The assignment it is a cross culture communication subject and it a Case Study

The assignment it is a cross culture communication subject and it a - Case Study Example es great challenges in business and, therefore, increase management costs (Lifang 2).The paper provides means/strategies that can help to solve some problems that have been facing Mr. Salih in XYZ multinational corporation. The strategies need approval of the corporate’s top management. In addition, the strategies were designed by the corporate head of human resource. Globally, multi-national corporations are facing personal conflicts, business industry conflicts, and more clashes that results from differences in attitudes, sources of information, and, as well as differences in personality, perception ,values and ideology. However, although conflict can be a psychological and behavioral form of confrontation. These conflicts will have an effect on the quality of work environment, development of the corporation, management efficiency as well as survival of the organization if it is not handled properly. For instance, the empirical importance of Western style of thinking and the Asian interpretation mode of thinking in the corporate’s cross-cultural communication can always constitute result of conflict, therefore, business managers need to attach significant attention and importance to it. However, the national culture formation can also bring about a variety of solutions and also patterns of behaviors to challenges; thus, cross-cultural related conflicts have happened mostly. Behavior pattern is clearly explicit in the style of national culture that is a fixed structure and recognized by people in a similar group through direct communication. Diverse cultures result to a variety of behavior patterns. Similarly, different behavior patterns might show a big conflict. However, cross-cultural situation exerts a lot of impact on the management of the corporate in different means. They always play a function without being easily noticed. The moment people realize the form of influence they have, the outcomes have been formed already. Most corporates in the

Greece Crisis Essay Example for Free

Greece Crisis Essay Years of unrestrained spending, cheap lending and failure to implement financial reforms left Greece badly exposed when the global economic downturn struck. This whisked away a curtain of partly fiddled statistics to reveal debt levels and deficits that exceeded limits set by the eurozone.Greece was living beyond its means even before it joined the euro. After it adopted the single currency, public spending soared. Public sector wages, for example, rose 50% between 1999 and 2007 far faster than in most other eurozone countries. The government also ran up big debts paying for the 2004 Athens Olympics. And while money flowed out of the governments coffers, its income was hit by widespread tax evasion. So, after years of overspending, its budget deficit the difference between spending and income spiralled out of control. Moreover, much of the borrowing was concealed, as successive Greek governments sought to meet the 3%-of-GDP cap on borrowing that is required of members of the euro. When the global financial downturn hit and Greeces hidden borrowings came to light the country was ill-prepared to cope. Debt levels reached the point where the country was no longer able to repay its loans, and was forced to ask for help from its European partners and the IMF in the form of massive loans. In the short term, however, the conditions attached to these loans have compounded Greeces woes. How big are these debts? National debt, put at â‚ ¬300 billion ($413.6 billion), is bigger than the countrys economy, with some estimates predicting it will reach 120 percent of gross domestic product in 2010. The countrys deficit how much more it spends than it takes in is 12.7 percent. So what happens now? Greeces credit rating the assessment of its ability to repay its debts has been downgraded to the lowest in the eurozone, meaning it will likely be viewed as a financial black hole by foreign investors. This leaves the country struggling to pay its bills as interest rates on existing debts rise. The Greek government of Prime Minister George Papandreou, which inherited much of the financial burden when it took office late last year, has already scrapped most of its pre-election promises and must implement harsh and unpopular spending cuts. Will this hurt the rest of Europe? Greece is already in major breach of eurozone rules on deficit management and with the financial markets betting the country will default on its debts, this reflects badly on the credibility of the euro. There are also fears that financial doubts will infect other nations at the low end of Europes economic scale, with Portugal and the Republic of Ireland coming under scrutiny. If Europe needs to resort to rescue packages involving bodies such as the International Monetary Fund, this would further damage the euros reputation and could lead to a substantial fall against other key currencies. If Greece does not repay its creditors, a dangerous precedent will have been set. This may make investors increasingly nervous about the likelihood of other highly-indebted nations, such as Italy, or those with weak economies, such as Spain, repaying their debts or even staying inside the euro. If investors stop buying bonds issued by other governments, then those governments in turn will not be able to repay their creditors a potentially disastrous vicious circle. To combat this risk, European leaders have agreed a 700bn-euro firewall to protect the rest of the eurozone from a full-blown Greek default. Moreover, if banks in the weaker eurozone countries that are already struggling to find enough capital are forced to write off even more loans they have made something that becomes more likely if the eurozone economy falls deeper into recession they will become weaker still, undermining confidence in the entire banking system. Eurozone banks may then find it even hard to borrow, and therefore to lend, potentially sparking a second credit crunch, where bank lending effectively dries up, hurting the economy further. This problem would be exacerbated by savers and investors taking money out of banks in vulnerable economies, such as Greece, Portugal and Spain, and moving it to banks in safer economies such as Germany or the Netherlands. These potential scenarios would be made immeasurably worse if Greece were to leave the euro. The country would almost certainly reintroduce the drachma, which would devalue dramatically and quickly, making it even harder for Greece to repay its debts, and setting an even worse precedent. So what is Greece doing? As already mentioned, the government has started slashing away at spending and has implemented austerity measures aimed at reducing the deficit by more than â‚ ¬10 billion ($13.7 billion). It has hiked taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol, raised the retirement age by two years, imposed public sector pay cuts and applied tough new tax evasion regulations. Are people happy with this? Predictably, quite the opposite and there have been warnings of resistance from various sectors of society. Workers nationwide have staged strikes closing airports, government offices, courts and schools. This industrial action is expected to continue. How are Greeces European neighbors helping? Led by Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel, all 16 countries which make up the euro zone have agreed a rescue plan for their ailing neighbor. The package, which would only be offered as a last resort, will involve co-ordinated bilateral loans from countries inside the common currency area, as well as funds and technical assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to a joint statement on the EU Web site, a majority of the euro zone States would contribute an amount based on their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and population, in the event that Greece needed support after failing to access funds in the financial markets. This means Germany will be the main contributor, followed by France. Although the announcement did not mention any specific figure, a senior European official quoted by Reuters said that the potential package may be worth around 20 billion euro (US$26.8 billion). However any European-backed loan package requires the unanimous approval of European Union members, meaning any euro zone country would have effective veto power. By the end of 2009, as a result of a combination of international and local factors the Greek economy faced its most-severe crisis since the restoration of democracy in 1974 as the Greek government revised its deficit from a prediction of 3.7% in early 2009 and 6% in September 2009, to 12.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). In early 2010, it was revealed that through the assistance of Goldman Sachs,JP Morgan Chase and numerous other banks, financial products were developed which enabled the governments of Greece, Italy and possibly other countries to hide their borrowing. This had enabled Greek governments to spend beyond their means, while meeting the deficit targets of the European Union and the monetary union guidelines. In May 2010, the Greek government deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6% for the year, which was one of the highest in the world relative to GDP. Total public debt was forecast, according to some estimates, to hit 120% of GDP during 2010, As a consequence, there was a crisis in international confidence in Greeces ability to repay its sovereign debt. In order to avert such a default, in May 2010 the other Eurozone countries, and the IMF, agreed to a rescue package which involved giving Greece an immediate â‚ ¬45 billion in bail-out loans, with more funds to follow, totaling â‚ ¬110 billion. In order to secure the funding, Greece was required to adopt harsh austerity measures to bring its deficit under control. Their implementation will be monitored and evaluated by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. On 15 November 2010 the EUs statistics body Eurostat revised the public finance and debt figure for Greece following an excessive deficit procedure methodological mission in Athens, and put Greeces 2009 government deficit at 15.4% of GDP and public debt at 126.8% of GDP making it the biggest defici t (as a percentage of GDP) amongst the EU member nations (although some have speculated that Irelands in 2010 may prove to be worse). The financial crisis – particularly the austerity package put forth by the EU and the IMF – has been met with anger by the Greek public, leading to riots and social unrest. Despite the long range of austerity measures, the government deficit has not been reduced accordingly, mainly, according to many economists, due to the subsequent recession. Consequently, the countrys debt to GDP continues to rise rapidly. The Greek public sector continues to be bloated, but the government has been reluctant to make civil servants redundancies. Immigrants are sometimes treated as scapegoats for economic problems by far-right extremists. Why should Greece Default. Contagion. Unemployment. Haircuts. Seemingly endless summits of the Troika. The news coming out of Europe continues to be bleak and at the center of the storm is Greece, a Eurozone member drowning in its sovereign debt. In the shadow of the global financial crisis of 2008, the specter of a disorderly Greek default has spooked investors and policymakers alike. Greece, a country that contributes less than 3% of Eurozone GDP, is holding the international economy hostage. The uncertainty arising from ineffectual rescue packages, prolonged negotiations, and poor implementation of austerity measures is slowing foreign investment in the EU and increasing volatility on the exchanges. Decisive action is desperately needed, but when will it come? It is in both Greece and the Eurozone’s best interest for the inevitable to take place, now, before more rescue packages tie Greece to unachievable goals in the short run. Greece should default and begin the painful process of recovery outside of the Eurozone. The Greek crisis is testing the long-term viability of the euro experiment, an integrated European fiscal and monetary union, with supranational standards for spending and taxation, a common central bank, and a common currency. Ironically, a leading motivation for the establishment of the Eurozone was to protect Europe from U.S. financial disruptions, when, in fact, the reverse scenario seems of greater concern today. With the possibility of Greece‘s sovereign debt default, banks, bondholders, and private creditors – those with high levels of exposure and counterparty risk – are on high alert and shaping (if not delaying) negotiations. The EU makes up 20% of the global economy and constitutes the largest single market by GDP. In the Eurozone alone there are roughly 320 million people, comparable to the United States. But unlike the U.S. dollar, a national currency in a Federalist system, the euro is issued in states that maintain drastically different fiscal policies. How can policymakers realistically balance the interests of economic powerhouses like France and Germany, who contribute 50 percent of Eurozone GDP, with the interests and needs of the other fifteen member-states? The challenge before policymakers is to deepen European integration – the move toward political, economic, and cultural homogeneity – in order to sustain a Eurozone, while realizing when a line needs to be drawn in order to keep the whole thing from falling apart. From a political standpoint, Greece does not appear to be adjusting with sufficient speed to justify inclusion in the zone. Its government is under siege; tax evasion is endemic across all levels of society; and people no longer trust the government due to its inept handling of the budget, most notably in the cooked books of the Papandreou government. From an economic standpoint, the longer the Eurozone waits to act, the more Greece’s balance sheet deteriorates. Since 2008, economic output has fallen by 6.5% and debt as a percent of GDP has skyrocketed from 133% to 163% on a linear projection. Interest rates will continue to go up. And culturally, it is time to accept and acknowledge the societal differ ences that give Europe its charming vibrancy. Put another way, when the Germans go to bed, the Greeks go out to dinner. Some things will likely never change in Europe and the architecture of the Eurozone needs to account for that. Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Greece? In fact, recent economic history offers some cause for optimism. In December 2001, Argentina experienced the largest default on sovereign debt the world had ever seen. Like Greece, the default had been preceded by a decade of toxic economic policies, mismanagement, and corruption. A political crisis culminating in five different presidents over the course of two weeks exacerbated the economic situation. After accepting 22 billion dollars in aid through debt reduction deals and other channels by the end of 2001, Argentina had made little progress in the way of reform. The default was disorderly and disruptive. But after drastic moves, including unpegging the Argentine peso from the U.S. dollar, and a series of post-default investments from the international community, Argentina rebounded with remarkable success. Today, you are more likely to read about the burgeoning start-up culture and innovation centers of Buenos Aires than you are about bailouts and unemployment. There is a path f orward for Greece, but the time to default is now. Of course, innovation centers won’t hurt either. Whether you should follow a particular political or economic policy depends very much on the costs and benefits of following said political or economic policy. If the costs are higher than the benefits then of course you shouldn’t be doing it: this is just standard logic. We can go further too. If you’ve got two and only two unpalatable options then you should go for the one that has the least costs, is the least painful. Which is why Greece should default altogether on its debts and leave the euro. The standard mainstream solution for a country with Greece’s problems is exactly that: if the debt is too much to pay then don’t pay it. Better that some lenders lose their money than an entire population get screwed down into poverty to pay it back. That might not be quite fair on the lenders but tough: people before profit. And this has at least been partially done with the private sector holders of Greece’s debt all taking a 70% haircut last month. It ’s the second part of the standard solution (and yes, this is the entirely standard solution, the sort of thing the IMF recommends) is to devalue the currency. For if you don’t you’ve got to have years, decades even, of grinding austerity to try to regain economic competitiveness. But, of course, being in the euro, Greece cannot do this. So Greece must leave the euro. From the other side the standard objection is that Greece is still running a large budget deficit. This means that a default cannot be done for the government will still need to borrow money just to pay the police and the pensions. So while in theory a default and devaluation would be better than grinding austerity it just cannot be one. But this is to miss the point that Felix Salmon makes: Once you strip out Greece’s debt payments, the country’s primary deficit is pretty modest — just 1% of GDP or so. There are two different budget deficits. The one where we include all the interest that has to be paid and the one where we don’t that latter being the primary deficit. So, with a default then the interest won’t be paid. And the Greek Government will then have to cut spending (or raise taxes) by 1% of GDP because they cannot borrow any more. The point here being that this is less cuts than they’re already being told they have to do. Balancing the budget without having to pay the interest will be easier than what they’re being told they have to do to stay inside the euro. And devaluation will make recovery a great deal easier than decades of internal austerity. Thus it is actually in Greece’s own interest to default on the outstanding debts and to leave the euro and devalue the New Drachma. Not that they’ll have much choice about that last of course. WHY SHOULD GREEECE NOT DEFAULT. 1. Things could get really messy. One of the biggest problems about having a country exit the Eurozone is that this feat was neither planned for, nor has ever been attempted before. Who knows what can happen? For all we know, the situation could get even messy. If Greece gets booted out of the euro zone, theyd have to revert back to using the drachma and this alone is a daunting task. The Greek government would have to make sure that this process goes through without a glitch in order to prevent a flight of capital and social unrest. Now thats a tall order considering how Greece cant seem to come up with a stable government to begin with. 2. A bank run could take place in Europe. Even if Greece manages to reintroduce the drachma, a massive capital outflow from Greece is still very likely as financial institutions and investors wont be willing to put their money in such an unstable environment. With the rest of the PIIGS nations being touted as next in line to exit the euro zone, large amounts of money are likely to flow out of these countries as well. 3. It might lead to a euro zone break-up. Economist Nouriel Roubini pointed out that, unless Portugal and Ireland are able to restructure their debt successfully, they could wind up following Greece out of the euro zone. Although he mentioned that an exit by these smaller countries probably wouldnt disrupt the entire region or the global financial market, he also remarked that the existence of the euro zone would be in jeopardy once the bigger debt-ridden countries such as Spain and Italy think of leaving. On top of that, the ECB and several euro zone countries hold a part of Greeces debt in their balance sheets, which means that a Grexit and the debt default that could follow would force them to realize large losses. And if the finances of the ECB or Germany are in shambles, who would be left to save the euro zone? 4. Another Lehman tragedy waiting to happen? Several analysts are also worried that a Grexit would eventually lead to a Greek debt default, which could result in a credit freeze similar to what happened when the Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy in 2008. At that time, banks were unable to absorb the losses and the chain of bankruptcies that followed, eventually leading to a financial crisis. This time around, another financial meltdown could take place if investors, banks, and other governments are forced to accept losses from holding Greek debt. Firewalls could collapse, banks could refuse to lend, spending could be constrained, and another global recession could be possible. Of course, Big Brother Germany is keen on preventing a full-blown crisis from happening, with analysts speculating that euro zones top economy would come up with a Grashall Plan or a Marshall Plan for Greece. Under this proposed mega-bailout package, Germany and the rest of the euro zone nations could pool billions of Euros in order to buy Greece more time. Then again, another bailout package could be accompanied by stricter austerity requirements, which Greece is neither willing nor able to carry out. With that, it seems that a Grexit isnt a matter of if, but rather a question of when.

Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry

Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Abstract The purpose of this research is to come across an effective and implemental strategy for Iranian car industry to become an export player in the Middle-East region. With consideration the importance of market development for international auto makers, the Middle-East market is evaluated and Iran as a case study is looked over in terms of its potential automobile market and developing opportunities in Iranian car industry to become a manufacturing partner for international players. Through out a review of Iranian economy and the position of auto sector in Iran economy, the difficulties of growth and development, the role of government- as the regulator- are discussed briefly and the effect of international auto makers -in the past and future- is analyzed. On this basis, we point out the main troubles of the current auto industrys structure and the government dilemma to set its policies. At the end we suggest a reform in the structure and strategy of both assemblers and suppliers to ent er to the international markets. Keywords: Operation strategy; Iran auto industry; Globalization, Regionalization, Industry study Introduction Irans economic performance has begun to improve slowly after a decade of recession which was caused by the long and costly war with Iraq and fluctuations in oil prices. In the decade ending in 1998, GDPs growth per capitals started to rise, although the average was only 3 percent per year. (Economic reports, the World Bank Group) The automotive industry, as one of Irans most promising industries, was the countrys fastest growing industry with the average annual growth of 27.2% between 1995 and 2000 which was 5.5 times of the country average industrial growth. (Economic Focus, Iran Daily News). The domestic vehicle production is growing quickly but it is highly protected, and only in highly exceptional circumstances can Iranians import cars from abroad. Locally produced cars have a reputation for poor quality and have contributed to the dangerously high pollution levels. Also, Iranian firms were not able to satisfy the domestic market in terms of quantity. Demand for automobiles, particularly passenger vehicles, far exceeds the supply. In fact, more than 450,000 people pre-purchase automobiles every year and wait approximately two years to receive them. As a result the government, which wants to raise unit production and improve domestic industry in line with industrialization program, hopes to stimulate competition as part of the effect to make the economy less dependent on oil. In order to follow the market reform plans and provide better circumstances for the countrys main industries such as petrochemical industry, textile and etc, President Khatami (since August 1997- 2005) in 1999, announced an ambitious program to privatize several major industries which included auto industry as a part of total restructuring of Iranian economy. Currently 13 public and privately owned auto maker exist in Iran. The largest vehicle manufacturing company is Iran Khodro with an average share of 60.90% percent of domestic vehicle production, as the main government-controlled carmaker and Saipa is the second one with 32.70%. Subsequent to the development program, automakers have been encouraged to review the way in which their strategies will be developed in the future and to extend a range of strategy options that might enhance their position. Consequently, most Iranian auto makers have been encouraged to join ventures or any other strategic alliances with foreign auto manufacturers to meet the increasing demand (www.ikco.com). On the other hand, in looking at the automobile market generally, during the past few years, it might be observed that after a period of growth from 1997 to 2000 -resulting from the exceptional boom in US economy and the upturn in Europe-but the automobile market especially in North America and Europe has entered a consolidation phase because of overcapacity. The market is mature in developed countries such as those of Western European countries and US market where nearly 90% of sales of new vehicles are now accounted by replacement purchases. Also, in Far East-Japan and South Korea-, overcapacity is a highly sensitive problem (REINAUD, 2001), whereas in Middle-East region, vehicle out put is 6% of total global output in comparison with 29% in Europe and 30.2% in US (carmakers Annual report,*DRI). Thus, some auto manufacturers might be looking for new methods to penetrate the auto market in Middle-East in order to gain more market share over their competitors. If these companies do become partners, Iran will be an option to emerge as a major regional car manufacturer, serving the Middle East beside Other countries in the region, particularly Egypt and Turkey which have substantial car assembly arrangements. The following companies have signed cooperative agreements and their products are either already on the market or are to be introduced in the near future: Frances Peugeot with Iran Khodro. Koreas Kia Motors with Saipa. Frances Citroen with Saipa. Korean Daewoo and Kerman Motors. Optimus of the UK with Renus. Proton of Malaysia with Zagros According to the French automaker Peugeot, Iran has one car for every 21 people. Turkey has one for every 12, while Western European countries and Japan have nearly one car for every 2 people (www.peugeot.com). That indicates market growth potential, and the reason that foreign car manufacturer might be interested in the Iranian auto market. In this research the current auto industry situation in Iran will be analyzed and it will be evaluated in relation to its future strategy consequent upon growth in terms of output quality and ability to serve the domestic market, but also to play a major rule in region and become a truly international car manufacturer and exporter in Middle-East. To achieve a rich understanding of the current situation and examine the environmental position to meet the research objectives, other developing countries auto industry examples like China, India and Turkey will be investigated and analyzed as examples, while the regional circumstances, business environment and other specific characters of Irans economy e.g. the role of government , economic condition and Irans regulations will be considered to find out the most appropriate strategy for Iran car industry. The research question for the chosen topic is What would be the most effective strategy for Iranian car industry to become a major player in the Middle-East market? From this research question, the following objectives would be appropriate to evaluate: To evaluate existing methods of development strategy in the Iranian auto industry, To identify the best possible methods of development strategy for domestic and foreign companies, To recommend how such a strategy can be implemented. The background of the research is set with a brief discussion on the changes have happened in the world of auto industry, the consequent of globalization, the dynamic and diversity of demand in auto market and the auto makers difficulties to respond to new market characteristics while maintain the ability to make profit. Our goal in this paper is to propose an efficient strategy to . The paper has the following structure. Section 2 gives the brief literature review. Section 3 analyses the competitors in automobile Middle East market. Section 4 introduces the Iranian auto industry case. Section 5 presents the growth and development problems in Iranian auto industry. Finally, section 6 is devoted to conclusions and future works. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 summarises the development of Iranian production and exports in the car industry compared to other major exporters in the world. It also explains why Iranian export growth has remained much below production growth. Section 3 develops the empirical export model and describes the variables and data. Then, the model is estimated in Section 4. Estimation results are analysed and a sensitivity analysis is proposed. Section 5 estimates the Iranian export potential with regard to the main foreign markets, while Section 6 concludes. Literature review History of globalization Humans have coined the word Globalization to describe widely traded activities that take place across the continents which are aided immensely by diminishing international trading regulations negotiated through the World Trade Organisation. Globalization is a combination of many -manufacturing, trade in services, supply chain management activities which have been affected positively by a fast technological development in few last decades. As Friedman (1999) argues, what is new today is the degree and intensity with which the word is being tied together in to a signal globalized market place and village. What is also new is the sheer number of people and countries able to partake of today globalized economy and information network, and to be affected by them this new era of globalization is turbocharged. As it can be observed, that this noticeable international integration is not just in economics, but in politics and cultures are as well. However, it needs to be recognised that the speed of these changes and growth of integration is different across the world. In some countries and regions the trend of globalization is rapidly increasing while in other parts the pace is much slower and globalisation is not welcomed at all. Nevertheless, regardless of the effects of globalisation no country can afford to ignore its impact on their political and economical circumstances. Likewise, the rate of change is different in various industries as is the strategic response of different business sectors to take advantages of exploiting new business opportunities. Although the merchandise trade, capital investment and labour migration started from 1850-1914, and the economy was more open than it is today in terms of the existing tariffs and trade barriers, but it was not globalized. Just the year following the Second World War and through reconstruction of war, the world has started to establish institutions to open up trades and ensure currency stability such as GATT and IMF, which caused massive increase in the economic growth level. According to Dicken (2003), world trade increased at an average annual rate of 6.7 per cent between 1948 and 1953. Between 1958 and 1963 the rate rose to 7.4 per cent and between 1963 and 1968 it accelerated further to 8.6 per cent. So people experienced a boom period up to 1970s when the first oil crisis has occurred. The United States, which suffered less during the Second World War, increased its foreign investment and after a while the US companies started to move into Western European countries and create interdependencies across world markets. Europe and Japan which mainly focused on rebuilding their economies after the war joined in this and also expanded their positions in the market place and on the economic map after the mid-1980s. (Hill, 2005) Also, because of the necessity of promoting global interdependencies, the United Nations was established to maintain world peace and security and so help the spread of industrialisation and world trade. The main drivers of globalization Apart from the history of globalization there were several main drive points that enhanced the process of globalisation. From the Johnson and Turners (2003) point of view one of the main globalization drivers was the changing economic paradigm. The new approach for managing economy was based on limitation the government role and neo-liberalism. Limiting the role of government provides the situations for businesses to progress and boom. As the Hill (2005) says, major changes occur as new economic and political institutions develop, with movement from traditional, non competitive institutions to competition-based capitalistic economies and democratic institution. So the market was relied on to force the pace of competition. Little by little the liberal economy became an external economic policy and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades (GATT) set up to support this philosophy. As a result of GATT and afterwards its successor organization- WTO-, there was a great reduction in tari ffs barriers and non-tariffs barriers for participating countries which help them established and spread their liberal economic policy. The second globalization driver is the spread of international governance and regulation. More international rules and policies developed for business environment, especially in regional level aimed at reducing the barriers in economic market among GATT contracting and WTO members. Also spreading e-commerce as a technological consequent has brought new issues in terms of traditional governance structure. Therefore, by passing the time and more international integration, the trade and market regulation were less under the national states control. According to Johnson and Turners (2003) argument finance and capital spread is another driver of globalization. Necessity of financial and capital movement following the market deregulation and economic liberalization has supported by national rules and has facilitated by technological development and ease the financial transactions. All might agree that the technological development, mainly in information technology and communication sector, has played an important role in globalization. However none of them is the cause of globalization, Dicken (2003) argued, without these technologies the current complex global economy system could not exist. Shrinking time and space by innovated technologies was a great opportunity to reorganization and redefinition the commercial and economical structure. Most of industrial sectors are affected by innovations and changes in technologies especially in manufacturing system with a high influence on value chain. Transportation technology has changed dramatically from 1840 to 1960 which was a development period from steam locomotives to high speed aircraft. Therefore, new transportation systems and their wide usage with cheaper prices have brought global shrinkage. Also in communication and its convergence with computer technology development has facilitated more effective networ ks within and between enterprises. All of these technological conveniences provide links across borders and spread globalization in economic term. Social and cultural convergence might be seen as a driver for globalization. The effect of mass media and usage of internet make the consumer preference more common in global market. As Johnson and Turner (2003) mentioned, similar taste of consumer in different parts of the market creates the opportunity to promote global product. So we can claim that the cultural and social similarities make the conditions available for globalization. Also transferring new technologies has brought about more products in greater varieties at lower costs and prices. Consequently standards of living and peoples expectations rise as well. Mode of entry and expansion methods In simple terms, globalization is an opportunity for companies to expand their market, their value chain and their business across borders. But the point is how effective can companies use these opportunities to make more profit and enjoy sustainable growth. What factors should they consider to make decision to choose an investment option to carry on their development strategy? Global supply chain and its dimensions Apart from different modes of entry available for firms to get advantages from globalization and to move across borders to expand their market, other advantages may be gained through developing global supply chains. The production of any good or service can be conceived as a production chain that is, as a transactionally linked sequence of functions in which each stage adds value to the process of production of goods and services. (Dicken, 2003) The firms try to differentiate their value chain in order to add more competences by using the advantages of each production chain requirement in different part of the world. However, build a global value chain might make it fragmented while the control and management of a global network is more difficult. From Dickens point of view there are three important dimensions in production networks: First is governance which means how they are coordinated and regulated. In the case which varying combinations and interrelationships of different kind of companies and firms might perform in a production network, As Dicken says, the market is the main organizer of external transactions, in contrast with the case which the entire network operated with a single firm and internal organizational structure governs transactions. (Dicken, 2003) The second important dimension in production network is spatiality and how they are conFigured geographically. By increasing the emergence of global production network, network organizing is changing from geographically concentrated to geographically dispersed. The third issue is territorial embeddedness the extent to which they are connected in to particular bounded political, institutional and social setting. (Dicken, 2003) information technology and other new technologies have made space and distances meaningless. Most types of capitals are mobile and all of them can easily move from one place to another. However transportation and communication technology has developed as well, capital does moves within spaceless world. Place is still an important issue, as firms are highly affected by the cultural, socio-political and institutional context of the territorial they are embedded. Therefore multinational firms try to take advantages of differences within regulations and socials in various places while, bringing different state with different regimes in count within a production network makes the situation more complex to control and to take benefits from. Since 1999 and strongly growth of globalization, the same as other important and effective phenomena, globalization has a positive view wave that strongly recommend it and a negative wave against it which moves from developing country to developed countries during these years. Arguments about globalization success or failures do not have any satisfactory result, while globalization can be observe and discussed to understand both negative and positive sides of it. Growth of regionalism Although the speed of globalization and integration in the world market has increased during past decades under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and more recently by World Trade Organization (WTO), the regional agreement and the debate on the desirability of regionalism has grown as well. By the beginning of twentieth century most of the counties were part of a regional integration. However one might argue that the reason of regional integration is more political than economic explanation, it can not be ignored any more as almost 50 per cent of all world trade is within regional trade agreement. As a result of that, there is fear within WTO and other international institutions that regionalism takes the place of globalization and make a stumbling block toward further global trade integration. (Lung Van Tulder, 2004) Nevertheless there are different forms of regional integration and each of them affects global market more or less while the time of their integration pr ocess is various. The dynamics of automobile market Although some changes had happened in the composition and geography of automobile demand, the concentration of automobile industry in three major global regions face auto companies in these regions with the overcapacity problem. The highly market-oriented of automobile production caused its development be based on affluent consumer markets to achieve the economy of scale. But during the years, the automobile consumer markets in three developed region has developed as well. As Dicken argued in the Global Shift (2003), the changing demand for Automobiles has three major characteristics: It is highly cyclical. There are long term (secular) changes in demand. There are signs of increasing market segmentation and fragmentation. ( Dicken, 2003) The competitors Despite the fact that NAFTA, EU and Japan are the main developed region in both production and trade in auto industry sector, other countries have started restructuring this sector in line with their economic reform. The obvious example might be China and India which both are gaining a sustainable growth in the last decade. Also Turkey has emerged as a new automobile producer in line with other industrial changes aim to become qualified to join European Union. Turkish auto industry Turkey auto industry has been developing due to the well strategic planning applied by the Turkey government by the way in which they opened their country to the global world. They have started their industry as a montage (CKD or SKD) in 1960 and have turned it to manufacturing part after a few years in 1966 trough licensing agreement and dealer-assembler with American and European firms. Gradually the government attempted to adapt an export-oriented strategy; consequently it started to liberalize the importation of cars gradually and reducing the tariffs. Meanwhile it provided some financial supports for upgrading themselves to international acceptable condition. But the main change which caused a revolution in Turkey car industry was the customs unionization agreement in 1995 with European Union which followed by a new restructuring in their auto industry. To harmonization the administrative and regulatory structure of the industry, Turkish government has established an accreditation council to prepare the documents for new adaptation the issues and procedures of exporting in line with European countries. However the Turkey supposed to complete the adaptation and remove all tariffs by 2001, they have not completed it yet and it seems the Turkeys auto industry has not well prepared for full liberalization. Although adaptation a new regime from Turkey government which obligate importing vehicle companies to prepare service facility and aftermarket parts for customers within a country was a great opportunity for domestic firms to become involved with providing spare parts and services. Even though it was not a stable macro environment after 1997-1998 Russian and Asian crisis and again December 2000 crisis, the restructuring program caused some investment in car companies in Turkey in order to support economy of scale and encourage them to developed more update types of automobiles. Turkish manufacturers have operated in two car segment; low medium and medium models and the produced cars have already been phased out in their country of origin, added that these segments account for 90 per cent of the Turkish market. (Duruiz, 2004) Governmental financial supports and investment on auto sectors attracted many foreign investors from 1995 onward, especially with aim to develop new generation cars and modernization the industry. Most of foreign car firms have gained relatively high share of the auto industry after liberalization to use the resources in Turkey and export to European countries through Turkey. Table 1 shows the main auto manufactures in Turkey and their share. As the effect of custom utilization agreement, the automotive sector had the 5th place in Turkey exporting in 2000, but the main effect has happened in component sector and it has increased relatively higher then auto sector export. It was also easier for component producer to upgrade their standard of their firms to get a competitive position in EU base on their lower labour wages. (Duruiz, 2004) Nevertheless Turkey has accepted liberalization in their trade but as they have not done the full integration, their case has become special. Mostly the Turkeys future economy highly depends on the European Union decision to accept it or not as a member of European Union which lead to change their economic structure with the support from the IMF and European Union. Indian auto industry Emerging of India in the world economy has been started by implementing liberalization and opened up most of the economic sectors to the global world in 1992. Looking historically at Indian car industry, it can be divided in four phase from the view point of Kim (2004). The starting point was in 1920s with assembly which was established by foreign companies. (General motor and Ford) It took two decades up to 1952 that Indian build up their domestic production firm. The governmental policy in auto sector is known as the main reason of no progress in productivity and technology in this sector for long period. (Kim, 2004) The third phase was started, after three decades, by making a join venture of Maruti Udyog -became nationalized in 1980- with the Suzuki motor company. According to this agreement a revolution had happened in Indian car industry. Increase the volume and standard was not just in auto makers but the change was occurred in the components industry as well. (Venkataramani, 1990) The main and last phase was started by Indian economic reform after 1992 under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank. As it was anticipated, deregulation of auto industry in 1993 and the expectation of market growth in India according to the population have attracted international auto makers to invest in India. According to the foreign existence it was a dramatically fell of domestic firms share in India. Investment of foreign car makers, which were mainly in the form of joint venture with domestic firms, caused there-restructuring in the Indians motor industry. Apart from promotion of new models with more stylish design, significant changes have happened in auto financing as well. Also numbers of component manufacturers invested in local firms to supply their assemblers. So Indian witnessed a fundamental change in the technology, infrastructure and managerial systems. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all expectations and anticipations about the fast economical growth after regulations in India and a positive view of auto makers about Indian market because of the sizable population of middle-class, the estimates about rising in demand did not turn to reality. Apart from the problems which multinationals generally face in new emerging countries such as undeveloped supplier base, weak infrastructure and undeveloped regulations (Kim, 2001), Indian environment seems more complicated for them. Although the population was far enough to support ten auto makers, the companies face with overcapacity. The lack of demand in both domestic and regional market has become the major problem for multinationals auto makers in India. In terms of export from India to the neighbour countries also, the multinational car makers have not achieved any remarkable result. However the main reason might be the economic situation and poverty of South Asian countries which limit the demand for passenger car, we should not ignore the political and economical relation of India with its neighbour. Despite the hopes after the South Asian Association for Region Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 and the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995, there was no significant growth observed in the South Asian trade relationship. Although the auto industry in India has not succeeded as it was anticipated, the auto component industry has occurred high progress in quality, technology and international standards. Now, in collaborate with foreign companies, they have become competitive in international markets and auto makers in India use their Indian suppliers to supply their other operation plant around the world. Moreover, Indian government regulations disable multinational to import completely build automobiles to India. However the Indian government did not define any limitation for on foreign ownership, instead 123 per cent tariff rates on import cars were forced multinationals to set up their assembly plant fully within India. And a high tariff on finished components also was another issue that multinationals prefer to find their supplier within domestic firms. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all mentioned problem in India, multinational car makers seems still have a positive view about the Indian market. The potential existing market is there, but the matter is that when it will become visible. Chinese auto industry Following the economical reform in China, the Chinese policy makers focused on auto industry as a symbolic sector which shows the industrial development within a country. The need for technology and knowledge caused them looking for foreign partner to provide the required technology by setting up assembly plant which also generate and improve numbers of domestic firms as the suppliers to support the main assembly plants. So, in the mid-1980 three main cities of China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai) established a joint-venture with foreign auto makers supported by central and local government. (Thun, 2004) Each local government aimed to improve the local supplier network by its JV, but the assembly plants were looking for the better quality and lower price. Therefore in contrast with the local government and despite of geographical advantages of supplying from local firms, assemblers were dependence on outside supplier and most of them imported 100 per cent of the components from outside unless they were forced by Chinese government to increase their required components from domestic firms. But even after the time assemblers shifted from outside supplier to domestic firms, the local government aim to improve their local network were failed as the JV sourced their parts from other regions. Therefore, as of 2003, just Shanghai could relay on their local auto sector and even though it did not meet the international standards, it became a dominant firm in Chinese auto market. (Thun, 2004) The Shanghai success was the result of well support and strategic plans of local government and Shanghai Automobile industry corporation (SAIC). In 1984, when the Shanghai established a joint-venture with Volkswagen (VW), non of local firms were able to supply the required component for the assembling plant and after two years their share increased by just 2.7 per cent. (Li, 1997) No significant achievement after two years caused Shanghai municipal government began to re-evaluate the problems within the sector and the capacity of individual firms to solve these problems. (Thun, 2004) Consequent of problem solving process, they discovered two necessity preconditions to facilitate improvement in domestic firms. The first one was a reorganization of the municipal bureaucracy responsible for auto sector oversight. They have set up an Automobile Industry Leading Small Group in order to control the local actors. (Li, 1997) The second precondition was the capital accumulation and investment. To solve this problem the local government defined a localization tax and set up the localization office which was responsible to carry out a straightforward import-substitution policy for the imports in auto sector even from other Chinese regions. Also, the localization office checked out the list of imported components and their domestic firms which are capable of produce them successfully, then it provided a suitable investment capital as well as managing the firms relationship with the main assembler plant. (Thun, 2004) Apart from the local government programs, SAIC had its own way to support the Shanghai auto sector, however in some areas their activities overlappe Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Corporate Strategy for Iranian Car Industry Abstract The purpose of this research is to come across an effective and implemental strategy for Iranian car industry to become an export player in the Middle-East region. With consideration the importance of market development for international auto makers, the Middle-East market is evaluated and Iran as a case study is looked over in terms of its potential automobile market and developing opportunities in Iranian car industry to become a manufacturing partner for international players. Through out a review of Iranian economy and the position of auto sector in Iran economy, the difficulties of growth and development, the role of government- as the regulator- are discussed briefly and the effect of international auto makers -in the past and future- is analyzed. On this basis, we point out the main troubles of the current auto industrys structure and the government dilemma to set its policies. At the end we suggest a reform in the structure and strategy of both assemblers and suppliers to ent er to the international markets. Keywords: Operation strategy; Iran auto industry; Globalization, Regionalization, Industry study Introduction Irans economic performance has begun to improve slowly after a decade of recession which was caused by the long and costly war with Iraq and fluctuations in oil prices. In the decade ending in 1998, GDPs growth per capitals started to rise, although the average was only 3 percent per year. (Economic reports, the World Bank Group) The automotive industry, as one of Irans most promising industries, was the countrys fastest growing industry with the average annual growth of 27.2% between 1995 and 2000 which was 5.5 times of the country average industrial growth. (Economic Focus, Iran Daily News). The domestic vehicle production is growing quickly but it is highly protected, and only in highly exceptional circumstances can Iranians import cars from abroad. Locally produced cars have a reputation for poor quality and have contributed to the dangerously high pollution levels. Also, Iranian firms were not able to satisfy the domestic market in terms of quantity. Demand for automobiles, particularly passenger vehicles, far exceeds the supply. In fact, more than 450,000 people pre-purchase automobiles every year and wait approximately two years to receive them. As a result the government, which wants to raise unit production and improve domestic industry in line with industrialization program, hopes to stimulate competition as part of the effect to make the economy less dependent on oil. In order to follow the market reform plans and provide better circumstances for the countrys main industries such as petrochemical industry, textile and etc, President Khatami (since August 1997- 2005) in 1999, announced an ambitious program to privatize several major industries which included auto industry as a part of total restructuring of Iranian economy. Currently 13 public and privately owned auto maker exist in Iran. The largest vehicle manufacturing company is Iran Khodro with an average share of 60.90% percent of domestic vehicle production, as the main government-controlled carmaker and Saipa is the second one with 32.70%. Subsequent to the development program, automakers have been encouraged to review the way in which their strategies will be developed in the future and to extend a range of strategy options that might enhance their position. Consequently, most Iranian auto makers have been encouraged to join ventures or any other strategic alliances with foreign auto manufacturers to meet the increasing demand (www.ikco.com). On the other hand, in looking at the automobile market generally, during the past few years, it might be observed that after a period of growth from 1997 to 2000 -resulting from the exceptional boom in US economy and the upturn in Europe-but the automobile market especially in North America and Europe has entered a consolidation phase because of overcapacity. The market is mature in developed countries such as those of Western European countries and US market where nearly 90% of sales of new vehicles are now accounted by replacement purchases. Also, in Far East-Japan and South Korea-, overcapacity is a highly sensitive problem (REINAUD, 2001), whereas in Middle-East region, vehicle out put is 6% of total global output in comparison with 29% in Europe and 30.2% in US (carmakers Annual report,*DRI). Thus, some auto manufacturers might be looking for new methods to penetrate the auto market in Middle-East in order to gain more market share over their competitors. If these companies do become partners, Iran will be an option to emerge as a major regional car manufacturer, serving the Middle East beside Other countries in the region, particularly Egypt and Turkey which have substantial car assembly arrangements. The following companies have signed cooperative agreements and their products are either already on the market or are to be introduced in the near future: Frances Peugeot with Iran Khodro. Koreas Kia Motors with Saipa. Frances Citroen with Saipa. Korean Daewoo and Kerman Motors. Optimus of the UK with Renus. Proton of Malaysia with Zagros According to the French automaker Peugeot, Iran has one car for every 21 people. Turkey has one for every 12, while Western European countries and Japan have nearly one car for every 2 people (www.peugeot.com). That indicates market growth potential, and the reason that foreign car manufacturer might be interested in the Iranian auto market. In this research the current auto industry situation in Iran will be analyzed and it will be evaluated in relation to its future strategy consequent upon growth in terms of output quality and ability to serve the domestic market, but also to play a major rule in region and become a truly international car manufacturer and exporter in Middle-East. To achieve a rich understanding of the current situation and examine the environmental position to meet the research objectives, other developing countries auto industry examples like China, India and Turkey will be investigated and analyzed as examples, while the regional circumstances, business environment and other specific characters of Irans economy e.g. the role of government , economic condition and Irans regulations will be considered to find out the most appropriate strategy for Iran car industry. The research question for the chosen topic is What would be the most effective strategy for Iranian car industry to become a major player in the Middle-East market? From this research question, the following objectives would be appropriate to evaluate: To evaluate existing methods of development strategy in the Iranian auto industry, To identify the best possible methods of development strategy for domestic and foreign companies, To recommend how such a strategy can be implemented. The background of the research is set with a brief discussion on the changes have happened in the world of auto industry, the consequent of globalization, the dynamic and diversity of demand in auto market and the auto makers difficulties to respond to new market characteristics while maintain the ability to make profit. Our goal in this paper is to propose an efficient strategy to . The paper has the following structure. Section 2 gives the brief literature review. Section 3 analyses the competitors in automobile Middle East market. Section 4 introduces the Iranian auto industry case. Section 5 presents the growth and development problems in Iranian auto industry. Finally, section 6 is devoted to conclusions and future works. The remainder of this paper is organised as follows. Section 2 summarises the development of Iranian production and exports in the car industry compared to other major exporters in the world. It also explains why Iranian export growth has remained much below production growth. Section 3 develops the empirical export model and describes the variables and data. Then, the model is estimated in Section 4. Estimation results are analysed and a sensitivity analysis is proposed. Section 5 estimates the Iranian export potential with regard to the main foreign markets, while Section 6 concludes. Literature review History of globalization Humans have coined the word Globalization to describe widely traded activities that take place across the continents which are aided immensely by diminishing international trading regulations negotiated through the World Trade Organisation. Globalization is a combination of many -manufacturing, trade in services, supply chain management activities which have been affected positively by a fast technological development in few last decades. As Friedman (1999) argues, what is new today is the degree and intensity with which the word is being tied together in to a signal globalized market place and village. What is also new is the sheer number of people and countries able to partake of today globalized economy and information network, and to be affected by them this new era of globalization is turbocharged. As it can be observed, that this noticeable international integration is not just in economics, but in politics and cultures are as well. However, it needs to be recognised that the speed of these changes and growth of integration is different across the world. In some countries and regions the trend of globalization is rapidly increasing while in other parts the pace is much slower and globalisation is not welcomed at all. Nevertheless, regardless of the effects of globalisation no country can afford to ignore its impact on their political and economical circumstances. Likewise, the rate of change is different in various industries as is the strategic response of different business sectors to take advantages of exploiting new business opportunities. Although the merchandise trade, capital investment and labour migration started from 1850-1914, and the economy was more open than it is today in terms of the existing tariffs and trade barriers, but it was not globalized. Just the year following the Second World War and through reconstruction of war, the world has started to establish institutions to open up trades and ensure currency stability such as GATT and IMF, which caused massive increase in the economic growth level. According to Dicken (2003), world trade increased at an average annual rate of 6.7 per cent between 1948 and 1953. Between 1958 and 1963 the rate rose to 7.4 per cent and between 1963 and 1968 it accelerated further to 8.6 per cent. So people experienced a boom period up to 1970s when the first oil crisis has occurred. The United States, which suffered less during the Second World War, increased its foreign investment and after a while the US companies started to move into Western European countries and create interdependencies across world markets. Europe and Japan which mainly focused on rebuilding their economies after the war joined in this and also expanded their positions in the market place and on the economic map after the mid-1980s. (Hill, 2005) Also, because of the necessity of promoting global interdependencies, the United Nations was established to maintain world peace and security and so help the spread of industrialisation and world trade. The main drivers of globalization Apart from the history of globalization there were several main drive points that enhanced the process of globalisation. From the Johnson and Turners (2003) point of view one of the main globalization drivers was the changing economic paradigm. The new approach for managing economy was based on limitation the government role and neo-liberalism. Limiting the role of government provides the situations for businesses to progress and boom. As the Hill (2005) says, major changes occur as new economic and political institutions develop, with movement from traditional, non competitive institutions to competition-based capitalistic economies and democratic institution. So the market was relied on to force the pace of competition. Little by little the liberal economy became an external economic policy and the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trades (GATT) set up to support this philosophy. As a result of GATT and afterwards its successor organization- WTO-, there was a great reduction in tari ffs barriers and non-tariffs barriers for participating countries which help them established and spread their liberal economic policy. The second globalization driver is the spread of international governance and regulation. More international rules and policies developed for business environment, especially in regional level aimed at reducing the barriers in economic market among GATT contracting and WTO members. Also spreading e-commerce as a technological consequent has brought new issues in terms of traditional governance structure. Therefore, by passing the time and more international integration, the trade and market regulation were less under the national states control. According to Johnson and Turners (2003) argument finance and capital spread is another driver of globalization. Necessity of financial and capital movement following the market deregulation and economic liberalization has supported by national rules and has facilitated by technological development and ease the financial transactions. All might agree that the technological development, mainly in information technology and communication sector, has played an important role in globalization. However none of them is the cause of globalization, Dicken (2003) argued, without these technologies the current complex global economy system could not exist. Shrinking time and space by innovated technologies was a great opportunity to reorganization and redefinition the commercial and economical structure. Most of industrial sectors are affected by innovations and changes in technologies especially in manufacturing system with a high influence on value chain. Transportation technology has changed dramatically from 1840 to 1960 which was a development period from steam locomotives to high speed aircraft. Therefore, new transportation systems and their wide usage with cheaper prices have brought global shrinkage. Also in communication and its convergence with computer technology development has facilitated more effective networ ks within and between enterprises. All of these technological conveniences provide links across borders and spread globalization in economic term. Social and cultural convergence might be seen as a driver for globalization. The effect of mass media and usage of internet make the consumer preference more common in global market. As Johnson and Turner (2003) mentioned, similar taste of consumer in different parts of the market creates the opportunity to promote global product. So we can claim that the cultural and social similarities make the conditions available for globalization. Also transferring new technologies has brought about more products in greater varieties at lower costs and prices. Consequently standards of living and peoples expectations rise as well. Mode of entry and expansion methods In simple terms, globalization is an opportunity for companies to expand their market, their value chain and their business across borders. But the point is how effective can companies use these opportunities to make more profit and enjoy sustainable growth. What factors should they consider to make decision to choose an investment option to carry on their development strategy? Global supply chain and its dimensions Apart from different modes of entry available for firms to get advantages from globalization and to move across borders to expand their market, other advantages may be gained through developing global supply chains. The production of any good or service can be conceived as a production chain that is, as a transactionally linked sequence of functions in which each stage adds value to the process of production of goods and services. (Dicken, 2003) The firms try to differentiate their value chain in order to add more competences by using the advantages of each production chain requirement in different part of the world. However, build a global value chain might make it fragmented while the control and management of a global network is more difficult. From Dickens point of view there are three important dimensions in production networks: First is governance which means how they are coordinated and regulated. In the case which varying combinations and interrelationships of different kind of companies and firms might perform in a production network, As Dicken says, the market is the main organizer of external transactions, in contrast with the case which the entire network operated with a single firm and internal organizational structure governs transactions. (Dicken, 2003) The second important dimension in production network is spatiality and how they are conFigured geographically. By increasing the emergence of global production network, network organizing is changing from geographically concentrated to geographically dispersed. The third issue is territorial embeddedness the extent to which they are connected in to particular bounded political, institutional and social setting. (Dicken, 2003) information technology and other new technologies have made space and distances meaningless. Most types of capitals are mobile and all of them can easily move from one place to another. However transportation and communication technology has developed as well, capital does moves within spaceless world. Place is still an important issue, as firms are highly affected by the cultural, socio-political and institutional context of the territorial they are embedded. Therefore multinational firms try to take advantages of differences within regulations and socials in various places while, bringing different state with different regimes in count within a production network makes the situation more complex to control and to take benefits from. Since 1999 and strongly growth of globalization, the same as other important and effective phenomena, globalization has a positive view wave that strongly recommend it and a negative wave against it which moves from developing country to developed countries during these years. Arguments about globalization success or failures do not have any satisfactory result, while globalization can be observe and discussed to understand both negative and positive sides of it. Growth of regionalism Although the speed of globalization and integration in the world market has increased during past decades under the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and more recently by World Trade Organization (WTO), the regional agreement and the debate on the desirability of regionalism has grown as well. By the beginning of twentieth century most of the counties were part of a regional integration. However one might argue that the reason of regional integration is more political than economic explanation, it can not be ignored any more as almost 50 per cent of all world trade is within regional trade agreement. As a result of that, there is fear within WTO and other international institutions that regionalism takes the place of globalization and make a stumbling block toward further global trade integration. (Lung Van Tulder, 2004) Nevertheless there are different forms of regional integration and each of them affects global market more or less while the time of their integration pr ocess is various. The dynamics of automobile market Although some changes had happened in the composition and geography of automobile demand, the concentration of automobile industry in three major global regions face auto companies in these regions with the overcapacity problem. The highly market-oriented of automobile production caused its development be based on affluent consumer markets to achieve the economy of scale. But during the years, the automobile consumer markets in three developed region has developed as well. As Dicken argued in the Global Shift (2003), the changing demand for Automobiles has three major characteristics: It is highly cyclical. There are long term (secular) changes in demand. There are signs of increasing market segmentation and fragmentation. ( Dicken, 2003) The competitors Despite the fact that NAFTA, EU and Japan are the main developed region in both production and trade in auto industry sector, other countries have started restructuring this sector in line with their economic reform. The obvious example might be China and India which both are gaining a sustainable growth in the last decade. Also Turkey has emerged as a new automobile producer in line with other industrial changes aim to become qualified to join European Union. Turkish auto industry Turkey auto industry has been developing due to the well strategic planning applied by the Turkey government by the way in which they opened their country to the global world. They have started their industry as a montage (CKD or SKD) in 1960 and have turned it to manufacturing part after a few years in 1966 trough licensing agreement and dealer-assembler with American and European firms. Gradually the government attempted to adapt an export-oriented strategy; consequently it started to liberalize the importation of cars gradually and reducing the tariffs. Meanwhile it provided some financial supports for upgrading themselves to international acceptable condition. But the main change which caused a revolution in Turkey car industry was the customs unionization agreement in 1995 with European Union which followed by a new restructuring in their auto industry. To harmonization the administrative and regulatory structure of the industry, Turkish government has established an accreditation council to prepare the documents for new adaptation the issues and procedures of exporting in line with European countries. However the Turkey supposed to complete the adaptation and remove all tariffs by 2001, they have not completed it yet and it seems the Turkeys auto industry has not well prepared for full liberalization. Although adaptation a new regime from Turkey government which obligate importing vehicle companies to prepare service facility and aftermarket parts for customers within a country was a great opportunity for domestic firms to become involved with providing spare parts and services. Even though it was not a stable macro environment after 1997-1998 Russian and Asian crisis and again December 2000 crisis, the restructuring program caused some investment in car companies in Turkey in order to support economy of scale and encourage them to developed more update types of automobiles. Turkish manufacturers have operated in two car segment; low medium and medium models and the produced cars have already been phased out in their country of origin, added that these segments account for 90 per cent of the Turkish market. (Duruiz, 2004) Governmental financial supports and investment on auto sectors attracted many foreign investors from 1995 onward, especially with aim to develop new generation cars and modernization the industry. Most of foreign car firms have gained relatively high share of the auto industry after liberalization to use the resources in Turkey and export to European countries through Turkey. Table 1 shows the main auto manufactures in Turkey and their share. As the effect of custom utilization agreement, the automotive sector had the 5th place in Turkey exporting in 2000, but the main effect has happened in component sector and it has increased relatively higher then auto sector export. It was also easier for component producer to upgrade their standard of their firms to get a competitive position in EU base on their lower labour wages. (Duruiz, 2004) Nevertheless Turkey has accepted liberalization in their trade but as they have not done the full integration, their case has become special. Mostly the Turkeys future economy highly depends on the European Union decision to accept it or not as a member of European Union which lead to change their economic structure with the support from the IMF and European Union. Indian auto industry Emerging of India in the world economy has been started by implementing liberalization and opened up most of the economic sectors to the global world in 1992. Looking historically at Indian car industry, it can be divided in four phase from the view point of Kim (2004). The starting point was in 1920s with assembly which was established by foreign companies. (General motor and Ford) It took two decades up to 1952 that Indian build up their domestic production firm. The governmental policy in auto sector is known as the main reason of no progress in productivity and technology in this sector for long period. (Kim, 2004) The third phase was started, after three decades, by making a join venture of Maruti Udyog -became nationalized in 1980- with the Suzuki motor company. According to this agreement a revolution had happened in Indian car industry. Increase the volume and standard was not just in auto makers but the change was occurred in the components industry as well. (Venkataramani, 1990) The main and last phase was started by Indian economic reform after 1992 under the guidance of the IMF and World Bank. As it was anticipated, deregulation of auto industry in 1993 and the expectation of market growth in India according to the population have attracted international auto makers to invest in India. According to the foreign existence it was a dramatically fell of domestic firms share in India. Investment of foreign car makers, which were mainly in the form of joint venture with domestic firms, caused there-restructuring in the Indians motor industry. Apart from promotion of new models with more stylish design, significant changes have happened in auto financing as well. Also numbers of component manufacturers invested in local firms to supply their assemblers. So Indian witnessed a fundamental change in the technology, infrastructure and managerial systems. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all expectations and anticipations about the fast economical growth after regulations in India and a positive view of auto makers about Indian market because of the sizable population of middle-class, the estimates about rising in demand did not turn to reality. Apart from the problems which multinationals generally face in new emerging countries such as undeveloped supplier base, weak infrastructure and undeveloped regulations (Kim, 2001), Indian environment seems more complicated for them. Although the population was far enough to support ten auto makers, the companies face with overcapacity. The lack of demand in both domestic and regional market has become the major problem for multinationals auto makers in India. In terms of export from India to the neighbour countries also, the multinational car makers have not achieved any remarkable result. However the main reason might be the economic situation and poverty of South Asian countries which limit the demand for passenger car, we should not ignore the political and economical relation of India with its neighbour. Despite the hopes after the South Asian Association for Region Cooperation (SAARC) in 1985 and the South Asian Preferential Trading Agreement (SAPTA) in 1995, there was no significant growth observed in the South Asian trade relationship. Although the auto industry in India has not succeeded as it was anticipated, the auto component industry has occurred high progress in quality, technology and international standards. Now, in collaborate with foreign companies, they have become competitive in international markets and auto makers in India use their Indian suppliers to supply their other operation plant around the world. Moreover, Indian government regulations disable multinational to import completely build automobiles to India. However the Indian government did not define any limitation for on foreign ownership, instead 123 per cent tariff rates on import cars were forced multinationals to set up their assembly plant fully within India. And a high tariff on finished components also was another issue that multinationals prefer to find their supplier within domestic firms. (Kim, 2004) Despite of all mentioned problem in India, multinational car makers seems still have a positive view about the Indian market. The potential existing market is there, but the matter is that when it will become visible. Chinese auto industry Following the economical reform in China, the Chinese policy makers focused on auto industry as a symbolic sector which shows the industrial development within a country. The need for technology and knowledge caused them looking for foreign partner to provide the required technology by setting up assembly plant which also generate and improve numbers of domestic firms as the suppliers to support the main assembly plants. So, in the mid-1980 three main cities of China (Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai) established a joint-venture with foreign auto makers supported by central and local government. (Thun, 2004) Each local government aimed to improve the local supplier network by its JV, but the assembly plants were looking for the better quality and lower price. Therefore in contrast with the local government and despite of geographical advantages of supplying from local firms, assemblers were dependence on outside supplier and most of them imported 100 per cent of the components from outside unless they were forced by Chinese government to increase their required components from domestic firms. But even after the time assemblers shifted from outside supplier to domestic firms, the local government aim to improve their local network were failed as the JV sourced their parts from other regions. Therefore, as of 2003, just Shanghai could relay on their local auto sector and even though it did not meet the international standards, it became a dominant firm in Chinese auto market. (Thun, 2004) The Shanghai success was the result of well support and strategic plans of local government and Shanghai Automobile industry corporation (SAIC). In 1984, when the Shanghai established a joint-venture with Volkswagen (VW), non of local firms were able to supply the required component for the assembling plant and after two years their share increased by just 2.7 per cent. (Li, 1997) No significant achievement after two years caused Shanghai municipal government began to re-evaluate the problems within the sector and the capacity of individual firms to solve these problems. (Thun, 2004) Consequent of problem solving process, they discovered two necessity preconditions to facilitate improvement in domestic firms. The first one was a reorganization of the municipal bureaucracy responsible for auto sector oversight. They have set up an Automobile Industry Leading Small Group in order to control the local actors. (Li, 1997) The second precondition was the capital accumulation and investment. To solve this problem the local government defined a localization tax and set up the localization office which was responsible to carry out a straightforward import-substitution policy for the imports in auto sector even from other Chinese regions. Also, the localization office checked out the list of imported components and their domestic firms which are capable of produce them successfully, then it provided a suitable investment capital as well as managing the firms relationship with the main assembler plant. (Thun, 2004) Apart from the local government programs, SAIC had its own way to support the Shanghai auto sector, however in some areas their activities overlappe

New and Improved? : The processes of globalisation on spiritual practic

New and Improved? : The processes of globalisation on spiritual practices; illustrated by the global spread of Reiki. The processes of globalisation create an open market place for trade, but globalisation is also an exchange of cultures, of ideas and practices. Spiritual practices and rituals are one of the ways in which a culture reproduces itself and as such, is subject to hegemonic forces which act to alter the existing form. It has been said that Globalisation may be regarded as a threat to regionalized spiritual practices because there is a tendency to standardise them in an Americanised form, which is primarily Christian. One of the under explored aspects of the Internet is the cultural effects created by the exchange of spiritual ideas and practices online. As more people gain access to the World Wide Web, the diversity of spiritual information available increases exponentially. Exotic cultural practices, once only available to the privileged few who could afford to travel to exotic locations, is now available to millions of people across the globe, at the touch of a button. Gone are the days when spiritual practices are linked to a specific geographical area, with religions linked intimately to the histories and cultures of respective nations and ethnic groups. Spiritual rituals are undergoing a deterritorialisation, aided by new media. It has been suggested that the activities of individual religious groups will be increasingly characteristic of free competition on a global scale. Religion has always been a globalising phenomenon, with missionaries and pilgrims travelling to spread their version of the ‘Word’ to the unenlightened. According to Peter Beyer, â€Å"In the context of globalisation, all religions are increasingly under pressure to see themselves as universal in principle, whether historically they have or not.† Religions that have travelled across the globe have been spread, throughout history, by a network of the ‘Faithful’ leaving their home community, forming new communities as they travel, preaching and teaching their messages and rituals to their converts. Now these networks may be built and maintained electronically. As the printing press made the bible and religious texts available to the masses rather than just the clergy, so the Internet has given people the means to access spiritual information from other cultures and regions... ...pick=67 accessed 10/1/05 BEY, Hakim, The Information War, http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=64 accessed 10/1/05 http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=82 accessed 10/1/05 http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/globalizationtechnopolitics.pdf accessed 10/1/05 http://www.mbay.net/~jmejia/book063.htm accessed 10/1/05 http://www.reikihealingpower.com/learn_reiki.htm accessed 10/1/05 INOUE, Nobutaka, 1997, 2001 The Information Age and the Globalization of Religion, http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/global/06inoue2.html accessed 10/1/05 MILUTIS, Joe, Making the World Safe for Fashionable Philosophy! http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=390 accessed 10/1/05 ROBERTSON, Roland, Comments on the "Global Triad" and "Glocalization" http://www2.kokugakuin.ac.jp/ijcc/wp/global/15robertson.html accessed 9/1/05 SHIELDS, Rob, The Virtual, London and New York: Routledge, 2003, Reviewed by KELLNER, D., and Thomas, A. http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/reviewthevirtual.pdf accessed 23/12/04 THIEME, Richard, Entering Sacred Digital Space: Seeking to Distinguish the Dreamer and the Dream, http://www.thiemeworks.com/ accessed 23/12/04

Succubus Blues CHAPTER 9

Returning to Queen Anne, I discovered I still had a lot of evening left. Unfortunately, I had nothing to do. A succubus without a social life. Very sad. It was made sadder still by the fact that I could have had any number of things to do but had dropped the ball on them. Certainly Doug had asked me out often enough; no doubt he was now enjoying his day off with a more appreciative woman. Roman I had also turned down, beautiful eyes and all. I smiled wistfully, remembering his easy banter and quick, bright charm. He could have been O'Neill, made flesh from Seth's novels. Thinking of Seth reminded me he still had my book and that I was going on Day 3 without it. I sighed, wanting to know what would happen next, to be lost in the pages of Cady and O'Neill. Now that would have been a way to spend the evening. The bastard. He'd never bring it back. I'd never find out what – With a groan, I suddenly wanted to smack my forehead for my own stupidity. Did I or did I not work for a large bookstore? After parking my car, I walked over to Emerald City and found the massive display of The Glasgow Pact that was still up from the signing. I grabbed a copy and carried it to the front counter. Beth, one of the cashiers, was momentarily free. â€Å"Will you demagnetize this for me?† I asked her, sliding the book over the counter. â€Å"Sure,† she said, running it across the pad. â€Å"Are you using your discount on it?† I shook my head. â€Å"I'm not buying it. I'm just borrowing it.† â€Å"Can you do that?† She passed the book back to me. â€Å"Sure,† I lied. â€Å"Managers can.† Minutes later, I showed my prize to an unimpressed Aubrey and turned on the water in my bathtub. While it filled, I checked my messages – none – and sorted through the mail I'd picked up on the way in. Nothing interesting there either. Satisfied nothing else required my attention, I stepped out of my clothes and sank into the watery depths of the tub, careful not to get the book wet. Aubrey, crouching on a nearby counter, watched me with squinty eyes, apparently pondering why anyone would willingly immerse themselves in water ever, let alone for extended periods of time. I figured I could read more than five pages tonight since I'd been deprived for the last couple of days. When I finished the fifteenth, I discovered I was three pages from the next chapter. Might as well end with a clean break. After I was done, I sighed and leaned back, feeling decadent and spent. Pure bliss. Books were a lot less messy than orgasms. The next morning, I went to work, happy and refreshed. Paige found me around lunchtime as I sat on the edge of my desk and watched Doug play Mine Sweeper. Seeing her, I leapt from my position while he hastily closed down the game. Paige ignored him, fixing her eyes on me. â€Å"I want you to do something with Seth Mortensen.† Uneasily, I remembered the love slave comment. â€Å"Like what?† â€Å"I don't know.† She gave a small, unconcerned shrug of the head. â€Å"Anything. He's new to town. He doesn't know anyone yet, so his social life is probably dismal.† Recalling his cold reception yesterday and conversational difficulties, I wasn't exactly surprised by this news. â€Å"I took him on a tour.† â€Å"It's not the same.† â€Å"What about his brother?† â€Å"What about him?† â€Å"I'm sure they're doing social things all the time.† â€Å"Why are you fighting this? I thought you were a fan.† I was a fan – a major one – but reading his work and interacting with him were proving to be two very different things. The Glasgow Pact was amazing, as was the e-mail he'd sent. Spoken conversation was a bit†¦ lacking. I couldn't tell Paige this, of course, so she and I went back and forth a bit on the issue while Doug looked on with interest. Finally, I agreed against my better judgment, dreading the prospect of even proposing the venture to Seth, let alone embarking upon it. When I finally made myself approach him later in the day, I was fully braced for another brush-off. Instead, he turned from his work and smiled at me. â€Å"Hey,† he said. His mood seemed so improved that I decided yesterday must have been a fluke. â€Å"Hey. How's it going?† â€Å"Not so well.† He tapped the laptop's screen lightly with his fingernail, eyes frowning as he focused on it. â€Å"They're being a bit difficult. I just can't quite get the grip I need on this one scene.† Interest swept me. Bad days with Cady and O'Neill. I had always imagined interacting with such characters must be a nonstop thrill. The ultimate job. â€Å"Sounds like you need a break then. Paige is worried about your social life.† His brown eyes glanced back to me. â€Å"Oh? How so?† â€Å"She thinks you aren't getting out enough. That you don't know anyone in town yet.† â€Å"I know my brother and his family. And Mistee.† He paused. â€Å"And I know you.† â€Å"Good thing, because I'm about to become your cruise director. â€Å" Seth's lips quirked slightly, then he shook his head and looked back at the screen. â€Å"That's really nice – of you and Paige both – but not necessary.† He wasn't dismissing me as he had yesterday, but I still felt miffed that my generous deal was not being embraced, especially since I was offering it under duress. â€Å"Come on,† I said. â€Å"What else are you going to do?† â€Å"Write.† I couldn't argue with that. Writing those novels was God's Own Work. Who was I to interfere with their creator? And yet†¦ Paige had given a directive. That was nearly a divine commandment in itself. A compromise popped into my head. â€Å"You could do something, I don't know, research-related. For the book. Two birds with one stone.† â€Å"I've already got all the research I need for this one.† â€Å"What about, uh, ongoing character development? Like†¦ going to the planetarium.† Cady had a fascination with astronomy. She would often point out constellations and link them to some symbolic story analogous to the novel's plot. â€Å"Or†¦ or†¦ a hockey game? You need fresh ideas for O'Neill's games. You'll run out.† He shook his head. â€Å"No I won't. I've never even been to a hockey game to begin with.† â€Å"I – what? That's†¦ no. Really?† He shrugged. â€Å"Where†¦ do you get the game info from then? The plays?† â€Å"I know the basic rules. I pick up pieces on the Internet, patch it together.† I stared, feeling betrayed. O'Neill was absolutely obsessed with the Detroit Red Wings. That passion shaped his personality and was reflected in his actions: fast, skilled, and at times brutal. Believing Seth to be meticulous about every detail, I had naturally assumed he must know everything about hockey to have written such a defining trait into his protagonist. Seth watched me, confused by whatever stunned look I wore. â€Å"We're going to a hockey game,† I stated. â€Å"No, we – â€Å" â€Å"We are going to a hockey game. Hang on a sec.† I ran back downstairs, kicked Doug off our computer, and got the information I needed. It was just as I'd suspected. The Thunderbirds' season had just started. â€Å"Six-thirty,† I told Seth, minutes later. â€Å"Meet me at Key Arena, at the main window. I'll buy the tickets.† He looked dubious. â€Å"Six-thirty,† I repeated. â€Å"This'll be great. It'll give you a break and let you actually see what the game's like. Besides, you said you were blocked today.† Not only that, it would fulfill my obligation to Paige in a way that didn't require much talking. The stadium would be too loud, and we'd be too busy watching to need conversation. â€Å"I don't know where Key Arena is.† â€Å"You can walk to it from here. Just keep heading for the Space Needle. They're both part of the Seattle Center.† â€Å"So when are you meeting me?† There was a warning note in my voice, daring him to cross me. He grimaced. â€Å"Six-thirty.† After work, I set off to run my own errands. I had nothing new to work on with the vampire hunter enigma until Erik got back to me. Unfortunately, the mundane world still had its own share of requirements, and I spent most of my evening taking care of miscellany. Like restocking my supply of cat food, coffee, and Grey Goose. And checking out the new line of lip glosses at the MAC counter. I even remembered to pick up a cheap, assemble-it-yourself bookshelf for the fire-hazard stacks of books in my living room. My productivity knew no bounds. For dinner, I grabbed Indian food and managed to land at Key Arena precisely at six-thirty. I didn't see Seth anywhere but didn't panic just yet. The Seattle Center was not easy to navigate; he was probably still wandering around the Needle, trying to make his way over here. I bought the tickets and sat down on one of the large cement steps. The air had turned chilly tonight, and I snuggled into my heavy fleece pullover, shape-shifting it a bit thicker. While waiting, I people-watched. Couples, groups of guys, and excited children were all turning out for Seattle's fierce little team. They made for interesting viewing. When six-fifty rolled around, I started getting nervous. We had ten more minutes, and I worried Seth might have gotten seriously lost. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed the store, wondering if he was there. Nope, they told me, but Paige did have his cell number. I tried it next, only to get voice mail. Annoyed, I snapped my phone shut and huddled farther into my own embrace to stay warm. We still had time. Besides, Seth not being at the store was a good thing. It meant he was on his way. Yet, when seven and the start of the game arrived, he still wasn't there. I tried his cell again, then looked longingly at the doors. I wanted to see the beginning of the game. Seth might never have watched hockey, but I had and liked it. The continual movement and energy held my attention more than any other sport, even if the fights sometimes made me squirm. I didn't want to miss this, but I'd also hate for Seth to walk up and not know what to do when I wasn't where I said I'd be. I waited fifteen more minutes, listening to the sounds of the game echoing toward me, before I finally faced the truth. I had been stood up. Such a thing was unheard of. It hadn't happened in†¦ over a century. I felt more stunned than embarrassed or angry by the revelation. The whole thing was just too weird to fathom. No, I decided a moment later, I was mistaken. Seth had been reluctant, yes, but he wouldn't just refuse to come, not without calling. And maybe†¦ maybe something bad had happened. He could have been hit by a car for all I knew. After Duane's death, one could never predict when tragedy might hit. Yet, until I had more information, the only tragedy I faced now was missing the game. I called his cell again, this time leaving him a message with my number and whereabouts. I would come outside and retrieve him if needed. I went into the game. Sitting alone made me feel conspicuous, driving home the sadness of my situation. Other couples sat nearby, and a group of guys kept eyeing me, occasionally nudging one of their number who wanted to come talk to me. Being hit on didn't faze me, but looking like I needed it did. I might choose not to date, but that didn't mean I couldn't do it when I wanted. I didn't like others perceiving me as desperate and alone. I felt that way enough sometimes without outside confirmation. At the first break, I bought a corndog to console myself. While sifting through my purse for cash, I found the slip of paper with Roman's phone number. I stared at it while I ate, remembering his persistence and how bad I'd felt refusing him. My sudden painful abandonment fired the need to hang out with someone, to remind myself I really could have social contact when I wanted. Common sense froze me briefly as I was about to dial, cautioning that I would be breaking my decades-long vow of not dating nice guys. There were more prudent ways to deal with an unused hockey ticket, that reasonable inner voice reminded me. Like Hugh or the vampires. Calling one of them would provide a safer interaction. But†¦ but they treated me like a sister, and while I loved them like family too, I didn't want to be a sister just now. And anyway, it wasn't like this was even a real date. This would be a simple matter of companionship. Plus, the same precautions it had provided for Seth – lack of interaction – applied for Roman too. It would be perfectly safe. I dialed the number. â€Å"Hello?† â€Å"I'm tired of holding on to your coat.† I could hear his smile on the other end. â€Å"I figured you'd thrown it away by now.† â€Å"Are you crazy? It's a Kenneth Cole. Anyway, that's not really why I called.† â€Å"Yeah, I figured.† â€Å"Do you want to come to a hockey game tonight?† â€Å"When does it start?† â€Å"Um, forty minutes ago.† A Seth-worthy pause. â€Å"So, you just now thought to invite me?† â€Å"Well†¦ the person I was going with didn't exactly show up.† â€Å"And now you call me?† â€Å"Well, you were so adamant about going out.† â€Å"Yes, but I'm†¦ wait a minute. I'm your second choice?† â€Å"Don't think of it like that. Think of it as more like, I don't know, you're stepping up to fulfill what someone else couldn't.† â€Å"Like the Miss America runner-up?† â€Å"Look, are you coming or not?† â€Å"Very tempting, but I'm busy right now. And I'm not just saying that either.† Another pause. â€Å"I'll stop by your place after the game, though.† No, that wasn't how this was supposed to play out. â€Å"I'm busy after the game.† â€Å"What, you and your no-show have other plans?† â€Å"I†¦ no. I have to†¦ put together a bookcase. It's going to take a while. Hard work, you know?† â€Å"I excel at that handy-type stuff. I'll see you in a couple hours.† â€Å"Wait, you can't – † The phone disconnected. I closed my eyes in a moment of exasperation, opened them, then returned to the action on the ice. What had I just done? After the game, I skulked back home. The elation of winning couldn't overpower the anxiety of having Roman in my apartment. â€Å"Aubrey,† I said upon entering, â€Å"what am I going to do?† She yawned, revealing her tiny, domestic-sized fangs. I shook my head at her. â€Å"I can't hide under the bed like you. He won't fall for it.† Both of us jumped at the sudden knock at the door. For half a second, I did consider the bed before deigning to let Roman in. Aubrey studied him a moment, then – apparently being too overwhelmed at the sight of a sex god in our midst – darted off for my bedroom. Roman, casually dressed, stood bearing a six-pack of Mountain Dew and two bags of Doritos. And a box of cereal. â€Å"Lucky Charms?† I asked. â€Å"Magically delicious,† he explained. â€Å"Requisite for any sort of building project.† I shook my head, still amazed at how he had managed to weasel his way over here. â€Å"This isn't a date.† He cut me a scandalized look. â€Å"Obviously. I'd bring Count Chocula for that.† â€Å"I'm serious. Not a date,† I maintained. â€Å"Yeah, yeah. I get it.† He set the stuff on the counter and turned to me. â€Å"So, where is it? Let's get this started.† I exhaled, uneasily relieved by his matter-of-fact manner. No flirtation, no overt come-ons. Just honest, friendly helpfulness. I'd get the shelf built, and then he'd be gone. We tore into the huge box, dumping out loose shelves and panels, as well as an assortment of bolts and screws. The directions were short on words, mostly containing some cryptic diagrams with arrows pointing to where certain parts went. After minutes of scrutiny, we finally decided the large backboard was the place to start, laying it flat on the floor with the shelves and walls placed on top. Once everything was properly aligned, Roman picked up the screws, studying where they joined the various parts together. He examined the screws, looked at the box, then turned back to the shelf. â€Å"That's weird.† â€Å"What is?† â€Å"I think†¦ most of these things usually have holes in the wood, then they include a little tool to put the screws in.† I leaned over the wood. No premade holes. No tools. â€Å"We've got to screw these in ourselves.† He nodded. â€Å"I've got a screwdriver†¦ somewhere.† He eyed the wood. â€Å"I don't think that'll work. I think we need a drill.† I felt awed at his hardware prowess. â€Å"I know I don't have that.† We hightailed it over to a big chain home store, walking in ten minutes before they closed. A harried salesclerk showed us to the drill section, then sprinted off, calling back a warning that we didn't have much time. The power tools stared back at us, and I looked to Roman for guidance. â€Å"Not a clue,† he finally admitted after a span of silence. â€Å"I thought you excelled at this ‘handy-type stuff.' â€Å" â€Å"Yeah†¦ well†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He turned sheepish, a new look for him. â€Å"That was kind of an exaggeration.† â€Å"Like a lie?† â€Å"No. Like an exaggeration.† â€Å"They're the same.† â€Å"No they aren't.† I let the semantics go. â€Å"Why'd you say it then?† He gave a rueful headshake. â€Å"Partially because I just wanted to see you again. And the rest†¦ I don't know. I guess the short answer is you said you had something hard to do. So I wanted to help.† â€Å"I'm a damsel in distress?† I teased. He studied me seriously. â€Å"Hardly. But you are someone I'd like to get to know better, and I wanted you to see I've got more on my mind than just getting you into bed.† â€Å"So if I offered you sex here in this aisle, you'd turn me down?† The flippant remark came off my tongue before I could stop it. It was a defense mechanism, a joke to cover up how confused his earnest explanation had made me. Most guys did just want to get me into bed. I wasn't quite sure what to do with one who didn't. My glibness succeeded in killing the pensive moment. Roman became his old confident and charming self, and I almost regretted the change I'd wrought, wondering what might have followed. â€Å"I'd have to turn you down. We've only got six minutes now. They'd kick us out before it was done.† He snapped his attention to the drills with renewed vigor. â€Å"And as for my so-called handy skills,† he added, â€Å"I'm a remarkably fast learner, so I wasn't really exaggerating. By the end of the night, I will excel.† Not true. After arbitrarily picking out a drill and coming home, Roman set himself to aligning the bookcase's pieces and putting them together. He fit one of the shelves to the backboard, lined up his screw, and drilled. The drill went through at an angle, missing the shelf entirely. â€Å"Son of a bitch,† he swore. I moved in and yelped when I saw the screw sticking through the back of my bookshelf. We took it out and stared bleakly at the conspicuous hole left behind. â€Å"Probably it'll be covered by books,† I suggested. He set his mouth in a grim line and attempted the same feat again. The screw made contact this time but was still at an obvious angle. He pulled it out again, finally inserting it correctly on his third try. Unfortunately, the process only repeated as he continued. Watching hole after hole appear, I finally asked if I could try. He waved his hand in a defeatist gesture and handed me the drill. I fitted in a screw, leaned over, and drilled it in perfectly in my first attempt. â€Å"Jesus,† he said. â€Å"I'm completely superfluous. I'm the damsel in distress.† â€Å"No way. You brought the cereal.† I finished attaching the shelves. The walls came next. The backboard had small hash marks to help with alignment. With careful scrutiny, I tried to line it up cleanly along the edges. It proved impossible, and I soon realized why. Despite my perfect drilling, all of the shelves were affixed crookedly, some too far to the left or right. The walls could not fit flush with the backboard's edges. Roman sat back against my couch, running a hand over his eyes. â€Å"My God.† I munched on a handful of Lucky Charms and considered. â€Å"Well. Let's just line them up as best we can.† â€Å"This thing'll never hold books.† â€Å"Yeah. We'll do what we can.† We tried it with the first wall, and though it took a while and looked terrible, it sufficed as serviceable. We moved on to the next one. â€Å"I think I finally have to admit I'm not so good at this,† he observed. â€Å"But you seem to have kind of a knack. A regular handywoman.† â€Å"I don't know about that. I think the only thing I have a knack for is barely scraping by with things I have to do.† â€Å"That was a world-weary tone if ever I heard one. Why? You got a lot of things you ‘have to do'?† I nearly choked on my laugh, thinking about the whole succubus survival scene. â€Å"You might say that. I mean, doesn't everyone?† â€Å"Yes, of course, but you've got to balance them with things you want to do. Don't get bogged down with the have- to's. Otherwise, there's no point in being alive. Life becomes a matter of survival.† I finished a screw. â€Å"You're getting kind of deep for me tonight, Descartes.† â€Å"Don't be cute. I'm serious. What do you really want? From life? For your future? For example, do you plan on being at the bookstore forever?† â€Å"For a while. Why? Are you saying there's something wrong with that?† â€Å"No. Just seems kind of mundane. Like a way to fill the time.† I smiled. â€Å"No, definitely not. And even if it was, we can still enjoy mundane things.† â€Å"Yes, but I've found most people harbor dreams of a more exciting vocation. The one that's too crazy to ever actually do. The one that's too hard, too much work, or just too ‘out there.' The gas station attendant who dreams of being a rock star. The accountant who wishes she'd taken art history classes instead of statistics. People put their dreams off, either because they think it's impossible, or because they'll do it ‘someday' â€Å" He had paused from our work, his face serious once more. â€Å"So what do you want, Georgina Kincaid? What is your crazy dream? The one you think you can't have but secretly fantasize about?† Honestly, my deepest longing was to have a normal relationship, to love and be loved without supernatural complications. Such a small thing, I thought sadly, compared to his grandiose examples. Not crazy at all, just impossible. I didn't know if I wanted love now as a way of making up for the mortal marriage I'd destroyed or simply because the years had shown me that love could be a bit more fulfilling than being a continual servant of the flesh. Not that that didn't have its moments, of course. Being wanted and adored was an alluring thing, a thing most mortals and immortals craved. But loving and longing were not the same things. Relationships with other immortals seemed a logical choice, but employees of hell proved nonideal candidates for stability and commitment. I'd had a few semisatisfying relationships with such men over the years, but they'd all come to nothing. Explaining any of this, however, was not a conversation Roman and I were going to have anytime soon. So instead, I confessed my secondary fantasy, half-surprised at how much I wanted to. People didn't usually ask me what I wanted from life. Most just asked me what position I wanted to do it in. â€Å"Well, if I weren't at the bookstore – and believe me, I'm very happy there – I think I'd like to choreograph Vegas dance shows.† Roman's face split into a grin. â€Å"There, you see that? That's the kind of wacky, off-the-wall thing I'm talking about.† He leaned forward. â€Å"So what holds you back from bare breasts and sequins? Risk? Sensationalism? What others will say?† â€Å"No,† I said sadly. â€Å"Simply the fact that I can't do it.† † ‘Can't' is a – â€Å" â€Å"I mean, I can't choreograph because I can't write routines. I've tried. I can't†¦ I can't create anything, for that matter. Anything new. I'm not the creative type.† He scoffed. â€Å"I don't believe that.† â€Å"No, it's true.† Someone had once told me that immortals were not meant to create, that that was the province of humans who burned to leave behind a legacy after their short existence. But I'd known immortals who could do it. Peter was always concocting his original culinary surprises. Hugh used the human body as a canvas. But me? I had never been able to do it as a mortal either. The lack was in me. â€Å"You don't know how hard I've tried to do creative things. Painting classes. Music lessons. I'm a dismal failure at worst, a copycat of another's genius at best.† â€Å"You've been pretty adept with this building project.† â€Å"Another person's design, another person's directions. I excel at that part. I'm smart. I can reason. I can read people, interact with them perfectly. I can copy things, learn the right moves and steps. My eyes, for example.† I pointed to them. â€Å"I can apply makeup as well or better than any of the department store girls. But I get all my ideas and palettes from others, from pictures in magazines. I don't make up anything of my own. The Vegas thing? I could dance in a show and be perfect. Seriously. I could be the star of any revue – following another's choreography. But I couldn't write any moves myself, not in any major or significant way.† The wall was done. â€Å"I don't believe it,† he argued. His passionate defense both surprised and charmed me. â€Å"You're bright and vivacious. You're intelligent – extremely so. You have to give yourself a chance. Start small, and go from there.† â€Å"Is this the part where you tell me to believe in myself? The sky is the limit?† â€Å"No. This is the part where I tell you it's getting late, and I need to go. Your shelf is finished, and I have had a lovely evening.† We stood up and lifted the bookcase, leaning it against my living room wall. Stepping back, we studied it in silence. Even Aubrey appeared for the inspection. Each shelf sat at a crooked angle. One of the sidewalls almost lined up straight with the backboard's edge, the other had a quarter-inch margin. Six holes were visible in the backboard. And most inexplicably of all, the whole thing seemed to lean slightly to the left. I started laughing. And I couldn't stop. After a moment of shock, Roman joined me. â€Å"Dear Lord,† I said finally, wiping tears away. â€Å"That's the most horrible thing I've ever seen.† Roman opened his mouth in disagreement, then reconsidered. â€Å"It just might be.† He saluted. â€Å"But I think it'll hold, Captain.† We made a few more mirthful comments before I walked him to the door, remembering to give him his coat back. In spite of his jokes, he seemed more genuinely disappointed about our shelf failure than I did, like he had let me down. Somehow, I found this more appealing than his perfectly timed lines or charming bravado. Not that I didn't love those too. I studied him as we said goodbye, thinking about his â€Å"chivalry† and passionate belief in me following my heart's desire. The lump of fear I always carried around people I liked softened a little. â€Å"Hey, you never told me your crazy dream.† The aqua eyes crinkled. â€Å"Not so crazy. Just still trying to score that date with you.† Not so crazy.Just like mine. Companionship over fame and glamour. I took the plunge. â€Å"Well, then†¦ what are you doing tomorrow?† He brightened. â€Å"Nothing yet.† â€Å"Then come by the bookstore just before closing. I'm giving a dance lesson.† The dance lesson would have lots of people. It would be a safe compromise for us. That smile faltered only slightly. â€Å"A dance lesson?† â€Å"You have a problem with that? Are you changing your mind about going out?† â€Å"Well, no, but†¦ is it like the Vegas thing? You covered in rhinestones? Because I could probably get into that.† â€Å"Not exactly.† He shrugged, the charisma on high-beam. â€Å"Well. We'll save that for the second date.† â€Å"No. There's no second date, remember? Just the one, then that's it. We don't see each other anymore. You said so. Super-secret Boy Scout†¦ whatever.† â€Å"That might have been an exaggeration.† â€Å"No. That would be a lie.† â€Å"Ah.† He winked at me. â€Å"I guess those two aren't the same then after all, eh?† â€Å"I – † My words halted at the logic. He gave me one of his roguish bows before sweeping away. â€Å"Farewell, Georgina.† I went back inside, hoping I hadn't just made a mistake, and found Aubrey sitting on one of my shelves. â€Å"Whoa, be careful,† I warned. â€Å"I don't think that's structurally sound.† Although it was late, I didn't feel tired. Not after this wacky evening with Roman. I felt wired, his presence affecting both my body and mind. Inspired, I shooed Aubrey off the bookcase and started transferring my stacks. With each new weight addition, I expected collapse, but the thing held. When I got to my Seth Mortensen books, I suddenly remembered the cataclysm that had sparked this whole evening. Anger kindled in me once more. I'd heard nary a word from the writer the entire time. The getting-hit-by-a-car thing might still be a possibility, but my instincts doubted it. He had stood me up. Half of me considered kicking his books in retaliation, but I knew I could never do that. I loved them too much. No need to punish them for their creator's shortcomings. Longingly, I picked up The Glasgow Pact, suddenly anxious to read my next five-page installment. I left the rest of my books unshelved and settled on the couch, Aubrey at my feet. When I reached the stopping point, I discovered something incredible. Cady was developing a love interest in this one. It was unheard of. O'Neill, ever the charming ladies' man, got around all the time. Cady remained virtuously pure, no matter the number of sexual innuendoes and jokes she traded across the table with O'Neill. Nothing tangible had happened thus far in the book, but I could read the inevitable signs of what was to come with her and this investigator they'd met in Glasgow. I kept reading, unable to leave that plotline hanging. And the farther I read, the harder it was to stop. I soon took a secret, irrational satisfaction at breaking the five-page rule. Like I was somehow getting back at Seth. The night wore on. Cady went to bed with the guy, and O'Neill became uncharacteristically jealous and freaked out, despite his usual surface charm. Holy shit. I left the couch, put on pajamas, and curled up in my bed. Aubrey followed. I kept reading. I finished the book at four in the morning, bleary-eyed and exhausted. Cady saw the guy a few more times as she and O'Neill wrapped up their mystery – as enthralling as ever, but suddenly less interesting compared to the interpersonal developments – and then she and the Scotsman parted ways. She and O'Neill returned to Washington, D.C., and the status quo resettled. I exhaled and set the book on the floor, unsure what to think, mainly because I was so tired. Still, in a valiant effort, I got up from bed, found my laptop, and logged into my Emerald City e-mail. I sent Seth a terse message: Cady got some. What's up with that? Then, as an afterthought: By the way, the hockey game was great. Satisfied I'd registered my opinion, I promptly fell asleep†¦ only to be awakened a few hours later by my alarm clock.