Natalie Chan 5c02
Jennifer Tam 5c29
Economics - Report of the Trip to Pearl River Delta
Introduction
Date: 18 June 2012
Itinerary: Dongguan Longchang Toy Factory
Humen Museum of the Opium War
Fort Weiyuan
Group members: Natalie Chan (5c02)
Jennifer Tam (5c29)
Observations during the trip
1) Secondary Production
Venue: Dongguan Longchang Toy Factory
One of the spots we visited is a famous and successful factory in Dongguan, Longchang
Toy Factory, which is classified as a production unit. This reminds us the concept of
production types in Economics.
The part of the factory we paid the first visit is the production line and what we
observe is the action of fabricating plastic materials and components into toy robots.
Secondary Production is defined as activities which turn raw materials into
semi-finished products or finished products. Longchang Toy Factory turns and
processes plastic materials into finished products, plastic robots, which would be sold
in market soon. With these activities as evidence, we can prove that Longchang Toy
Factory is involved in secondary production.
Fig. 1) The production line in Longchang Toy Factory
2) Factors of Production
Venue: Dongguan Longchang Toy Factory
During the visit to Dongguan Longchang Toy Factory, we could see that the factory
hired lots of people who engage in different stages of production. Labour refers to the
human effort, both mental and physical, that was used in production of toys. Such an
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Natalie Chan 5c02
Jennifer Tam 5c29
adequate supply of labour and a huge size of labour force enabled the factory to
produce toys with high efficiency.
Apart from labour, we could also see that many machines were installed in the factory
to facilitate the production of toys. Machinery was a kind of man-made resources to
help production. Machinery was used repeatedly in production, so they were called
fixed capital. The large amount of machinery in the factory helped raise productivity
and toys with better quality could be produced.
From the visit, we could see that two of the factors of production, labour and machine,
were used in production.
Fig. 2) Labour and Capital used in Longchang Toy Factory
3) Monopolistic Competition
Venue: Toy market in Dongguan, Longchang Toy Factory
In Dongguan city, toy and hardware (五金) industries were the two dominating
industries with large number of factories. The toy factory that we visited, Dongguan
Longchang Toy Factory, was only one of them. In this monopolistically competitive toy
market, there are many sellers who are small and not associated with each other. Any
seller could enter the market at anytime he desires and therefore a larger number of
firms might enter the market freely. To buyers, the toys are identical and
heterogeneous products.
To attract customers, Dongguan Longchang Toy Factory under monopolistic
competition engaged in non-price competition. The factory cooperated with tourist
agencies and schools in holding visits for students from different parts of the country,
so as to promote their products. The Zhujiang Delta Exposure Trip that we joined this
time is a typical example.
To conclude, toy market in Dongguan is monopolistically competitive as Dongguan
Longchang Toy Factory fulfills all the features and behavior of a monopolistically
competitive firm.
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Natalie Chan 5c02
Jennifer Tam 5c29
4) Division of Labour
Venue: Dongguan city, Longchang Toy Factory
Through the trip, we discovered that division of labour is widely practised in Longchang
Toy Factory and Dongguan city, which is as well a contributing factor to the great
success of the factory and the manufacturing industry.
First of all, complex division of labour is demonstrated in Longchang Toy Factory.
Complex division of labour occurs when a worker specializes in a particular production
stage of a good. During the trip, we visited several departments of the toy factory
which are in charge of various tasks of toy production. For instance, as mentioned, the
production line mainly fabricates materials while physical testing room is responsible of
detecting product errors. As a result, we can conclude that workers in Longchang Toy
Factory practises complex division of labour, specializing in a particular production task
or production stage, which helps improve productivity and speed up development of
the factory.
Secondly, regional division of labour occurs in Dongguan city which helps build its
widespread manufacturing image. Regional division of labour occurs when a locality
specializes in producing a particular good or a particular production stage of a good. As
mentioned above, the Pearl River Delta concentrates on manufacturing in international
trade, especially toy and hardware industries. Therefore, regional division of labour
practised in Dongguan city allows the Pearl River Delta to develop into a manufacturing
centre which increases its total output and facilitates its economic development.
Fig. 3) Machines in the Physical Testing Room
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Natalie Chan 5c02
Jennifer Tam 5c29
Reflection
All in all, through the trip to the Pearl River Delta, especially Longchang Toy Factory, we
discovered many useful Economics concepts and theories that we usually learnt from
textbooks. For example, according to our observation, Longchang Toy Factory efficiently
utilizes different factors of production and is involved in secondary production, monopolistic
competition and labour specialization, which therefore bring about its great success in
manufacturing industry. This precious experience helps consolidate our Economics concepts
on firms and production in a more concrete and understandable way. We sincerely hope
that we can explore more Economics concepts through more trips or even daily life.
Division of Labour
Introduction
Observation 1
Observation 2
Observation 3
Observation 4
Reflection
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Jennifer Tam
Jennifer Tam
Natalie Chan
Natalie Chan
Jennifer Tam
Natalie Chan
Jennifer Tam
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