Read the pages and make a brief summary of them with your own words, please. Mention important parts. Also, you will put your comments and ideas about the topic. please don't write item by item Family-Related Factorsingredients in quality, productivity, value, organizational ex-cellence, and all of the other factors that affect global com-petitiveness. Students who enter the workplace unable toperform at competitive levels in reading, mathematics, sci-ence, and problem solving just handicap their employers.Figure 2.3 compares annual expenditures per pupil forleading industrialized countries. Of the top seven, the UnitedStates spends the most, whereas Korea spends the least.Figure 2.4 compares the number of school days required ofstudents annually in the leading industrialized countries.With this criterion, the order is reversed when comparingthe United States and Japan.leaders to help level the playing field among nations bycorrecting the inhibitors explained in this section. Theseinhibitors fall into the following categories: business- andgovernment-related factors, family-related factors, and ed-ucation-related factors.Human resources are a critical part of the competitive-ness equation. Just as one of the most important factors infielding a competitive athletic team is having the best pos-sible players, one of the most important factors in fielding acompetitive company is having the best possible employees.Consequently, the quality of the labor pool is important. Themore knowledgeable, skilled, motivated, and able to learnmembers of the labor pool are, the better.Well-educated, well-trained, motivated members ofthe labor pool quickly hecome productive employees whengiven jobs. Although providing ongoing training for em-ployees is important in the age of global competitiveness,the type of training provided is important. Organizationsthat can offer training that has immediate and direct ap-plication spend less than those that have to begin by pro-viding basic education for functionally illiterate employees.Since the 1970s, U.S. businesses have had to devote increas-FACTORS INHIBITINGCOMPETITIVENESSBusiness- and Government-Related FactorsImproving competitiveness on a national scale is no simplematter. Much can be done at the level of the individual com-Those U.S. companies trying to compete in the global mar-ketplace are rowing upstream while dragging an anchor.Actually, they drag three anchors. This was pointed outmany years ago by W. Edwards Deming when he first setforth his Seven Deadly Diseases. His second, sixth, and sev-enth deadly diseases are as follows:?2.5, 2.6, 2.7, and 2.8 show the actual rankingspany, where the total quality approach can be applied togreat advantage, but competitiveness on a national scale re-quires more than just total quality. Students of quality man-agement must understand this point. Failure to understandthe limits of total quality has caused some business leaders toexpect too much too soon. This, as a result, has turned theminto detractors.of student perftormance on international tests of reading,thematics, science, and problem solving as tracked by themOrganization for Economic Cooperation and DevelopmentCall(OECD). Figure 2.5 shows the relative performance rank-ings of students in mathematics literacy. The average scoreof students from the United States is well below the inter-ing amounts of money to basic education efforts, whereasforeign competitors have been able to provide advancedtraining that very quickly translates into better quality andproductivity.Many factors account for this difference. Some of thesecan be traced directly to the family. If the family unit, regard-less of how it is constituted, is the nation's most importanthuman resource development agency, the labor pool fromwhich U.S. companies must draw their employees cannotmatch that in competing countries.Single parents who must work full-time have little orno time to help their children excel in school. Children withparents who do not value education are unlikely to value itthemselves. If the family has a strong influence-positive ornegative, by design or by default-on the attitudes of chil-dren toward learning and work, the United States faces deep-seated problems that must be solved if its companies aregoing to compete in the global marketplace.. Emphasis on short-term profits fed by fear of unfriendlytakeover attempts and pressure from lenders ornational average (483 versus 498). Figure 2.6 shows similarresults in science literacy. Figure 2.7 shows that studentsfrom the United States scored an average of 495 on readingwhile the average international score was 500. These scoresshareholdersThis section describes factors that can inhibit competi-tiveness but are beyond the scope of total quality. They aresocioeconomic and sociopolitical in nature and are indig-enous to the United States. In the age of global competi-tion, managers should apply the principles of total qualityto help make their individual organizations more competi-tive. Simultaneously, they should work through the politi-cal and social systems as private citizens and community. Excessive medical costs. Excessive costs of liability inflated by lawyers working oncontingency feesdo not bode well for the United States or for its employerswho must compete in the global arena. In fact, what thescores mean is that if global competition were a footrace,the United States would be starting 100 yards behind in a200-yard race.Each of these diseases adds cost to a company's productswithout adding value. Nothing could be worse when viewedfrom the perspective of competitiveness. A company mightequal all competitors point for point on all quality and pro-ductivity criteria and still lose in the marketplace becauseit is a victim of deadly diseases that drive up the cost of itsproduct.Excessive medical costs and litigation, primarily re-lated to workers' compensation, have also slanted the play-ing field in favor of foreign competitors. The annual cost ofworkers' compensation to U.S. businesses is almost $30 bil-lion. This is a non-value-added cost that increases the pricethese businesses must charge for their products. Litigationand the associated legal costs have made tort reform an issuein the U.S. Congress and in the legislatures of most states.However, intense lobbying by trial lawyers has prevented anysignificant tort reform.Overcoming these business-related inhibitors will re-quire business and government to work together in a posi-tive, constructive partnership to enact policies that willreduce these non-value-added costs to a minimum. To ac-CountryAnnual Funding ($)United States7,560ItalyJapan6,7835,771Germany4,2374,7774,4163,714FranceEducation-Related FactorsUnited KingdomKoreaThe transition from classroom to workplace has never beeneasy, but in the age of global competition it has only becomemore difficult. The needs of employers have increased mark-edly. Unfortunately, the academic performance of studentsin the United States has not kept pace with changes in theglobal marketplace. High school graduation rates in theUnited States rank near the bottom when compared within other leading industrialized nations-nations thatFIGURE 2.3 Comparison of Per-pupil Funding in SelectedIndustrialized Countries. Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.• Many of the higher paying manufacturing jobs are being exported to forcigncountries.• The number of people having to work at more than one job to maintain theirquality of life has increased continually since the 1960s.• The most financially rewarding work years have historically been those betweenages 40 and 50. In the 1950s, people in this age bracket experienced a 36%increase in real income. By 2008, their counterparts had experienced a decline inreal income and the trend continues.• The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing.AverageSchool DaysthoseAmerica must compete with. In addition, the performanceof those students who do graduate from high school is mark-edly lower than that of their contemporaries in competingindustrialized countries.On international tests of academic performance in suchkey areas as reading, mathematics, science, and problemsolving, American students lag well behind their contem-poraries in other countries.in the United States that must compete in an increasinglyglobal environment. Human performance is one of the keyCountryJapan240Korea222Taiwan222Israel215Scotland191Quality of Life Issues in the United States.Canada188complish this goal, the United States will have to under-take major restructuring of its financial, legal, and medicalUnited States178IsnewsemployersFIGURE 2.4 Comparison of School Days per Year inSelected Industrialized Countries. Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.systems became ifacturing productivity, With the dawning of the new mil-DenmarkGermanyHungaryAustraliaMathHours perAutomobileCountryScienceReadingLiteracyLiteracyCountryCountryLiteracyHong Kong550Finland548Finland54360 -Finland544534JapanHong Kong548KoreaKorea542539Canada528Netherlands50 -538AustraliaLiechtensteinKorea538525Liechtenstein536Liechtenstein525525Japan40-534525New Zealand522Canada532Ireland515МасаоNetherlands52531Belgium529SwedenNetherlands52451430-МасаоSwitzerland527Czech Republic52351320Hong KongBelgium527New Zealand52151020 -19AustraliaNew ZealandCzech Republic52450715Canada519NorwaySwitzerland523500Switzerland51310 -516499France511Iceland515Japan498Belgium509514Масао498Sweden506U.SManufacturers ManufacturersEuropeanJapaneseManufacturersJapanesePlantsin the U.S.51PolandFranceFrance497Ireland505Sweden509496503502HungaryAustria506United States495GermanyFIGURE 2.9 Comparative Productivity of AutomobileManufacturers (Most Productive Plants). Source: Congress ofthe United States, Office of Technology Assessment, 2014.503Poland498Ireland503FIGURE 2.7 Mean Achievement Scores in Reading Literacy.Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.Slovak Republic495Slovak Republic498Iceland495NorwayLuxembourg495United States491493Defects per100 VehiclesPoland490Advanced Problem-Solving SkillsFIGURE 2.6 Mean Achievement Scores in Science Literacy.Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.490Approximately 15 percent of the people in the United States currently live in poverty.• More than 45 million people in the United States currertly live in poverty.• The poverty rate in the United States for children under the age of 18 isapproximately 20 percent.• The UnitedSpain485• Korea.70% plusLatvia483150 -• Japan70% plusUnited States483110ed States has the largest income distribution between its wealthiest andFinland.70% plus100 -90poorest citizens in the world.capital, materials, and energy). The graph compares theaverage hours required by the most productive plantsto produce one automobile. Japanese plants located inJapan are able to produce an automobile in an aver-age of 15 hours. European manufacturersthan twice that much time. Such U.S. manufacturers as• Germany.58%70FIGURE 2.5 Mean Achievement Scores in Math Literacy.Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.60• Czech Republic.58%Selected Economic Indicators.50 -Average 52%U.S. Manufacturers and Global Competitionrequire moreJapaneseManufacturersJapanesePlantsin the U.SU.S.Manufacturers ManufacturersEuropean• Ireland,51%The most important sectors in determining the quality oflife in a country are manufacturing and agriculture. TheUnited States has led the world in agricultural productionfor many years and still does. The United States also ledthe world in manufacturing productivity for many years.Beginning with the 1960s, however, this lead began to slip.otors, Ford, and Chrysler require an averageautomobile. Japanese manufacturers with• Russia43%hours perassembly plants in the United States using U.S. workers,such as Mazda, averagehourly wages in Europe tend to be higher than those inJapan and the United States, European firms operate at adouble competitive disadvantage. European and U.S. firmsare nibbling away at these productivity differences to thepoint that the gap between the best and worst producers isbut steadilyHowever, in the 1980s and into the new millennium, therealization that quality coupled with productivity was thekey to winning global competition caused many U.S. firmsto begin adopting the approach set forth in this book whilesimultaneously pushing for change in areas beyond theircontrol (cost of capital, industrial policy, etc.). As the totalquality approach continues to gain acceptance, companies inthe United States are closing the competitiveness gap.• United States.FIGURE 2.10 Comparative Defect Frequency AmongAutomobile Manufacturers. Source: Congress of theUnited States, Office of Technology Assessment, 2014.42%usinghours per automobile. BecausecauseFIGURE 2.8 Percent of Students with Advanced Problem-Solving Skills. Source: www.ed.gov, 2014.nowever, theThe decline continued and accelerated through the 1980sto the point that the U.S. manufacturing sector enteredthe 1990s struggling uphill to regain ground. In the mid-1990s, however, the United States began to reemerge as aworld-class competitor. No longer is the United States, orany other country, the clear-cut leader in terms of manu-Another basis for comparison among automobile manu-facturers is quality. Productivity gained at the expense of qual-ity yields no competitive advantage. Figure 2.10 compares themajor automobile-producing nations in terms of the averagenumber of defects per 100 vehicles manufactured. The qual-ity comparisons follow the same trends found in the earlierproductivity comparisons. Japanese manufacturers averagethe fewest defects; European manufacturers average the most.American manufacturers find it difficult toEven a cursory examination of key economic indica-tors raises concerns. The ability of a country to competein the manufacturing arena is a direct determinant of itsquality of life. Manufacturing created the great Americanmiddle class. If the manufacturing sector dwindles becauseit cannot compete globally, the middle class dwindles cor-respondingly. Figure 2.11 contains a number of facts thatindicate what has happened to the U.S. economy duringthe years since World War II. These are the years in whichU.S. manufacturers have steadily lost ground to foreigncompetition.Do these comparisons mean that U.S. manufacturerscannot compete? The answer is no. American manufacturerswere slow to respond to the international quality revolution.slowly but sAnother area in which Japanese firms have gained aclosingis product development. The prod-Competiive advantageuct development cycle-the time it takes to turn aninto a finished product-is typically shorter in Japan thanhe Unitedofidealennium, Japan, the United States, Germany, and Koreaeincreasingly competitive.Figure 2.9 comparesmanufacturers in Japan, the United States, and Europe. Inthis chapter, the term productivity is used several times.In this context, the term should be viewed as "total fac-tor productivity" (ratio of outputs to inputs from labor,in theThis allows JapaneseStatesandEurope.theproductivity of automobileto get new products to the market faster. Japaneseautomobile manufacturers take an averagecomplete the product development cycle compared withmore than three years for their competitors in the UnitedStates and Europe.compete in theoftwo yearstoglobal marketplace when their productivity and quality arenot up to international standards-a situation that must bereversed if the United States is to regain the preeminent posi-tion it has historically enjoyed in the world community.

In a business environment, competition is the most evident thing. Businesses compete at different…

Answered: Read the pages and make a brief summary…

Read the pages and make a brief summary of them with your own words, please. Mention important parts. Also, you will put your comments and ideas about the topic. please don't write item by item

Principles Of Marketing

17th Edition

ISBN:9780134492513

Author:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)

Publisher:Kotler, Philip, Armstrong, Gary (gary M.)

Chapter1: Marketing: Creating Customer Value And Engagement

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 1.1DQ

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