seat allocation needs extensive care and proper management as if it becomes tough, passenger will surely face issues at the time of travelling. No matter, which method they have used but by applying proper and accurate e-procurement technology they could gain a lot