Economic Geography and Apple’s Economic Activities

In this essay: (1) choose one company to focus your paper around [materials are provided for Apple and Amazon]; (2) describe what kinds of economic activity are embedded where ; (3) analyze why this company chooses to locate their business in these places and how their economic activity transforms those places unevenly.
Overview:
Many popular discussions of the economy assume that the economy is best understood as something ‘global’ or ‘national.’ This is why we often read about ‘America’s economic growth’ or ‘global trade.’ While this framing helps us understand certain kinds of economic activity, it often misses the more complex ways that economic activity is shaped by and helps to transform particular places in uneven ways. In this essay, we ask you to choose one company to illustrate one aspect of this broader theme. We provide materials for Apple and Amazon, but you may write about other companies with instructor permission.

To explore this question, your paper should answer the following questions: 1. What kinds of economic activities is the company engaging in and where are they located? Transnational companies today often have widely dispersed business operations. Research and development may be located in one place; human resources may be located somewhere else; resources are extracted in one place, while manufacturing and assembly take place still somewhere else; distribution may be located in many places; and the products may still be sold still somewhere else. Please note: If you say that businesses are located in ‘America,’ you are approaching this essay the wrong way. 2. Why did the company choose to locate their economic activities in these places? There are a variety of reasons why companies choose particular places. They include locational economies and agglomeration effects [see p. 277-78]; benefiting from tax rates; attracting skilled labor; environmental regulations; political climate; prices of real estate; customer base; and more. Remember that a company’s decision to locate their business in a given place is often a decision to leave a different place. 3. How does a particular company’s economic activity in different places reshape those places in uneven ways? This unevenness can take multiple forms. In positive situations, well-payed workers in particular places help to support and sustain local economies; in other instances, however, companies may choose to pay low wages to maximize their profits but also resulting in a negative impact on the social and economic well-being of particular places. Businesses moving into ‘cheap’ cities can generate new property tax, but they can also spike gentrification and accelerate inequality. Development projects can generate traffic and environmental costs. Sometimes the ‘incentive’ packages signed by government representatives can impact future public revenues.

To accomplish this paper, we recommend: 1. Budgeting your time. This essay will require reading at least 6 newspaper articles to gather information for your paper (budget 45 min – 1 hr); organizing that material (1 hr); and preparing your essay. Essays are due on Monday, April 29. 2. Read the textbook and use it to develop your argument, especially Chap. 8, “Geographies of Economic Development.” Lectures will help to introduce some of these concepts, with a key focus on April 22. Discussion sections will also provide time to organize your papers and to think through your analysis. 3. When you read the newspaper articles, look for answers to each of the questions above: What kind of economic activity? Where? Why located there? How is it reshaping that place?

Requirements

Content: • A thesis statement that makes an argument. For example, “In this paper, I examine the economic geography of ______. I describe _____. I analyze _____. I argue that [this company] benefits from uneven _____ and helps to produce new kinds of unevenness by _______.” • A mapping statement that summarizes the structure of your paper. • Topic sentences that tie each section back to your thesis statement. For example, “[This company’s strategy of locating production in _____ helps them _______.”

Formatting: • 1,200-1,300 words; double-spaced, using 1” margins and 12-point font. • Include a Works Cited. You may use parenthetical citations (and include a separate Works Cited page) or footnotes, but you must cite all of your sources (including the Wikipedia pages).