Unit 6 Vocabulary - Finalized Study Guide Flashcards
Fordist Theory
Highly organized and specialized system for organizing industrial production and labor (includes the assembly-line)
Economies of Scale
Economic advantages that come with a larger scale of operations- basically, bigger companies can control their costs more than smaller companies can because they can produce more at less cost
Fixed costs
A cost that does not change based on the level of output that a business produces. For example, the mortgage and insurance must be paid regardless of a company making money.
Variable costs
Costs that change based on the level of output such as energy supply, transport expenses, and labor costs. You cannot control these costs, they change
Friction of Distance
The increase in time and costs that usually come with increasing distances
Location Theory
A logical attempt to explain location patterns of an economic activity and location of producing areas.
Agglomeration
Grouping together of many companies from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources, basically similar companies locate close to each other
Single market manufacturing
Specialized manufacturers. They make an item that is typically only sold to other manufacturers and not for regular purchase in stores such as buttons, zippers, parts for cars, computers and other items that go into creating another product
Footloose industry
Industries that can be located anywhere because they do not need to be close to the market or a resource. Example: call centers (outsourcing in India)
Multiplier effect
Outsourcing
Transfer of some types of jobs, especially those requiring low-paid less skilled workers, from more developed to less developed countries.
Technopoles
A center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based industry
Free Trade Zones
Primary industrial regions
Locations where the main economic activity is direct extraction of natural resources from the environment-such a mining, fishing, lumbering and especially agriculture
Secondary industrial regions
Locations where the main economic activity is processing raw materials into finished industrial products; manufacturing sector
Weber’s Least Cost Theory
an industry is located where the transportation costs of raw materials and final product is a minimum.
Hotelling’s Model of Locational Interdependence
competitors trying to maximize sales will seek to constrain each other’s territory as much as possible which will therefore lead them to locate adjacent to one another in the middle of their collective customer base.
Bulk-gaining
Products gain weight or size during manufacturing
Bulk-reducing
Products lose weight or size during manufacturing
Deglomeration
The process of industrial deconcentrating, or moving out, in response to technological advances and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition, basically this is companies moving away due to saturation
Just-in-Time delivery
Type of delivery when needed parts for production are scheduled to arrive “just-in-time” for production. Important for Single Market Manufacturers to be close to market
NAFTA
Deindustrialization
Offshore financial center
Areas specially designed to promote business transactions, and thus have become centers for banking and finance and often offer low tax rates and privacy laws for wealthy corporations and individuals like Bermuda or Singapore
Special Economic Zones
Specific areas within a country in which tax incentives and less stringent environment regulations are implemented to attract foreign businesses and investment
Growth Poles Theory
