ABSTRACT
the countries on the margins of the Pacific Ocean basin. These include Japan, Australasia, the western part of North America and the newly industrialized countries of Southeast Asia such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan. Whereas at the beginning of the 20th century manufacturing was concentrated in North America and Western Europe, during the 1970s and 1980s plants were established by transnationals in the newly industrialized areas. The Pacific Rim now challenges the traditional manufacturing areas on the margins of the North Atlantic; this has been described as a global shift.
