Free international trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Free international trade - Essay Example Free international trade has led to maintenance of peace and stability, integration of the global financial systems and growth in the per capita consumption in the national economies (Feenstra, 2004). Free international trade benefits the countries through increased innovation and competition that leads to the reduction in the costs of production and market prices for the products. In this case, the open market practices put pressure on firms to implement innovative manufacturing technologies in order to compete effectively with their foreign counterparts in the same markets (Frederking, 2010). Secondly, free international trade generates more economic growth through encouraging risk-taking by companies and more investments. In this case, American free trade exports support more than 15,000 jobs. In addition, free international trade disseminates capitalist ideals and democratic values since the countries engaged in free trade agreements have a duty to comply with the pre-agreed econ omic rules and standards such as the free movement of labor, protection of intellectual property and cross-border movement of foreign direct investments (Feenstra, 2004). ... The agreement contains provisions that guarantee non-discrimination in the trade of digital products and regulatory efficiency in order to foster increased trade volumes between the two countries. Another milestone in deepening free international trade is the Peru-United States trade promotion agreement of 2007 that seeks to promote private investments between the two countries and eliminate obstacles to free trade. The trade agreement seeks to attract foreign investments, enhance the trade competitiveness and generate more employment (Berg and Lewer, 2007). The USA-South Korea free trade agreement of 2011 encourages increased trade between the two countries through ensuring more than $ 1 billion of US farm exports to South Korea are exempted from customs duties and reducing the previous quotas. South Korea will cut the tariffs on US beef imports and taxes based on engine displacement in order to encourage US car manufacturers to export their cars to the market. at the same time, the US government is expected to provide economic aid to South Korean farmers and support South Korea in the privatization of the public companies in order to increase trade competitiveness between the two countries. According to Bogota, Colombia government waited for long for the free trade agreement with United States and the deal will increase Columbia’s long-term economic growth and increase the exports from $ 17 billion to $ 50 billion within a period of five years (Bogota, 5). In addition, the US government is weighing trade benefits that will result from several proposed free trade agreements with countries such as transatlantic Free trade area with European Union and New Zealand-US trade agreements. In

Managerial account decision making Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managerial account decision making - Essay Example st 2008 financial crisis, the company began focusing on lean practices reducing time and cost in several of its processes and its outcome, subsequently, reflected in its annual reports right from 2009 through 2013. Starbucks is facing stiff competition from McDonalds Corp and Dunkin’ Brands Inc. The paper aims at exploring how Starbucks has been able to carve a niche through lean approach in the market place. As such, lean production is a new buzz word among companies vying for a place in a highly competitive arena. Toyota, a popular Japanese auto manufacturer, is known to have pioneered the lean approach in their operations successfully. Taking clue from it, Starbuckss management focused on lean approach aiming at not only on waste reduction but also on how to reduce time on several processes. (Yunos, 2013). Carter(2014) argues that lean thinking firm focuses on customer value enhancement through carefully choosing work processes. That means lean thinking takes a diversion from the traditional approach eliminating non-value added activities such as procedures, policies in their work flow. In a lean company, the most important parameter to consider is time. That means the lean organization focuses on time reduction methodologies. Work must flow continuously and uninterruptedly so that the cycle time of the entire value stream is reduced and throughput enhanced. Traditional firms focus only on crucial operations – all hidden or less important operations are neglected. However, in this process, less important operations interrupt the flow of work increasing customer lead time. Not only more time is consumed but cost also increases. Lean organizations create and share information among employees and assess performance by measuring the cycle times and lead times of all activities. Jargon, (2009) argues that Starbucks Corporation began its business as the anti-fast food outlet. Scott Heydon, the Vice President of the company, is a major force behind lean thinking