Final answer:
Manufacturing has historically moved to regions with cheaper labor, from Britain's use of colonial resources and labor to the establishment of maquiladoras in Mexico and mass production in China's coastal cities. The U.S. textile industry also shifted from New England to the South and eventually overseas for lower costs. Outsourcing has been a tactic used by companies to sustain profitability.
Step-by-step explanation:
Throughout history, the quest for cheaper labor has led to significant shifts in manufacturing centers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Britain's textile industry thrived on cheap labor and resources from its colonies, with raw cotton sourced from India and Egypt and labor from the Caribbean and South Asia. This influx of labor helped diversify the population in industrialized northern England. Similarly, the maquiladoras in Mexico capitalized on low labor costs to draw manufacturing from the United States, which benefited from reduced product costs due to inflated corporate profits.
Technological innovations and labor management strategies emerged out of the need to increase productivity and reduce production costs. This trend can be seen in the mass production of various goods in Britain, as well as in the target product strategies of countries like Singapore, which focused on high-profit sectors such as biotechnology and high-end information technologies. The global search for low-cost manufacturing hubs also led to the growth of industries in China, particularly within coastal cities and Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which attracted a massive migratory workforce from rural areas.
In the United States, the textile industry's migration path reflects changing labor and raw material costs, leading businesses to move from New England to Southern regions and then abroad in search of more cost-effective manufacturing environments. Outsourcing by multinational corporations to countries with cheaper labor forces has been a common strategy to maintain low production costs and high competitiveness in global markets.