Discussion Questions

Klein, in “The Discarded Factory,” provides many examples to show that corporations are much less concerned about production and much more about their brand name. The statement he uses to help explain the reason behind why they are doing this is, "The difference between products and brands is fundamental. A product is something that is made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by a customer,” (Peter Schweitzer). Many companies believe that while their products and factories are temporary and require upkeep, respectively, their brand will live on for much longer. Because of this, they shift towards outsourcing their production to keep costs as low as possible. The companies then use this extra money to help build their brand using sponsorships and marketing campaigns. In addition to sponsorships and marketing campaigns, companies will also improve their packaging, distribution, and retail channels, and they will expand. A quote once said by Nike’s

With bringing your factories to foreign countries you get cheaper labor land and can avoid many taxes.

Have you ever thought about those little words in fine print that tell you where a product was made? How about the last time you put tires on your car? Before you made a decision on the purchase did you stop and ask where the tires are made? Probably not! You heard the only words you wanted to hear....good and cheap! When did we stop caring about where a product is made or did we ever? Why would this matter anyway and what importance is of it? Some may argue that free trade and imports give us purchasing power. They believe cheaper goods results in more money in our pocket to buy other goods. That theory is a farce with little to no data to support it. Buying American made supports job growth, the environment and human rights.

If That does not favour the company they will invest. In terms of tax planning, companies may find it difficult to expand due to the tax ramifications. Country X (Foreign Country) may have a high tax burden on companies that choose to expand their operations abroad. Other reasons may include the means of advertisement, the start-up costs, and the political market.

I will first talk about the purpose of having operations done in another country. American companies can decide to move their companies overseas for a few reasons. One reason is that they can hire workers at low wages, for example, in China they can pay as little as 30 cents and hour whereas here they would have to pay employees minimum wage.1 Another reason is because the company would not have to pay employee benefits, such as vacation time sick days, and health insurance.1 A third reason would be that they would not have to follow safety and environmental regulations.1 The last reason would be that they would not have to pay foreign taxes

China, one of the most complicated relationship with the United States politically but economically, they are best friends. China’s number one import is technology such as cellular devices, computers, and even air crafts. Japan sends to the United States things such as medical equipment, machinery, technology as well as air crafts, just like China. The United Kingdom sends to the United States through imports electronics, air crafts, and pharmaceuticals. So why are these imports so important? It is because the United States can only manufacture so much. If the United States were to manufacture all of these, then there would have to be a lot more factories opened here on US soil. But due to the fact that other countries are making these commodities and importing it to the US, there is not a need to open up factories and begin manufacturing.

The U.S. industries have been outsourcing manufacturing for several decades now. U.S. companies thought they were reducing costs

Since goods can now be transported a lot easier, many companies prefer to hold their manufacturing units offshore in LEDCs such as China, India, Bangladesh etc. Land and labour in these countries are a lot cheaper, allowing more goods to be manufactured

It is widely believed that the main reason to manufacture in Asian countries is because it's 'too expensive' to manufacture in America even though it would only cost about $60 more dollars to make an iPhone in the USA. It is believed the reason is America doesn't produce enough workers in need of these jobs. It would take months for America to find these workers but in China it would take as little as 15 days.

Let 's take the iPhone, one of the most popular products of Apple, as an example. Apart from its software and product design, the production of iPhones primarily takes place outside the US. All the major iPhone components produced by companies

There are language and cultural barriers. The American consumer is trying to buy more American made products. Manufacturing overseas, there is less certainty over the social and environmental standards set by the

There are many global factors to consider that have been emergent with the spread of globalization. For a firm seeking an ideal context for establishing a new manufacturing center, cost is of course a

Why are so many manufactured goods that Americans use made in Asia, specifically China? When I began researching this topic, I went out to discover the contributing factors to manufacturing costs. Some elements that might affect China’s ability to make items compared to the United States’ ability to make items are labor costs, shipping costs, material costs, and industrial real estate costs.

Even with the price of the goods, transportation, taxes and import duties, some goods can be acquired cheaper abroad, at lower cost countries. This is one of the major reasons companies first consider offshore sourcing.

There are many reasons as to why companies choose to become a multinational corporation. Many choose to expand to other countries because they want to expand their markets, search for new materials, pursue new technology, are looking for production efficiency, they want to elude politics or regulations, or are simply looking to diversify their markets. However, I feel that ultimately the main reason as to why they choose to build manufacturing plants overseas is simply to maximize profits. We are all aware that companies are in business to make money. In order to maximize these profits they must look for other alternatives or ways to cut back on their expense