The influence of oil. economic, environmental and political in the world rethinking how the future of trade integration
Cdd. Buenos Aires, CF, ARG - NUESTROMAR -21 Aug 2008: - When Tesla Motors, a pioneer in electric cars, it was proposed manufacturing a luxury car for the U.S. market, had in mind the global supply chain. Tesla planned to manufacture batteries 500 kilos in Thailand , send them to Britain for installation and then transport the cars that are almost finished with the United States NA . But when production began in the spring, the company decided to make the batteries and assemble the cars near its headquarters in California , eliminating more than 8000 kilometers of freight account for each vehicle ... "It was a decision no alternative for us," said Darryl Siry , vice president for sales, marketing and global services company . "A major reason was to avoid transport costs, which are terrible" ... globalization may be losing part of the inexorable economic power it had during much of the past quarter century, at times facing new challenges as a political ideology ... cheap oil, which was the lubricant of quick connections and cheap transport around the world, may not return in the short term, which complicates the logic of diffuse global supply chains, for whom geography was a footnote in their quest for lower wages. Growing concern about global warming, the reaction against lost jobs in rich countries, problems with food security, and the collapse of world trade talks in Geneva last week, also they signal that political and environmental problems can become much more complex calculations of globalization ... The world economy is so integrated that people find relatively few T-shirts and sneakers in Wal-Mart and Target carrying label "Made in the USA" ... "If we think of Wal-M model art, it is incredibly fuel-intensive at every stage, and in each of those stages we are now seeing an inflation of costs for ships, trucks and cars" said Naomi Klein, author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" (The Shock Doctrine: the rise of disaster capitalism) ... "That is necessarily leading to rethink emissions-intensive model, whether there is more interest in growing foods locally, producing locally or shopping locally, and I think that's very good "... Many economists argue that globalization does not enter into reverse even if oil prices continue on its upward trend. But many see evidence that companies looking to keep prices low will have to bring some of their production to where the consumers. global production chains-Brazilian iron ore turned into steel Chinese used to make washing machines shipped to Long Beach to , California , and are then transported by truck to appliance stores in Chicago - make less sense today than a few years ago ... To avoid having to ship all its products from abroad, the Swedish furniture manufacturer Ikea opened its first factory in the United States in May. Some electronics companies that left Mexico in recent years in search of lower wages in China are now returning to Mexico , because they can cut costs by truck carrying their products American consumers ... Decisions like those suggest that what some economists call a neighborhood effect, putting factories closer to components suppliers and consumers to reduce transportation costs, could gain more importance if oil remains expensive. barrel sold for $ 125 a week ago, compared with U.S. $ 10 a decade ago ...
