Activity 8-1
The Global Athletic Shoe

Objectives

• To recognize the increasing globalization of the economy
• To understand how and why the production of a product from a multinational company has become globalized
• To begin assessing the benefits and downsides to a global economy

Materials

• Transparency Model: World Trade
• 2 different color fine point pens
• Student Handout: The Global Athletic Shoe
• Story: "Shoes" from Stuff by John Ryan and Alan Durning

Time

One - two class periods

Evaluation

Completion of handout

Vocabulary

globalization interdependence specialization resource focus capital intensive labor intensive land intensive

Suggested Procedure

1. Have students look at clothing labels. Create a list from student responses of all countries and areas in the US where their clothes are made. Derive concept of globalization. Ask students why clothing is made in these places (cheap labor, etc.).

2. Have class discuss why we trade. Derive concept of specialization, exports and imports.

3. Have students read the handout, The Global Shoe and elaborate on resource focus/specialization to help determine where different phases/parts of production take place.

4. Have students work in pairs to complete the handout: The Global Shoe.

5. Read story, Global Shoe, and have students modify their story/diagram with a different color pen. Stop frequently to discuss the production process.

6. Have class discuss what might be good and bad about this global production of shoes.

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