Section Twogreater access to Mexican labor markets resulting from NAFTA
and whether Japanese auto manufacturers can find a way to
assemble cars in Mexico and ship them duty-free into the
United States.^62 Another example would be the Battelle
Memorial Institute’s development of inexpensive biodegradable
plastics. Biodegradable plastics have cost as much as
$250 per pound, while Battelle’s new plastics range from $1 to
$2 per pound.^63
One interesting way in which the human resource
management function can make additional contributions is in
the area of competitive intelligence as the function can be an
important source of such information. For example, because
human resource managers receive résumés from employees at
competing firms within the industry, they know who is moving.
They also know the skills and types of individuals headhunters
and competitors are recruiting. The types of individuals
applying for jobs and trends in their applications can provide
information that will help identify the direction being pursued
by a competitor.^64 More specifically, human resources can pro-
vide the following corporate intelligence:
From public information and legitimate recruiting
and interview activities, you ought to be able to
construct organization charts, staffing levels and
group missions for the various organizational