EQ2 - Evaluating TNC's Flashcards
What is meant by spatial division of labour?
This is the separation between the low and high skilled parts of the company on a national or international scale. In apple this will be between the software developers and the manual labourers in China.
How does spatial division of labour bring different groups of people together?
This will allow people to be bought together within a company as the labourers are working on developing products that are designed by a higher rank of people, this design has to take into account softwares and elements that come from the development sector. Everything becomes connected.
Why do TNC’s source what they need from different countries?
They can have lower labour cost, they save money on paying tax in certain areas and also trade blocks may be better in some areas, so they would choose to manufacture and distribute from there. This would be the case for Apple and adidas. For Starbucks it would mean being able to source coffee from abroad but milk and other ingredients locally.
What then happens to profits due to sourcing from different counties?
The profit of the company will increase as by sourcing it from other countries means that you can get it cheaper and you pay workers less, also the location of the manufacturing companies also may allow for cheaper exports due to trade blocks. Taxes also come into account as taxes are cheaper in some areas compared to others.
What would inequalities of pay be in cheap labour countries?
Staff are payed a lot less for the amount of labour that they are doing, some say they are being exploited as they work long hours with little pay. Also health care and education is not provided meaning this leaves workers with even less.
What are the negative social impacts of spatial division of labour?
It could give the brand or the company a bad reputation or image as it shows them that the company doesn’t care for there workers very well, they are also happy to put them in poor conditions working long hours with poor pay. This will mean people may be inclined to not purchase products from this company.
What are the negative environmental impacts of spatial division of labour?
This will mean that many places where it would be greenery or fields would now be replaced with factories, causing harm to the environment also the processing procedure for the product and the materials needed would all have come from the environment meaning it was damaged to make these products.
How do other countries benefit from TNC’s?
Other countries benefit as it brings in work for the locals meaning that they can earn some money for them self improving there lives and life styles. Also this could increase the minimum GDP in that country as it is offering the poorest people part time or even full time jobs, bringing up the average GDP per capita.
