Companies like Nike in contemporary times have outsourced the whole process of production and distribution to third world countries because of the availability of cheap labour. Which idea do such companies practice?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Post-Fordism
Option (1) Marketisation — Incorrect. Marketisation is the use of markets or market-based processes, rather than government regulations, to solve social, political or economic problems: deregulation, privatisation and the removal of controls on wages and prices. It is a policy of the state, not a way in which a company organises its production.
Option (2) Post-Fordism — Correct. Under Fordism goods were mass-produced at one centralised location; post-Fordism is a system of flexible production at dispersed locations. Nike shows it: its shoes were made in Japan, then in South Korea, then in Thailand and Indonesia, and since the 1990s in India, because production moves wherever labour is cheaper. This is the new international division of labour, in which routine manufacturing is done in Third World cities.
Option (3) Taylorism — Incorrect. Taylorism is the system invented by Taylor, involving the break-up of work under management control: each job is divided into small, timed tasks inside the factory. It is about controlling work on the shop floor, not about moving production to other countries.
Option (4) Glocalisation — Incorrect. Glocalisation is the mixing of the global with the local, a strategy foreign firms adopt to suit local traditions, as when foreign television channels use Indian languages. It concerns adapting what is sold to local cultures, not where the goods are made.
NCERT (2025-26): “Globalisation and a New International Division of Labour … A new international division of labour has emerged in which more and more routine manufacturing production and employment is done in the Third World cities. You have already dealt with outsourcing in Chapter 4 and contract farming in Chapter 5. Here we simply draw upon the example of Nike company to illustrate how this works.…” “Globalisation and a New International Division of Labour … Only two US factories ever made shoes for Nike. In the 1960s they were made in Japan. As costs increased production shifted to South Korea in mid-1970s. Labour costs grew in South Korea, so in the 1980s production widened to Thailand and Indonesia. Since the 1990s we in India produce Nike. However, if labour is cheaper elsewhere production centres will move somewhere else. This entire process makes the labouring population very vulnerable and insecure. This flexibility of labour often works in favour of the producers. Instead of mass production of goods at a centralised location (Fordism), we have moved to a system of flexible production at dispersed locations (post-Fordism).” |