Global Shift:
- International relocation of industry, especially manufacturing, mainly to Asia e.g China does manufacturing and India does services.
- MEDCs industrialised years ago, and are now deindustrialising. Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs) have more cheaper workers, fewer laws and regulations, less environmental controls etc. Therefore, more manufacturing now takes place in NICs.
- Why China: Open door policy, dedicated workers, good skills, SEZs like Shanghai, less regulations and taxes, coastline access to the Pacific ocean, available land.
- Why India: Educated to speak English, clever graduates, low wages, huge amounts of infrastructure which already exists.
Global Shift
Benefits:
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Global Shift Costs:
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Education & Training |
Loss of Land |
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Poverty Reduction |
Unplanned Settlements |
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Waged Work |
Resource Pressure |
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Infrastructure Investment
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Environmental Prssure |
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Pollution
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Environmental
Problems:
- Pollution: Harmful substances in the environment e.g China’s rivers have chemicals from factories.
- Land Degradation: Reduction in quality or ability to use land
- Over-Exploitation: Unstainable use of a resource such as water from rivers of cutting down trees
- Biodiversity: The variety of all life in an area e.g animals, plants
Economic
Restructuring From Deindustrialisation Leading To Social and
Environmental Problems:
- Former industrial areas have now deindustrialised due to the global shift and other factors like more automation (less workers needed)
- Economies in MEDCs e.g. Detroit in USA and Bolton in UK, have had to ‘restructure’ i.e. change!
- Some areas do not restructure as well as they need to, and problems such as high unemployment, depopulation, land dereliction and contamination, and high crime (spiral of decline etc) result
Why
Detroit:
- Since 1950 population has halved (now 700,000)
- Automobile industry collapsed due to
- Competition and global shift
- City centre ‘white flight’ – moved to suburbs
- Poverty & crime risen: most dangerous US city