a. A container is simply a over sized aluminum box, its only purpose is for storage. I was astonished to learn how drastically containers changed the overall market in terms of competition. Due to the container's large storage size, different countries were able to export or import a variety of goods. For example before containers, it would have taken months for ships to deliver certain products such as oranges from Brazil to the United States. In the modern world, containers have greatly influenced competition among international and domestic firms. Domestic firms "who sought only to serve their local clientele, learned that they had no choice: like it or not, they were competing globally because the global market was coming to them. " Containers also lowered shipping costs, and as a result high-cost producers lost their advantage in physical proximity.
b. The author states that the importance of containers to the world is impossible to measure. There is no data to measure the drastic changes in costs that containers brought to the world. However "it seems clear that the container brought sweeping reductions in the cost of moving freight." Reductions of shipping costs have brought tremendous variety of products in our market places. Having variety is an important aspect to a countries growth because it gives consumers a greater range of products to purchase. Low Shipping costs have allowed countries to flourish and become integrated to the world.
c. Consumers and international firms have gained from containerization. Low shipping costs have brought so much diversity for consumers to choose from. However the diversity in products have also increased competition for domestic and international firms. Due to the increase in competition local firms are faced with losses, simply because they do not have the resources to compete with an international firm.
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