Human Geography - Globalisation

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Globalisation - Technology

Technological Developments and Globalisation

  • Containersation makes shipping goods faster and cheaper
    • Companies can make products cheaply in countries and ship them to sell in other countries
  • Satellites and submarine cables give superfast communication
    • Companies can communicate and make decisions globally

Impacts of Globalisation - Overseas Call Centres

Companies in richer countries have call centres in poorer countries because

  • Wages are generally lower
  • Internet Technology means cheap and clear international calls
  • Most people speak English in countries such as the Phillipenes and India where there are many call centres
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Globalisation

Globalisation -how the countries of the world are getting more connected

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Localised Industrial Regions

Interconnected industries can cluster together in one area but still have global connections due to ICT and transport developments

Motorsport Valley in Northamptonshire (there are nine Formula One companies based here)

Benefits

  • M40 and M1 nearby
  • Near to research facilities
  • Near to pool full of highly-skilled workers
  • Beautiful Countryside - pleasant place to live in
  • Near Silverstone race track for testing and events
  • Heathrow and Birmingham Airports nearby - export and travel
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TNC's

Transnational Corporations (TNC's) - major companies that operate in more than one country.

For example, a company might have the headquarters in Switzerland, produce its goods in China and sell it in the US and Europe

Advantages

  • TNC's aim to maximise their profits so poorer countries many be able to benefit

Disadvantages

  • Generally, TNC's aren't interested in helping the poorer countries develop
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***CASE STUDY - Tesco(TNC's)***

Context

  • Has over 850 stores worldwide with over 500,000 people in 14 countries
  • Operates in 14 markets across Europe, Asia and North America

Environment

Tesco have set an overall goal of becoming a zero-carbon business by 2050 by setting targets such ashalving carbon emissions from their 2006/7 baseline portfolio of stores by 2020and finding ways to help customers reduce their own carbon footprints by 50% by 2020.In order to minimise waste and reducing direct water useage, Tesco have programmes. One of these programmes was since 2009, they have sent no waste from UK stores directly to landfill. Another included, in China, they recycled 100% of cardboard and waste oils from their stores.

Community

  • Tesco Kipa Family Clubs in Turkey provides free activities and classes for 60,000 members
  • In South Korea, there are over 100 Schools of Extended Education where customers and their families can access courses such as well-being, art and English

Healthy Choices

  • Eat Live Enjoy - a great tasting nutritionally balanced range of chilled ready prepared meals in the UK
  • Tesco and The Cancer Research UK's Race for Life - Since 2002, over £450million has been raised and over 6 million have taken part
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Manufacturing Change

Deindustrialisaion - when the maufacturing industry declines and becomes much less important

NIC's - newly industrialised countries

HIC's - highly industrialised countries

Some parts of the world have seen rapid industrialisation growth while other parts have experienced deindustrialisation.

How TNC's have affected Global Manufacturing

TNC's look for the cheaper place to make their products

  • They move production to factories in HIC's - increases deindustrialisation
  • More factories develop to supply the new production in the NIC's
  • HIC factories cannot compete with TNC prices - they either relocate or shut down
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***CASE STUDY - Shenzen(Manufacturing Change)***

Longhua Science and Technology Park in Shenzen

  • The factory has 270,000 workers - more than the population of Newcastle Upon Tyne
  • It's more like a self contained city than a factory - has its own shops/hospitals/fire services
  • Workers live rent-free in dormatories close to the factories - 100 to a dormitory
  • They work on assembly lines in shifts around the clock, usually six days a week
  • Wages are low by British Standards (starting at about £60 a month) - but good by Chinese standards
  • Workers get cheap meals in one of ten company canteens, plus free health insurance incase they fall ill
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***CASE STUDY - China(Manufacturing Change)***

Timeline

  • 1949 - People's Republic of China formed and first steel factory started production
  • 1976 - "Market Socialism" reforms begin
  • 1979 - Foreign investment is allowed in small areas
  • 1980 - Special Economic Zones (SEZ's) set up with tax incentives for foreign companies
  • From the 1980's - China's economy has grown rapidly and is now an industrial giant

Reasons For Growth

  • Cheap labour
  • Health and safety weakly enforced
  • Restrictions on strikes and unions
  • Working hours limits are weakly enforced

Disadvantages to Industrial Growth

  • Many Chinese are still poor due to low wages - 20% of the population live on less than $1 a day
  • There are high rates of air pollution in cities because there are few environmental regulations and 70% of China's rivers are polluted
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Energy

The global demand for energy has gone up. This has had some severe impacts.

Environmental

  • More fossil fuel usages release more carbon dioxide - most scientists say this causes global warming
  • More risk of oil spills at sea, radioactive leaks from nuclear power stations

Economic

  • Countries with energy resources get richer the more they sell
  • More energy means more economic development

Social

  • Climate change could mean millions of people migrating to escape the drought
  • Gives more people the change to access enery supplies, improving their lives
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Sustainable Energy Use

The use of renewable energy can help to achieve sustainable development. Renewable energy doesn't ever run out or damage the environment.

Renewable Energy

  • Solar Power - energy from the sun
  • Wind Power - energy from wind (turbines)
  • Hydroelectric Power - energy from running water
  • Biomass - organic material processed to release gas

Other Ways to Reduce the Cost of Globalisation

  • Countries that beat their emissions target gets the carbon credits which they can sell to other countries (countries that help poor countries beat their emissions target also get credits)
  • Encouraging people to save energy by recycling

International Directives to Cut Carbon Emissions

  • Kyoto Protocol(1997) - global agreement to cut emissions for carbon dioxide by 2012
  • Copenhagen Accord(2009) - a new agreement that softened the terms of the Kyoto Protocol - countries asked what cuts they could make to carbon dioxide by 2020
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Food - We All Want More

Around the world, there is an increasing demand for food. Attempts to meet this demand can have positive and negative repercussions.

Why is the Demand Increasing?

Global population growth means that more people need food. People on HIC's want their favourite foods all year, not just when they are in season. In NIC's, people are changing the sort of food they eat (more meat and exotic foods).

Also, extreme weather conditions (due to global warming) cause damage to crops. For example, in 2012, there were droughts in the US farming regions

Campaigns For Locally Produced Food

The campaign to protect Rural England is one organisation that is trying to convince supermarkets to stock more local food and encourage people to eat foods only when they are in season in the UK, thereby reducing food miles and increasing revenue for local products

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Food - We All Want More Effects

Social / Economic

  • When farmers switch to intensive agriculture to produce food for export
  • Farmers take on debts to pay for fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides in order to successfully farm intensively
  • If food prices go down, farmers are ruined
  • If food prices go up, farmers do well

Environmental

  • Intensive agriculture enables farmers to increase yields and grow seasonal crops all year
  • It uses alot of energy to transport food to HIC countries so the carbon footprint of food production is high(food miles)
  • In poorper countries people are forced to far local demand but this causees environmenetal degradation where soil fertility is significantly reduced by overproduction

Political

  • Disputes can occur over resources (e.g. water). For example, the course of Nile flow through many countries and farmers depend on the water for irrigation. If one country wants to take more of the water for their own use, there is less water for countries further downstream
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