Networks of value, commodities and regions: Reworking divisions of labour in macro-regional economies

By Adrian Smith, A. Rainnie, Mick Dunford, Jane Hardy, Ray Hudson, D. Sadler. 2002

316 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The aim of this paper is to explore a theoretical framework that can assist in under-standing the extent to which the increased integration of macro-regional economies (such as the European and North American) and the global economy is leading to divergence and/or convergence in the pattern of economic activity and the distribution of value-added and wealth. In particular, the paper focuses on the extent to which changing divisions of labour, the production, appropriation and allocation of value, and economic organization underpin these processes of convergence/divergence. We focus on developing an understanding of the changing divisions of labour across space in increasingly integrated macro-regional economies such as Europe and North America, and the (unequal) flows of value between places that underpin mosaics of territorial inequality. We argue that the production and flows of value associated with different forms of economic activities and commodity production and exchange in different localities provides a framework for understanding changing geographical divisions of labour. We also argue that a critical engagement with the range of work associated with analysing ‘commodity chains’ and ‘commodity networks’ provides a way into thinking about the (dis)organization of economic activity and value creation, appropriation and distribution. In particular, we argue that the focus on the commodity, while initially helpful, is misplaced because commodities embody and carry with them relations of value. Consequently, our attention should be focused on the organization of the production, appropriation and realization of value flows and the various forces that structure these processes, such as state governance, labour organization, corporate practices and so on, that are fundamental to understanding the (re)configuration of economic activity in macro-regional economies.

Subfields: Plant Science, Strategy and Management, Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/0212b1edfbb28bcba42658abffdeb2e86b6903f2

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Citations in the corpus

Towards a typology of repositioning strategies of GVC/GPN suppliers: the case of functional upgrading and downgrading (2016, unknown): “(Smith et al., 2002; Ponte and Gibbon, 2005; Ponte, 2014).”
Uneven geographical development and socio-spatial justice and solidarity: European regions after the 2009 financial crisis (2011, background): “At the same time, owing to geopolitical changes after 1989, new markets and new competitors in Eastern Europe, northern Africa, Turkey, India, Vietnam and, above all, China entered the scene for low- to medium-quality garments, textiles, ceramics, toys, footwear and furniture (Smith et al., 2002; Du”
Upgrading in the automotive industry: firm-level evidence from Central Europe (2011, background): “nature in different regional and local settings (Smith et al., 2002; Henderson et al., 2002; Smith, 2003; Coe et al., 2004; Yeung, 2005; Pickles et al., 2006).”
The state, institutional frameworks and the dynamics of capital in global production networks (2015, background): “…origins of global commodity chains research in world systems theorizations of global capitalism (Bair, 2009a; Leslie and Reimer, 1999; Selwyn, 2012; Smith et al., 2002; see also Gereffi et al., 1994), GCC research has shifted attention away from a first wave involving systemic analysis of uneven…”
Global Production Networks, Foreign Direct Investment, and Supplier Linkages in the Integrated Peripheries of the Automotive Industry (2018, background): “…integrated peripheries capture only a low share of the value created because of high shares of low-wage assembly jobs, low shares of nonproduction and strategic functions, and the repatriation of profits and low corporate taxes (Smith et al. 2002; Pavlínek 2016; Pavlínek and Ženka 2016).”
The New Economic Geography of Old Industrial Regions: Universities as Global — Local Pipelines (2007, background): “these so-called ‘global production networks’ (Yeung, 2000; Smith et al., 2002; Coe et”
‘Globalizing’ regional development: a global production networks perspective (2004, background): “Nevertheless, the GCC approach has received some criticism of its conceptual and explanatory shortcomings (for an overview, see Raikes et al., 2000; Dicken et al., 2001; Smith et al., 2002; Henderson et al., 2002).”
The Globalization of Organic Agro-Food Networks (2004, background): “For analysis of the similarities and differences between these schools of thought, see Friedland (2001), Raikes, Jensen, and Ponte (2000), and Smith et al. (2002).”
Global Capitalism and Commodity Chains: Looking Back, Going Forward (2005, background): “…at both national and local levels, and these relations impinge in important ways upon the variability of economic development outcomes across space’ (Smith et al. 2002).30 In a very different geographic and industry setting, Gellert’s analysis of Indonesia’s participation in the timber commodity…”
Evolution in Economic Geography: Institutions, Political Economy, and Adaptation (2009, background): “The treatment of labor in some EEG research mirrors the wider tendency in economic geography to view labor as a passive factor of production in an economic landscape that is structured by capital (Herod 1997; Smith et al. 2002).”
Regional Development Implications of Foreign Direct Investment in Central Europe (2004, background): “This type of transfer and outsourcing of parts of the production process by Western TNCs to relatively low-cost low-wage areas of CE has limited regional economic benefits in CE as it leads to very low levels of local value appropriation (Smith et al., 2002: 51–2).”
Mainstreaming Fair Trade Coffee: From Partnership to Traceability (2009, background): “…dominant corporations to shape agro-food networks through demand mechanisms, the complexity of commodity relations suggests the need for a more nuanced analysis of chain governance variations (Dolan & Humphrey, 2000; Gibbon, Bair, & Ponte, 2008; Raikes, Jensen, & Ponte, 2000; Smith et al., 2002).”