Martin Textile

1. Do you think the expansion of maquiladoras has been more of a benefit or a harm to Mexico? Why?

What are the strategic risks and benefits of outsourcing production of the Temecula plant to contract manufacturers in China?

Employing Mexicans for such minimal wages implies a peculiar kind of a 20th century imperialism: GM is able to extract enormous profits and to become the world’s largest corporation by super-exploiting labor in a country less well developed and economically influenced by the USA.

The former includes garments and textiles, footwear, electronics and various other sectors that require a large labour force to produce its goods or services, whereas the latter, includes—but not limited to— the production of chemicals, petroleum and automobiles. Among the many industries mentioned above, garment and textile and the automotive industries predominate in the maquiladoras. In fact, Wilson (1995) states that the automobile industry in its search for cheaper labor in the wake of increasing competition from the Asia market led U.S. companies like Ford, Chrysler and General Motors to significantly increase their investments in the maquiladoras in the 1980s (Wilson, 1995, p. 142). In regards to the garments and textiles, Billes (2003) argues that the movement from the border regions the interior parts was most apparent for firms that produced garments and textiles. Moreover, the search for cheaper labor as wages in the urban and northern border regions were rising led firm to migrate to poorer states like Yucatan (Billes, 2003, p.

Along with the money that it brings the Maquiladoras, it saves the capitalists money on labor costs and import and export taxes. The capitalists save money because they are getting labor for $16.00 a day per worker. They would not be able to do that with American laborers.

Impact of NAFTA on Mexico’s manufacturing industry – Effect on Productivity, Wages rates, Incomes, and Investments in FDI

If the government enacted a special tax on imported clothing making the selling price equal to the selling price of clothing made in the United States, shoppers would see imported items with much higher prices in discount stores. If the prices of clothing made in sweatshops and in the United States were comparative, shoppers would consider the trade-offs and opt to buy clothing made in the United States for higher quality, loyalty to United States workers, and the health of our economy (Mankiw, 2011, p. 4). Wal-Mart and “big-box” stores that sell so many imported clothing items would see a decrease in sales. Shoppers would choose to buy clothing at stores that sell clothing made in the United States. These stores would see an increase in sales.

Although globalization allows for most products to be produced at a more efficient rate, it also has the capability to mar the economies of municipalities in first world countries. In Pietra Rivoli’s book The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy, she discusses the different viewpoints of opposing sides of an on-going battle to reduce the amount of tariffs and quotas put on the textile industries of foreign countries. For decades the textile industry in America has been on a noticeable decline, with outsourcing to third-world countries to blame. Although both faction’s viewpoints on the benefits of such outsourcing, both realize that there is only one way to gain the results they seek; which is to petition to the congressmen, including high ranking officials such as the president, in Washington D.C.

between the three countries. By the end of the 1900s there were 4,000 factories in

The American firms just worry about their own company and the profit they are making by setting shop Mexico but they do not notice how they are exploiting the young women such as underpaying them and not giving them the training they need to be able to work in those conditions. This issue is controversial, you can defend this issue by saying that these factories employ 17 percent of Mexico's work force and how they provide a way for Mexico to get ahead in the economy. Overall this these factories are a negative because once you overlook the good that these factories have brought to Mexico, you are able to see all the bad things that are happening in and around these factories such as the toxins the works deal with which they do not have the proper training to deal with and how the companies are dumping hazardous material into Mexico.

Companies in the 1960’s realized that they could lower labor costs by moving plants to other countries with lower minimum wage than here in the united states. These assembly plants just south of the Us-Mexico boarder are called maquiladoras. These plants didn't just allow for labor costs to be lowered but also duty-free production, only rule was the goods must be exported out of Mexico. The maquiladoras also gave much needed jobs to the Mexican workers. The first few years of the new millennium many of these maquiladoras went out of business, due to lower wages in countries such as China and Guatemala. Since 2004, we have seen a rise in the number of maquiladoras on the Mexican boarder. We are seeing this increase because of high value products

Maquiladoras are a manufacturing company which runs in Mexico. They manufacture and assemble goods and ship them. They started to be recognized in 1994 when NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) was passed, NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, United States, and Mexico.Which is one of the world’s biggest trade zones right now. The maquiladoras are very popular because they are cheap in a way that they can assemble goods for a cheap price. You can save up to 75 %(http://www.madeinmexicoinc.com/faq/) if you import from the Maquiladoras. Maquiladoras can manufacture goods and ship them out for duty-free and tariff free goods. Large companies then take advantage of that by using the Mexican government 's laws. how? Well they use Mexico’s “less strict environmental laws” (http://umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/maquiladora.htm) Which means that the companies can send in unprocessed material and can get it assembled by paying the workers less money.

than all of Mexico, but it came at a price. In Maquiladoras these factories are operated by

The article, “Displaced People: NAFTA’s Most Important Product”, written by David Bacon for North American Congress on Latin America, discusses how economic crises have caused Mexicans to be displaced. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has caused the price of crops in Mexico to lower so much that there are no economic benefits from planting them. There are around 500,000 indigenous Mexicans from the state of Oaxaca now living in the United States as farmworkers. The article states that between 2000 and 2005, the countryside in Mexico has lost a million and a half jobs. This causes indigenous Mexicans who relied on planting crops to make money to migrate to the United States. Families that cannot migrate to the United States and are now jobless will go hungry as they search for buyers to buy the crops they grow. While the crops they grow continue to lose money value, the price of the food that they need to survive keeps increasing. After Mexico adopted NAFTA, the price of tortillas has more than doubled and companies continue to monopolize tortilla production. Poor Mexicans are left with no ability to make money and

With the elimination of U.S. government subsidies, cotton textile manufacturers will pay more for cotton. As the leading buyer of cotton, the Chinese apparel industry’s profitability will be reduced due to their inability to pass on increased cotton prices to their buyers. China’s manufacturing costs had already increased by as much as 40% due to higher market wages and costs with complying with worker and environmental protections. Although China has substantial labor and is accused of utilizing sweat shops to keep their costs extremely low, their increasing manufacturing costs have opened the door to other countries with cheap labor such as Vietnam and Pakistan.