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A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Most jurisdictions consider it anti-competitive behavior and have outlawed such practices. Cartel behavior includes price fixing, bid rigging, and reductions in output. The doctrine in economics that analyzes cartels is cartel theory. Cartels are distinguished from other forms of collusion or anti-competitive organization such as corporate mergers.
Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, caucho, or caoutchouc, as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia are three of the leading rubber producers. Types of polyisoprene that are used as natural rubbers are classified as elastomers.
Vulcanization is a range of processes for hardening rubbers. The term originally referred exclusively to the treatment of natural rubber with sulfur, which remains the most common practice. It has also grown to include the hardening of other (synthetic) rubbers via various means. Examples include silicone rubber via room temperature vulcanizing and chloroprene rubber (neoprene) using metal oxides.
Neoprene is a family of synthetic rubbers that are produced by polymerization of chloroprene. Neoprene exhibits good chemical stability and maintains flexibility over a wide temperature range. Neoprene is sold either as solid rubber or in latex form and is used in a wide variety of commercial applications, such as laptop sleeves, orthopaedic braces, electrical insulation, liquid and sheet-applied elastomeric membranes or flashings, and automotive fan belts.
Bridgestone Corporation is a Japanese multinational auto and truck parts manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of ishibashi, meaning 'stone bridge' in Japanese.
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire company founded by Harvey Firestone in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled transportation common in the era. Firestone soon saw the huge potential for marketing tires for automobiles, and the company was a pioneer in the mass production of tires. Harvey Firestone had a personal friendship with Henry Ford, and used this to become the original equipment supplier of Ford Motor Company automobiles, and was also active in the replacement market.
Styrene-butadiene or styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) describe families of synthetic rubbers derived from styrene and butadiene. These materials have good abrasion resistance and good aging stability when protected by additives. In 2012, more than 5.4 million tonnes of SBR were processed worldwide. About 50% of car tires are made from various types of SBR. The styrene/butadiene ratio influences the properties of the polymer: with high styrene content, the rubbers are harder and less rubbery. SBR is not to be confused with the thermoplastic elastomer, styrene-butadiene block copolymer, although being derived from the same monomers.
Parthenium argentatumA. Gray, commonly known as the guayule, is a perennial woody shrub in the aster family, Asteraceae, that is native to the rangeland area of the Chihuahuan Desert; including the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was first documented by J.M. Bigelow in 1852 through the Mexican Boundary Survey and was first described by Asa Gray. Natural Rubber, ethanol, non-toxic adhesives, and other specialty chemicals can be extracted from guayule. An alternative source of latex that is hypoallergenic, unlike the normal Hevea rubber, can also be extracted. While Castilla elastica was the most widely used rubber source of Mesoamericans in pre-Columbian times, guayule was also used, though less frequently. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl word ulli/olli, "rubber".
Edwin James Barclay was a Liberian politician, poet, and musician who served as the 18th President of the country from 1930 until 1944. He was a member of the True Whig political party, which dominated the political governance of the country for decades. Under Barclay's leadership, Liberia was an ally of the United States during World War II.
The Phoebus cartel was an oligopoly that controlled the manufacture and sale of incandescent light bulbs. They appropriated market territories and lowered the useful life of such bulbs. Corporations based in Europe and America founded the cartel on January 15, 1925 in Geneva. Phoebus based itself in Switzerland. The corporation named itself Phœbus S.A. Compagnie Industrielle pour le Développement de l'Éclairage. They had intended the cartel to last for thirty years. The cartel ceased operations in 1939 owing to the outbreak of World War II. The cartel included manufacturers Osram, General Electric, Associated Electrical Industries, and Philips, among others.
A synthetic rubber is any artificial elastomer. They are polymers synthesized from petroleum byproducts. About 32-million metric tons of rubbers are produced annually in the United States, and of that amount two thirds are synthetic. Global revenues generated with synthetic rubbers are likely to rise to approximately US$56 billion in 2020. Synthetic rubber, just like natural rubber, has many uses in the automotive industry for tires, door and window profiles, seals such as O-rings and gaskets, hoses, belts, matting, and flooring. They offer a different range of physical and chemical properties, so can improve the reliability of a given product or application. Synthetic rubbers are superior to natural rubbers in two major respects, thermal stability and resistance to oils and related compounds. They are more resistant to oxidizing agents for example, such as oxygen and ozone which can reduce the life of products like tires.
Polybutadiene [butadiene rubber BR] is a synthetic rubber. Polybutadiene rubber is a polymer formed from the polymerization of the monomer 1,3-butadiene. Polybutadiene has a high resistance to wear and is used especially in the manufacture of tires, which consumes about 70% of the production. Another 25% is used as an additive to improve the toughness of plastics such as polystyrene and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Polybutadiene rubber accounted for about a quarter of total global consumption of synthetic rubbers in 2012. It is also used to manufacture golf balls, various elastic objects and to coat or encapsulate electronic assemblies, offering high electrical resistivity.
Elmer Keiser Bolton was an American chemist and research director for DuPont, notable for his role in developing neoprene and directing the research that led to the discovery of nylon.
The Stevenson Plan, also known as the Stevenson Restriction Scheme, was an effort by the British government to stabilize low rubber prices resulting from a glut of rubber following World War I.
Rubbertown is a neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, located along the Ohio River. During World War II, it became the home of many industrial plants which remained after the war and led to its name. Its largest businesses include American Synthetic Rubber, Borden Chemical, DuPont Dow Elastomers, Noveon, Dow Chemical, and Zeon Chemicals.
The Amazon Rubber Boom was an important part of the economic and social history of Brazil and Amazonian regions of neighboring countries, being related to the extraction and commercialization of rubber. Centered in the Amazon Basin, the boom resulted in a large expansion of European colonization in the area, attracting immigrant workers, generating wealth, causing cultural and social transformations, and wreaking havoc upon indigenous societies. It encouraged the growth of cities such as Manaus and Belém, capitals within the respective Brazilian states of Amazonas and Pará, among many other cities throughout the region like Itacoatiara, Rio Branco, Eirunepé, Marabá, Cruzeiro do Sul and Altamira; as well as the expansion of Iquitos in Peru, Cobija in Bolivia and Leticia in Colombia. The rubber boom occurred largely between 1879 and 1912. There was heightened rubber production and associated activities again from 1942 to 1945 during the Second World War.
Yulex Corporation applies crop science, bioprocessing and materials science for the production of agricultural-based biomaterials made from Guayule. The company’s materials are designed to replace traditional tropical- or petroleum-based rubber in consumer, industrial, and medical products, with the residual agricultural materials utilized as a feedstock for bioenergy.
The Charles Goodyear Medal is the highest honor conferred by the American Chemical Society, Rubber Division. Established in 1941, the award is named after Charles Goodyear, the discoverer of vulcanization, and consists of a gold medal, a framed certificate and prize money. The medal honors individuals for "outstanding invention, innovation, or development which has resulted in a significant change or contribution to the nature of the rubber industry". Awardees give a lecture at an ACS Rubber Division meeting, and publish a review of their work in the society's scientific journal Rubber Chemistry and Technology.
David Spence was one of the pioneering rubber chemists. He helped the war effort during the Second World War by devising new ways of extracting natural rubbers from plants, and worked to improve the processing of the rubber. Over the course of his career, he worked to improve the dyeing processes for rubber products and the vulcanization of rubber, and in developing new accelerants for strengthening lower-quality natural rubber. In 1941, he became the first recipient of the Charles Goodyear Medal, awarded by the American Chemical Society.
As of 2019, Malaysia is the sixth largest producer and exporter of Natural Rubber (NR), the leader in the production and export of rubber products, the largest consumer of natural rubber and the world's largest rubber gloves producer, with annual rubber gloves exports worth US$7.3 billion in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in positive impact for the rubber industry as most countries import tons of rubber gloves. The rubber industry's annual growth was 12% more than that of the previous year. On the other hand, top glove factories say that an outbreak at their facilities on 25 November 2020 had negatively affected their trade.
References
- International Rubber Research & Development Board
- History of Natural Rubber (Part 3)
- The Story of Rubber:Supply and Demand
- Paul R. Samuelson, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SYNTHETIC RUBBER PROGRAM 1941–1955, Working Paper MIT-EL 76-027WP, Energy Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (November, 1976)
- Chung, Stephanie Po-Yin (2002). "Surviving Economic Crises in Southeast Asia and Southern China: The History of Eu Yan Sang Business Conglomerates in Penang, Singapore and Hong Kong". Modern Asian Studies. 36 (3): 579–617. doi:10.1017/S0026749X02003037. S2CID 146400307.
- Notes
- ↑ Wilk, Kurt (1942). "International Administrative Regulation: The Case of Rubber". American Political Science Review. 36 (2): 323–337. doi:10.2307/1947891. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1947891.
- ↑ Lammers, Clemens (1937): Internationale Kartelle. Paris: Internationale Handelskammer, p. 12 (p. 9-18: “Die Organisation des Rohkautschukmarktes” = rubber cartel)
- ↑ Lammers, Clemens (1937): Internationale Kartelle. Paris: Internationale Handelskammer, p. 13.
- ↑ "International Natural Rubber Agreement, 1979 ATS 26 of 1980 ". Australasian Legal Information Institute, Australian Treaties Library. Retrieved on 15 April 2017.
- ↑ Khan, Kabir-Ur-Rahman (1980). "The international natural rubber agreement 1979 - ScienceDirect". Resources Policy. 6 (3): 253–265. doi:10.1016/0301-4207(80)90044-6.
