| Term | Definition |
| “just in time” delivery | Method of inventory management made possible by efficient transportation and communication systems, whereby companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production, planning that what they need for longer-term production will arrive when needed. |
| Carrier efficiency | air shipment is the quickest form but most expensive way shipping but by ship is the cheapest way and can carry the most over a long distance |
| Multidivisional Corporation | A corporation with many divisions based on production lines or stages in the production chain (Harley Davidson with motorcycles) |
| Nodes | An Origin, destination, or intersection place in a communication or Transportation Network |
| Break-of-bulk point | A location where goods are transferred from one type of carrier to another as in from barge to Railroad |
| Assembly line production/Fordism | The Process where each individual or maschine is given a specific job on a lager product to produce more items at one time |
| Time-space compression | Overcoming of special barriers, especially in technology such as telephone, the internet, transportation, etc. |
| Growth poles | Growth of the economy is not uniform over the entire region. Important to economist growth theories. |
| Underdevelopment | A level of economic and social achievement below what could be reached, given the natural and human resources of an area, were necessary capital and Technology available |
| World city | One of a small number of interconnected, internationally dominant centers as in New York, London, Tokyo, that together control the Global Systems of finance and commerce |
| Least-cost location | The location where a balance between lowest land costs and lowest transportation costs is achieved. It is important because it explains the location of many businesses, particularly those in industry. |
| Aluminum industry (factors of production, location) | they have to comply to clean air rules while still trying to make the most money possible in their production |
| Remittances | Money sent by International migrants back to family members in their home country |
| Fixed costs | Expenses that do not change in proportion to the activity of a business. |
| Major manufacturing regions | Eastern United States, Mexico, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and East Asia. These regions are the leaders in industry and therefore significant to geography. |
| Human capital THEORY OF MIGRATION | educated workers from poor countries go to wealthy countries for higher paying jobs. good for new country: gets talented labor. Good for old (poor)country: gains capital sent home and higher wages for those left behind |
| Niche marketeers | retailers that sell goods to fulfill a particular need, such as an outdoor equipment company.
Examples: Land's End, Cabela's, Bass Pro Shop |
| Footloose industry/firm | A descriptive term applied to the manufacturing activities for which the cost of transporting material or product is not important in determining location of production. An industry or firm showing neither Market nor material orientation |
| Weight-losing | an industry that manufactures a small-sized product from large-sized raw materials |
| Industrial parks | areas communities have set aside for industrial uses |
| Locational advantage | Reductions in production costs by locating in areas where wages are lower or some other factor makes it cheaper to produce in that area |
| Discretionary income | within a country's population, the amount of money available to be used to satisfy various wants. |
| Economies of scale | Characterizes a production process in which an increase in the scale of the firm causes a decrease in the long run average cost of each unit. Importance is that it renders competition in the market. |
| Cultural convergence | The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly use technology and organizational structures in the modern world united by improved transportation and communication |
| Economic sectors | Three Main Sectors Primary, Secondary and Tertiary describes the main areas at which people work in the economy. |
| Industrial revolution | A period in the 18th and 19th century where great advances were made in agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation in Britain, which eventually spread throughout the world causing global industrialization. It is important in geography because it is one of the most significant developments in industrialization and helps explain how we got to where we are today. |
| Brian drain | The loss of a developing countries most educated citizens as they immigrated in search of better educational and career opportunities in developed countries |
| Maquiladora | Foreign-owned manufacturing plant located in Mexico for the low-cost assembly of clothing, Electronics, Automobiles, and other export products |
| Variable cost | cost of enterprise operation that varies either by output level or by location of the activity |
| Energy consumption | The use of energy as a source of heat or power or as a raw material input to a manufacturing process |
| Zoning | dividing an area into zones or sections reserved for different purposes such as residence and business and manufacturing etc |
| Interstate Highway System | Begun in the 1950s and funded largely by the federal (US) government, it created large, limited-access superhighways, connected cities, and made it easier for people to live farther away from cities. Consisted of a 41,000 mile network |
| Measures of development | the process of achieving an optimum level of health and well-being. It includes physical, biological, mental, emotional, social, educational, economic, and cultural components |
| “Stages of Growth” model | 1) Traditional society
2) Preconditions for take-off
3) Take-off
4) Drive to maturity
5) Age of High mass consumption |
| World systems theory | Immanuel Wallerstein's theoretical approach which analyzes societies in terms of their position within global systems |
| Cumulative causation | the process whereby when one or two countries or markets or industries get ahead of others |
| Technology gap | The contrast between the technology available in developed core regions and that present in peripheral areas of under development |
| Optimum location | the greatest degree or best result obtained or obtainable under specific conditions |
| Commodity chain | The set of activities involved in the production of a single good or service. This in compus is the relationship between buyers and suppliers and the flows of materials, finance, and knowledge |
| FOUR TIGERS | the highly industrialized economies of Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. |
| Gross national income (GNI) | The total value of goods and services produced per year at home or abroad by domestically owned interest within a country. Formerly called gross national product |
| Bulk-gaining industries | An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs. |
| Mass consumption | A large number of people purchasing large quantities of goods |
| Resource crisis | Future shortages of non-renewable energy sources with increased demand, solvable by use of renewable energy. Importance: Worldwide lack of resource in extremely high demand. |
| Market orientation | The tendency of an economic activity to locate close to its Market. A reflection of large and variable cost of transporting finished products |
| Gallatin Plan | A plan, devised by Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin in 1808, that attempted to parallel land and water trafficways along the Atlantic seaboard, establish connections between Atlantic streams and western waters, connect the Great Lakes system, and create a system of westward roads to the frontiers |
| Neo-colonialism | A disparaging reference to economic and political policies by which major developed countries are seen to retain or extend influence over the economies of less-developed countries and peoples. A continuing expression of Dependency Theory |
| Sun Belt | Former industrial area of the South that has successfully made the transition to a service economy |
| Weber, Alfred | German economist who developed in 1909 a theory for the location of industries that focused on transportation, labor, and agglomeration as factors of production affecting the optimal (least cost) industrial location. |
| Refrigeration | A consistent cold temperature used to preserve perishable items during transportation and storage. Importance: Allows for longer travel distance in trade and availability to distant markets, increasing potential demand. |
| BRICS | Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa - Show the shift in global economic power |
| Primary ECONOMIC activity | economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment; such as mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture |
| Foreign direct investment | investments made by a foreign company in the economy of another country |
| Acid rain | Precipitation that is usually acidic and created when oxides of sulfur and nitrogen change chemically as they dissolve in water vapor in the atmosphere and return to Earth as acidic rain, snow, or fog |
| Quinary ECONOMIC activity | service sector industries that require a high level of specialized knowledge skill (scientific research, high-level management) |
| Agricultural labor force | A measure of the participating portion of an economy's labor force |
| Multiplier effect | The direct, indirect, and induced consequences of change in an activity. In industrial agglomerations, the cumulative process by which a given change such as a new plant opening sets in motion a sequence of further industrial employment and infrastructure growth; In urban geography, the expected addition of non Basic workers and dependent to a city's total employment and population that accompanies new basic sector employment |
| Industrial location theory | The theory that profit of a business is maximized by choosing a location where production costs are lowest as well as land is cheapest and the distance from the market is the smallest. This is important to geography because it is used to describe why many businesses choose their locations in a given area and is key for describing complicated dynamics of industry. |
| Energy Resources | The total amount of non-renewable resources in our world. Importance is finding alternative energy. |
| Labor intensive | The relative proportion of labor used in production compared in capital. It is key in geography because it is used to describe the amount of work to each employee which speaks to the overall efficiency of a business. |
| Currency manipulation | a method by which a country keeps its currency artificially low in order to make the costs of imported goods high and decrease the costs of its exports |
| Infrastructure | The basic structure of services, installations, and Facilities needed to support industrial, Agricultural, and other economic activity, including transportation and communication, along with water, power, and other utilities |
| Purchasing power parity | A measurement of a country's wealth that takes account of what money actually Buys in the country, relative to the cost of living |
| Technology transfer | The diffusion to our acquisition by one culture or region of the technology possessed by another, usually more developed, Society |
| Circular and cumulative causation | A process through which tendencies for economic growth are self-reinforcing; an expression of the multiplier effect, it tends to favor major cities and core regions over less-advantaged peripheral regions |
| Regionalization | In political geography identification with a particular region of a state rather than with the state as a whole frequently used in ethnic groups |
| Export processing zone | One or more areas of a country with tariffs and quotas for goods leaving a country |
| Conspicuous consumption | An idea by Thorstein Veblen (sociologist) that people feel the need to display their status by ostentatiously consuming goods and services |
| Substitution principle | Substitution of a product, service or process to another that is more efficient and beneficial while retaining the same functionality, such as bettering the environment. |
| Sustainable development | A concept popularized by the world Commission on environment and development brundtland report 1987 calling for development that meets the needs of the present without endangering the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The concept of this seeks to balance the desire for economic growth with the recognition of environmental limits to growth |
| Secondary ECONOMIC activity | economic activity involving the processing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial products; the manufacturing sector |
| Topocide | Deliberate killing of a place through industrial expansion and change so its landscape is destroyed. |
| Tertiary ECONOMIC activity | economic activity associated with the provision of services (transportation, banking, retailing, education, routine, office-based jobs) |
| Core-Periphery model | A model of the spatial structure of an economic system in which underdeveloped or declining peripheral areas are defined with respect to their dependence on a dominating core region |
| Ecotourism | A form of tourism pursued by many ecologically concerned perople, who visit regions having pristine ecosystems and, in the process, to inflict no environmental damage |
| Deindustrialization | The cumulative and sustained decline of manufacturing activities in a regional or national economy, involving the loss of both firms and jobs |
| Manufacturing region | A region in which manufacturing activities have clustered together. The major U.S. industrial region has historically been in the Great Lakes, which includes the states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Industrial regions also exist in southeastern Brazil, central England, around Tokyo, Japan, and elsewhere. |
| Dependency theory | States that LDCs tend to have a higher dependency ratio, the ratio of the number of people under 15 or over 64 to the number in the labor force. |
| Deterritoralization | Allows for social and economic activities to occur regardless of where people are physically located |
| Rostow, W.W. | economist, developed the "Stages of Growth" model in the late 1950s
- Important because he developed the model that is frequently referred to. |
| Mercantilism | economic policy that forces colonies to sell their raw materials for low prices and then buy them back from the mother country for high prices. Also, colonies cannot create their own goods (no factories) or buy goods from another country without the risk of war |
| Modernization Theory | The theory looks at the internal factors of a country while assuming that, with assistance, "traditional" countries can be brought to development in the same manner more developed countries have; attempts to identify the social variables which contribute to social progress and development of societies, and seeks to explain the process of social evolution; is subject to criticism originating among communist and free-market ideologies, world systems theorists, globalization theory and dependency theorists |
| Venture capital | investments typically made in the early stages of developing companies in the hope of generating a favorable return through the growth or sale of the companies; venture capital investments are generally made as cash in exchange for shares in the invested company. |
| Trickle-down effect | The diffusion outward of the benefits of economic growth and prosperity from the Power Center or core area to pour districts in people |
| Heartland/rimland Theory | Hypothesis proposed by Halford MacKinder that held that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain enough strength to eventually dominate the world./ Nicholas Spykman's theory that the domination of the coastal fringes of Eurasia would provided the base for world conquest. |
| NAFTA | North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement |
| Gross domestic product (GDP) | Profits of a country made internally, and outside investments |
| Service-Based economies | highly developed economies that focus on research and development, marketing, tourism, sales, and telecommunications |
| Weight-gaining | an industry that manufactures a large-sized product from small-sized raw materials |
| Calorie consumption | the total number of calories in a daily diet allocation |
| Development | The process of growth, expansion, or realization of potential. Bringing Regional resources into full productive use |
| National Highway System | A highway system that had been established by the 1920's. It led tot he development of the US routes seen today, consisting of odd-numbered north-south roads and even-numbered east-west routes. |
| Technopole | A center of high-tech manufacturing and information-based industry. |
| Agglomeration economy | The savings to an individual Enterprise Drive from locational association with a cluster of other similar economic activities, such as other factories or retail stores |
| Gender equity | A measure of the opportunities given to woman compared to men within a given country. |
| New International division of labor | A spatial rearrangement of production in which developing countries capture more of the world's manufacturing activity while developing countries shift to services |
| Bid Rent theory | a geographical theory that refers to how the price and demand on land changes as the distance towards the CBD |
| Postindustrial | Economic transition from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy. Importance: A significant stage in a country's development. |
| Entrepot | Is a trading post where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying import duties, alternative energy. |
| Informal economy | That part of a national economy that involves productive labor not subject to formal systems of control or payment, such as taxation. Economic activity or individual Enterprise operating without official recognition or measured by official statistics. It ranges from under-the-table employment to buying and selling on the black market |
| Comparative advantage | The principle that an area produces the items for which it has the greatest ratio of advantage or the least ratio of disadvantage in comparison to other areas, assuming free trade exist |
| Specialized economic zones | specific area within a country in which tax incentives and less stringent environmental regulations are implemented to attract foreign business and investment. SEZ's or Special |
| Air pollution | the presence of noxious substances in the air that we breathe |
| Greenhouse effect | Heating of the Earth's surface as shortwave solar energy passes through the atmosphere which is transparent to it but opaque Torrey radiator long-wave terrestrial energy. Also, increasing the opacity of the atmosphere through edition of increased amounts of carbon dioxide and other gases that trap heat |
| Backward Linkages | the inputs required for production, such as machinery, machine tools, metal working, and iron casting. |
| Deglomeration | The process of D concentration. The location of industrial or other activities away from established agglomerations in response to Growing cost of congestion, competition, and regulation |
| Transnational Corporation | companies that operate factories in countries other than the one's in which they are headquartered; improve economy, avoid restrictions, lower site factors. US, Japan, Germany, France and UK |
| Mass production | The key outcome of industrialization. As the quantity of goods rose, prices dropped. |
| Bulk-reducing industries | An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs. |
| Quaternary ECONOMIC activity | service sector industries concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital (finance, administration, insurance, legal services) |
| Neoliberal globalization | Derives from the idea that government intervention into markets is inefficient and undesirable, and should be resisted wherever possible. Popular during the late twentieth century, structural adjustment loans were often part of neoliberalism. |
| FORWARD LINKAGES | items that can be produced from the output of an industry. For example, garments such as shirts, pants, and other cotton goods can be produced from cotton textiles. |
| Base employment | employment that supports jobs in the service sector and other manufacturing industries
Example: Restaurants and Retailers |
| Human development index | Measure used by the United Nations that calculates development not in terms of money pr productivity but in terms of human welfare. The HDI evaluates human welfare based on three parameters: life expectancy, education, and income. |
| Food Security | Refers to the situation wherein every person has access to safe and nutritious food of sufficient quantity for an active and healthy lifestyle |
| Levels of development | The study of how countries develop financially |
| Outsourcing | Producing abroad parts or products for domestic use or sale. Subcontracting production or Services rather than performing those activities in house |
| Third world | Originally (1950s) designating countries uncommitted to either the first world Western capital is block or the second world Eastern communist Bloc. Subsequently, a term applied to countries considered in a state of under development and economic and social terms |
