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Merits and demerits of globalization
The iPod product life cycle
Merits and demerits of globalization
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What does the iPod represent? A close relationship with Celine Dion and Barry White? Or maybe even with Apple Inc.? Take a peek inside and discover a whole world of economic geographical processes hiding behind your iTunes. ?Laid out in silicon is a road map for the world economy: globalized, outsourced, offshored, interconnected and complex (Leonard).? When we consume a commodity we often do not realize that not only are we engaging in a relationship with that particular commodity, but inadvertently, we become entrenched in a series of social, economic, and geographical relationships around the globe. These relationships can be traced backwards from the point of consumption to a marketing agency, a supplier, a producer, an exporter, and location of the raw materials which compose the product. This is known as the commodity chain. The iPod commodity chain is no exception to this. From an initial idea in the Silicon Valley, to mining for raw materials such as Bauxite and Carbon in Guinea and the Republic of Congo, processing plants in Kazakhstand, engineers in India, global high-tech headquarters on nearly every continent, manufacturers in China, marketing firms in the USA, and eventually to the consumer. In fact, it exemplifies such a grand series of relationships that for the purposes of this paper I will focus on only a small portion of this commodity chain?that which mainly involves the interactions of a third party. Though the singular term ?third party? is slightly misleading. In the case of the iPod, the third party actually consists of many ?parties,? in fact, the myriad of human and geographical interactions which take place between these parties is so extensive that they essentially create an economy within themselve... ... middle of paper ... ... transacted in the marketplace?and of course by Apple in California and a factory in China. But that is all it is. Apparently. The ultimate result of a commodity chain is a relationship between the commodity and the consumer. Due to a lack of readily available information and a fetishism which ?attaches itself to the products of labour (Marx),? people are often unaware of the social, economic, geographic, and cultural processes which are involved in the production of a good. Each and every relationship which is formed, and every interaction which takes place within the commodity chain exemplifies these processes, and becomes a part of the commodity. An examination and understanding of the commodity chain can help us de-fetishise commodities and realize them for what they truly are?social and material crystallizations (Marx) of economic geography and capitalism.
The Michoacan state in Mexico has become the world’s largest producer of avocadoes. Although this vegetable is grown on farms throughout this state, it is also tied to an integral network of trade and export to countries across the globe. In this essay, I will argue that like any commodity chain study, the production of the organic Hass avocado has an intricate production process, which for my commodity chain study begins in Uruapan, Mexico a town in the state of Michoacan. This analysis has indicated the crucial underlying links to trade, labour, and demand that the export of this vegetable has created throughout North America and the rest of the world. I hope to establish these links in an attempt to ‘defetishize’ this commodity and bring about the broader and conflicting issues that have resulted between Mexico and nearby countries such as the United States and Canada. I will begin this research by briefly reviewing the actual process and networks that the organic Hass avocado forms from the farms in Uruapan and the path it takes to the grocery stores in Vancouver, Canada. Then look to the implications of NAFTA and other related issues that have affected the trading process of avocadoes and has created severe divisions between the USA and Mexico. I will establish the importance of the organic produce industry and its exports to further developed countries with increasing demand for these organic products. And conclude that the future of the organic produce industry may be struck with ongoing divisions, as it becomes more globalized, between larger organic agricultural firms and smaller organic farmers who rely heavil...
Cowen insists that “…cross cultural exchange, while it will alter and disrupt each society it touches, will support innovation and creative human energies” (275). In this section of the article, Cowen admits that the spread of culture and ideas will unquestionably cause conflict between those who support cross cultural trade and those who do not. Nonetheless, the world is evolving, and this means that older cultures and products need to make way for newer ideas and inventions. In general, parts of the world may begin to look increasingly similar as products become more widespread, but trade between cultures will ultimately “…increase diversity over time by accelerating the pace of change and bringing new cultural goods with each era or generation” (273). The new ideas that are introduced within societies increases the variety and diversity within cultures, allowing for more creativity among its
In The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, business professor Pietra Rivoli takes the reader on a fascinating around-the-world adventure to reveal the life story of her six-dollar T-shirt. Traveling from a West Texas cotton field to a Chinese factory, and from trade negotiations in Washington to a used clothing market in Africa, Rivoli examines international trade through the life story of this simple product. Her compelling story shows that both globalization's critics and its supporters have oversimplified the world of international trade.
When you go to the mall to pick up a pair of jeans or a shirt, do you think about where they came from? How they were made? Who made them? Most consumers are unaware of where their clothes are coming from. All the consumer is responsible for is buying the clothing from the store and most likely have little to no knowledge about how it was manufactured, transported, or even who made the clothing item and the amount of intensive labor that went into producing it (Timmerman, 3).
The underlying message in IPod World is that the world has become slave to electronics. Sullivan’s discusses how small talk between everyday people is depleting. People have become seriously addicted to the point we have pain attacks when without them. Sullivan explains how vibrant human activity has become dull due to devotion to electronics. The author’s exquisite choice of theme transcends into this generation.
In The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America, Michael Taussig describes how commodity fetishism plays a large role in both peasant and industrial societies. The concept of commodity fetishism is rooted in capitalism, but the effects of it are not the same for each type of society. The differences are made clear by first understanding that the South American peasant societies Taussig describes are precapitalist, that is, when “ there is no market and no commodity definition of the value and function of a good, and the connections between producers and between production and consumption are directly intelligible” (Taussig, 36). Whereas in industrial societies, capitalism is so ingrained in everyone’s daily lives that they are not aware that they view things “as though they were alive with their own autonomous powers” (Taussig, 36). In each society, reactions to capitalism impact human relationships to things.
Gereffi (1994), a key author in this area of research, defined Global Commodity Chains as; ‘sets of interorganisational networks clustered around one commodity or product linking households, enterprises and sates to one another within the world economy”. This global interconnectedness rose out of commodity chains that out sourced some of their production to other countries as a way of reducing costs and gaining. Commodity chains refer to the whole range of design, production and marketing of a product. (Gereffi 1999) Gereffi (1994) identified three key characteristics of Global Commodity Chains; they have a specific input to output link production chain, a geography in the sense that various activities are located in different places and there is a governance structure determining the power relationships within the chain.
The thought-provoking song “Wings” is an excellent introduction to Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism. Commodity fetishism is the process of attributing phantom “magic-like” qualities to an object, whereby the human labour required to make that object is lost once the object is associated with a monetary value for exchange.
The involvement of immense corporations and how they make and distribute their products will also be explored. Certain companies will be discussed as to whether they are reliable and dependable sources of products or if they cut corners by getting their materials internationally. One will be able to grasp how a nation’s financial standing impacts other aspects of that country’s well-being. Child labor in America will be another subject matter touched on and if the degree that it occurs at in a more developed nation is much different from other undeveloped nations.
The organization has had to ensure that it has retail stores in many countries globally and website options in more than 100 countries. The company further enhances access of online stores in more than 37 countries which is accessible all the time and people are able to access the services regardless of their location. Globalization further affects the organization in the sense of international market management which requires it to engage in strictly global decision making. The organization’s production networks have been geared to enhancing global competition (Lüsted, 2012) .The Company is further good when it comes to seizing the opportunities available in global market. For the organization to find efficient as well as cheap means of production, it has to bargain hard so as to allow its contractors to have low profits. This mostly is consequential to the suppliers cutting corners with the use of cheap
2: Finkle, Todd A., and Michael L. Mallin. "Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc." Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies 16.8 (2010): 49+. General OneFile. Web. 19 Oct. 2011.
Throughout the chapters assigned, Dicken focuses on the patterns and processes of global shifts, on the forms produced by the globalization of economic activities and on the forces producing those forms. He builds his arguments around three interconnected processes, which in his view are the reasons for reshaping the global economic map. Those are Transnational Corporations (“TNC”), States, and Technology.
Development of the iPod: The iPod is a portable digital music player that holds up to ten thousand songs in a small, hand-held device that is lighter and thinner than two CD cases. iPod features a touch-sensitive navigational wheel and buttons, and an intuitive interface designed for one-handed operation. Songs are stored in several digital audio formats, delivering the highest sound quality. The iPod was born out of the idea dreamed up by Tony Fadell, an independent contractor and hardware expert, to take an MP3 player, build a Napster music sale service to complement it, and build a company around it. Fadell shopped the idea around to several companies and was turned away by all of them, except Apple. Apple hired Fadell in early 2001 and assigned him a team of about 30 people to develop the iPod. Fadell predicted that the iPod would remold Apple and that 10 years from now it would be a music business, rather than a computer business.
Interdependence: The possibility that unhindered commerce trade prompts interconnections that make clash too much over the top.
• Globalization is making worldwide supply chains and subsequently physical separation is expanding between an organization and its suppliers and an organization and its clients.