Department of Economics Fall 2009

Occidental College Economics 302

Professor Chiou
Case Study Questions for “Automobiles” by James Brock
Due Wednesday, September 23 by 5pm

Each of you has been assigned one question for this case study. Please briefly answer (in
about 3 to 4 sentences) your assigned question.

Name Question
Alex Kearns 1. What are the key demand characteristics of
automobiles that help in defining its market?
Alex Lim 2. Would the proper economic definition of the
geographic market that includes automobiles be the
U.S. or is it global?
Andrew Nieh 3. What are the main COMPLEMENTS to automobiles?
Colleen Robins 4. Is auto demand by U.S. consumers price elastic?
Deryck Lim 5. How income sensitive is the auto purchaser in the
U.S.?
Greg Benz 6. What role do used autos play in this?
Joe Wyer 7. Describe current level of concentration in the U.S. auto
industry.
John Clair 8. How has concentration in the industry changed over the
course of the 20th century?
Josephine Lau 9. What is a plausible amount for MES in automobile
assembly?
Noah Applebome 10. What factors contribute to scale economies in auto
manufacturing?
Richard Highsmith 11. Identify key economic attributes of this product, i.e.,
new automobiles.
RJ Infantino 12. How did principal product strategies of Ford and GM
differ in the first half of the 20th century?
Sam Rossi 13. What features of consumer demand for autos favor
Ford strategy? Favor GM strategy?
Stephanie Babij 14. Describe the trade offs among speed, safety, fuel
economy and comfort of autos, and how the cost of
gasoline affects the relative tradeoffs consumers make.
Todd Mark 15. What attracted foreign auto makers to the U.S. market?
Wes McCabe 16. What entry strategies did Japanese auto makers, in
particular, employ to enter the U.S. market? How did
U.S. auto makers respond?
Zach Perkins 17. Prior to major foreign entry, how did U.S. auto makers
conduct their pricing?