In Inside China's Automobile Factories, Lu Zhang explores the current conditions, subjectivity, and collective actions of autoworkers in the world's largest and fastest-growing automobile manufacturing nation. Based on years of fieldwork and extensive interviews conducted at seven large auto factories in various regions of China, Zhang provides an inside look at the daily factory life of autoworkers and a deeper understanding of the roots of rising labor unrest in the auto industry. Combining original empirical data and sophisticated analysis that moves from the shop floor to national political economy and global industry dynamics, the book develops a multilayered framework for understanding how labor relations in the auto industry and broader social economy can be expected to develop in China in the coming decades.

This book is about my experiences at a, now closed, General Motors metal casting plant in the Buffalo, New York area. It follows my journey from apprenticeship training in a skilled trade, to becoming a journeyman in the trade, to going back to school for my college degree, and finally being promoted to supervisor of a critical department in the plant.

When most people key the ignition switch or push the start button, they really do not have any idea what is involved in the engineering, technology, equipment, and human labor required to produce a motor vehicle. Heavy manufacturing, especially casting facilities, were and are dangerous places to work. I reluctantly have given the reader examples of several instances of human suffering which took place during my eighteen years of employment as well as many stories from within that GM plant.

For the better part of three decades I carried the material for this book with me and did nothing until our Government decided to bailout GM and Chrysler. At that point I dusted off the attache case and began this journey. You see, GM was not going to go out of business but going into bankruptcy would mean revamping retiree pay and medical benefits for the UAW and that was not going to happen. Six decades of questionable management and union relations at the corporate and plant levels had finally caught up with them.

Inside DMS - Automotive Dealer Management System, is a 360 degree tour de force of the intricate world of automotive retail and how that relates to automotive dealer management systems (DMS) today and especially the future.
The book evolves around the fundamental and pressing issue of reforming how automotive retailers operate to how consumers are rapidly changing their buying behavior, for instance as a result of social media. Business to business and traditional consumer marketing is "dead," while peer-to-peer marketing is taking over. In other words, purchasing of cars is quickly changing from advertising and in dealership sales process induced to be highly influenced by the new social media and consumers' own research. Buyers of cars may be more educated about the product they are interested in that the sales guy at the dealership THAT is a challenge of potentially cataclysmic proportions for automotive retailers, unless they try to understand the changes and quickly adapt to those.
This book is therefore by no means for the readers who dwell in the past, but rather you who would like to understand the opportunities modern technology can bring to automotive retail to solve current and especially "just around the corner" operational issues.
With the introduction of a fully, integrated, DMS, in which work flows and data is captured in the same application, financial postings happen real-time and reporting and business intelligence on all levels of an automotive dealership organization is instantly available.
The book takes additional steps further into the future of automotive retail. Tremendous operational efficiencies may be achieved, improved customer relationship as well as guidance to the use of social media and even taking bold steps into a completely new vision of what automotive retail of "tomorrow" could be like.
The book is of high relevance for just about anyone associated with, working in or just interested in the automotive industry: Dealership principals and executive teams, educators, students, dealership staff, automotive manufacturer leadership and staff, analysts or if you share our affinity for the most wonderful trade: "Cars "

For the past fifty years and more, Harley-Davidson has been ruling some racing roosts. Its competition iron has always been significant, often supremely victorious and never without passion. To borrow a term from another scene, this is a book about "hog power."What were H-D's competition bikes? How did they fare? And who were the heroes who rode them?

Allan Girdler, noted wordsmith, historian and straight-talking H-D enthusiast, digs deep to bring fresh perspective, technical analysis, and rider anecdote to this substantial and fascinating story of America's most successful racing motorcycles.

His "review" starts in the early 1930s, after the board tracks, after the overpowering success of the Wrecking Crew and its eight-valve twins, after the ear-splitting Pea Shooters, at the beginning of a new era of American racing organized by a reorganized AMA. A time ripe for a new style of Harley racer based loosely on production designs.

Read of the XLR, CR, CRS, CRTT, KRTT, XR-750, XR1000, and many more. Learn about Len Andres, Bill Huber, Bart Markel, Jay Springsteen, Chris Carr, Scott Parker, Dick O'Brien, and other racing stars. This is an engaging, passionate story by acclaimed motorcycle and automobile writer, Allan Girdler. Allan is a former editor for "Car Life," "Cycle World," and "Road & Track" magazine. He has authored numerous books including "Harley-Davidson Sportster" and "Harley-Davidson XR-750."

Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels, & Profitability is the second book from retail automotive industry expert, entrepreneur and former dealer, Dale Pollak. The book picks up where Dale's Velocity: From the Front Line to the Bottom Line leaves off, revealing new ROI-based management metrics and processes dealers can use to operate more efficient and profitable used vehicle departments. The book flows from the recognition that today s used vehicle marketplace is more challenging and volatile than it s ever been a tough reality driven by the power of the Internet and a troubled economy. Velocity 2.0 offers a playbook of best practices and processes to help dealers become more successful.

While we are cognizant that carbon dioxide emissions from cars are having a lasting and negative impact on our climate and human health, we continue to do little to mitigate the harm.It became increasingly clear that the parties contributing to the emissions problem are a set of interacting players. It also became evident that the portrayal of this system and the related environmental and resource issues as described in this work is a unique interdisciplinary synthesis of philosophy, scientific data related to climate change, automotive technology, domestic policy, and socio-historical information. "Mary Gresens makes important contributions to our society's effort to understand the consequences of the continuing degradation of its physical environment caused by some of the very technologies that made modern society possible." - Jay Reuscher, Professor, Georgetown University "This analysis represents a serious and substantive attempt to deal with a pressing economic and ecological concern." -Terrence Reynolds, Chair Department of Theology, Georgetown University "This book addresses a real problem by using information from several disciplines, presenting the scientific evidence clearly and convincingly, and making concrete policy proposals. It points to alarming responsibility for future generations." -Wilfried Ver Eecke, Professor, Georgetown University

Auto dealers are quickly learning how to sell vehicles faster and with higher gross profits by improving their online merchandising. Written for owners and GMs, Dennis Galbraith reveals why merchandising is selling. He uncovers the processes, metrics, and management needed to achieve sales success with online vehicle listings.

Growing the UK auto supply chain is seen as an issue of the highest priority by the Automotive Council. This 'sourcing roadmap' provides and overview of current and prospective patterns in the UK automotive industry. It serves and the empirical grounding for determining and prioritising activities by the Automotive Council to retain and build supply chain capabilities in the UK automotive industry.

The impressive and sustained growth of India's automobile industry in recent years has catapulted it into the league of the world's top-seven producers of four-wheelers. In the past decade, its exports have surged more than 25 percent a year on average. The turning point was arguably the 1991 policy of economic liberalization, but the impact of the reforms might have been subdued, if the Government of India had not played a pivotal role in the industry's evolution. This apparent "paradox" may be the key to understanding why the industry has adjusted so quickly to globalization, even though economic reforms began relatively late. This study identifies the main thrusts of policy regimes for the automobile sector since 1947, which began in an overregulation mode in the early period of independence. Nonetheless, the government consciously attempted to create and sustain favorable "innovation systems" at national, regional, and sectoral levels. Especially since 1991, many policy initiatives have benefited the industry and helped it reach the growth path it is following today.

"This book will enlighten individuals to the experience of purchasing a vehicle. It is a great way to get families started on their auto-buying journey and shows the experience as a relationship and not just a vehicle purchase." ~ Automobile Dealership Owner My Automobile Dealership is an inspirational story which reveals how a young mother benefited from a long-term relationship with her automobile dealership on her road to success. While this story is a joy to read, it represents the major commitment dealerships have to provide quality vehicles, superior service and customer satisfaction. The story, coupled with educational materials in the back of the book, are designed to support individuals and families as they go through the auto-buying experience.

Part of the Government Series, Energy: from TheCapitol.Net

Biofuels have grown significantly in the past few years as a component of U.S. motor fuel supply. Current U.S. biofuels supply relies primarily on ethanol produced from Midwest corn. Today, ethanol is blended in more than half of all U.S. gasoline (at the 10% level or lower in most cases). Federal policy has played a key role in the emergence of the U.S. biofuels industry in general, and the corn ethanol industry in particular. U.S. biofuels production is supported by federal and state policies that include minimum usage requirements, blending and production tax credits, an import tariff to limit importation of foreign-produced ethanol, loans and loan guarantees to facilitate the development of biofuels production and distribution infrastructure, and research grants.

Since the late 1970s, U.S. policy makers at both the federal and state levels have enacted a variety of incentives, regulations, and programs to encourage the production and use of agriculture-based renewable energy. Motivations cited for these legislative initiatives include energy security concerns, reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and raising domestic demand for U.S.-produced farm products.

Agricultural households and rural communities have responded to these government incentives and have expanded their production of renewable energy, primarily in the form of biofuels and wind power, every year since 1996.

Ethanol and biodiesel, the two most widely used biofuels, receive significant government support under federal law in the form of mandated fuel use, tax incentives, loan and grant programs, and certain regulatory requirements.

Ethanol plays a key role in policy discussions about energy, agriculture, taxes, and the environment. In the United States it is mostly made from corn; in other countries it is often made from cane sugar. Fuel ethanol is generally blended in gasoline to reduce emissions, increase octane, and extend gasoline stock.

U.S. policy to expand the production of biofuel for domestic energy use has significant implications for agriculture and resource use. While ongoing research and development investment may radically alter the way biofuel is produced in the future, for now, corn-based ethanol continues to account for most biofuel production. As corn ethanol production increases, so does the production of corn. The effect on agricultural commodity markets has been national, but commodity production adjustments, and resulting environmental consequences, vary across regions. Changes in the crop sector have also affected the cost of feed for livestock producers.

Complete Table of Contents at www.TCNEthanol.com

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, lays out the secret of his success in My Life and Work. Born in 1863, Ford was a machinist and engineer by trade, but made his name as an extraordinarily successful businessman who, more than any other individual, was responsible for bringing the motor car into common use in America. Many of his pioneering manufacturing and labor practices are now commonplace - the assembly line, limited working hours, a minimum wage. He was a larger-than-life character who was rarely out of the headlines. My Life and Work is part memoir, part advice manual from the man who transformed the way America worked and lived.

Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

It's 1901 and a guy named Harley has an idea. Put an engine on a bicycle. What? Outside his door, carts are still pulled by horses and autos are a rare sight, for goodness' sake. It's 1908 and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle sets a record by getting 188 miles to a gallon of gas. It's 1909 and the company introduces something new to its line: a V-Twin cylinder engine. Fast forward to the twenty-first century, and the technical innovation hasn't stopped. But there's a lot more than just choppers in the mix. Examples: The Harley-Davidson racing team adds a seventeen-year-old girl to the roster. 250,000 people help celebrate Harley's 100th anniversary in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And a museum devoted to the company's products opens up. Clearly, this is a company unlike any other. How did Harley do it? How did it go from making motorcycles to creating a Harley experience that puts hundreds of thousands of people aged sixteen to one hundred on the road traveling to events each year where they can meet company officials and other Harley riders? That's what this book is all about. Honda may match Harley-Davidson for quality and perhaps innovation, but no one has matched the company for its ability to create 'buzz marketing' and turn casual riders into unofficial sales people. Harley-Davidson, it turns out, isn't just in the motorcycle business. As its mission statement points out, it's in the business of fulfilling dreams. As author Missy Scott shows, Harley-Davidson is a rare company in other ways: Its loyal workforce, for one thing, is guided by principles like trust and respect for the individual. For another, the company has made a superb effort to keep jobs in the U.S., when it would be far cheaper and easier to use offshore labor. Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 1980s, Harley has roared back to capture the hearts of riders the world over, including the million-plus members of the Harley Owners Group (members are known, naturally, as HOGs). This book: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. -Details Harley's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Harley's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Harley's impact on society, technology, processes, and work methods. -Details financial results over the years. -Predicts Harley's future prospects and successes. In addition, Scott offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Harley, interesting trivia, a Harley-Davidson time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats its workers, what its detractors have to say, and where the company is headed. Harley-Davidson-a company that changed, and is changing, the world.

Toyota rose from the ashes of World War II to become, just fifty years later, one of the dominant automakers in the world. How did Toyota do it? How did it go from making cars that Westerners pointed to and laughed at to making cars, like the Lexus, that people now lust after? That's what this book is all about. As veteran writer K. Dennis Chambers shows, Toyota, crazy like a fox, had a long-term plan to become a top-tier player in the auto industry. Through patience, persistence, and a willingness to dream of a different future as well as to look back to the past for ideas, Toyota has succeeded step by step. Yes, Toyota is unique. From peddling ugly 3-cylinder cars to working with quality guru W. Edwards Deming (when his U.S. countrymen thought him a crank) to totally revamping production processes, Toyota has never been afraid to chart its own path. Readers will learn what makes Toyota tick through Chambers's penetrating text, which: -Explains the importance of the company and the essential disruptions that changed business forever. (Think Prius.) -Details Toyota's origins and history. -Presents biographies of the founders and the historical context in which they launched the company. -Explains Toyota's strategies and innovations. -Assesses Toyota's impact on society, technology, processes, methods, etc. -Shows how Toyota beat the competition and wormed its way into the U.S. and European markets. -Details financial results. In addition, Chambers offers special features that include a look at the colorful people associated with Toyota, interesting trivia, a Toyota time line, a focus on products, a look at how the company treats and trains its workers, and where the company is headed. Toyota-a company that changed, and is changing, the world.

This guide is written for Jan-San (Sanitary Supply) manufacturers who are exploring the opportunity to go to market via wholesalers, as well as those who have a long history of working with wholesalers. It is also a resource for Jan-San distributors who are considering using wholesalers as a source for certain lines, particular product types, or at various times throughout the year. In all cases, our intent is to help Jan-San manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors create programs which will foster long-term success for all parties. This manual pinpoints real economic and supply chain efficiencies. Understanding Jan-San Redistribution is a quantitative educational tool for Distributors and Manufacturers alike to make fair, balanced, and informed business decisions about buying/selling through wholesalers. Wholesaling is an efficiency option (with definable and measurable benefits) for distributors to procure, and manufacturers to make product available, and is truly a growing force in today's Jan-San environment which should be better understood by all. Key issues addressed in the manual are: Manufacturer revenues and costs compared for Direct vs. Wholesaler sales Distributor costs compared for Direct vs. Wholesaler purchases Structuring of Manufacturer/Wholesaler programs to reflect and maximize value of Re-D Appropriate growth expectations/trends for Manufacturers entering Re-D program Impact on Manufacturer/Distributor relationships Appropriate expectations outlined regarding lines within a Wholesaler "Dollars and cents" analysis from detailed case studies within and outside of SSWA Math Tools and Cost-to-Serve Comparisons provided for comprehensive evaluation Use this Guidebookas an essential component in your company's training program to understand the impact of Redistribution on Sales, Finance, Logistics, Marketing, Customer Service, and Supply Chain relationships.

The auto industry is a prime example of globalisation in which multinational enterprises have developed networks, alliances, and cross-shareholdings across regions and nations. This important study, based on a three-year empirical research project in seven countries, focuses on employment relations in the auto assembly industry and shows that the influence of globalisation is tempered to varying degrees by institutional employment patterns at the local level. Twenty-one scholars and researchers representing all seven countries analyse the data, clearly describe the differences across both countries and firms, and offer conclusions and recommendations that greatly facilitate our understanding of the globalisation process at the level of human resources in industrial production.For each of the seven countries - two liberal market economies (the United States and Australia), two coordinated market economies (Germany and Sweden), and three Asian market economies (Japan, South Korea, and China), the book describes five key issues in detail: work organisation; skill formation; remuneration systems; staffing arrangements and employment security; and enterprise governance and employee management relations. The authors offer in-depth comparative analysis of these central issues in the context of such overriding factors as corporate strategy, local institutional constraints and advantages, competitive pressures among automakers to capture emerging markets, power relations within firms, and the role that agency and interests play in shaping social action.Whether this book is used for its vast bank of information, or for its deeply-informed analysis, or for its far-reaching relevance to employment relations policy, it more than fulfills the urgent need to come to grips with the runaway impact of globalisation on employment relations. Anyone involved with labour and employment issues in any business, legal, or governmental setting will rely on its findings and insights for years to come.

Prior literature has conjectured that auditor industry specialization is an important dimension of audit quality. This book addresses the economic benefits that companies may achieve by employing auditors with industry expertise. It examines the link between the employment of industry specialist auditors, and the degree of information asymmetry and the cost of debt of a client company. More specifically, the analysis should answer the following questions: Is there a relation between the employment of an industry specialist auditor and the level of information asymmetry of client companies? Is there a relation between the employment of an industry specialist auditor and the cost of debt of client companies? Is the economic impact of the employment of an industry specialist auditor on the cost of debt larger for financially troubled client companies? The book is directed towards researchers in business, regulators, auditors, credit agencies, and investors.

Achieving Public-Private Partnership in the Transport Sector reviews current trends in transport partnerships and provides detailed case studies of three recent partnership projects: facility; Lisbon, Portugal; and rail mass transit system in the Thai capital. financial advisers, bankers, construction companies, government officials, development bank staff, academicians, and journalists, together with the review of primary project documentation and other written materials. yet been determined, the case study projects offer rich comparisons. They have been shaped by differing cultural expectations and economic conditions. They have also benefited from the commitment of creative supporters and been subjected to changing political winds. potential and the pitfalls of the partnership approach and details the criteria for success.

In AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA, Charles Sorensen, sometimes known as AcAAHenry Ford's manAcAA, sometimes as AcAACast-iron CharlieAcAA, tells his own story, and it is as challenging as it is historic. He emerges as a man who was not only one of the great production geniuses of the world but also a man who called the plays as he saw them. He was the only man who was able to stay with Ford for almost the full history of his empire, yet he never hesitated to go against Ford when he felt the interests of the company demanded it. When labor difficulties mounted and Edsel's fatal illness was upon him. Sorensen sided with Edsel against Henry Ford and Harry Bennett, and he insisted that Henry Ford II be brought in to direct the company despite the aging founder's determination that no one but he hold the presidential reins. First published in 1956, AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA, has now been reissued in paperback for the first time. The Ford story has often been discussed in print but has rarely been articulated by someone who was there. Here Sorensen provides an eyewitness account of the birth of the Model T, the early conflicts with the Dodge brothers, the revolutionary announcement of the five-dollar day, and Sorensen's development of the moving assembly line, a concept that changed our world. Although Sorensen conceived, designed, and built the giant Willow Run plant in nineteen months and then proceeded to turn out eight thousand giant bombers, his life's major work was to make possible the vision of Henry Ford and to postpone the personal misfortune with which it ended. AcAAMy Forty Years with FordAcAA is both a personal history of a business empire and a revelation that moves with excitement and the power of tragedy.

In "Shift, Carlos Ghosn, the brilliant, audacious, and widely admired CEO of Nissan, recounts how he took the reins of the nearly bankrupt Japanese automotive company and achieved one of the most remarkable turnarounds in automotive--and corporate--history.
When Carlos Ghosn (pronounced like "phone") was named COO of Nissan in 1999, the company was running out of gas and careening toward bankruptcy. Eighteen short months later, Nissan was back in the black, and within several more years it had become the most profitable large automobile company in the world. In "Shift, Ghosn describes how he went about accomplishing the seemingly impossible, transforming Nissan once again into a powerful global automotive manufacturer.
The Brazilian-born, French-educated son of Lebanese parents, Ghosn first learned the management principles and practices that would shape his decisions at Nissan while rising through the ranks at Michelin and Renault. Upon his arrival at Nissan, Ghosn began his new position by embarking on a three-month intensive examination of every aspect of the business. By October 1999 he was ready to announce his strategy to turn the company around with the Nissan Revival Plan. In the plan, he consistently challenged the tradition-bound thinking and practices of Japanese business when they inhibited Nissan's effectiveness. Ghosn closed plants, laid off workers, broke up long-standing supply networks, and sold off marginal assets to focus on the company's core business. But slashing costs was just the first step in Nissan's recovery. In fact, Ghosn introduced changes in every corner of the company, from manufacturing and engineering to marketing and sales. He updated Nissan'scar and truck lineup, took risks on dynamic new designs, and demanded improvements in quality--strategies that quickly burnished Nissan's image in the marketplace, and re-established the company in the minds of consumers as a leader in innovation and engineering.
Like the best-selling memoirs of Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner, and Larry Bossidy, "Shift is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to transform and re-create a world-class company. Written by one of the world's most successful and acclaimed CEOs, "Shift is an invaluable guide for business readers everywhere.