Global Networks

Global Networks

1. Core regions are the most developed and highly populated regions of a country

2. Switched On

   • USA
   • UK
   • Europe

3. Switched Off

   • North Korea
     • Censorship, No international calls allowed and propaganda played throughout the country
   • Chad
     • Landlocked
   • Libya
     • Internet was completely turned off

4. Shrinking world - Time Space Compression

5. Telephones

   • The first telephone and telegraph cables across the Atlantic replaced a 3-week boat journey with instantaneous communication
   • This revolutionised how business was conducted and laid the ground for TNCs to operate in different continents
   • Remains a core technology for communicating across distance
   • In parts of Africa where telephone lines have never been laid, people are technologically 'leap-frogging' straight to mobile phone use
   • In 2005, a system was introduced that allows people to buy cash vouchers and transfer credit to businesses, customers or family members via mobile phones

6. The internet

   • With the advent of broadband, large amounts of data can be quickly moved across cyberspace
   • Office staff can work from home
   • Enables firms to employ workers and consultants living in different countries
   • Music companies can e-mail sound recordings to be remixed by producers working in different countries
   • Disney can produce animated films using experts in different countries all working at the same time

7. Air Travel

   • Aerospace technology continues to evolve
   • Faster aeroplanes produced in greater numbers and with increased capacity
   • Firms like easyJet have pioneered low-cost no-frills mass air travel
   • Cutting-edge designs like the Airbus A380 (carries 550) are set to increase air passenger numbers even further

8. GIS and GPS

   • The first global positioning system satellite was launched in the 1970s
   • Now 24 in orbit - 10,000km above Earth
   • GIS are software systems that can collect, manage and analyse satellite date

9. Connections between nodes or global hubs (especially connected) are called flows.

   • Flows are movements of: Money, Raw materials, Manufactured goods and services, Information and People

10. Trade and migration flows have increased due to technology, market forces and political decisions

11. What happens in one place increasingly has impacts on other places

    • If a firm in one nation goes bust, then workers in branch plants in other nations will lose their jobs too

12. Global hubs and other major network nodes are switched-on places possessing qualities that make other places want to connect with them

    • Coastline ideal for trade
    • Oil resources
    • Physical factors aid growth of industry
    • Strategic local encourages investment
    • Large labour force
    • Skilled labor
    • Languages spoken (English call centres in India)
    • Affluence attracts service providers
    • Human resources and Natural resources