HUGE Ch 12 vocab

Industrial Revolution

The term applied to the social and economic changes in agriculture, commerce and manufacturing that resulted from technological innovations and specialization in late-eighteenth-century Europe.

Globalization

The expansion of economic, political, and cultural processes to the point that they become global in scale and impact.

Fordist

A highly organized and specialized system for organizing industrial production and labor.

Vertical Integration

Ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist along a variety of points on a commodity chain.

Friction of Distance

The increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance.

Least Cost Theory

Model developed by Alfred Weber according to which the location of manufacturing establishments is determined by the minimization of three critical critical expenses: labor, transportation, and agglomeration.

Agglomeration

A process involving the clustering or concentrating of people or activities.

Flexible Production System

A system of industrial production characterized by a set of processes in which the components of goods are made in different places around the globe and then brought together as needed to meet consumer demand.

Commodification

The process through which something is given monetary value; when a good or idea is turned into something that has a particular price and that can be traded in a market economy.

Product Life Cycle

The introduction, growth, maturation and decline of a product.

Global Division of Labor

Phenomenon whereby corporations and others can draw from labor markets around the world, made possible by the compression of time and space through innovation in communication and transportation systems.

Just-In-Time Delivery

Method of inventory management made possible by efficient transportation and communication systems, whereby companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production, planning that what they need for near-term production, planning that what they need for longer-term production will arrive when needed.

Spatial Fix

The movement of production from one site to another based on the place-based cost advantages of the new site.

Outsource

With reference to production, to turn over in part or in total to a third party.

Offshore

With reference to production, to outsource to a third party located outside of the country.

Intermodal Connections

Places where two or more modes of transportation meet (including air, road, rail, barge, and ship.)

Deindustrialization

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 to work through a period of high unemployment.

Newly Industrializing Countries

States that underwent industrialization after WWII and whose economies have grown at a rapid pace.

Break-of-Bulk Point

A location along a transport route where goods must be transferred from one carrier to another.

Rust Belt

A region in the northeastern United States that was once characterized by industry.

Sun Belt

The South and Southwest regions of the United States.

Growth Pole

Refers to a grouping of firms or an industry that generates expansion in an economy.

Technopole

Centers or nodes of high-technology research and activity around which a high-technology corridor is sometimes established.