INDUSTRY
Rachel Meggers and Ben Seely
INDUSTRIALIZATION:
The growth of manufacturing activity
in an economy or a region
Characterized by a decreasing number of subsistence farmers as
they leave the agriculture sector for manufacturing jobs
Major Economic
Classifications
Primary Sector (ex: fishing,
farming)
- Activities that revolve around
extracting raw materials from
the earth
Secondary Sector (ex: factory
worker, manufacturing)
- Activities that deal with
processing the raw
materials into a finished
product
Tertiary Sector (ex: bank tellers,
carpet salesman)
- Activities or service that
move, sell, and trade the
products made in the second
sector
Quaternary Sector (ex:
university researcher)
- Activities that involve
information creation and
transfer
Quinary Sector (ex: legislatures,
CEOs)
- Activities that involve the
highest level of decision making
Diffusion of 5 Characteristics
Industrialization of Industrialization
Cottage industries, before the
Industrial Revolution, were where
people made tools and equipment in
their own home
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
A series of improvements in
industrial technology that
transformed the process of
manufacturing goods
The Industrial Revolution began in
England in the 1760’s as a period of
rapid socio-economic change and
mass exploitation of workers
Machines replaced human
labor
New source of energy found
Beginnings of assembly-line
production
Transportation improved
Farming became mechanized
Industrial
Regions
Europe:
UK – used to be
steel and coal,
now high-tech
Moscow –
fabrics, and
product with
skilled labor
St. Petersburg –
shipbuilding,
Navy industries
United States:
New England – oldest in U.S., textiles
Middle Atlantic – Largest U.S. market
Mohawk Valley – steel and food processing
Pitts- Lake Erie – steel 19th century
Western Great Lakes – transportation and steel
Southern Cal.- 1940s – aircraft
SE Ontario – Canada’s most imp., steel
East Asia:
Japan (1950s and 60s) – automobiles, ships,
cameras, stereos, TVs
China – low cost labor, largest consumer market
Weber’s Least
Cost Theory of
Industrial
Location
Predicts where factories
would choose to locate based
on the places that would be
the lowest cost to them
Considers two issues:
Distance of transportation to
market
Weight of goods being
transported
Weber’s Model
Assumptions
Transportation cost is solely
determined by the weight of
the goods being shipped and
the distance they are being
shipped
Labor exists only in certain
places and is not mobile
Markets are in fixed locations
Industries are competitive and
aim to minimize their costs and
maximize their profits
Physical geography and
political/cultural landscapes are
assumed to be uniform across
the model’s space
Weber’s Model
Assumptions
With the assumptions,
location of industry is driven
by four factors:
Transportation
Labor
The theory does not
identify the fact that
markets and labor are
often mobile and that the
labor force varies in age,
skill sets, gender, etc.
Some transportation costs
are not in fact directly
proportional to distance
Agglomeration
(spatial clumping in industry)
Deglomeration
(spatial “unclumping” in
industry)
Weber’s Model
Critics
Weight-Gaining
Industries
Weight-Losing
Industries
Manufacturing processes that
that take the raw materials
and create a heavier final
product
Manufacturing processes that
take the raw materials and
convert them into a lighter
final product
Typically locate near the
market.
Typically located closer to raw
materials
“bulk-gaining”
Ex: beverage bottling,
fabricated metals
“bulk-reducing”
Ex: paper production, copper,
steel
US Steel Industry
Principal inputs:
Iron ore and coal
Centers of Steel Production:
“Rust belt” (Pennsylvania, Ohio,
Michigan, etc.)
Mid 19th century: Pittsburgh,
PA
Late 19th century: Lake Erie
and Ohio cities
Early 20th century: Lake
Michigan
Mid 20th century: closer to
oceans on both coasts
Bulk-reducing industry
Footloose Industries have
spatially fixed costs and are not
affected by transportation costs
Often produce lightweight
products of high value, ex:
computer chips
Transportation
The farther something
is transported, the
cheaper the cost
Trucks (short distances,
load/unload quickly)
Trains (ship to destinations,
longer to load and travel)
Air (most expensive, speedy
delivery of small-bulk, high-value
items)
Ships (long distances,
international, slower than land
Break-of-bulk point:
Location where transfer
among modes of
transportation is
possible, where two or
more transportation
modes meet
Ex: seaports and
airports
Substitution
Principle
Weber’s model
assumes that the cost
of labor is a key factor
that influences where
industries choose to
locate
It also includes
the availability
of industrial
capital:
machinery and
the money to
purchase the
tools and
workers the
factory needs
Substitution principle is
applied when an industry
moves to access lower labor
costs, even though
transportation costs might
increase as a result
In the long run, theses
companies will save more
because of the cheaper
labor
Labor Intensive Industries
One in which the wages and other compensation paid to employees
constitute a high percentage of expenses
Ex: textile and apparel industry
Agglomeration Deglomeration
Occurs when industries
clump together in the
same geographic space
Factories can then share
costs associated with
resources such as
electrical lines, roads,
pollution control, etc.
“Unclumping” of factories because
of negative effects and higher costs
associated with industrial
overcrowding
When agglomeration negatively
affects the industries in ways such
as pollution, traffic congestion, or
overused resources and labor
Backwash effects are negative consequences of agglomeration
that can occur when areas suffer brain-drain of talented people
who are moving to a technopole or other center of industrial
agglomeration
Future of
Industry
Industry is shifting away
from traditional areas of
northeastern US
2 million jobs added to
the “sun belt” between
1950 and 2009
South has lower wages
and little interest in
joining unions
International shifts in industry to
Brazil, China, and India
BRIC = Brazil, Russia, India, China
Outsourcing has effected the
distribution of manufacturing
Maquiladoras: foreign owned
factories located in Mexico
Located close to the US border and
major cities
Located in Mexico because of cheap
labor, NAFTA, Mexico’s proximity to
the US market, and improved
transportation
Helpful Review Links
http://quizlet.com/20184677/ap-human-geography-chapter-10-vocabularyflash-cards/
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/ap-humangeographyindustryvocab.html