Repatriation or Reshoring of Manufacturing to the U.S. and UK: Dynamics and Global Production Networks or from Here to There and Back Again

There are three contrasting approaches to understanding the geography of production. The first approach emphasizes the importance of local agglomerations, the second intrafirm mechanisms, while the third highlights global relationships or global production networks (GPN) or global value chains. These explanations are partial, but complementary. This paper explores the restructuring of global production with a focus on the reshoring or repatriation of manufacturing production to the U.S. and UK. Our intention is to identify the drivers behind reshoring as the first stage toward developing a dynamic conceptual framework for understanding the global organization of production. Reshoring needs to be conceptualized by drawing on and combining approaches developed in GPN with micro‐approaches to understanding firms including the development of a geography of production tasks. The study is based on a theoretical mapping to inform an empirical analysis of reshoring in both countries to identify and conceptualize the quantitative and qualitative causal drivers behind this process. The evidence suggests that reshoring is sector‐dependent and is mainly driven by manufacturers’ cost‐management and quality strategies combined with the importance of manufacturing products close to market. This involves a “total manufacturing cost analysis” in which access to a set of tangible and intangible inputs are key drivers behind dynamics of GPN.     

Transportation and the Geographical and Functional Integration of Global Production Networks

ABSTRACT The growing interest in the relationships between transportation and globalization has spurred many inquires in the nature of production, consumption and distribution, especially within transport geography. It is widely acknowledged that improvements in transport and distribution have contributed to significant changes in the geographies of production (and vice versa). In a context of intense global competition and diminishing profit margins, logistics and the formation of global production networks offer additional opportunities to improve the efficiency of production through distribution strategies. The spatial and functional fragmentation of manufacturing and attempts at reducing inventories have led to smaller, more frequent and synchronized shipments, transforming the logistics industry, but placing intense pressures on transport systems to support these flows. The benefits derived from global production networks thus cannot be achieved without improvements in logistics and supply chain management. This article seeks to assess the conditions driving the global forms of production, distribution, and transport mainly by looking at the levels of geographical and functional integration of global production networks in view of the high level of fragmentation observed within them. However, there are still many uncertainties and delays in distribution, which can only be compensated by a better organization of freight distribution systems supporting global production networks.     

Temporal Elements in the Spatial Extension of Production Networks

ABSTRACT The spatial extension of production networks presents a significant challenge to managers accustomed to reducing lead times by geographically contracting supply chains. This paper extends the theory on time in transportation by defining the elements of transport time, order time, timing, punctuality, and frequency and elaborating on their characteristics. Structured along these elements, it analyses the consequences of extending production networks from within a mature economic region, mainly the EU‐15, U.S., and Japan, first to adjacent and then to nearby and finally distant low‐cost regions. Distance obviously affects the transport quality in all time dimensions. Except for air parcel services that globally match what road transport offers within an economic region, the longer the distance, the lower the time‐related performance. Distant, low‐cost regions, meaning China and India, also imply a polarisation between air and sea transport at opposite ends of the time, cost, and capacity scales. This supply gap restricts the types of products traded. The conceptual framework is illustrated in the setting of a global vehicle manufacturer spatially extending its sourcing. It demands that sequenced sub‐assemblies and small, cheap, and generic components are delivered from the vicinity of each assembly plant. Batched components can be sourced from adjacent regions, but deliveries from longer distances imply storage at pick‐up points to fulfil their time requirements. Hence, the suppliers must offer the manufacturing firm deliveries as if they produce relatively close to the assembly plants.     

Freight Integration in Liner Shipping: A Strategy Serving Global Production Networks

ABSTRACT Container shipping lines are well aware of the growing importance of global production networks. While continuing to focus on improving the fundamentals, many shipping lines have developed a keen interest in other segments of the logistics and transportation market to offer integrated and worldwide services to global production networks. This paper aims to assess the overall level of freight integration in thirty‐four shipping lines, and provides an insight into the extent to which freight integration serves as a business model in liner shipping. The results point to a great variety and range of freight integration in the shipping business. Each carrier leverages its service portfolio to develop specific capabilities. There is clearly no single best strategy for the whole liner shipping industry to serve global production networks.     

The persistence of inter‐regional hierarchy in technology transfer networks: An analysis of Chinese patent licensing data

This paper asks whether the technological development of a nation reduces the inter‐regional hierarchy in knowledge flow. We examine two scenarios that are the alternative to each other. The first is what we call the globalization of regional innovation system/weakening of inter‐regional hierarchy scenario: As many regions develop their niches in the global economy, the national “anchor” region loses its relative importance as the importer and distributor of new knowledge, rendering the domestic inter‐regional hierarchy less significant as a result. The second scenario is the globalization of national innovation system/persistence of inter‐regional hierarchy. The nation’s traditional anchor region becomes even more active in importing technology and distributing it to other regions of the country. To test which scenario is closer to reality, we employ social network metrics to analyse inter‐regional technology diffusion networks using Chinese patent licensing data for the 1998–2013 period. Our findings support the second scenario, showing that the influence of the traditional anchor region persists in the hierarchical network structure as new cities enter the network. We found five anchor regions: the three usual suspects—Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen—plus two that were slightly less expected—Dongguan and Suzhou.     

基于GIS的世界木薯生产时空变化分析

为了全面分析世界木薯生产情况,为木薯生产提供参考信息,采用属性数据空间化的方法,将地理信息系统(GIS)引入世界木薯生产的时空变化分析,利用联合国粮食及农业组织(FAO)提供的木薯生产统计数据,分析了1969-2009年世界木薯生产的空间变化、时序变化及变化趋势。结果表明,世界木薯的收获面积、总产量和单位面积产量均具有明显的空间差异;在时序变化上,世界木薯生产整体上呈稳步增长的态势,木薯主要种植大洲及主产国的生产变化各具不同的特点;在空间变异趋势上,木薯单位面积产量的南北方向变化规律最为明显,赤道往北单位面积产量随纬度的增高而增加,赤道往南单位面积产量随纬度增高而下降。GIS是一种研究木薯生产时空变化的新手段,通过研究中的分析,世界木薯的发展应采取合作交流、互助支持的发展模式,融合利用全球的土地资源、气候资源和科技资源,根据全球范围内的木薯生产潜能合理开发世界木薯资源,走木薯产业的可持续发展道路。     

The structure and proximity mechanism of formal innovation networks: Evidence from Shanghai high‐tech ITISAs

The discussion on innovation networks of patents or papers has attracted many economic geographers; however, the Industrial Technology Innovation Strategy Alliance (ITISA) has been ignored, although it is also an important innovation form of firms, and the formation mechanism of alliance innovation networks is unclear. This study is based on the data of Shanghai high‐tech ITISAs between 2010 and 2015, and employs the methods of social networks and negative binomial regression to analyse the actor structure, spatial structure, and proximity mechanism of innovation networks of Shanghai high‐tech ITISAs. Results highlight the following: (a) Firms comprise the largest number of actors in alliance innovation networks, and universities, research institutions, and industry associations also play some roles. (b) The local and rooted characteristics of the innovation networks of ITISAs are obvious. The spatial distribution of innovation partners is mainly in Shanghai, and a few innovation actors are located in neighbouring cities, such as Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Ningbo in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration. (c) Proximity significantly promotes the formation of innovation networks in an ITISA and contributes to the improvement of innovation ability, and organizational proximity plays a greater role than geographical proximity or cognitive proximity.     

Mission possible? Chinese provincial congress deputies’ involvement in an environmental dispute in Guangdong

Abstract: Despite its rubber‐stamp image, the involvement of China’s unicameral legislature (People’s Congress, PC) in the country’s environmental governance has become more visible in recent years. Using an environmental dispute taking place in the county‐city of Sihui, Guangdong Province as a case study, this paper examines how the congress deputies at the provincial level were involved in the domestic environmental controversy, which comprised a landmark congressional inquiry into the provincial environmental authorities. Through dissecting the practice and behaviour of the Guangdong Provincial PC and its deputies in relation to the environmental dispute settlement, the paper recognises the inquiry as an achievement test, and unravels the political and institutional roots of China’s environmental governance from a congressional perspective.     

The geopolitical economy of Thailand's marine plastic pollution crisis

Currently approximately 9 million tons of plastic enter the world's oceans annually. This is a major transboundary problem on a global scale that threatens marine wildlife, coastal ecologies, human health and livelihoods. Our concern in this paper is with the environmental governance of marine plastic pollution that emanates from Thailand, the sixth biggest contributor globally. By zooming in on land‐based polluters in Thailand, we highlight both the systemic nature of the marine plastic problem and the relative impunity with which drivers of transboundary environmental harm function at all levels of governance. Drawing from 19 interviews conducted with actors from the public, private and non‐profit sectors, we examine three stages of the problem: production, consumption and waste management. We found that three major barriers prevent Thailand's government, private sector and citizens from engaging in the sort collective action needed to reduce marine plastic pollution. They are: (i) insufficient incentives to enact political change; (ii) scalar disconnects in waste management; and (iii) inadequate public and private sector ownership over plastic waste reduction. As the state alone cannot change corporate and consumer behaviour, we argue that multi‐stakeholder efforts across organisational scales of governance and administrative boundaries are needed to address the barriers.     

Regionalisation or Globalisation of Automotive Production Networks? Lessons from Import Patterns of Four European Countries

The automotive industry has long had a reputation for organising its production networks on a macro‐regional scale. However, over the 2000–2012 time span, extended vertical disintegration of both carmakers and mega‐suppliers, and the 2008–2009 trade collapse suggest that this geographical organisation pattern could have weakened, giving way to a genuine globalisation of auto‐parts trade. This paper first reviews arguments likely to explain why automotive production networks are multi‐scalar, ranging from local to global. Empirical analysis of international auto‐parts trade data from Germany, France, UK, and Spain suggests that there has been little progression in globalisation of production networks. General data features can be best explained as follows: 1) the auto‐parts import level of a given country is mainly driven by its automobile production level, and by the degree of presence of foreign headquartered carmakers; and 2) the breakdown of imports into procurement flows from near‐distant and far‐distant countries is mainly driven by the degree of presence of carmakers headquartered in far‐distant countries.     

The Salween River as a transboundary commons: Fragmented collective action,hybrid governance and power

Viewing the Salween River as a transboundary commons, this paper illustrates how diverse state and non‐state actors and institutions in hybrid and multi‐scaled networks have influenced water governance in general, and large dam decision‐making processes in particular. Putting power relations at the centre of this analysis and drawing on the conceptual lenses of hybrid governance and critical institutionalism, we show the complexity of the fragmented processes through which decisions have been arrived at, and their implications. In the context of highly asymmetrical power relations throughout the basin, and the absence of an intergovernmental agreement to date, we argue that hybrid networks of state and non‐state actors could be strategically engaged to connect parallel and fragmented decision‐making landscapes with a goal of inclusively institutionalising the transboundary commons and maintaining connected local commons throughout the basin, foregrounding a concern for ecological and social justice.     

Transnational Corporations,Global Production Networks,and Urban and Regional Development: A Geographer's Perspective on Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy

This paper offers an economic‐geographical interpretation of the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) in urban and regional development that is grounded in Dunning and Lundan's (2008 ) Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy. I argue that TNCs and their activity are indisputably one of the keys to understanding urban and regional development in today's globalizing world economy. To support this perspective, I will deploy the recently developed analytical framework of global production networks (GPNs) to unpack the complex and mutually dependent relationships between TNCs and urban and regional development. The paper first provides a critique of several recent influential theories of urban and regional growth and identifies the omitted components in such important actors as TNCs. It then offers an analysis of TNCs as key agents of urban and regional development on the basis of ideas on TNC strategies, networks, and regional institutions expressed in Multinational Enterprises. Finally, I draw upon a relational view of TNCs in GPNs to illustrate how urban and regional development is increasingly a “globalizing” phenomenon. Situated in recent work in economic geography, I elaborate on the concept of strategic coupling as an interfacing mechanism bringing together TNCs and development at the urban and regional scales.     

Electronics Assembly Subcontracting in Southern California: Production Processes,Employment, and Location

In this paper, I deal with three main facets of the electronics assembly subcontract industry in Southern California: (a) its technological and organizational structure, (b) its employment characteristics, and (c) its transactional-locational logic. I begin by describing production processes in the industry, and I suggest that the industry is marked by two distinctive kinds of flexible specialization. On the basis of a questionnaire survey, I show that the industry's labor force is composed for the most part of women and immigrants, and that there is a fairly distinctive gender and ethnic division of labor within individual establishments. I show too that the industry is typically arranged in an agglomerated locational pattern resulting from its transactions-intensive nature. I end the paper with a brief allusion to some possible restructuring trends that may affect the future functioning and locational structure of the industry.     

西南地区乡村衰落具体表现及诱发问题研究

为研究乡村衰落问题,以重庆3个村庄为研究对象,采用案例分析的方法对西南山区乡村衰落进行研究。调研发现,受地理地貌、生产条件、居住方式等条件制约,西南地区乡村衰落的现象与问题更加突出,表现出人口大量外流、耕地撂荒增加、农房闲置率提高、务农人员老龄化、农民务农意不高、农业经营收入占家庭收入比重下降、义务教育外移、村自治组织弱化等多重现象,并诱发了严重的乡村养老问题、农业产业发展问题、乡村治理问题和乡土文明断裂问题。研究提出,推进乡村振兴,应充分考虑地区差异,因地施策;应重视乡土文化和乡村养老问题;应激活农村资源,丰富农业形态,兴旺农村经济。     

From “obligated embeddedness” to “obligated Chineseness”? Bargaining processes and evolution of international automotive firms in China's New Energy Vehicle sector

Over the past decades, the automotive sector in China has been characterized by the obligation of foreign manufacturers to enter joint ventures, transfer technologies, and localize production. Still, the Chinese automotive industry has remained dependent on foreign brands, capital, and technology. The advent of markets and supply chains for electric vehicles, however, changes the framework conditions for established foreign automotive firms in terms of competitive landscape and access to core technology components. This is mainly the result of political initiatives: Established automotive manufacturers are exposed to direct and indirect restrictions that influence their production of electric vehicles, their choice of suppliers, and their potential market shares in the future. This paper outlines multilevel bargaining processes of Chinese and foreign actors as they aim to maximize value capture in a fundamentally transitioning automotive sector. In contrast to the lead firm-centric focus of recent global production networks (GPN)-discussions, this paper argues that the determinants of how production networks evolve is first and foremost a question of the institutional environment. Focusing on power balances between state and firm actors in multilevel bargaining processes offers a way of explaining GPN-evolution in institutional contexts in which power concentrates in executive bodies and decision-making processes are often informal.     

Theories of governance and Pacific microstates: The cautionary tale of Tuvalu

Abstract: This paper questions the popularity of governance frameworks in explaining development failures and proposing new models of development for Pacific states. Such popularity is attributed to how problems are selected and framed (the doomsday scenario of demographic and environmental collapse, weakening of the state, and an upsurge in corruption) but also, and most importantly, to the recent hegemony of neo‐liberal theory in political economy. Taking the MIRAB microstate of Tuvalu as a counterexample, each of those pillars of governance theory is seen to be lacking or to require a more nuanced form of understanding. A brief analysis of how the dominant Protestant church fits into traditional and modern systems of administration illustrates the complexity of local issues. The essay concludes with a discussion of how the neo‐liberal governance orthodoxy lacks the critical insight into power and agency afforded by Foucault's concept of governmentality.     

Technology Clusters versus Industry Clusters: Resources,Networks, and Regional Advantages

ABSTRACT The tendency of firms to cluster within a region has been observed for quite some time. However, it is only over the past two decades that business researchers have focused much attention on clusters, particularly in terms of their entrepreneurial and innovative characteristics and potential. At the same time, regional developers around the world have put much effort in promoting the formation of clusters. A gap in such efforts is an understanding of the differences among types of clusters. This article draws a distinction between two generic types of clusters: technology‐based and industry‐focused. Using the resource‐based view as the organizing framework, we argue that the two generic cluster types create very different regional resource profiles over time, accumulating resources in a different manner, cultivating different capabilities, and deriving different sources of regional advantage. As concluded in the study, these differences are likely to have implications for firms located in the regions as well as for economic developers and public policy officials charged with developing cluster strategies.     

A Creative Industry in Transition: The Rise of Digitally Driven Independent Music Production

This paper nuances our understanding of the ongoing transition within the North American music industry. It extends the existing analysis of the so‐called “MP3 Crisis” by exploring the ways in which digital technologies have challenged the entrenched power of the major record labels. In particular, new insights are offered based on interviews with music industry executives who have been active in shaping the industry's response to illegal file sharing. The paper also uses interview data from musicians to investigate the implications of restructuring at the macroscale on creative talent at the microscale. As such, it documents the structures and spatial dynamics of digitally driven independent music production in Canada for the first time.     

新疆棉花种植业地理集聚特征及影响因素研究

新疆是我国最大的产棉基地,研究新疆棉花种植业地理集聚特征对调整和优化农业结构布局、农民增收、促进棉花生产的可持续发展具有重要意义。本文基于1988—2016年的新疆棉花生产数据,使用区位商、区位基尼系数和空间自相关分析探究新疆棉花种植业发展的时空变化特征,并运用空间面板数据模型定性、定量地分析了各影响因素对新疆棉花种植业地理集聚的影响程度,揭示了新疆棉花种植业发展的主要驱动因素。结果表明,新疆棉花种植面积经历了持续增长(1988—1999年)、缓慢减少(2000—2004年)以及波动增长(2005—2016年) 3个阶段, 2016年已占全国种植面积的3/5,其专业化集聚水平自1992年起均高于全国其他地区,主导地位日益增强;新疆棉花种植业的区域特征明显,南疆棉区的变化主导新疆棉花种植业的变化;新疆棉花种植业的集聚水平自1988年起呈现出波动中下降后缓慢回升的趋势,其高值集聚区由喀什地区转移至阿克苏地区的库车县、新和县等地,高-低集聚、低-高集聚及低低集聚变化不大;推动新疆棉花种植业地理集聚发展的主要因素有生产性土地面积比重、棉花比较收益、机械化水平以及政策因素。     

Gateways or backdoors to development? Filtering mechanisms and territorial embeddedness in the Chilean copper GPN’s urban system

This paper analyses the role played by different urban nodes in the Chilean copper mining Global Production Network (GPN), and how filtering mechanisms act in favour of the capital city, limiting the territorial embeddedness of extractive industry in resource peripheries. In doing so, we make three contributions to the literature. First, in addition to observing gateway cities (those connecting the mining hinterlands to the global economy), we propose an intermediate category in urban hierarchies which we label the “backdoor city” (those that can perform one or more functions of a gateway city but lack chances for value capture and sustainable development outcomes). Second, we analyse the filtering mechanisms that work to the detriment of resources peripheries. Third, we analyse how these mechanisms reduce the territorial embeddedness of mining activity across the Chilean urban hierarchy. Our main results show that the capital city of Santiago stands out as the only gateway city in the country, and Antofagasta acts as a backdoor city for the Chilean resource peripheries where the extractive activity is weakly embedded, limiting their development opportunities.