Competitive advantage/country analysis (Australia) - Assignment Example

Country chosen: Australia Explain in full sentences the types of goods exported by your country According to the CIA World fact book Australia isexports include mostly Coal, Wool, Alumina, Diamonds, Sheep, Lead, Refined zinc ores and Mineral sands. Australia is one of the worlds largest net exporters of coal which accounts for 29% of global coal exports. Other goods exported by Australia include Veal, Lamb, Sugar, and Nickel, Cereals, Mutton and Iron ore.   Explain in full sentences the types of goods imported by your country. 2. According to the CIA world fact book Australia imports machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products What is the largest opportunity cost of producing your country’s top good? 3. The largest opportunity cost for producing / extracting coal is the negligence in other sectors which could have been improved vastly such as tourism though the potential in the Australian industry is vast not many resources have been allocated for the development of the Australian industrial development .

How has the government helped support local industries? Are there any opposition groups or current domestic issues in your country? 4. The Australian government provides subsidies to farmers, local car manufacturers and power stations. (Uhlman 2006). Right now the most popular Australian opposition group is the liberal party under Julia Gillard and Australia faces issues such as illegal immigration and now a shortage of development of natural gas as well. Thinking and Inquiry What environmental concerns do producing exports have on the country? 1. Pollution is perhaps the biggest concern of having a large export industry.

Issues regarding shortage of water, climatic change, smoke discharge from factories and bio diversity are other problems producing exports have on countries. (White 2009) What imports would the country obtain from Canada? What are the competitive advantages of both your country and Canada? 2. Australia imports boilers, mechanical applications , aircraft , spacecraft , meat and electric machinery from Canada . Australia has a competitive advantage in the production of ores, slag, ash, beverages, spirits and vinegar (Trade industry online, 2011) Which of the eight factors affecting competitiveness?

Do Canada and your country share? Which factors contrast? 3. Production of quality goods and government subsidies are the factors which are the same for both Canada and Australia Does either country have absolute advantage in a certain good or service? Explain. 4. Australia has absolute advantage in minerals and coal as these raw materials are found naturally in Australia and in abundance it has absolute advantage in these goods .and Canada has an absolute advantage in wheat production . (Econ Review, 2010) Application Looking at a map of your country, could it be an excellent place to use low labor costs and create a manufacturing sector?

If not, what problems could it have when bringing in raw materials to be assembled into finished goods? 1. Since Australia is a developed country the cost of labor is extremely high but since Australia does in fact have a strong manufacturing sector it would be feasible to now allocate these resources towards the service sector. Problems such as technological hindrances and lack of skilled labor may be a problem for some unique fields. What are three factors affecting your country’s productivity?

Explain the advantages and disadvantages of each at the moment. 2. Rapid growth in demand for electricity has caused reserve margins in Australia to shrink, a problem that has caused foreign investment to be limited and several US and UK companies with stakes in their generating assets to exit the industry. Also labor productivity is lower in Australia with the capital labor ratio signifying the use of more labor intensive production methods being used to make the same good. Lastly Australia’s product and labor market regulations affect the countries productivity in the way if they had similar product and labor market regulations there would be a noticeable increase in the country’s GDP (Rahman, 2011).

Does your country have a vibrant knowledge economy? What does your research suggest is needed to improve the intellectual capital of your country? 3. Australia does in fact have a vibrant knowledge economy, and the contribution of knowledge-based industries to GDP is 48% and Australia is also one of the largest exporters of the education sector so it would not seem that Australia needs any sort of measures to improve the intellectual capital of its country (Vaile 2000) Have any local services been privatized?

Have any local companies “rationalized” and what happened to local workers or plant? 4. Australia has privatized banks such as Australia Commonwealth Bank , AMDEL , Australian Airlines along with various others over the years .The workers mostly retained their jobs and the Australian industry was met with a huge wave of rationalization and it is particularly prominent in the agricultural sector .( Arnold , 2007) Resource Central Intelligence Agency. (2011). World Factbook. Australia. Web.

Retrieved from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html Rahman,J. (2011). Comparing Australian and United States productivity. Retrieved from: http://www.treasury.gov.au/documents/987/PDF/04_comparing_productivity.pdf Rocky Road (2006) Australian Car Part Makers Face a Difficult Future . Retrieved from : http://www.aph.gov.au/house/news/magazine/28/ath28_road.pdf White S (2009) Our top ten environmental problems .Web . Retrieved from : http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2009/12/07/2764044.

htm Trade Data Online. Industry Canada. 2 September 2011. www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/tdo-dcd.nsf/eng/Home. Econ Review (2010). Canadian Lad Coffee or Beer. Web Retrieved from: http://canadianlad.blogspot.com/2010/11/exclusive-international-economics.html Mark Vaile (2000). Australia and the Knowledge Economy. Web Retrieved from http://www.trademinister.gov.au/speeches/2000/001031_eiu.html Bruce Arnold (2007)  Australian privatization Retrieved from : http://www.caslon.com.au/privatisationnote3.htm