 | Term | Definition |
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Agglomeration |
Grouping together of many firms from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources. |
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Ancillary activities |
Economic activities that surround and support large-scale industries such as shipping and food service. |
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Anthropocentric |
Human-centered; in sustainable development, anthropocentric refers to ideas that focus solely on the needs of people without considering the creatures with whom we share the planet or the ecosystems upon which we depend. |
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Backwash effect |
The negative effects on one region that result from economic growth within another region. |
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Break-bulk point |
A location where large shipments of goods are broken up into smaller containers for delivery. |
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Brick-and-mortar business |
Traditional businesses with actual stroes in which trade or retail occurs; it does not exist solely on the Internet. |
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Bulk gaining industries |
Industries whose products weigh more after assembly than they did previously in their constituent parts. Such industries tend to have production facilities close to their markets. |
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Bulk reducing industries |
Industries whose final products weigh less than their constituent parts, and whose processing facilities tend to be located close to sources of raw materials. |
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Conglomerate corporation |
A firm that is comprised of many smaller firms that serve several different functions. |
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Core |
National or global regions where economic power, in terms of wealth, innovation, and advanced technology, is concentrated. |
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Core-periphery model |
A model of the spatial structure of development in which underdeveloped countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region. |
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Cottage industry |
An industry in which the production of goods and services is based in homes, as opposed to factories. |
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Deglomeration |
The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an established agglomeration. |
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Deindustrialization |
Loss of industrial activity in a region. |
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Development |
The process of economic growth, expansion, or realization of regional resource potential. |
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E-commerce |
Web-based economic activities. |
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Economic backwaters |
Regions that fail to gain from national economic development. |
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Ecotourism |
A form of tourism, based on the enjoyment of scenic areas or natural wonders, that aims to provide an experience of nature or culture in an environmentally sustainable way. |
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Export-processing zone |
Areas where governments create favorable investment and trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries. |
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Fast world |
Areas of the world, usually the economic core, that experience greater levels of connection due to high-speed telecommunications and transportation technologies. |
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Footloose firms |
Manufacturing activities in which cost of transporting both raw materials and finished product is not important for determining the location of the firm. |
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Fordism |
System of standardized mass production attributed to Henry Ford. |
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Foreign investment |
Overseas business investments made by private companies. |
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Gender equity |
A measure of the opportunities given to women compared to men within a given country. |
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Globalization |
The idea that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected on a global scale such that smaller scales of political and economic life are becoming obsolete. |
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Gross Domestic Product |
The total value of goods and services produced within the borders of a country during a specific time period, usually one year. |
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Gross National Product |
The total value of goods and services, including income received from abroad, produced by the residents of a country within a specific time period, usually one year. |
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Human Development Index |
Measure used by the United Nations that calculates development not in terms of money or productivity but in terms of human welfare. The HDI evaluates human welfare based on three parameters: life expentancy, education, and income. |
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Industrial Revolution |
The rapid economic and social changes in manufacturing that resulted after the introduction of the factory system to the textitle industry in England at the end of the 18th century. |
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Industrialization |
Process of industrial development in which countries evolve economically, from producing basic, primary goods to using modern factories for mass-producing goods. At the highest levels of development, national economies are geared mainly toward the delivery of services and exchange of information. |
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Industrialized countries |
Those countries including Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, and Japan, that were all at the forefront of industrial production and innovation through the middle of the 20th century. While industry is currently shifting to other countries to take advantage of cheaper labor and more relaxed environmental standards, these countries still account for a large portion of the world's total industrial output. |
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Least-cost theory |
A concept developed by Alfred Weber to describe the optimal location of a manufacturing establishment in relation to the costs of transport and labor, and the relative advantages of agglomeration or deglomeration. |
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Least-developed countries |
Those countries including countries in Africa, except for South Africa, and parts of South America and Asia, that usually have low levels of economic productivity, low per capita incomes, and generally low standards of living. |
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Manufacturing region |
A region in which manufacturing activities have clustered together. the major US industrial region has historically been in the Great Lakes, which includes the staes of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. industrial regions also exist in southeastern Brazil, central England, around Tokyo, Japan, and elsewhere |
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Maquiladoras |
Those U.S. firms that have factories just outside the United States/Mexican border in areas that have been specially designated by the Mexican government. In such areas, factories cheaply assemble goods for export back into the United States. |
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Net National Product |
A measure of all goods and services produced by a country in a year, including production from its investments abroad, minus the loss or degradation of natural resource capital as a result of productivity. |
