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Geography > Acronyms & Key Terms for Global Systems & Government > Flashcards

Acronyms & Key Terms for Global Systems & Government Flashcards

1
Q

TNC

A

A transnational corporation is a company that operates in multiple countries.

TNCs produce global products with the same global; brand the world over

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2
Q

LDE + HDE?

A

less developed economy
Highly Developed Economy

TNCs usually often manufacture products in LDEs for wider distribution to HDEs as it is cheaper

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3
Q

EME + BRIC

A

Emerging Market Economy

BRIC - An acronym used to describe: Brazil, Russia, India & China - whose economies have advanced rapidly since 1990s

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4
Q

MINT

A

An acronym used to describe: Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey - recent emerging economies

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5
Q

Pacific Alliance

A

A trade-oriented alliance formed in 2011 which includes Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile with Costa Rica, Panama and Guatemala in the process of joining.

Unlike Mercosur the Pacific Alliance has been more open to making bi-lateral agreements with other nations and sees its main market as the Asia Pacific and USA

The countries in this group will be part of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) when it is finalised.

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6
Q

MERCOSUR

A

The Southern Common Market, includes Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay and Venezuala.

It allows free movement of labour between member states. It sees its main market as the EU and North America but can trade globally.

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7
Q

CARICOM

A

An association of English-speaking Caribbean states that are attempting to establish a customs union.

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8
Q

UEMOA

A

West African Economic and Monetary Union

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9
Q

SADC

A

Southern African Development Community that links 14 southern African countries in trade and economic development efforts

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10
Q

SAARC

A

South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

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11
Q

ASEAN

A

Association of Southeast Asian Nations

AFTA - Asian Free Trade Area

An international organization linking together the 10 most important countries of Southeast Asia:

Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao POR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam

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12
Q

APEC

A

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

Australia Brunei Canada Chile China Hong Kong Indonesia Japan Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Papua New Guinea Peru Philippines Russia Singapore South Korea Taiwan Thailand USA Vietnam

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13
Q

EU

A

uropean Union

Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lufthansa Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Spain Sweden UK

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14
Q

EFTA

A

European Free Trade Association: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland.

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15
Q

NAFTA

A

North American Free Trade Agreement; allows open trade with US, Mexico, and Canada.

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16
Q

OPEC

A

Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

Made up of Members mainly from the Middle East but also South America and Africa and focuses on trade of oil globally. Oil is the single most important globally traded commodity.

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17
Q

UKTI

A

UK Trade and Investment Department - UK Government department to aid exports of UK products

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18
Q

Maquiladora

A

A manufacturing operation (plant or factory) located in a free trade zone in Mexico. They import materials for assembly and export the final product without trade barriers

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19
Q

Global Shift

A

This is the filtering down of manufacturing industry from developed countries to lower wage economies

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20
Q

Asian Tiger Economies?

A

Hong Kong
Singapore
Taiwan
South Korea

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21
Q

Tiger Cubs

A

Philippines
Vietnam
Malaysia
Indonesia
Thailand

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22
Q

NIC

A

Newly Industrialised Country

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23
Q

Conglomerate

A

A conglomerate is a collection of different, sometimes unrelated, companies that all report to one parent company - most transnational corporations are conglomerates.

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24
Q

FDI

A

Foreign Direct Investment

Mainly by TNCs (or occasionally Governments) based in one country who invest in the physical, capital or assets of foreign enterprises either by setting up a subsidiary company, by acquiring shares in an existing foreign company, or through merger with a foreign enterprise or joint venture.

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25
Q

Diaspora

A

A large group of people with similar heritage or homeland who have moved and settled in places all over the world - eg. Filippinos + Indians

26
Q

Leakages

A

Refers to a loss of income from an economic system. It mostly refers to profits sent back by TNCs from LDEs to their home countries - profit repatriation

27
Q

Repatriation of profits

A

Where a multinational returns the profits from an overseas venture to the country where it is based

28
Q

Financial Aid

A

Can be supplied by:

  1. the United Nations (UN) - multilateral aid
  2. Official Development Assistance (ODA) being contributions by richer countries to poorer countries
  3. One Government to another - bilaterally - usually on condition that mutual cooperation conditions apply
  4. Non-Government Organisations (NGOs)- money food or relief usually in times of disaster
29
Q

Migration

A

movement of people from one place to another - usually from poor to rich countries involving a loss by the poor country of skilled workers perpetuating disparity in poor and rich nations as the migrating workers will spend their wages i the host country

30
Q

Remittance Payments

A

Transfers of money from foreign workers to family in their home country. India receives more remittance payments from their diaspora than any other country.

31
Q

Factors of Production

A

C- Capital

E-Enterprise

L-Land

L-Labour

32
Q

OECD

A

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

studied 55 trade agreements to see if they had successfully lowered barriers to agricultural produce and found:

trade deals between rich and emerging economies had lifted the number of duty free goods traded by about 20% over previous 10 years

proving trade agreements do promote trade.

33
Q

IMF

A

International Monetary Fund

IMF:

  1. overseas global financial system, regulating financial flows and stabilising the system
  2. Provides financial and technical assistance to its members
  3. Only provides loans to avoid a global economic crisis - the international lender of last resort, to help members tackle balance of payment problems and stabilise their economies
  4. Draws its financial resources from quota restrictions of member countries
  5. Has a total staff of 2300 from 185 member countries and always elects a European Managing Director.
34
Q

World Bank

A

The World Bank

  1. Promotes economic development in developing countries and aims to reduce poverty.
  2. Provides long terms investment loans (interest free) for development projects to countries with very low per capita income (less than $865 per year) with the aim of reducing poverty via the International Development Association (IDA)
  3. Encourages the start up of private enterprises .
  4. Acquires financial resources by borrowing on the international bond market
  5. Is larger than the IMF with a staff of 7000 from 185 countries and always has an American President.
35
Q

WTO

A

World Trade Organisation
Oversees International Trade

World Trade Organisation (WTO) which succeeded the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) established after World War II.

Its role is to:

  1. supervise and liberalise trade by reducing barriers
  2. act as arbitrator sorting out trade problems between member governments
  3. negotiate and reach agreements to lay down legal ground rules for international commerce
  4. provide stability by reassuring member countries that there will be no sudden adverse policy changes
36
Q

Explain what is meant by the the phrase “Bottom Up”

A

When local people are consulted and supported to undertake projects or developments that meet one or more of their specific needs

37
Q

Explain what is meant by the the phrase “Top down”?

A

When the decision to undertake projects or developments is made by a central authority such as government with little or no consultation with the local people whom it will affect

38
Q

What are common markets?

A

A group formed by countries in geographical proximity in which trade barriers for goods and services are eliminated

39
Q

What are customs unions?

A

A trade bloc which allows free trade with no barriers between its member states but imposes a common external tariff to trading countries outside the bloc (eg the European Union)

40
Q

What is a multi-lateral agreement?

A

An agreement negotiated between more than two countries or groups of countries at the same time

41
Q

What does JIT stand for?

A

just-in-time production where production is “pulled through” by specific customer orders not “pushed through” creating stock piles of stock.

JIT therefore involves:

  • producing and delivering finished goods JIT for them to be sold
  • supplying part-assembled goods JIT to be assembled into finished goods
  • parts JIT to produce sub-assembled goods and
  • materials JIT to be made into parts.

This means less waste in production and less need for storage of stock

42
Q

What is “outsourcing”?

A

Outsourcing is the hiring of other companies to complete company tasks that are essential, but are not necessary to complete by the company itself (e.g. call
centres, final manufactures, advertising etc.). Companies can outsource due to the ability to communicate information to the companies they hire. Overall this saves money,
especially when outsourcing is done in low income countries due to lower labour costs.

Usually a decision by a corporation to turn over the manufacturing or service jobs from high wage economies in Europe or North America to independent suppliers in low wage economies where costs are lower such as China.

Outsourcing impacts negatively on the country of origin:

  1. loss of jobs - which has a knock on effect of less spending in the home community (known as the de-multiplier effect)
  2. De-industrialisation of the economy by closure of manufacturing companies in the home economy
  3. Structural unemployment - old workers now unskilled as the skills they are equipped with have been outsourced. This workforce has to be retrained for newly emerging jobs.
43
Q

What is a global value chain?

A

Multiple organisations producing parts of a good or service across geographical regions, with each link in the chain adding value.

44
Q

What is a global production network?

A

the chain of connected suppliers of parts and materials contributing to the manufacturing or assembly of consumer goods eg Renault still builds most of its vehicles in France but the parts are manufactured worldwide for example batteries for electric powered Renault Zoe are supplied by a Korean manufacturer

45
Q

Dry Ports?

A

These are “ports” located inland near production centres allowing for all shipment arrangements and customs documentation to be completed locally - saving small companies time and cost

46
Q

What is the theory of comparative advantage?

A

The theory of comparative advantage contends that a country should make and then sell / export those products it produces most efficiently or excells at producing but buy / import those it cannot produce as efficiently.

Theoretically trade should increase in each country as each country concentrates on what it does best.

47
Q

What is a Tariff?

A

A tax on imported goods

48
Q

What is an Import Licence?

A

Licence issued by a Government authorising the importation of goods from a specific source

49
Q

What are import quotas?

A

limits on the numbers of a product that can be imported

50
Q

What are subsidies?

A

a sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive against imported goods.

Export subsidies are also used to encourage businesses to export their goods to other countries

51
Q

What are voluntary Export Restraints?

A

voluntarily imposed limits imposed by the exporting country on the number or volume of products exported to a particular country to deter the importing country from imposing trade barriers

52
Q

What are embargoes?

A

an official partial or total ban on trade or other commercial activity with a particular country.- usually due to political reasons

53
Q

What are “trade restrictions”?

A

Restrictions made by one country about the amounts and types of goods it will allow into the country from other countries usually based on technical or regulatory obstacles such as quality standards or methods of production eg. ban on any companies using child labour

54
Q

TPP

A

Trans-Pacific Partnership

New agreement free trade between USA and countries in Asia and South America

Covers many many issues including investment / labour and environmental standards etc.

55
Q

TTIP

A

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

New agreement free trade between between USA and EU - highly contraversial.

Opponents believe this will simply put more power in the hands of the TNCs above that of democratically elected governments and undermine democracy and social provisions. Concerns that this will affect public services like the NHS, consumer and data protection and the environment.

It is rumoured that it contains a feature - the ISDS - Investor State Dispute Settlement which would enable TNCs to sue EU governments (and thus tax payers) if their profits are affected by any change in government policy.

56
Q

G20 Group

A

an international forum for the governments and central banks of 20 major economies. It includes the G7 countries and the EU as a single member. It was established in 1999 to give a voice to the major developing countries (including the BRIC countries) who felt WTO was not representing their interests.

57
Q

Group of 77 (G77) + China

A

Another forum established in 1964 when China was still seen as an undeveloped country.

Aims:

  • represent the interests of the world’s poorest countries
  • help development in those countries
  • reduce poverty, disease and improve human rights

In view of China’s massive economic growth in last 25 years its influence within and for this group has similarly grown. China’s expansion has grown through manufacturing goods for sale in Europe and North America. “Made in China” is everywhere!

58
Q

What is Agglomeration?

A

Agglomeration is the concentration of production or businesses in one area for mutual benefit by sharing ideas and resources - called agglomeration economies

59
Q

What is the “multiplier” effect?

A

a phenomenon whereby a given change in a particular input, such as government spending or capital investment , causes a larger change in an output or creates additional income, such as gross domestic product or increasing wages spending and tax revenues,

60
Q

LDC

A

Less developed Country

61
Q

HDC

A

Highly developed Country

62
Q

What are the G8?

A

The 8 most advanced economies as reported by the IMF

US, Japan, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and Canada

US, Japan and Germany account for 25% of global trade

All the G8 countries account for nearly 50% of global trade

Although China now challenging that share, having the largest growth rate with trans-pacific trade growing much faster than trans-atlantic.

Geography (22 decks)

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