The Global Production Network of Smartphone - Coursework Example

Management: Global Рrоduсtiоn Network (GРN Name Institution Course Tutor Date Product: Smartphone The Global Рrоduсtiоn Network (GРN) of Smartphone Introduction Globalization, which means increased geographical scale of political, social, and economic interactions, led to the emergence of Global Production Networks (GPN) because of access to global markets by companies. GPN change the production and usage of knowledge with implications to the economic change. GPN also leads to increased mobility of labour or knowledge diffusion, as we as the formation of the local capacities. Due to globalization, there is increased organizational innovation resulting to widening of GPN. The networks also led to spreading of the value chain within national boundaries and firms. The Smartphone is one of the products that is the widespread in the global market because of globalization and implementation of GPN in organisations. This paper seeks to analyse the GPN of Smartphone and the parties that benefit from the structure of the GPN. The paper analyses this by identifying the various forms of labour that go into creating a Smartphone, and the work they carry out globally. It also discovers how the value is captured at each stage of production distributed along the network. This paper explores the institutional arrangements that explain the structure of this GPN. GPNs for Smartphone There are very many manufacturers and distributors of Smartphone globally. Because of globalization, which led to improved market innovation and the concept of the value chain, the Smartphone producers engaged into global production networks that allow them to be linked together in the market (Peter Dicken 2015, 24). GPN refers to the concept of application of interconnected operations, functions, and transactions in production, distribution, and consumption of a product of service (Cooke, 2013, 1081). They are the links and nodes that go beyond the national boundaries integrating different parts of the sub-national and national territories. The GPN for Smartphone is a framework that combines all the insights of the actors in the Smartphone production system (Barrientos, Gereffi, & Rossi, 2011, 320). It connects their approaches towards the global value chain and capitalism, making there to be a relationship between the actors’ clustering dynamics and regional developments. In the production and sale of Smartphone, the firms engage various chains that change the inputs to outputs through some stages (Levy, 2008, 952). The various forms of labour that go into creating Smartphone include the labour involved in the production, then to distribution, and then to consumption activities. In the GPNs, the quality of work is the major focus because different activities and processes associated with the production of a product are distributed among companies where different activities are conducted (Cooke, 2013, 1085). Smartphone companies are widespread across the globe and due to their connection and operation in GPNs, the approach has made the global production of Smartphone easier and manageable. GPNs enhance the conduct of quality work from the production level where Smartphone companies have access to the raw materials from their sources (Newsome, et al. 2015, 32). For instance, very many extractive industries are found in Africa, and they offer the raw materials used in the production of Smartphone. On the other hand, the assembling activities take place in the developing countries because there is all that is needed such as expertise and improved technology to enable the production of quality Smartphone. Labour organisations have made the global operation of the companies possible. Those companies operating in different nations seek support from the local labour organizations (Barrientos, et al. 2011, 324). For example, China Smartphone companies are major producers of Smartphone but operate in various countries among them being African countries. In all these countries, the labour force is sourced locally. For the China companies to manage their operations, they have to connect with the local labour organisations to offer the required workforce where the residents are recruited depending on their qualifications and the employment requirements (Levy, 2008, 956). Ultimately, the labour organizations play a major role in shaping the structure of the Smartphone networks. These organisations also assist in helping the local people get employment in the Smartphone companies, thus economic growth in the particular nation (Cooke, 2013, 1087). The GPNs of the Smartphone contributed to changing character of work in a global Smartphone sector. It is widely noticed that the digital economy is run by expertise based on activities involved in the manufacturing process of Smartphone from production through to consumption and then the disposal activities. GPNs have a major contribution to the work of excavation of the minerals that are used as components in the smart-phones (Barrientos, et al. 2011, 326). The process continues through the assembly stage, right up to how workers use Smartphone around the world, and how they facilitate migration. There is the shipment of the manufactured Smartphone, which enhances migration of people across nations. Moreover, GPNs facilitate how e-waste is managed as an industry when Smartphone have reached the closing stages of their usability. In all these activities, different parties tend to benefit in different ways including gaining of income, experience, and social benefits (Parrilli, et al. 2013, 969). Developing nations are the major production locations for the Smartphone because of availability of expertise and the required resources. For instance, China and India are countries where the majority of the Smartphone are manufactured, and it is widely known that these two countries have the highest valuable technologies (Parrilli, et al. 2013, 972). The Apple Smartphone are designed in the U.S., but the assembling activities are conducted in China. The same case with the Nokia Smartphone, which are majorly sourced from India and China though they are distributed in many nations. The issue affects the employment in the developing nation where many people secure themselves jobs in those manufacturing companies (Levy, 2008, 959). The quality Smartphone is used in the advanced economies while the low-end Smartphone are the main means of internet connections in the developing countries like the African countries. However, the GPNs, which led to increased usage of the Smartphone, contributed to the creation of jobs in the poor countries where handset repair and airtime vending is done. The Smartphone cannot operate with the usage of airtime; hence sale of airtime in the poor countries led to the creation of employment (Fuchs, 2014, 157). For example, in Kenya, transfer of money through the mobile phones has been common and has created over 39,400 jobs to the agents. In China, the electronic and communication equipment-production sector has created many jobs almost doubling to 3 million from 2002 to 2008. The global paths of production of Smartphone majorly involve the digital media. The GPNs enhance engagement in the e-market where the Smartphone producers conduct online sales of the product (Rugman 2009, 36). The suppliers of the raw materials use the digital media to connect with the producers whereby all communications are conducted online to enhance delivery of the raw materials. This makes the global production network efficient from the manufacturing and assembly to coding, distribution work, and consumption of the Smartphone. The same happens between the manufacturer and distributors, and distributors and consumers where there is engagement into the online store (Parrilli, et al. 2013, 978). It is evident that technology has led to changes in the processes of production of Smartphone from the assembly to the consumption stage (Levy, 2008, 962). In the traditional commodity chain analysis incorporated ideas of ideology and hegemony; whereby the dominant ideas in a society reflected on the interest of the economic class. The GPNs eliminated application of these ideas because globalization made it possible for all the actors to access the global market. Once the Smartphone are exported from the country of production majorly China to other nations where they are consumed, the Smartphone land in the hands of the distributors (Barrientos, et al. 2011, 334). Samsung brand shares its mobile production between India and Korea and this sharing is enhanced by the applied GPNs. The issue led to networked innovations between the two countries since they always communicate on different issues regarding the production of the Samsung Smartphone and other electronics (Fuchs, 2014, 164). There are many software service centres in diverse nations, such as India and Nairobi, Kenya and all the centres have a means of communication and sharing the resources among them. The Smartphone global value chain is widespread across nations (Bair, 2009, 45). The main segments of conception to the after use include; input materials, hardware creation, software building up, sales and promotion, Smartphone and their usage, and after use. All these activities are connected through the GPNs, which operate in different countries. The miners are located in Africa where minerals are found, assembly workers located in China and the marketing personnel in the developing countries where the majority of the Smartphone are sold. Once the Smartphone are fully manufactured, the chain splits to very many nations where distribution and purchase, as well as usage, are conducted. After the use of the Smartphone, the e-waste can be recycled or be disposed of completely (Dyer-Witheford, 2015, 96). The key global brands dealing with Smartphone- Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericson, Motorola, and LG have their Smartphone being distributed and used in different countries. Due to the market size the competition in the global market, the manufactures ensure production of high-quality Smartphone. It saves the consumers the cost of purchasing Smartphone frequently because a quality Smartphone lasts for over one year. The governments also benefit from the GPNs of the Smartphone whereby they acquire revenue through the tax paid against their production, sale, and purchase processes (Barrientos, et al. 2011, 337). In addition, the GPNs for Smartphone have led to the upgrading of the social life because people use the Smartphone to connect with their relatives and friends, listen to music, and read articles through the internet connections. The shifting of the end markets of Smartphone in the developing countries led to chances of social upgrading because it changed the social conditions of the poor and those living in the rural areas. There is consistent cost reduction because GPNs for Smartphone enhance market growth where corporations concentrate on the production and trading activities of the Smartphone (Fuchs, 2014, 173). The global value chains also make the Smartphone manufacturers to focus on the production of value-added Smartphone (Dyer-Witheford, 2015, 98). There is enabled geographical dispersion and transformation in the Smartphone market where GPNs operate through the help of the global value chains. Since different firms have specific activities to play, such as the miners who concentrate in mining and assembly workers who focus on the assembly activities, the sharing of activities among the firms lead to value creation (Kraemer, et al. 2011, 24). The casual drivers of the GPNs enable dealing with the existing gap in the competitive dynamics, such as financial discipline, market imperatives, as well as optimizing ratios of their cost capabilities. A transformation occurs in the way people have access to the national boundaries because the networks enhance production in a certain country and distribution in a different country (Parrilli, et al. 2013, 981). There is also enhanced training of workers involved in the supply chain to prepare them for the supply related activities from the production to making of sales of the Smartphone. Conclusion GPNs for Smartphone are efficient and beneficial to different parties in the contemporary world. The production of the Smartphone is done through processes and the GPNs allow success in all of them. All the operations and transactions are interconnected from one firm to another. There is mining of the raw material, assembling, marketing, distribution, and consumption and all these processes and interconnected through the GPNs. All these processes lead to value creation of the Smartphone. In the Smartphone market, the major brands such as Nokia, Apple, Samsung, and others have different places where the products are produced. In addition, the Smartphone are sold in different nations. In all these activities, there is labour creation and sharing of resources in the involved nations. GPNs for Smartphone enable many people to benefit in different ways globally, that is, expertise, income, and social relations. 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