T95

TECHNOLOGY AND GLOBALIZATION by Fredric M. Menger, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

The world’s economies are all interconnected in a phenomenon known as “globalization”. This is no better illustrated than by a 2007 book entitled “The World is Flat” by T. L. Friedman who lists below the countries of origin (and company name) that supply various parts of a Dell computer. A company will often have multiple sources for a given part (see Microprocessor) in order to protect itself against interruption as caused, for example, by a natural disaster. Note that the country of origin is usually different from the country of ownership that has not been given. For example, the keyboard is made in China by Japanese and Taiwanese-owned companies.

Microprocessors: Philippines; Costa Rica; Malaysia; China (all Intel)

Memory: South Korea (Samsung); Taiwan (Nanya); Germany (Infineon); Japan (Elpida)

Cooling fan: Taiwan (CCI or Auras)

Motherboard: China (Samsung or Quanta); Taiwan (Compal or Wistron)

Keyboard: China (Alps, Sunrex, or Darfon)

LCD: South Korea (Samsung, Phillips, or LG); Japan (Toshiba or Sharp); Taiwan (Chi Mei Optoelectronics, Hannstar Display or AU Optronics)

Wireless Card: China (Agere or USI); Malaysia (Arrow); Taiwan(Askey or Gemtek)

Modem: China (Asustek, Liteon, or Foxconn)

Battery: Malaysia (Motorola or Sanyo); Mexico (Sanyo); China (Sanyo); South Korea (SDI or Simplo).

Hard disk drive: Singapore (Seagate); Thailand (Hitachi or Fujitsu); Philippines (Toshiba)

CD/DVA drive: Indonesia (Samsung or Teac); Philippines (Samsung); China (NEC, Teac or Sony); Malaysia (NEC or Teac)

Notebook carrying bag: China (Tenba, Targus, Samsonite, or Pacific Design)

Power Cord: China (Volex); Malaysia (Volex); India (Volex)

Memory Stick: Israel (M-System); Malaysia (Smart Modular)