Geography Education

The Olympic committee and designer came under withering criticism for manufacturing the garments in China.

 

Two current controversies (Team USA clothing being made in China and Mitt Romney's potential involvement as Bain outsourced jobs) are fundamentally about what Americans think about globalization and the impact of globalization on the United States.  Globalization is most certainly a mixed bag at every scale.  What is intriguing about these controversies is that most Americans see themselves as net 'victims' of globalization, while many people outside the United States would view the United States as an overwhelming beneficiary of the economic and cultural processes that are collectively called globalization.  So what is it?  Do Americans just want to have their cake and eat it too?  Can a country only embrace the beneficial elements of globalization without accepting that negatives  inherently will come with them as a package deal?  How can a country (or the world, individual) maximize the advantages of globalization while minimizing the negatives?     

TRAVEL by ferry from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, in one of the regions that makes China the workshop of the world, and an enormous billboard greets you: “Time is Money, Efficiency is Life”.

 

China’s economic growth has been explosive. Many people predicting the economic future have used current growth percentages and trajectories to extrapolate into the future. The question that we should ask is: how long can China continue to grow at this current pace? Many signs are pointing to the difficulty that China will have in sustaining these levels of growth. The era of China being the world’s go-to source for cheap manufacturing is dependent on current geographic variables, variables that the economic growth is altering.

 

Manufacturing prices are rising, especially in the coastal provinces where factories have usually been agglomerated (also known as Special Economic Zones --SEZs). The more success that China has in manufacturing, land prices will go up, environmental and safety standards will increase. Collectively, this will mean that labor costs for the factories will also be increasing as Chinese workers are not only producing but also becoming consumers of manufactured goods with an increased standard of living. This is changing the spatial patterns of employment in China and will impact Chinese manufacturing’s global influence. Sarah Bednarz recommends this article as “a needed update on the new international division of labor (NIDL).”  For more on the topic, see Shaun Rein's book, "The End of Cheap China: Economic and Cultural Trends that will Disrupt the World."

As U.S. factories enjoy a pickup in business, and need to hire more people, many are facing a perplexing situation --a dearth of skilled manufacturing workers in America.

 

Even in a time when so many are lamenting the lack of factory jobs available to American workers because of the outsourcing of manufacturing, factories can't find the qualified machinists and other critical skilled positions to operate a factory at capacity. 

All Business is Local: Why Place Matters More Than Ever in a Global Virtual World.

 

Yes there are processes of globalization that are reshaping many dynamics, but as John Quelch and Katherine Jocz argue in their book coming out next month, this is an age of semi-globalization.  Even the world's best global brands are highly attuned to local tastes, cultures and patterns.  'Company bosses who focus too much on glamorous global strategy and the big picture risk getting burned in a world where the vast majority of business transactions are local' because of the difficulties in getting the local part of the strategy to resonate with consumers.   

 

How is the world still incredibly local?  What type of jobs are 'non-outsourceable?'

Many companies have moved their customer service lines to Manila to take advantage of workers who speak lightly accented English and are familiar with American culture.

 

The geography of globalization is epitomized by relentless change and marked by continual turnover.  Cultural and economic factors play significant roles in creating potential advantages for receiving outsourced jobs (whether that is beneficially long-term is another discussion). 

This 90 minute documentary is an often painful look and the landscapes of manufacturing and the geography of resource extraction.  This video is VERY slow, so I don't recommend showing the whole video in class, but certain this video would be a good inclusion in a lesson (e.g.-Three Gorges Dam, e-waste or factory work).  This Zeitgeist Film by Jennifr Baichwal focuses primarily on Chinese manufacturing landscapes and the environmental impacts that technology produces that we would collectively like to pretend we can wish them away. 

Apple once bragged that its products were made in America. But it has since shifted its immense manufacturing work overseas, posing questions about what corporate America owes Americans.

 

The economics of globalization are at the core of this article, Apple just happens to be the case-study.  Why are iPhones not produced in the United States?  While it would be easy to simply cite cheap labor, it is more complicated than that.  Unfortunately for those hoping to rekindle American industry, the problems run deeper than that.  The ability to recruit sufficient highly-trained engineers, flexibility and speed in production are all factors that are decisively in China's corner at the moment.  Big picture, how are these economic factors reshaping the world we live in? 

The "This American Life" Podcast (also available on iTunes) often pulls together fascinating stories about American culture and society.  This podcast focuses on the production of the Apple products such as the iPod which as advertized as quintessentially American products.  While we all know that "our stuff is made in China," how much do we know about the geography of industry and manufacturing within China?  This is a glimpse into Shenzhen, one of the Special Economic Zones and the scope and scale of manufacturing of commercialized goods and the working conditions. 

"Nike? Gone. Adidas? Gone. New Balance, the last major athletic shoe brand still manufacturing in the United States, fights to keep jobs here."   This is an excellent portal for discussing outsourcing, deindutrialization, sectors of the economy and globalization.