International business is risky. There are many obstacles and challenges to overcome, yet despite this, companies are lured into it by potential profits. One great risk for companies is the fluctuation of interest rates. Since the collapse of the Bretton Woods fixed exchange rate agreements in 1973, where global currencies were "pegged" against the dollar, most currencies were allowed to float in a supply and demand market. Two decades have passed since the breakdown of the fixed exchange rate system, and there are both critics and supporters of the current floating exchanged rate regime. Regardless of the merits of this system, whether if the floating exchange rates regime is "good" or not, it most certainly has changed the face of international business and has brought on new challenges to multinational corporations. One such challenge is fluctuations in exchange rates. Fluctuations in exchange rates between countries have dramatic impacts on international trade and the profit margin of multinational corporations. A firm operating with a slim profit margin can see their profits instantly vanish as exchange rates shift. An example of this new risk to corporations is the challenges that Endaka, or high yen, has brought the Japanese automobile industry.
             In early 1995, the Japanese yen hit a record high against the U.S. dollar. At 81 yen per dollar, the yen had doubled its value in relation to the dollar in just under a decade. This change in exchange rates hit the Japanese automakers hard, cutting almost all of their profit margins and forcing them to undertake dramatic management decisions. Since the end of World War II, Japan's economy had been geared for the export of goods, exports had fueled its growth and resurgence in the global economy. The first wave of endaka hit in 1985 when under strong projectionist sentiment to protect domestic industries, the U.S. Government pushed for the Plaza Accords. The accords devalued the doll...