Concept of industrialisation

Jumping into the concept of industrialisation without at least a concise examination of the term industry will not be meaningful.

• Industry

There is no precise definition for industry, it can be look at as a manufacturing unit that engages in transforming raw material inputs into finished product.it all also a group of firm producing identical products.

Combining the two definitions makes it :a branch of production that mainly engages in obtaining raw materials and transforming such material into finished goods.

Industry creates or increases utility as it changes the form of raw materials. In this case, it has been looked at from the point of view of divisions such as extraction, manufacturing and construction. In another perspective, some economist see it as one of what they call the three branches of the economy which are agriculture,industry and services.

Be it as it may,the picture of what industry is has been clearly painted and now,industrialisation can be incorporated into the study.

Industrialisation: refers to the development strategies which stress the development of industries in a nation without looking down on the necessities and significance of the other sector of economy.

Industrialisation is a symbol of development. The industrialised nations are noted for a very solid manufacturing sector and tremendous level of technological development which beautifully lubricates not just the industrial sector but also all other sectors of the economy such as commerce and services.

In the industrialised world,the highest percentage of the labour force is employed in the service and manufacturing occupations while the reverse is the case in the developing nations. The spread of civilian employment in the three stages of production determines the level of development in the economy of a nation.USA and British have the highest civilian employment in the tertiary stage of production (service sector) followed by the secondary stage (manufacturing sector) with the primary stage of production (agriculture) left with small proportion. It is other way round in the less industrialised or developing nations where the primary activities have the highest concentration of civilian employment with secondary and tertiary activities battling for the remaining percentage.

Industrialisation is not an easy point to attain. It involves the mobilization of a country's domestic and external resources and an evident change in the technical and institutional arrangements or the structural pattern of the economy.

There are various types of industries.we have:

• Extractive industry: Engages in bring out or extracting basic materials from their natural locations. It includes all occupations that engages in obtaining material or resources from the land,sea or air. The extractive industry can be grouped into agricultural, mining, fishing, forestry and quarrying.

• Manufacturing industry: it uses raw materials produced by the extractive industry to produce consumable goods.it changes the form of raw materials or natural resources in order to satisfy human wants. Example crude oil is converted into petrol,kerosene and diesel that are used for different purposes.

• Constructive industry: This has a similar function with the manufacturing industry because they're both involved in conversion. They builds (house,factories,bridges,dams,roads e.t.c) and they do this by making use of raw materials and goods produced by the extractive and manufacturing industries respectively.

• Service industry

This is made up of the organisations providing direct and indirect services.

Coming up soon(localisation of industries, the role of industrialisation in economy development). Watch out