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This paper assesses the effects of the "Grupo de los Tres" (G-3) trade agreement in the Colombian automobile market. Assuming that demand might be described by a Discrete-Choice model, this paper develops a partial-equilibrium model in order to analyze the import quota of automobiles produced by the Mexican assemblers and its effects upon prices on the Colombian Automobile Sector. The results of this paper evidence that the quota reduced average market prices in no more than 3%, comparing the case without G-3. Likewise, the price in Mexican cars were reduced on 20%, but prices of domestic and other import cars were unaffected. Finally, There is evidence that the distribution of the price reduction among classes is independent of market-shares. Therefore, the import quota does not accomplish the goals of domestic policy-makers. These results are relevant in order to make trade policies in targeted industries and are useful for firms of the Automobile market when they undertake strategic decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal objectives of this paper are to develop a conceptual and theoretical framework to evaluate the cost of protectionism in the Brazilian automobile industry, and present a scheme to compare different studies. A standard partial equilibrium model was developed, and applied to the sub-compact vehicle segment of the Brazilian automobile industry. Two important aspects were analyzed: (1) economic indicators, and (2) supply and demand curves. Four economic indicators were used: (1) domestic consumption, (2) domestic production, (3) domestic prices, and (4) world prices. A supply and demand sketch was generated to determine price elasticity, using values obtained from a multiple regression model. The sub-compact vehicle segment was chosen because it represents more than 70% of the Brazilian domestic market. 2000 was chosen as the year to examine because this was when an import tariff of 35% was imposed on the automobile industry. This trade barrier provided an interesting case study for the cost of protectionism model. The paper concludes that the model clearly demonstrates protectionist polices' adverse effects on the Brazilian economy, which experienced a welfare loss borne by consumers, producers and the government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes international activities in the vendor -customer relation. It studies the internationalization process for small and medium Portuguese industrial enterprises, taking into consideration the specific channel that multinationals represent for them in the industrial environment. The objective of the paper is to establish, in particular, how multinational customers condition their vendors' internationalization process and how subcontractor vendors react to the strategic dilemmas of internationalization conditioned by their multinational customers. This article focuses on the study of five cases chosen from a sample of 20 SMEs that are subcontractors for four multinational companies in the automobile and electronics industries. The conclusions drawn complement the theoretical framework of inter-organizational relations. They also indicate that the international trajectory of the vendors may be limited by the episodic nature of the relation, by the technological capability to develop new products, by the international networks in which the vendors are located, and by changes in the supply chain activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]