• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.251-271
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• 2008

Maquiladora industries have grown due to the decrease in labor costs caused by Mexico's economic crisis and the increase in possibility of Mexico's advance into North American markets caused by the NAFTA that come into effect since the 1980s and 1990s. Early Marquiladora industries have started to be located in the Northern borders of Mexico using young-female labor forces centered on the textile and electronic part industries. However, after the 1980s, the port soared, and the regional range of Maquiladora industries has also enlarged to 25 states. The most important regions of Maquiladora industries in Mexico are Chihuahua and Baja California and their cities are Ciudad Juares and Tijuana. Maquiladora industries had grown in terms of the cost of product and the employment until the end of the 1990s. However, Maquiladora industries have decreased in the cost of product and the employment since the 2000s. The regional range of Maquiladora industries has enlarged into the entire of Mexico, but most of Maquilador industries is still located in Northern border regions centered on six states. The textile industry is a representative one of Maquiladora industries and the early Maquilador industries have been focused on the textile industry. Thus, the textile industry in Maquiladora shows the same pattern as any other industries in Mexico. However, machinery and electronic part industries have been concentrated on the Northern border states and existing manufacturing zones. In terms of the change in employment by industry, machinery and electronic part industries occupied most high employment proportion and the textile industry sector was the next. The distinguished point is that service industries are growing.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.143-162
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• 2021

This study reviews the progress of maquiladora industry in Mexico and the development of the IMMEX program. The maquiladora program allows foreign-invested factories in Mexico to import raw materials and components duty free and to export the finished products to the U.S. It contributed to the increase in employment and population of border cities. Low wage level of Mexico induced not only standardized labor-intensive industries but also the high-tech automated industries requiring assembly process. In 2006, the Mexican government merged the maquiladora program and PITEX for Mexican export-oriented firms into a single new program, the IMMEX program, in order to promote exports more efficiently. This study presents the distributions of the IMMEX firms by industrial sector and by region. It is revealed that transport equipment sector leads the export industries in Mexico, and Tijuana and Juárez accommodate largest agglomerations of the IMMEX firms.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.155-174
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• 1997

This paper's main objective is to present an assessment of the impact of NAFTA on the economic structure of the Mexican northem borderlands. The NAFTA is the strategy of a free trade agreement with the United States and Canada, first mentioned by Salinas in June 1990 and established since January 1994. Mexican govemment permitted factories called maquiladoras at the northem borderlands for the first time in 1965. in the early 1980s Mexico was in a deep economic crisis and the international environment was adverse to Mexico. Mexico began to move toward an open economy and abandoned the import-substitution industrialization model that characterized Mexico since the 1930s. Through the new economic reform, the market system was preferred to the regulation; the private ownership, to the public ownership; and the competition, to the protection. The most phenomenal urbanization in northem Mexico has occurred around the major crossing points along the Mexico-U.S. border. The rapid urbanization in northern Mexico has been much due to the industrialization, brought about bv the maquiladora programs and, recently, by the NAFTA.

• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.81-112
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• 1998

This study reviews the industrialization process of the United States-Mexico Borderlands and the economic relations between the U.S. and Mexico and examines their impact on the borderlands. Main factor in the industrialization of the borderlands was the U.S. investment on the maquiladora program of Mexico since 1965. It contributed to the increase in employment and population of borderlands and the development of service industries. Low wage level of Mexico induced not only standardized labor-intensive industries but also the high-tech automated industries because they still use a lot of labor in manufacturing and assembly process, while the functions of management. R & D, and distribution remained in the U.S. This is a typical case of international division of labor and satellite industrial district. The rules of origin in NAFTA, however forced branch Plants of multinational companies to form the local linkages between firms.