Journal of Economic Geography - recent issues

Introduction: global production networks--debates and challenges

Coe, N. M., Dicken, P., Hess, M. — 2008-04-18

Global production networks: realizing the potential

Coe, N. M., Dicken, P., Hess, M. — 2008-04-18

Understanding and conceptualizing the complexities of the contemporary global economy is a challenging but vitally important task. In this article, we critically evaluate the potential of one interpretive framework—the global production networks (GPN) perspective—for analysing the global economy and its impacts on territorial development. After situating the approach in relation to other cognate chain/network approaches, the article proceeds to review and evaluate a number of underdeveloped areas that need to be understood and incorporated more fully if the framework is to deliver on its early potential. The article concludes with a consideration of the key research issues facing work in this area.

Value chains, networks and clusters: reframing the global automotive industry

Sturgeon, T., Van Biesebroeck, J., Gereffi, G. — 2008-04-18

In this article, we apply global value chain (GVC) analysis to recent trends in the global automotive industry, with special attention paid to the case of North America. We use the three main elements of the GVC framework—firm-level chain governance, power and institutions—to highlight some of the defining characteristics of this important industry. First, national political institutions create pressure for local content, which drives production close to end markets, where it tends to be organized nationally or regionally. Second, in terms of GVC governance, rising product complexity combined with low codifiability and a paucity of industry-level standards has driven buyer–supplier linkages toward the relational form, a governance mode that is more compatible with Japanese than American supplier relations. The outsourcing boom of the 1990s exacerbated this situation. As work shifted to the supply base, lead firms and suppliers were forced to develop relational linkages to support the exchange of complex uncodified information and tacit knowledge. Finally, the small number of hugely powerful lead firms that drive the automotive industry helps to explain why it has been so difficult to develop and set the industry-level standards that could underpin a more loosely articulated spatial architecture. This case study underlines the need for an open, scalable approach to the study of global industries.

Global standards, global governance and the organization of global value chains

Nadvi, K. — 2008-04-18

Compliance with international standards is now a sine qua non for entry into globalized production networks. Developing country firms and farms are confronted by an array of distinct product and process standards that they must meet. This has heightened the competitive challenges they face. Non-compliance can result in exclusion from profitable markets. This article uses the recent case of Nike's termination of sourcing of soccer balls from its lead supplier in Pakistan as a lens to analyse the relationship between standards and governance. The article addresses first the global governance implications associated with how standards are being shaped and implemented. Second, it considers how global standards affect the governance of value chain ties. Finally, in terms of questions for further research, it suggests the need to explore the relationship between standards and ‘intra-firm’ governance, in particular to assess outcomes for those engaged within the chains—namely local firms and their workers, and the social contexts in which global standards are imposed from the outside.

Global production networks, ethical campaigning, and the embeddedness of responsible governance

Hughes, A., Wrigley, N., Buttle, M. — 2008-04-18

This article presents a theoretically informed consideration of the role of ethical campaigning in shaping organizational practices of power and authority in global production networks (GPNs). It does so through a focus on responsibility, and the ways in which ethical consumption is challenging the organization of global networks of supply. The arguments draw upon and develop two geographical approaches to understanding transnational trade, namely the GPN framework and the study of commodity knowledge. First, understandings of ethical consumption and circuitous commodity knowledge are mobilized to capture the practices of knowledge translation through which ethics are woven into particular forms of supply network coordination. Second, through a comparative case study of UK and US corporate retailers’ ethical trading programmes, notions of embeddedness advanced by the GPN framework are used and further developed to illuminate how the mobilization of ethics into different forms of network coordination involves organizational processes influenced by spaces of retail and consumption. It is argued from this that the influences of retail and consumption should be more fully incorporated into analytical frameworks for understanding GPNs.

Labour agency and union positionalities in global production networks

Cumbers, A., Nativel, C., Routledge, P. — 2008-04-18

The development of a global production networks (GPN) perspective in economic geography has brought valuable insights into the social and political relations between regional, state and corporate actors in understanding processes of value capture in the production of commodities. However, to date, little has been said about labour as an active constituent of the global economy, rather than the passive victim of restructuring processes. In this article, we seek to rectify this situation by, first, theorizing the agency of labour in GPNs and the continuing role of class struggle in shaping the global economy, and second, exploring the positionality of unions within this framework. Through a case study of ICEM (the International Chemical, Energy, Mining and General Workers Federation), we show how union strategies evolve through contested socio–spatial relations both within unions themselves and with other social actors. Promoting transnational labour rights and improved employment conditions at the global scale is an aspiration of most union actors, but this is inevitably compromised by different subject positions in relation to broader processes of capital accumulation.

Global production networks and the extractive sector: governing resource-based development

Bridge, G. — 2008-04-18

This article explores the opportunities a GPN approach provides for understanding the network configurations and regional development impacts associated with extractive industries. The article elaborates two core claims: (i) that the application of the GPN analytical framework provides a way to make progress in a stalled policy debate regarding the linkages between resource extraction and socio-economic development (popularly known as the ‘resource curse thesis’); and (ii) that the encounter between GPN and a natural resource-based sector introduces distinctive issues—associated with the materiality and territoriality of extractive commodities—that, to date, GPN has not considered fully. The article examines the global production network for oil as an empirical case of how extractive industries can provide (limited) opportunities for socio-economic development.

Cultural political economy meets global production networks: a productive meeting?

Hudson, R. — 2008-04-18

In this article, I explore some of the implications of pursuing a cultural political economy (CPE) approach to the analysis of global production networks (GPNs). This raises three sets of issues: the current state of knowledge about GPNs; the current state of knowledge about CPE and the current state of relationships between analyses of GPNs and CPE. GPNs can be seen as encompassing the entirety of the circuit of production and to be constituted via a variety of flows (of capital in various forms such as commodities and money, knowledge and people) between a variety of nodes, sites and spaces (of production, exchange and consumption), with varying governance arrangements, both multi-scalar (supra-national, national, regional and urban) and non-scalar networked forms of governance. As these are Global Production Networks these nodes and the flows linking them are, by definition, distributed around the globe, albeit unevenly. CPE seeks to conjoin a more thorough treatment of the semiotic to more established concepts of political economy and there has been some considerable success in this regard [for example see Jessop and Sum (2006 Beyond the Regulation Approach. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar)]. As yet, however, there has been little serious engagement with the materiality of the economy and so with the relations between the material, semiotic and political economic within CPE. A similar criticism can be made of work on GPNs. Integrating considerations of the materiality of the economy more systematically enriches a CPE perspective, while exploring common ground between CPE and GPN approaches enables these advantages to be translated into the latter and further enhance its conceptual reach.

Re-engaging with rationality in economic geography: behavioural approaches and the importance of context in decision-making

Strauss, K. — 2008-02-12

Behavioural approaches have become mainstream in economics, supported by the research of cognitive scientists and psychologists, yet their findings have attracted little attention from geographers. This article argues for a renewed behavioural economic geography that builds on research in behavioural economics but also addresses one of its main shortcomings: a lack of engagement with the social context of decision-making. I outline a research agenda that bridges the gap between the disciplines in the area of pension decision-making, using the example of choice in UK occupational plans to argue for a mixed methodological approach to meet the challenge of taking context seriously.

Coevolution and coordination: a systemic analysis of the Taiwanese information technology industry

Lee, C.-K., Saxenian, A. — 2008-02-12

The ‘evolutionary turn’ in economic geography has led to increasing emphasis on coevolution among technologies, organizations and territories. The weakness of this approach, however, is a focus on broad coevolutionary pictures that pays little attention to coordination processes that guide interdependent actions on the ground. Using the Taiwanese information technology industry as an example, this article suggests an industrial system analysis that gives a structural coherence to a series of intentional, collective actions. Such a systemic measure has the potential to extend the evolutionary analysis beyond broad coevolutions to the strategic transformations of industrial organizations.

The effect of congestion and agglomeration on multifactor productivity growth in Dutch regions

Broersma, L., van Dijk, J. — 2008-02-12

It is well known that labour productivity growth in Europe is slowing down, against an increasing growth rate in the US. The Netherlands is one of the countries in Europe with the lowest growth rates of productivity. This article looks at this phenomenon from a regional perspective and presents the results of a growth accounting exercise applied to regional industry data of The Netherlands between 1995 and 2002. We find that slow productivity growth in The Netherlands is particularly situated in the economic core regions and is caused by slow multifactor productivity (mfp) growth. A substantial part of this slow mfp-growth can be explained by the fact that positive agglomeration advantages are overruled by negative congestion effects caused by traffic jams.

Does size of local labour markets affect wage inequality? a rank-size rule of income distribution

Korpi, M. — 2008-02-12

The questions addressed in this paper are: (i) does wage inequality increase with local population size, and if so, (ii) what are possible factors behind this increase? In a cross-section analysis of Swedish local labour markets using unique full population data, the article shows that urban scale, i.e. size of local population, has significant positive effects on wage inequality. Testing for potential explanations, labour market diversification, human capital, migration, age structure and employment are shown to be significantly associated with inequality. Given these effects, the article raises the question of how to understand and incorporate scale effects into models of long-term change in wage inequality.

Foreign banks' attraction to the financial centre Frankfurt--an inverted 'U'-shaped relationship

Grote, M. H. — 2008-02-12

This article traces the location of foreign banks in Germany from 1949 to 2006. As suggested by New Economic Geography models, we find an inverted ‘U’-shaped concentration of foreign banks in Germany. Only after a competition between several cities, Frankfurt has emerged as the pre-eminent financial centre, triggered by the ‘historical event’ of setting up the German central bank in Frankfurt. After a strong increase, Frankfurt's share in the location of foreign banks in Germany decreases slowly but significantly since the mid-1980s. We conclude that there will be a lesser role in Europe for second-tier financial centres in the future.

The geography of finance: corporate governance in the global marketplace * Gordon L. Clark and Dariusz Wojcik

Leyshon, A. — 2008-02-12

An introduction to economic geography: globalization, uneven development and place * D. MacKinnon and A. Cumbers

Hall, S. — 2008-02-12

Growth Cultures: the global bioeconomy and its bioregions * Philip Cooke

Birch, K. — 2008-02-12

The far side of international business: local initiatives in the global workshop

Hansen, G. H. — 2007-12-13

This article presents a case study of the entry of two Norwegian lifeboat companies into the Chinese production system. Rather than merely studying the situation through the eyes of these companies, it includes a perspective from the far side of international business, i.e., the local competitors. The article argues that to understand the dynamics and development of both international companies and localized production systems in a global economy, it is necessary to explore how international and local actors reflexively evaluate and act upon each other. The article, thus, presents a model for studying the internationalization process and localized production systems.

Global sourcing: insights from the global clothing industry the case of Zara, a fast fashion retailer

Tokatli, N. — 2007-12-13

Until recently, Zara, a major international clothing retailer and pioneer of ‘fast fashion’ principles, kept almost half of its production in Spain and Portugal, earning the reputation of being one of the exceptions to globalization. Since the 1980s, the existence of such exceptions has been fueling an expectation that the production of high-quality fashion garments and tailored suits would remain in the industrialized core. Here I revisit this expectation in the light of the current seminal change in the culture of fashion from ready-to-wear to fast fashion, and report that the increased variety and fashionability associated with fast fashion, represented by Zara, have tilted the balance of competitive advantage towards, rather than away from, firms in partially industrialized countries. As a number of supplier firms in countries such as Morocco, India and Turkey have gained the competence to manufacture intricately worked high-quality garments with the required flexibility and speed, Zara has turned to sourcing from these countries. It appears that instead of Zara changing the geography of jobs, the geography of competencies and jobs has changed Zara.

A synthesis of footloose-entrepreneur new economic geography models: when is agglomeration smooth and easily reversible?

Pfluger, M., Sudekum, J. — 2007-12-13

Models of the new economic geography share a number of common conclusions, but also exhibit notable differences, in particular with respect to the shape of the location pattern. Some models imply a catastrophic agglomeration process with hysteresis, so that concentration in one region is not easily reversible. Other models suggest that agglomeration may be smooth, easily reversible and not necessarily feature extreme ‘bang-bang’ outcomes. These differences reflect the fact that new economic geography models have relied heavily on specific functional forms. In this article we approach the properties of a particular class of new economic geography models, the class of ‘footloose entrepreneur models’, with a unifying framework based on the indirect utility function of mobile agents. We are able to provide general, yet handy, formulae to determine the break point and the bifurcation pattern. An application of this framework allows us to show how specific results in the literature can be reconciled as special cases, so that the origin of their differences can be highlighted.

Density and dispersion: the co-development of land use and rail in London

Levinson, D. — 2007-12-13

This article examines the changes that occurred in the rail network and density of population in London during the 19th and 20th centuries. It aims to disentangle the ‘chicken and egg’ problem of which came first, network or land development, through a set of statistical analyses clearly distinguishing events by order. Using panel data representing the 33 boroughs of London over each decade from 1871 to 2001, the research finds that there is a positive feedback effect between population density and network density. Additional rail stations (either Underground or surface) are positive factors leading to subsequent increases in population in the suburbs of London, while additional population density is a factor in subsequently deploying more rail. These effects differ in central London, where the additional accessibility produced by rail led to commercial development and concomitant depopulation. There are also differences in the effects associated with surface rail stations and Underground stations, as the Underground was able to get into central London in a way that surface rail could not. However, the two networks were weak (and statistically insignificant) substitutes for each other in the suburbs, while the density of surface rail stations was a complement to the Underground in the center, though not vice versa.

Scales of regional income disparities in the USA, 1955 2003

Yamamoto, D. — 2007-12-13

This article examines multiple dimensions of regional per capita income disparities in the USA between 1955 and 2003 with a particular focus on scalar effects. It combines various exploratory analytical tools of spatial disparities, including inequality indices, mobility indices, kernel density estimation, spatial autocorrelation statistics and scale variances, to analyse regional average per capita income distributions at multiple spatial scales, ranging from counties to multi-state regions. The analysis reveals previously unrecognised systematic patterns of cross-scalar dynamics, whereby spatial income disparities are increasingly more pronounced at smaller scales in the last few decades.

Positional issues, valence issues and the economic geography of voting in British elections

Pattie, C., Johnston, R. — 2007-12-13

A body of research has built up in recent years linking the changing geography of party support in British elections to variations in the country's economic geography. Consistent with the economic vote model, government support has been shown to be higher than average in affluent areas and lower than average in poorer areas. However, the great majority of such studies have concentrated on elections between 1979 and 1997, a prolonged period of one-party rule. This article argues that this means existing research cannot differentiate between the very different predictions of positional and valence approaches to economic voting since both suggest identical outcomes during Conservative administrations. By contrasting a period of Conservative rule with a period of Labour rule, however, the article provides a test of the competing claims of the positional and valence arguments for an understanding of Britain's electoral geography.

Regoverning markets: a place for small-scale producers in modern agrifood chains? * B. Vorley, A. Fearne and D. Ray (Eds)

Biles, J. J. — 2007-12-13

Managing network resources: alliances, affiliations and other relational assets

Yeung, H. W.-c. — 2007-12-13

Development on the ground: clusters, networks and regions in emerging economies * Allen J. Scott and Gioacchino Garofoli (Eds)

Fromhold-Eisebith, M. — 2007-12-13