new international division of labour

A global division of labour associated with the growth of transnational corporations (TNCs) and the de-industrialization of the advanced economies. The most common pattern is for research and development to take place in more economically developed countries, while the less skilled processes are carried out by cheap labour in less economically developed countries.

There are three ways of looking at the reason for this international division of labour. The first argues that TNCs, benefiting from improved transport systems and global communication networks, have looked for cheaper locations for their plants. The second is that the TNCs have been forced out of the old-established industrial nations through falling profits, and the third that the NIDL is a response to capitalism, depending, as it does, on persistent accumulation. The result has been the closing down of certain types of manufacturing industry in the industrialized countries, and the introduction of the same manufacturing processes in foreign subsidiaries of the TNCs.