Factory Outlet

What such a map would have failed to reveal , however, was the changing nature of the connections put in place by Western firms as they shifted work around the globe. It is often assumed that when Western firms, or any film for that matter, reach out across borders to establish a factory outlet here, an assembly plant there, or a subsidiary in some far-off location, they do so through directly investing and thereby wholly owning such facilities. In the 1970s and 1980s, among the low-cost manufacturing overseas operations, this was indeed often the case, but increasingly Western firms started to conduct their business at-a-distance through a variety of indirect means, of which subcontracting became the principal arrangement.