Globalisation

What is Globalisation?

• The increasing importance of international operations for people, countries and governments where countries are effecred by other countries 

What is Interdependance?

• When countries depend on each other

Companies use other countries in other parts of the world to produce parts for their businesses. If something happens to that country, the business and production will slow down.   

Eg. England and Japan - HONDA. The earthquake stopped production of parts in Japan and the car factory in Swindon, England slowed down and had to stop working

TNCs - Transnational Corporation

Case Study - NIKE

• Manufacture footwear and clothing
• Headquaters (HQ) in USA
• Factories in every continets, except Africa - 124 in China, 73 in Thailand, 35 in South Korea, 34 in Vietnam
• Also in South America, Australia, Canada, Itally, Turkey and USA
• Not in Africa because of unstable governments, lack of skills, landlocked countries etc

TNCs such as Nike have their headquaters in MEDCs where they can get higher skilled people, and higher paid jobs

Factories are in countries where they can get cheep labour and is plentiful - LEDCs

Prefer countries with less health and safety + enviroment rules

Positive Effects

Labour: Population = 1.5 billion so lots of workers - willing to work long hours, low pay to improve standard of living

Government: Communist so makes decisions without asking the people. No laws to protect workers rights, little health and safety and limited control on pollution - making TNCs more profit

Market: China's huge population makes it a huge potential market - a growing result of more people being paid. Also populations and standard of living is increasinh in other (near by) Asian countries. Demand for consumer products is growing world wide as the population keeps growing

Transport: 2 major ports - Shanghai and Hong Kong, its easy for TNCs to import raw material and export finished good or componets

Negative Effects:

• China's success is at the cost of nearly every other industrial nation. No where else can match the low operating costs in China. Most industrial countries in N.America, Europe and newly industrialising countries (NICs) have seen a reduction in industrial output and location of TNCs because of China - DE-INDUSTRIALISATION of other countries eg. the UK

NICs - Newly Industrialsing Countries (LEDCs)

Push (from MEDCs):

• High cost of labour
• Waste monitored
• Emmissions control
• Strong trade unions - demanding specific work conditions, some strikes
• Country and EU laws, health and safety regulations - very strict
• Workers wont work long hours

Pull Factors (to NICs):

• Lower labour costs - cheep
• No or weak trade unions - not many strikes
• Long working hours
• Tax free zones or lower tax rates
• No govenment legislation or regulation
• No/little health and safety, no emmisions control

The NICs consist of:

The 'Asian Tigers' - Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Philappines, Tawian, South Korea, Indonesia

BRIC Countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China

Push and Pull factors from developed to developing countries:

Push Factors:

• Emissions control and waste monitored
• Government and EU laws - health and safety etc
• Strikes
• More pay, less hours for workers

Pull Factors:

• No emissions  or waste control
• Hardly any laws for health and safety or pollution
• Little or no unions - no strikes
• Less pay and long hours for workers

What is the Kyoto Protocol?:

• In 1997, the Kyoto conference proposed compulsory reductions of rich countries (MEDCs) carbon emissions by 5% but 2010, compared with levels in 1990

• LEDCs and NICs were excluded from this to not hinder their economic development - but countries like China and India and now industrialising rapidly and rely heavily on their own coal deposits - pollutes the worst
• The US Senate refused to sign the agreement - since then, carbon emissions of the US have gone up by 3% per year
• Emissions from some sources we left out, such as aviation, shipping, and embedded emissions (those added to good and food which have to travel)

Carbon Credits:

• Can be bought by a company or country if they have gone over their allowed carbon emissions from countries or comapanies who have achived under their target by using less fossil fuel

Renewable Energy

Advantages: - Doesnt contribute to global warming, avaliable for ever, pollution free, widely avaliable in most countries, local avaliablitys - can meet small scale needs, land can still be used for faming, 80% of people support wind farms in the UK

Disadvantages: Eye soar - not nice to look at, noisy, damages the landscape and widlife - migrating birds fly into the propellers, may interfere with TV reception, on calm days produces no power

Wind Power in the UK

• Currently 3000 wind turbines in the UK, 176 wind farms, producing 7.5% of the UK's electricity
• Need to be located in exposed areas - loads of wind, British Isles has the best wind in the EU
• Wind is renewable energy - will never run out
• 80% of the UK's population support it

Wind turbines: 100-120m tall. Offshore sights are 4-6km, may go up to 18km. Inland on hills

Increase of population = increase of demand of food

Soil needs to be used to grow food -> overcultivation -> loss of soil fertility -> soil erosion

      -> overgrazing

      -> deforestation

Food Miles: How many miles food travels from being grown to the consumer

• Many food products now are being imported from overseas - out of season food
• Clock up food miles when travelling to the consumer
• Eg, Egypt - use the desert (shortage of land), peat, sprinklers + fertilisers and irrigation to grow potatoes - water from acquifers