Final answer:
The main advantage of division of labor is the significant increase in production and efficiency, allowing for specialization and economies of scale.
Step-by-step explanation:
The main advantage of the division of labor within firms is that it significantly increases production capacity and efficiency. By dividing and subdividing tasks, workers become specialists in their assigned roles, which leads to a higher quality of work and faster production times. This approach allows for greater economies of scale, whereby the average cost of production decreases as the volume of output increases. Adam Smith exemplified this concept with his observation of pin factories, where a group of 10 workers specializing in different tasks could make a staggering 48,000 pins in a day, while a single worker doing all tasks might only make 20 pins. This level of specialization and coordination among workers enables firms to produce more, better, and at a lower cost.