US Automobile Industry Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

US Automobile Industry Analysis - Essay Example Of the over 60,000 employees, 56,447 work in production, for an total of about 114 billion hours every year. The employees working in the automobile industry in the US cost the industry a combined 5.1 billion US dollars. For the production workers there are high levels of unreleased employees’ wages which were almost 4.5 billion dollars at the time of the 2007 census. Despite the intense focus on production, the export market remained vibrant and was able to ship over 84 billion worth of automobiles and automobile parts, against capital expenditures of less than 2 billion US dollars. The US automobile industry is a big industry, engaging in vicious competition in the highly dynamic car market. For instance, the industry spent a staggering $9,961,000 in advertising for the year 2007. From another perspective, the industry contributed even more to government coffers, spending $111,334,000 in taxes and license fees. The study of the US automobile industry reveals some clear segme ntation according to size of the industries. The eight largest companies account for 91.3% of all shipments in an industry that has over 50 car-manufacturing companies. Of the top eight companies, the four biggest accounts for over half of the shipment revenue, scooping a significant 67.6%. The largest 20 companies take a 99.2% share of the export market, meaning that 12 companies following the top 8 companies account for just 7.9%. Thirty of the automobile manufacturers in the US account for just 0.6% of the shipments to overseas markets. Under the Herfindahl-Hirschman index, the 50 biggest car-manufacturers have an index of 1,448.8 (US Census Bureau, 1). The index is used to establish how a group of firms fare with regard to size for the industry. According to the index, a value of below 1,500, as given in our case, usually indicates lack of concentration, with significant amounts of competition within the corporations (Investopedia, 1). For the five-year period ranging from 2007 to 2002, the US car-market experienced considerable growth in revenues from shipments, with a small 3,386 million US dollars. over the same time period, the number of shipments per employee fell from 1,295,000 to 1,094,000 (US Census Bureau, 1). In addition, the annual average pay per employee fell from over 78 thousand USD to about 63 US dollars. From a geographical view of the US car market, it is apparent that most manufacturing interests are located on the eastern side of the US, off the noticeably off the coastal states. Also, the number of establishments per million residents remained constant at 0.6. With regard to states, Michigan is the source of most shipments out of the US, with a 25.17% contribution to the shipment incomes. Only Illinois comes close with a 10.14% value of the shipments, while the others account for the remaining 64.69%. Michigan also boasts of 22 establishments for automobile manufacturing. However, the leading state in this regard is California with 32 automobile manufacturing establishments. Noticeably, the industry has had considerable drops in the number of shipments, value of shipments, and annual payroll amounts. Shipments dropped by 7.6%, which closely matched the fall in establishments, which stood at 7.8% (US Census Bureau, 1). The drop in annual payroll was more steep at almost 20%. Company Analysis: Honda Motor Company Background to Honda Motor Company Honda Motor Company is a multinational car manufacturing company incorporated in

Relationship between Infant-Directed Speech and Word Segmentation Research Paper - 1

Relationship between Infant-Directed Speech and Word Segmentation - Research Paper Example The writer will  analyze different aspects of both concepts, and provide appropriate conclusions on their relationship. Also known as caretaker speech, and informally as â€Å"mommy talk,† IDS is a central aspect of child development. Contrary to popular opinion, its influence is not restricted to language development alone. IDS also considerably improves the cognitive abilities of infants by encouraging them to use their senses and practice functions like grasping and holding (Aitchison, 1996:26). In the language development aspect, word segmentation is the dimension that attracts the most interest from researchers regarding IDS. Infants’ ability to segment words develops variable and is influenced by a number of factors. However, IDS has so far been linked with many features of word dimension, such as recognition of repetitive words and comprehension of new words and phrases. When parents and minders talk to infants, they indoctrinate them in their dialect. They int roduce them to novel phrases and terms that they will, inevitably, learn as they grow. However, research seems to show that depending on how early they are exposed to IDS, children can exhibit extremely contrasting proficiencies in language development and speech (Fabbro, 1999:46). Parents who involve their children in IDS as much as possible have reported better language and speech development, as well as refined cognitive abilities. According to Harley (2013:48), the impact of IDS on word segmentation can be better explained when we consider that it is relatively easy to manipulate the cognitive abilities of infants and children. Infants, specifically, adapt to new environments and habits depending on the extent and frequency with which they are exposed to them. For example, we can consider the dialects used by different parents when communicating with their children to show how IDS affects word segmentation.