GLOBL 2 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Contract, Agribusiness, Commodification
Document Summary
20th century general motors (factory with unionized workers; power with workers and business) > 21st century walmart (doesn"t make anything; sells brands; workers are around the world and are powerless) From 20th century social contract to 21st century corporate accountability agreement . Social contract: workers, state (makes up rules and enforces them), middle class emerges; legally binding agreement. Corporate accountability agreement: independent contract factories; workers work in different parts of the world; company hires factory audit firm (makes sure workers are being paid) and then reports back to the company. No organized labor - workers don"t represent themselves in unions. Geographic expansion - businesses look for cheap labor, raw materials, new people to buy the products. Trade barriers go down (world trade organization) - make it easier for companies to ship goods across the border. Low-wage countries industrialized: export-oriented industrialization (eoi) -> Rise of the rest (emerging economies of asia, latin america, russia?)
