Industrialization and Globalization Concepts

Flashcards covering key vocabulary terms related to industrialization and globalization.

Cottage Industry

A type of industry in which production of goods and services is based in homes, not factories.

Industrial Revolution

A social and economic shift caused by the dramatic increase of manufacturing productivity, beginning in Britain in the 1700s.

Fordism

A means of mass production based on the assembly line method developed by Henry Ford.

Urbanization

The movement of workers to cities to work in factories, leading to low standards of living.

Deindustrialization

A reduction in the size of the manufacturing industry and industrial capacity of a place.

Post-Fordism

A production system where companies replace workers with machines for faster and varied production.

Agglomeration

The spatial grouping of businesses to share costs and benefit from a shared talent pool.

Break of Bulk Point

A location where goods are transferred from one means of transportation to another.

Globalization

The growing interdependence of world economies, cultures, and populations due to trade, investment, and technology.

Just-in-Time Delivery

A method of manufacturing where materials are sent to a factory moments before they are needed.

Brownfields

Sites of abandoned factories that have the potential to become a hazardous waste or pollutant.

Gini Coefficient

A measurement of the distribution of income within a population, ranging from 0 (equal) to 1 (inequality).

Multiplier Effects

When a change in spending or investment causes a larger change in output.

Economy of Scale

The cost advantage experienced by a company when it increases its level of output.

New International Division of Labor

A system of employment in various economic sectors spread throughout the world, often shifting from developed to developing countries.

World Systems Theory

A theory proposing that countries do not exist in isolation but are part of an interdependent system, with resources flowing from periphery to core.

Locational Interdependence

The location decision for a factory being dependent upon the

location of other factories

Footloose Business

A business that can pack up and leave for a new location quickly and

easily.

Bid-Rent Theory

The price and demand for real estate increases the nearer it is to the

Central Business District.

Transnational Companies

Large international companies with locations in more than one

country.

Front Office

Offices for an executive branch of workers, usually located in somewhere

highly visible and important (expensive

Back Office

Cheaper office spaces typically for non-executive employees, linked to the front office via technology so they don’t have to be nearby

Offshoring

When companies locate their back offices in other countries due to a lower cost of operation.

Labor Oriented Industries

Industries that locate close to major training institutions

Outsourcing

Contracting work out to non-company employees or other companies.

Interdepence

 The dependence of two or more people or things on each other.

Complemtarity

Trade that occurs when parties have goods or services that the other

Comparitive Advantage

The idea that a country should specialize in producing products for export that they hold an advantage in producing

Neoliberism

 An economic strategy that calls for free markets, free trade, and minimal government intervention in the economy.

Trading Blocs

 Groups of countries that consent to a common set of trade agreements. 

Ex. EU, MERCOSUR, WTO, OPEC, etc.

Transnational Corporations

 Companies that operate in more than one country.

Newly Industrialized Country

A term used to describe a country whose level of economic development ranks it somewhere between developing and highly developed countries.

Special Economic Zones

 Areas in which business/trade laws are different from other parts of the country. 

Export Processing Zones

 Spaces within a country where special regulations benefit foreign-controlled businesses. 

Rusbelt

 The US region hit hardest by deindustrialization, located in the Northeast around the Great Lakes.

Growth Poles

Concentration of technically advanced industries that stimulate economic development in the businesses that are connected to those industries.

Corporate Parks/Business Parks

The congregation of office buildings on a landscape.

Some very large companies create their own business parks where they are only tenants (Google, Apple, Samsung, Meta, etc.) 

Development

A process of change in society as it seeks to meet the needs of its people.

GDP

The total value of goods and services produced within a country’s borders in a year.

GNP

The total value of goods and services produced by the citizens and corporations of a country in a given year, regardless of their location.

GNI

Measure of the worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country in a year.

Gini Coeffecient

 A measurement of the distribution of income within a population

Values range between 0-1 

HDI

 A measure of development that combines one economic measure (GNI per capita) with several social measures, such as high life expectancy and average education level. 

Stages of Ecnomic Growth Model

A development model proposed by economist Walt Rostow in 1960 that describes the shift from traditional to modern forms of society. 

World System Tehory

 An alternative view to Rostow’s model proposed by historian Immanuel Wallerstein in the 1970s that included political and economic elements and proposed that countries do not exist in isolation, but are part of an interdependent system.

Dependency Theory

Resources flow from the periphery to the core, enriching the core at the expense of the periphery

Complementarity

Trade that occurs when parties have goods or services that the other wants.