Airbus vs Boeing ? une analyse commerciale de la bataille

Résumé du document

The economies of the European Union and of the United States are becoming more inter-twined and inter-dependent. One can state that this far-reaching and powerful development has driven both the economies even further towards open and integrated trans-atlantic marketing. The EU-US economic relationship is not only vital to the health of the global economy but it also directly supports almost 12 million jobs. Considering the importance of the EU-US bilateral economic relations, one might suggest that potential conflicts between the two economic powers are handled with great care. Indeed, this has been the case after the quick recovery of Europe's economy after World War II, and a strong trans-atlantic relationship has prevailed during these years. However, the European economic unification process that took place after the treaty of Rome in 1957, came along well with the European wish to establish a strong airline consortium, which were be able to compete with the few dominant US aircraft manufacturers at the time.

Extraits

[...] Retrieved March from: http://www.ustr.gov/Trade_Agreements/Monitoring_Enforcement/Subsidies Summary of the Hart Scott Rodino Act (1999). Retrieved March from http://library.findlaw.com/1999/Jun/1/130278.html Tagesspiegel Online. (2005). Stationen im Flugzeugstreit. (Chronology of Airline Dispute). Retrieved March from http://www.tagesspiegel.de/tso/aktuell/artikel.asp?TextID=50294# The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) (2005). Retrieved March from http://www.stolaf.edu/people/becker/antitrust/statutes/sherman/html U.S. Asks WTO to Eye New Airbus Subsidies. Retrieved February from http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print Wikipedia contributors (2006). Airline. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. [...]

[...] Airbus versus Boeing - A trade dispute analysis Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Company Descriptions II.1 Airbus II.2 Boeing III. EU US Trade Relations IV. EU and US Authorities Involved V. The Development of the Conflict VI. Theoretical and Legal Framework VI.1 Industry Background VI.2 Market Analysis VI.3 Legal Framework on Subsidies VII. Dispute Analysis VII.1 The Impact of Subsidies VII.2 European Motivations for Subsidies VII.3 Airbus's Position in the WTO Dispute VII.4 US Government Reaction VII.5 Reaction of US Industry VIII. [...]

[...] Both the EU and US cannot accuse each other on any other level than the World Trade Organization. The most important difference between the legal framework of the WTO and the United States is that the WTO has no detailed agreements on cartels, monopolies and mergers. Although these areas are regulated in US law, as explained before, the US law lacks one decisive issue which is embedded in the WTO legislation. Subsidies are clearly defined within the WTO framework. Furthermore article 14 of the WTO charter explains the calculation of the amount of a subsidy in terms of the benefit to the recipient. [...]

[...] Once more both sides blamed each other for violating the contract so that the US withdrew finally from the arrangement. Being equipped with heavy accusations (Boeing complained about $15 billion of new state aids received by Airbus, which vice versa complained about $23 billion received by Boeing), both parties complaint in front of the WTO that had to deal with the biggest dispute in its history from this moment on. For a short time it appeared that this conflict could be resolved without an investigation by the WTO, as both parties agreed in January 2005 to renegotiate over the case for three month, but already in March 2005 this attempt failed with a renewed withdrawal of the US (Tagesspiegel online, 2005). [...]

[...] When Airbus started in 1971 it was a marginal competitor on the market, but within ten years it managed to become the second largest airplane producer worldwide. It is hard to capture how the consortium managed to become the second largest player in the industry while having certain industry characters in mind. In order to produce airplanes enormous costs of development, significant experience and a large share of demand on the world market is required to cover the costs. Referring to the airliner industry one has to be aware of the fact that it is a highly volatile industry in terms of demand. [...]