Eastern Asia-China
• Shanghai recently beat out
Rotterdam as the busiest
port in the world.
• China has many jobs that or
outsourced or moved
offshore.
• Northeast is China’s rust
belt with many state-run
inefficient factories.
• Dalian, Shanghai, Zhuhai,
Xiamen & Shenzhen- smogchoked cities jammed with
people-rapidly changing
with new construction &
renewal
Eastern Asia-China
• Shenyang on the Liao
River became the
“Chinese Pittsburgh”
with machine-making
and steel production.
• Shanghai & Chang
River district is the 2nd
largest industrial region
of China-rail cars, ships,
books, food & chemicals
• Enormous labor force,
low daily wages, few
restrictions have attracted
foreign companies to
China’s Special
Coal=65% of China’s energy &
Economic Zones (SEZs) Consumption could double in 20 years
• ½ the US population, size of
California, limited resources,
yet remarkable industrial
growth-Meiji Restoration
1860s
• Kanto Plain includes TokyoYokohama-Kawasaki metro
areas=2nd biggest
megalopolis on earthproduces 20% of Japan’s
total goods
• Kansai District, KobeKyoto-Osaka triangle is the
2nd area-steel, chemicals,
autos, shipbuilding & textiles
Eastern Asia-Japan
The Imperial Palace in
Tokyo
• Japan rapidly
industrialized in
the late 19th cent.
• Due to a lack of
resource, Japan
acquired colonies
on the Asian
mainland at the
expense of China.
• In the 1930s
militarists
dominated the
government &
began a policy of
further expansion.
South Asia-India
• Blessed with large coal
deposits, metallic
minerals such as iron ore
and a vast labor force,
India is growing by 8%
year.
• Despite rapid
industrialization it still
remains agrarian and
underdeveloped due to a
poor infrastructure-over
50% of India’s crops rot
in the field due to a lack
of transportation
South Asia-India
• The Bihar Steel Mill in India
produces high quality steel at a
low price-the down side-low
pay, few environmental
restrictions=pollution.
• India’s service sector is also
growing very rapidly.
• The Delhi Call Center at right
is typical of the the outsourcing
done by many Western firms.
• India has millions of low paid
blue-collar workers and
millions of white collar, high
tech. workers
How has Industrial
Production Changed?
Fordist – dominant mode of mass production
during the twentieth century, production of
consumer goods at a single site.
Post-Fordist – current mode of production with a
more flexible set of production practices in which
goods are not mass produced. Production is
accelerated and dispersed around the globe by
multinational companies that shift production,
outsourcing it around the world.
Time-Space Compression
Through improvements in
transportation and
communications
technologies, many places
in the world are more
connected than ever before.
Time-Space Compression
• Just-in-time delivery
rather than keeping a large
inventory of components or
products, companies keep just
what they need for short-term
production and new parts are
shipped quickly when needed.
Global division of labor
corporations can draw from
labor around the globe for
different components of
production.
New Influences on the
Geography of Manufacturing
• Transportation-intermodal connections where
air, rail, truck, ship and barge connect-eases
flow of goods-e.g. container shipping
• Regional and global trade agreements-WTO,
Benelux, European Union, NAFTA,
MERCOSUR, SAFTA, CARICOM, ANDEAN
AFTA, COMESA, etc. goal to ease flow of
goods by eliminating trade tariffs or quotas
• Energy-coal was replaced by natural gas & oil
after WW II-transported by pipeline or tanker
• Europe-despite North Sea Oil-still must import
• Mexico & Canada oil and natural gas
• U.S. uses 27% of oil & 37% of natural gas produced in
the world. Dependent on imported oil
• Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Russia large oil reserves
Deindustrialization –
a process by which companies move industrial jobs to
other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly
deindustrialized region to switch to a service
economy and work through a period of high
unemployment.
Abandoned street
in Liverpool,
England, where the
population has
decreased by onethird since
deindustrialization
Newly Industrialized
China – major industrial growth after 1950-Soviet
planners helped from 1949 to 1964
Industrialization in the last half of 20th cent. was
state-owned and planned:
focus on: Northeast district-Dongbei
Shanghai and Chang district
Today, industrialization is spurred by companies
that move production (not the whole company) to
take advantage of Chinese labor and special
economic zones (SEZs). Rapid growth on the
Pacific Rim
What is the Service Economy, and Where
are Services Concentrated?
• Service economy is activity
associated with provided
services such as
transportation, banking,
retailing, education and
office-based jobs.
• New Influences on
Location-less tied to energy
sources, information
technologies don’t need to
be close to market-some
personal services do need to
be near market
Geographical Dimensions
of the Service Economy
New Influences on Location:
- Information technologies
- Less tied to energy sources
- Market accessibility is more relevant for some
and less relevant for others because of
telecommunications
- Presence of Multinational Corporations
-Footloose firms-lightweight or valuable; e.g.
Diamonds or computer chips or services
Modern Production
Outsourcing –
moving individual steps in the
production process (of a good
or a service) to a supplier, who
focuses their production and
offers a cost savings.
Offshore –
Outsourced work that is located
outside of the country.
High-Technology Corridors
• An area designated by local or state government to
benefit from lower taxes and high-technology
infrastructure with the goal of providing hightechnology jobs to the local population.
eg. Silicon Valley, California
• Technopole – an area planned for high technology
where agglomeration built on a synergy among
technological companies occurs.
eg. Route 128 corridor in Boston
Production of Televisions
• Three key elements in
television production:
– Research and design
– Manufacturing components
– Assembly
• Production of televisions
has shifted across the
world over time.
• Right-Zenith Plant in
Reynosa, Mexico
Electronic Computer Industry
• Computers and
computer parts
manufacturing
requires a highlyskilled labor force.
• It is concentrated in
the Northeast, South
and West Coast in
areas where
universities and
research facilities are
located.
Motor Vehicle Parts
Plants
• American owned parts
plants are clustered near the
final assembly plants in the
Rust Belt.
• Foreign-owned plants tend
to be located further south,
where labor unions are
weaker, wages, taxes and
regulations are lower.
Change in Steel
Production,
1973–2002
• Steel production has
declined in the core
and increased in the
semiperiphery and
periphery,
especially in China,
India, Brazil and
South Korea
Steel Production,
1973 & 2002
• About 60% of global steel
production took place in
the Core in 2002
compared to 90% in
1973.
• Growth of steel
manufacturing in China
has been especially
dramatic.
THE END