AutoIndustry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

AutoIndustry - Essay Example Apart from that there are other renowned companies like Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda and Suzuki had to close down their factories due to several problems like damage and lack of supply. Many people are optimistic that delivery and shortage of supply of cars from Japan may give a window of opportunity for the domestic manufacturers in the United States market. However this may be hard to achieve because most of the United States car manufacturers are dependent on the Japanese car component manufacturing industries. As a result of the disaster in Japan the global supply chain of the automobile industry have been disrupted. As a result there will be a delay in the delivery of the cars and even the prices of the cars in the US automobile market may rise in the recent years. Japan was a significant exporter of car components, essentially the electrical components to the US automobile companies. Companies like Ford manufacturing hybrid cars used to import the hybrid batteries for their cars f rom the Japanese company Sanyo. Though Sanyo has not been severely affected by the chain of disasters, the companies that supply their components to Sanyo have been affected. Therefore the supply chain has been destroyed (Rall). Japan is the third largest producer of car component for the US automobile industry after Germany and the domestic car component manufacturers. Year Percentage of Parts Import Percentage of Total Parts Market Value of Automotive part imported (in million dollars) 2000 23.2 5.1 14,535 2001 23.0 5.0 13,150 2002 21.0 4.9 13,498 2003 19.7 4.5 13,745 2004 20.2 5.1 15,494 2005 19.4 5.3 16,448 2006 17.6 4.8 15,377 2007 16.1 4.8 14,757 2008 16.2 5.1 13,486 2009 - - 8,774 (U.S. Department of Commerce, 67) The United States car manufacturing companies are dependent on the Japanese car component manufacturing companies for both the original equipments and the after parts. The original equipments are the components that are required at the factories for producing the ca rs. The after parts are the components that are used to replace the old components in a used car. The table shows that Japan has a significant share in the United States car component market. However there is significant drop in the value of import of car parts from Japan to United States in the year 2009. However that drop is due to a fall in demand for new cars in the United States market as an effect of the recession that plagued the country. However, the proportion of import of car parts is consistent with the previous trend. Therefore we can conclude about the dependence of the United States automobile industry on the Japanese Original equipment and after part manufacturing industry. Any adverse effect on the latter market will lead to a supply shortage in the United States automobile industry. The trade balance of car components of United States with Japan has also negative value in the considered period with the highest being 13,017 million dollars deficit in 2007. In United States the top 3 domestic companies have been the General Motors, Ford, and the Chrysler Group. They have been named as the Big Three by the industry. However their share of the car market has decreased significantly from 73.5% in 1995 to about 57% in 2005. In July 2006 Toyota had more sales than the previous second ranking Ford. Similarly Honda had more

Psychotherapy and Substance Abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Psychotherapy and Substance Abuse - Essay Example Substance abuse, including tobacco use and nicotine addiction, is associated with a wide range of serious health and social problems. Recent epidemiological evidence demonstrates that 72 conditions requiring inpatient treatment are wholly or partially attributable to substance abuse. Consequently, the estimated annual cost for health care, law enforcement, motor vehicle crashes, crime, and lost productivity due to substance abuse is nearly 1 thousand dollars for every American citizen, including children (Austin, 2005). Such disturbing situation with substance abuse can not but appeal for immediate and effective actions from the government and local authorities. Although the problem of substance abuse is not new, the search for the most effective methods of coping with it is far from being over. Many different prevention and treatment options have been proposed up to date, but none of them can be addressed as the most universal or the most effective. Partially this is due to the fact that substance abuse is a condition with extremely complex and often controversial etiology; partially due to lack of serious scientific research exploring specific mechanisms of recovery. The increasing use of psychotherapeutic interventions in both prevention and treatment of substance abuse suggests that modern researchers and practitioners are taking efforts to finally close this gap. This paper will provide an overview of the most widely used psychotherapeutic interventions in treatment of substance abuse, and provide a detailed insight into the psychological foundations underlying one of the most popular therapies, namely the 12-step model. Main Discussion The official definition of substance abuse proposed by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) identifies several distinct symptoms/patterns associated with this condition. APA defines substance abuse as a "maladaptive pattern of substance use leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by one (or more) of the following, occurring within a 12-month period: 1. Recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home (e.g., repeated absences or poor work performance related to substance use; substance-related absences, suspensions or expulsions from school; neglect of children or household); 2. Recurrent substance use in situations in which it is physically hazardous (e.g., driving an automobile or operating a machine when impaired by substance use); 3. Recurrent substance-related legal problems (e.g., arrests for substance-related disorderly conduct; 4. Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance (e.g., arguments with spouse about consequences of intoxication, physical fights) (DSM-IV, 2000). Apparently, the core characteristic of substance abuse is continued use of alcohol, tobacco, non-medically prescribed medications, drug or chemicals, which commonly leads to recurring socially negative consequences. Substance abuse is believed to be the major predictor of more severe conditions, namely substance addiction or dependence (Onken & Blaine, 1990). However, one should distinguish between them: abuse and dependence differ from addiction that involves a compulsion to continue using the substance