Question: Topic 1. Governmental Influence on Trade: Catfish Dispute
- Begin by reading the following two articles from this session's readings list, conduct your own scholarly and reliable non-scholarly research, and then discuss the two questions listed below:
- Brown, T. (2001). South and Southeast, Vietnam embroiled in catfish controversy. Marketing News, 35(22), 50.
- Carter, D. (2001, December 28). Congressional ruling shuts Vietnamese catfish out of U.S. market. The Washington Times.
Discussion Questions:
- What are the pros and cons of government interventions in this case?
- What lessons do you see for managers operating within conflicting sets of national regulation and interests, and any regional agreements?
Topic 2. WTO - Trade Disputes
- Using the country Jamaica, Conduct a search at GlobalEdge.msu.edu to identify the current import policies, tariffs and trade restrictions in the country. Other useful sites include the World Trade Organization (www.wto.org). Enter the country's name in the WTO search box (top right corner).
Discuss: 1. Has the country you selected been a complainant or respondent in a case before the WTO in the last 5 years? If so, describe briefly the nature of the dispute. Has the complaint been resolved?
2. What role did WTO play in the dispute?
3. What is the country's trade policy and why have they established it?
4. What industries or who benefits from these policies?
5. Does it affect the country's economic structure? If so how?
Topic 3. Reflections & Lessons Learned
You read about catfish, WTO disputes, and your classmates' comments on the questions.
Discuss: · What lessons can the Automotive Industry learn from the cases?
· Taking into consideration the current public opinion on trade agreements in the U.S., what is your position on keeping or renegotiating NAFTA? Explain.