What are the main characteristics of high-tech (high technology) industry? (b) Describe and explain the locational requirements of different types of manufacturing industry.

One common example of high-tech industry is the 1989 Cambridge Science Park, now covering 1,650,000 sq ft with its buildings. This was previously located in the UK because it was part of the EU, there was no minimum wage for workers and there would be the same English-speaking language. The two main reasons for this science park locating in Cambridge were because of the accessibility and the pleasant environment. It was part of an agglomeration economy, one company set-up and so others followed. There are now 150 companies with over 3,000 workers with the largest firm having 320 people and others having fewer than 20. Many of these employees being graduates from the Cambridge University who create a highly qualified and skilled workforce. The university also provides links to their departments and research. It is also the pleasant environment surrounding the science park which attracts a large pool of workers. It is landscaped with trees, lakes, and ornamental gardens and there is also nearby attractive countryside, pretty villages, and high quality residential areas to provide housing for the workers. There are even excellent leisure facilities nearby Cambridge for them. There is a large flat Greenfield on the edge of the city providing room on site for further expansion. Accessibility being another major requirement for the Cambridge Science Park so its firms are easily reached by its workers and goods can easily be imported or exported via different links. For example, the science park is close to both the M11 and M25 motorways aswell as Stansted Airport allowing easy access for international links.

The service industry, for example call centres have been locating in the LEDC’s of India and the Philippines. With Powergen companies locating its call centres in India and HSBC banks locating its call centres in the Philippines. Powergen is a regional power company and within three years has increased its number of call centres from 50 to 800 as Western companies are using the cheap labour costs to their advantages. These being 10% lower than in the UK with the average call centre salary costing about £12,500 a  year compared to £1,200 in India. As well as working for lower salaries the employee’s in India also work for extremely long hours. They work 8½ hour shifts from either 9.30 p.m.-6 a.m. or 4.30 p.m.-2.30 a.m. It was suggested that this work was just exploiting young English-speaking Indians who have an undergraduate degree but nowhere to go. Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi receive 200,000 ICT graduates each year which is beneficial in terms of employment because undergraduates have been employed in a job that now demands 150,000 graduates but five years ago was a non-existent industry. The huge growth in India’s call centre industry was highlighted as the British company Norwich Union announced they would be cutting 2,350 UK jobs relocating them, with the company receiving $20,000 for every job they move. However more recently there has been a change of industrial location priorities for the Indian call centres. There has been customer backlash ensuring a high number of customers putting there satisfaction above the lower labour costs, with both cultural class and low level racism playing a major part of customer satisfaction. The new jobs created are now at call centres in Bedford, Bolton, Leicester, Nottingham and Essex so customers in the UK are more confident knowing that there query is more likely to be resolved quicker because the call centres are located nearer to them.

The HSBC call centres, set up to handle customer service and backroom operations were located in Philippines for similar reasons to that of India’s call centres. It cost between $20 million and $30 million for each new call centre to be set up and it’s the world’s second largest bank which already has 13,000 workers in call centres around Asia. With four in India, three in China, one in Malaysia, one in Sri Lanka and now one in the Philippines. HSBC cut 4,000 jobs at UK call centres over three years to then relocate more in the Philippines, for example 500 people were employed for operation on the outskirts of Manila. The bank saved £10, 400 for every job it moved. The reasons for this again being the lower labour costs with a large pool of employee’s working for longer hours and who can also provide quality telecommunications with there English-language skills that are freely available in the Philippines. The call centres for HSBC is an example of one tertiary industry working for another. The Philippine workers were also offered government incentives such as free premises, tax holidays for three to four years and cheap and guaranteed phone lines.

Before the 1600’s the Iron and Steel industry was located in the South of Wales mainly because it had to be tied to its raw materials. However sources of both the ore and energy have changed meaning the locations also had to change. Iron was originally sited where there were surface outcrops of iron and abundant wood for charcoal e.g. Forest of Dean. The UK was a guaranteed market for the colonies of India, US, Australia and Kenya. The industry however has more recently moved to NIC’s such as South Korea, India, China and more importantly Malaysia. This is because of various reasons such as the large pool of employees who work for lower labour costs. There are no trade unions so they are not restricted and can therefore do whatever they wish which was not an option previously in the UK. The environmental laws were also not as re-enforced to the extent of the UK, so in Malaysia the industry could contribute to as much pollution as necessary without being restricted by law. The industry in Malaysia was also located in the market place increasing the accessibility to trade and therefore reducing transport costs.