Production Flashcards
What is Production?
Production is the process of making or manufacturing goods and products from raw materials or components.
🌾 1. What are the Factors of Production?
These are the basic resources used to produce goods and services:
Land – Natural resources (soil, water, minerals).
Labour – Human effort (physical and mental work).
Capital – Tools, machines, buildings, money used in production.
Enterprise – The entrepreneur who brings it all together and takes the risk.
🏝️ 2. Caribbean Industries from Natural Resources
Agriculture: Sugar, bananas, cocoa, coffee, spices.
Mining: Bauxite (Jamaica), petroleum (Trinidad & Tobago), gold (Guyana)
- Sugar Industry
Countries: Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana
What happens: Sugarcane is grown and processed into raw sugar, molasses, and rum.
Related industries: Rum production, food and beverage, export.
- Banana Industry
Countries: St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Vincent, Jamaica
What happens: Bananas are cultivated and exported, mainly to the UK and Europe.
Challenges: Weather issues, diseases, and competition from Latin America.
- Cocoa & Chocolate
Countries: Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada
What happens: Cocoa beans are processed into chocolate or exported.
Fun fact: Grenada is called the “Spice Isle” and is known for high-quality cocoa
- Coffee Industry
Countries: Jamaica (especially Blue Mountain), Haiti
What happens: Coffee beans are grown in mountainous regions and exported.
Note: Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee is world-famous and expensive
- Spices
Country: Grenada (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, etc.)
What happens: Spices are cultivated and exported or used in regional food production.
⛏️ Caribbean Industries from Mining/Natural Resources
- Bauxite and Alumina
Countries: Jamaica, Guyana
What happens: Bauxite (a red mineral) is mined and refined into alumina, which is then used to make aluminum.
Big deal: This industry is one of the largest foreign exchange earners for Jamaica.
- Oil and Gas
Country: Trinidad & Tobago
What happens: Crude oil and natural gas are extracted, processed, and exported. Trinidad also manufactures petrochemicals like ammonia and methanol.
Energy hub: T&T is the Caribbean’s energy capital.
- Gold & Diamonds
Country: Guyana and Suriname
What happens: These precious minerals are mined and exported. Guyana has a booming gold mining sector.
- Sand & Gravel
Use: These materials are mined in almost every island for construction and road building.
Why It Matters:
These industries bring in foreign exchange (money from other countries).
They provide employment.
They help the region build factories and processing plants (not just raw exports).
They allow the Caribbean to trade with global markets and grow their economies.
⚙️ Production vs. Productivity
Production – The process of making goods/services.
Productivity – The efficiency of production (output per worker or machine).
🚀 Why is Productivity Important?
Lowers cost of goods
Increases profits
Boosts competitiveness
Leads to economic growth
More productivity = more development
🧳 Effects of Migration
Positive: Money sent back home (remittances), skills brought back
Negative: Brain drain, shortage of skilled workers, family separation
👩🏽💼 Role of the Entrepreneur
Organizes land, labour, and capital
Makes key business decisions
Takes financial risks
Drives innovation and economic growth
💰 Role of Capital in Production
Used to buy tools, equipment, buildings, technology
Helps improve efficiency
Needed for expanding or starting a business
🏭 Levels of Production
Primary: The sourcing of Raw materials (e.g. farming, mining)
Secondary: Using raw materials to make finished goods (e.g. making bread from flour)
Tertiary: a wide range of activities that do not directly produce goods but instead provide services to individuals and businesses. Services (e.g. banking, tourism, transport)
🔧 Types of Production
Subsistence: Producing goods and services just enough for personal use
Domestic: Goods/services for local market, to satisfy the wants and needs of consumers
Commercial: Large-scale production for profit
What is a cottage industry?
A cottage industry is a small manufacturing operation and is often run out of a home by a single individual or a family.
🧵 Characteristics of a Cottage Industry
Small-scale and home-based
Family-owned or few workers
Uses simple tools
Traditional skills
Low capital investment
🔗 What Are Linkage Industries?
Linkage industries are industries that are connected they support each other by either:
Supplying raw materials or inputs to another business
Or using the output from one industry to make something else
Basically, when one industry helps start or grow another one, that’s a linkage.
🔄 Types of Linkage Industries
✅ 1. Backward Linkage
This is when a business encourages the growth of industries that supply it with inputs.
Example:
A bakery needs flour, sugar, eggs, and packaging.
So, its growth encourages flour mills, sugar producers, egg farms, and box/paper companies to grow too.
🧠 Think: “What do I need to produce my product?” That’s your backward link.
✅ 2. Forward Linkage
This is when a business creates opportunities for other industries to use its output to make something else.
Example:
A sugar factory produces sugar.
A rum company uses that sugar/molasses to make alcohol.
A candy company uses the sugar for sweets.
🧠 Think: “What can others make with what I produce?” That’s your forward link.
🎯 Why Are Linkage Industries Important?
Create Jobs – More connected businesses = more employment.
Encourage Local Production – Less importing, more self-sufficiency.
Build Stronger Economies – One industry growing helps others rise too.
Support Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) – Small businesses thrive in these connected systems.
Improve Efficiency – Materials are closer, cheaper, and faster to get.
💡 Example from the Caribbean:
Let’s say you’re in Trinidad and there’s a booming petroleum industry:
Backward linkages: Engineering firms, oil rig suppliers, safety gear suppliers
Forward linkages: Gasoline companies, plastics manufacturers, chemical producers
Or in Jamaica, with bauxite mining:
Backward: Machinery importers, fuel suppliers
Forward: Alumina refineries, export ports, aluminum product factories
📍 12. Factors Influencing Business Location
Availability of land and raw materials
Access to labor
Proximity to markets
Infrastructure (roads, internet, electricity)
Government support or incentives
🧾 13. Functions of a Small Business
Provides employment
Encourages innovation
Serves local needs
Supports larger industries
Flexibility and adaptability
📈 14. Effects of Business Growth
Positive: Higher profits, brand recognition, more jobs
Negative: Harder to manage, more competition, possible loss of personal control
🧠 15. Effects of Technological Development
- Economic:
Faster production
Reduced costs
New job opportunities
- Social:
Job loss in some sectors
More online businesses
Changed lifestyles and communication
🤖 What is Technological Development?
It’s basically the process of improving or inventing tools, systems, and machines that make life and work more efficient.
Think: smartphones, factory robots, online banking, self-checkout machines, AI (👋🏽), and all that cool high-tech stuff.
💵 ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
💵 ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
These are the effects on money, jobs, industries, and business growth.
✅ Positive Effects:
Increased Productivity
Machines work faster, more accurately.
Businesses can produce more in less time = more money.
Lower Costs of Production
Less manual labor = savings on wages.
Fewer mistakes and less waste.
New Industries & Jobs
Tech creates demand for new jobs like coders, engineers, app designers, drone operators.
Wider Market Reach
Businesses can sell online, reaching international customers easily.
Improved Quality
Consistent, high-quality production thanks to automation and AI.
❌ Negative Effects:
Job Losses
Some traditional/manual jobs get replaced by machines.
High Initial Costs
Tech is expensive to buy and set up at first.
Increased Inequality
Big companies can afford tech and grow faster than small ones.
🧍🏽♀️ SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS
These are the effects on people, society, lifestyle, and communication.
✅ Positive Effects:
Better Communication
Phones, social media, emails = instant connection worldwide.
Access to Information
People can learn, work, and shop online.
Improved Healthcare
Technology helps diagnose diseases, store medical records, and improve treatment.
Education Opportunities
Online classes and virtual learning are more accessible, especially after COVID.
❌ Negative Effects:
Reduced Human Interaction
People talk less face-to-face; everything’s digital.
Mental Health Challenges
Social media pressure, addiction to screens.
Digital Divide
Some people can’t afford or access technology, creating inequality.
Types of Information tools in a business
- Bar Code
- Drones
3.Robots
4.3D Printers
- Migration and Labour Force
✅ Positive Effects:
Migrants send money home (remittances)
People bring back new skills when they return
Eases overpopulation/unemployment
❌ Negative Effects:
Brain drain (loss of skilled professionals)
Labour shortages in key sectors
Weakens the local talent pool
- Importance of Entrepreneurial Organizational Skills
A successful entrepreneur needs:
Planning and goal-setting
Decision-making under pressure
Leadership and motivation
Time and resource management
Risk-taking with confidence
These skills keep the business running smooth, even during tough times.
- Types of Capital
💼 Fixed Capital:
Long-term assets used repeatedly (buildings, machines, vehicles)
🔄 Working Capital:
Day-to-day money for paying bills, wages, buying stock
💡Venture Capital:
Money invested in risky new businesses (often from investors)
- Levels of Production
Subsistence – Just enough for personal/family use
Domestic Consumption – For local market/sale
Surplus – More than needed, can be stored or sold
Export – Products made specifically to sell overseas
Types of Production
(a) Extractive: Taking from nature (farming, fishing, mining)
(b) Construction: Building homes, roads, schools
(c) Manufacturing: Turning raw materials into finished goods
(d) Service: Activities done for others (tourism, banking, education
Factors Affecting Business Location
🌍 Geography: flat land, safety from floods
🛻 Raw materials/supplies: close = cheaper transport
🛣️ Infrastructure: roads, electricity, internet
⚡ Power & Water: stable supply needed
🚚 Transport: ports, roads, airports for shipping
🏥 Health services: to care for workers
🧑🏽🏭 Labour: skilled workers nearby
🏛️ Government policies: taxes, licenses, incentives
Functions of a Small Firm
Effects of Business Growth
- Growth can change how a business operates:
- Structure: More departments = more hierarchy
- Capital: Needs more money to expand
- Labour: May need more or fewer workers (depending on automation)
- Scale of production: Can lower costs (economies of scale)
- Technology: Likely to invest in better machines
- Exports: Larger production = potential to sell abroad
Capital-Intensive vs Labour-Intensive Production
🏭 Capital-Intensive:
Relies more on machines and technology
Fast and efficient, but expensive
E.g. car factories
👩🏽🌾 Labour-Intensive:
Relies more on human workers
Cheaper, but slower
E.g. farming, sewing, handcrafts
⚙️ Mechanization & Automation:
Mechanization: Using machines for physical tasks (e.g. tractors)
Automation: Machines do everything, even thinking (e.g. robots)
💻 CAD (Computer Aided Design):
Designing products using software (fast, accurate, modern)
🧑🏽🏫 CAI (Computer Aided Instruction):
Teaching using computers (interactive learning)
