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Recent contributions to the global production networks (GPN) literature delve into public governance as mediation between global networks and regional assets. They deal with the state as a buyer, producer and regulator. Further developing this line of research, the present article goes beyond inter-scalar mediation, explaining how Chile's National Mining Company (ENAMI, by its Spanish acronym) directly ties domestic production to international markets. The authors argue that in such cases, global-to-local connections are beyond what the GPN literature explains through corporate strategies to reduce costs, become more flexible and increase the speed of operation. A corresponding adjustment of the GPN approach helps to better understand the impact of public governance. In light of severe financial constraints faced by ENAMI, the article also discusses two distinct visions for the organisation. This discussion has general implications regarding state interference with the economy and production networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese actors have emerged as major funders and developers of large-scale transnational infrastructure projects in Europe and beyond. Despite this profound shift, geographers have not yet arrived at a clear conceptualisation of such projects. We show how the literature is overly reliant on a functional view of the Chinese state, structural economic factors, single case studies, and bilateral relations, generating monocausal explanations of outcomes. We develop a new conceptual framework emphasising variegation driven by shifting assemblages of actors, dynamic strategic coupling, and multi-scalar processes of territorialisation. To operationalise our framework, we draw on process tracing and incorporated comparisons across cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A shifting paradigm in economic policy is re-asserting the centrality of the state for the transformative overhaul of global energy systems. Amid a burgeoning interest in state policy, however, contemporary scholarly discussions often lack a comprehensive examination of the state itself. We address this gap in economic geography and international political economy by investigating the nuanced role of the state in structuring global industries, with a focus on the emerging hydrogen economy in the European Union (EU). Further elaborating Horner's typology of state roles in global production networks (GPN) with Jessop's strategic-relational approach, this article replaces the states-markets dualism with concrete accounts of the co-constitutive relationships binding together the evolution of the "actually existing" State-GPN Nexus. Accordingly, we identify three underdeveloped analytical entry points, concerning (1) the conjoint interrogation of state roles, (2) finance, and (3) the historical regulatory form of the state. This conceptualization is then applied to three case studies on the developing hydrogen economy in Europe. Despite the prominent role of state capital, initiatives such as EU state aid schemes, the European Hydrogen Bank, and the spatialized industrial policy of Hydrogen Valleys reveal the prioritization of de-risking strategies through public-private partnerships more or less directly designed by democratically unaccountable industry groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Political corporate social responsibility (CSR) research focuses on how companies leverage their CSR efforts to improve public goods provision in countries where public governance is lacking. Previous studies, due to their limited analytical scope, have not thoroughly examined the dynamic nature of these governance gaps. Another missing puzzle is how certain actors in these countries, through their regular operations, independently facilitate political CSR opportunities – such as production network intervention (PNI) programmes. Positioning PNI programmes as brokers of political CSR, we investigate four such programmes in the Myanmar's garment industry during the early years of the country's reform. We conduct neo‐Gramscian analysis to examine how these programmes attempted to establish cultural and ideological leadership over CSR discourse and practice in the industry. We analyse the manufacturers’ responses to this contestation, which evolved with the introduction of a minimum wage, and discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the spirit of this exchange's call for more "methodological talk" in explanation, I suggest that polyphonic disunity that has prompted persistent calls in economic geography for some form of unificatory explanation may be pursued through opportunities in counterfactual and consilience explanations. These opportunities acknowledge a unificatory continuum that does not eschew explanatory autonomy while drawing multivoices and their methodologies into proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Production networks face several operational disruptions that are directly affecting performance. Hence, companies must not merely focus on their network's resilience by ensuring recovery from major shocks, but also address long-term robustness. For this purpose, they need a holistic, systematic disruption management. To improve the latitude for reaction to operational disruptions, we develop a new method that uses findings from operational control in tactical planning. Tactical planning and operational control are linked by proactive network adjustment strategies that enhance network robustness. To address dynamic developments, the network configuration needs to be continuously adjusted, resulting in an adaptive control loop between planning and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to scrutinize the determinants of manufacturing exports in several ASEAN countries, specifically: Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. It adopts a panel data regression using the random effects model to predict manufacturing export value using structural (economic complexity and human capital) and macroeconomic (real effective exchange rate, foreign direct investment, and inflation) variables. The research finds that foreign direct investment, human capital, real effective exchange rate, and inflation are positive and statistically significant predictors of manufacturing exports in these ASEAN countries. However, the positive correlation between the real effective exchange rate and manufacturing exports is against previous literature arguing that a currency’s depreciation drives export competitiveness. The findings suggest that currency appreciation can enhance a country’s export performance as exports’ input products are cheaper than before. Additionally, the positive influence of inflation on exports can be explained by the subsequent increase in consumption from foreign countries. Therefore, in addition to managing their exchange rates, countries must develop their human capital and attract more foreign investments to enhance their export performance.

The article provides insights into the drivers of spatial re-localisation within the production networks of the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry. In doing so, we combine the perspectives of Global Value Chain (GVC), Global Production Network (GPN) and institutional path creation perspective to analyse the relocation and upgrading of multinational corporations (MNCs) in Malaysia using interviews and trade data. Our findings show that institutional path creation has helped to promote the completeness of the entire solar PV value chain in Malaysia, with the state actively intervening and creating new pathways by learning from the experience of the electronics industry, especially in the pre-foundation phase. Nevertheless, the path creation is also limited in that they have only been able to open windows of investment and trade opportunities within the different segments of the GVC without doing much to promote technological learning and spillover effects as the governance structure of the value chain is integrated. We find that other factors are less helpful in promoting local spillovers -- export-oriented policies, energy policies and domestic industry dynamics due to lack of policy coordination. The results draw attention to some important issues that deserve closer consideration and contribute to the theoretical discussion within the GVC and GPN literature. First, path creation occurs at both levels - at the level of institutions and at the level of firms' strategic decisions. Second, institutional path creation acts as exogenous shocks to firm path creation leading to different strategic choices, and the two reinforce each other. In other words, we have shown the complexity of path creation in the context of GVC and GPN. Third, institutional path creation is subject to dynamic coordination among agencies, without which path formation is constrained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low productivity and quality of employment have always been a big problem in Indonesia, caused by the lack and mismatch of skills in the workforce. Labor productivity (LP) describes the company's ability to produce something. This can be determined by added value or output. Several factors influence LP, such as education, age, and training. The concept of global value chains (GVCs) has become an integral part of economic activity, and trade within global production networks has grown more rapidly than conventional trade in final goods. GVCs have both positive and negative impacts on employment opportunities. The automotive industry is categorised as one of the ten primary priority industries in the Indonesian manufacturing sector. This research analyses the impact of LP on GVC integration in the Indonesian automotive industry. The data used in this research comes from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) from 1995 to 2014. The variables used include the number of workers, added value, real wages, and GVC, which were calculated by the author using the Inter-Country Input–Output (ICIO) approach. Using ICIO analysis, the following matrix should be constructed to determine involvement in GVCs. This research shows that LP in the Indonesian automotive industry has a positive trend, and the GVC position in the Indonesian automotive industry has a positive trend line. The domestic value chain increased from 4% to 33%. This improves the ability to produce higher value-added and intermediate export goods. LP increases the domestic value chain in the Indonesian automotive industry, leading to global value chain integration. Thus, LP goes hand in hand with integrating GVCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southern African ecosystems are threatened by biodiversity loss, but it remains highly controversial whether nature conservation can be successfully achieved by commodifying ecosystems through tourism or by withdrawing habitats from their integration into globalized production. This article contributes to the debate by applying the global production network (GPN) approach to analyze institutional dynamics and actors involved in the commodification of nature. While highlighting historical drivers of GPN articulation, we advance the GPN framework by integrating a practice-based perspective on value making. Based on archival research, qualitative interviews and quantitative data, this contribution examines the historical and current commodification of wildlife in the Zambezi region in northeastern Namibia. Under the umbrella of the community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) policy, the postapartheid government allows the regulated harvesting of individual animals for hunting tourism. This policy mobilizes wildlife as an endogenous natural asset that is embedded in the region. As a consequence, local institutions emerge that enable strategic coupling processes with the global hunting industry to initiate development trajectories in the remote region. The historical perspective, however, reveals that former elites are able to take advantage of these newly emerging opportunities and maintain a powerful position in the GPN until today. The analysis shows three mechanisms that drive the valuation of nature: local institution building, quota making, and revenue sharing. We conclude that the valuation of nature is a way of mobilizing regional assets through strategic coupling and gains realized from this commodification are used to build local institutions that ensure ongoing valuation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the observation that value chain research has informed much of agricultural development interventions in recent decades, this paper identifies five key challenges to current agricultural development policies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): access to finance, infrastructure, land tenure, local linkages and knowledge transfer. Based on this review, it is argued that recent theoretical advances in the global production network (GPN) approach can help to achieve a more holistic view of agricultural development policies than the more linear value chain research. In particular, three key concepts from the GPN approach are highlighted: mobilisation of regional assets, strategic coupling and territorial embeddedness. These key concepts are used to propose a framework called 'insight-out strategic coupling for smallholder integration', which builds on the concept of strategic coupling in GPN research and applies it as a development tool to agricultural production. Using an in-depth case study approach, the usefulness of this framework is tested by examining the experience of Malawi Mangoes, a company established to promote smallholder exports. Malawi Mangoes was initially funded by private equity, but despite a number of challenges along the way, was soon able to attract development funding and integrate smallholders from surrounding villages throughout-grower schemes. Analysis of the case shows both the usefulness of the framework and the lost potential in implementing agricultural development policy. The authors conclude that the framework is useful for linking current debates on agricultural development interventions, but that the findings of critical GPN research need to be taken into account when developing agricultural development interventions in order to respect the 'do no harm' principle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For countries that have only aggregate ('competitive type') input–output (IO) tables, value added in exports is commonly estimated using the 'proportionality assumption' to separate imported-inputs from domestically procured inputs. We test the validity of this assumption using non-competitive type IO tables, which contain separately compiled domestic- and imported-input matrices, for Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Australia. The results show that the proportionality assumption leads to an overestimation of domestic value-added in exports, and that the magnitude of the bias becomes amplified when the export composition of a country shifts from primary products to manufactured goods through integration into global production networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple influencing factors like changes in market demand or legal factors as well as risks, uncertainties, and dynamics have to be considered when deciding about the design and management of global production networks. To deal with the multitude of different influencing factors and possibilities of adaptations in global production networks, digital twins offer the possibility to support decisions and combine different application models. For the benefit across multiple decision support systems, the digital twins need to be standardized on the one hand, but also extendable on the other. The digital twins themselves are based on a defined concept and a clear modeling logic. With the help of the asset administration shell, data models for the description of global production networks, as well as for the influencing factors and their scenarios, are developed which enable the exchange of data via standardized interfaces. Using standardized interfaces, decision support systems in global production networks can make queries to the models via a service and receive the required information, like different demand scenarios, back. The decision support systems can then map a wide variety of these scenarios for the future. Based on this, the scenarios can be evaluated by target values and, if they are not met, an adjustment option can be sought. The foresight of all these scenarios can then help to find the most robust and resilient decision alternative. The findings and thus the optimal response to each contingency scenario can be fed back into the data model of the global production network and made available for other decision support systems. This paper proposes a theoretical framework, a possible implementation using asset administration shells, and the interaction of the different modules using an exemplary decision support system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasingly uncertain, customer-centric, and dynamic environment nowadays challenges manufacturing companies on a global scale. To handle this challenge, enterprises are distributing their production in global production networks. To deal with the growing demand for individualization, companies need to diversify their product portfolio. This leads to a growing number of production ramp-ups. Large companies are used to production ramp-ups on a global scale and have developed established tools and methods to optimize ramp-ups. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), however lack a consistent and efficient methodology to deal with global production ramp-ups. For this reason, this article presents a practice-oriented methodology for efficiently managing the production ramp-up at different production sites. The methodology consists of three elementary phases: the analysis of the target system and relevant influencing factors, the planning of different phases in the production ramp-up, and the integration of a disruption management model to robustly control ongoing production ramp-ups. For testing its practical suitability, the procedure is exemplarily applied to the production ramp-up of a device for engine management in the automotive supplier market at different sites worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low productivity and quality of employment have always been a big problem in Indonesia, caused by the lack and mismatch of skills in the workforce. Labor productivity (LP) describes the company’s ability to produce something. This can be determined by added value or output. Several factors influence LP, such as education, age, and training. The concept of global value chains (GVCs) has become an integral part of economic activity, and trade within global production networks has grown more rapidly than conventional trade in final goods. GVCs have both positive and negative impacts on employment opportunities. The automotive industry is categorised as one of the ten primary priority industries in the Indonesian manufacturing sector. This research analyses the impact of LP on GVC integration in the Indonesian automotive industry. The data used in this research comes from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) from 1995 to 2014. The variables used include the number of workers, added value, real wages, and GVC, which were calculated by the author using the Inter-Country Input–Output (ICIO) approach. Using ICIO analysis, the following matrix should be constructed to determine involvement in GVCs. This research shows that LP in the Indonesian automotive industry has a positive trend, and the GVC position in the Indonesian automotive industry has a positive trend line. The domestic value chain increased from 4% to 33%. This improves the ability to produce higher value-added and intermediate export goods. LP increases the domestic value chain in the Indonesian automotive industry, leading to global value chain integration. Thus, LP goes hand in hand with integrating GVCs.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the competitive source of Chinese firms in an industrial sector of complex product systems. It helps to reveal the organizational innovation developed by Chinese firms in coping with international competition and technological challenges. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses a qualitative method of research. The evidences are mainly collected through interviews, field observation and document analysis. Findings: A pattern of engineer-centered organization is the source of competitiveness of Nanrui (NR) Electric (NREC) in this study. The firm equips its front project teams, and now its overseas branches with developmental human resources and authorizes them the power of decision-making to leverage R&D projects. It is an emerging challenge to the traditional multi-national companies (MNC) pattern, and enables the Chinese firms to build their capabilities on context-based knowledge. Research limitations/implications: As a single-case study paper, there are limitations about the external validity of its argument. Through the in-depth discussion of the NREC case, this paper aims to generate some clues for future study in the relevant academic community, which can be a useful step to formal theorizing and modeling. That is why the authors develop the paper on a single case. As future directions of research, comparative studies covering more cases not only within the power system control and protection industry but also among different complex technology products industrial sectors are really needed. Practical implications: For innovative firms from developing countries like China, they need to develop institutional arrangements to incentivize engineers in the frontline, which may help them to build competence upon successful interaction with customers. During the era of globalization, such a pattern may generate special competitiveness over giant multi-nationals or global production networks (GPNs). Originality/value: The research provides an instructive case on the Chinese rise in industrial sectors of complex product systems. Its findings can not only provide enlightenment for industrial catch-up in developing countries through organizational innovation but also help to initiate a reconsideration of the traditional theorizing of MNC and GPN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we unravel the production network of a large acoustic wall in a newly built theatre in Rotterdam. This project can be seen as a deviant case in the sense that it goes against the grain of the often observed long-term trend of erosion of the role of architects. This erosion signifies not just a loss for this specific group of professionals, but – given the omnipresence of the built environment in everyday life – also entails risks for society at large. We depart from the Global Network Approach, which can be considered as a heuristic tool to analyse complex production networks, spread out over several interdependent actors and locations. By focusing on the production process, we open up the black box of design in a creative industry based on in-depth interviews with the key players of the production network of the wall. We argue that the prominent role of the architectural practice involved is based on (1) their 'digital workflow' strategy; and (2) the specific network structure and relations which allowed them to be important in both design and realisation of the wall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the current situation and challenges of reshoring in the Japanese manufacturing industry, focusing on the semiconductor industry, which once dominated the world. After a recent document analysis and qualitative interviews with firms' representatives and policymakers, it is apparent that the globalised semiconductor industry is unlikely to reshore to Japan even amid supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. A review of Japan's semiconductor-related industries, such as semiconductor manufacturing materials, validated that they are embedded in Asian production networks and need to be optimised within a regionalised production system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although evolutionary economic geography (EEG) and global production network (GPN) and global value chain (GVC) research into regional industrial restructuring and development have developed in parallel and with little mutual engagement, they provide important complementary insights. This article concentrates on what the EEG approach can learn from the GVC/GPN approach by focusing on extra-regional linkages, institutional contexts and firm heterogeneity. Analysing the role of these factors not only overcomes some weaknesses of the EEG approach but also plays an especially important role in understanding regional industrial dynamics in developing and emerging economies and in the conduct of policy-relevant research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the World Bank, integration into the global economy is the path towards development. Its experts argue that the Global South will benefit from easing barriers to investment and trade, thus facilitating interaction between transnational corporations and local enterprises. Yet, there is growing scepticism regarding the prospects to develop in global networks. This article delves into their dark side. Following critical scholarship, the author suggests that integration into global networks is a process that creates winners and losers. It leads to uneven development. To analyse concrete mechanisms that underlie the process of failed development, he drafts a heuristic on exclusion, downgrading, and non-participation from/in global networks. This approach is tested against the backdrop of the hydrocarbon sector in Bolivia and Ghana. In Bolivia, indigenous suppliers suffer from downgrading, exclusion, and non-participation because of a recent shift to a turn-key model and sector-specific entry barriers. Ghana is marked by non-participation of local firms, mostly due to endogenous problems: corruption and institutional deficiencies, little industrialization, a high interest rate, and rent-seeking. These findings confirm that caution with regard to the possibilities to develop in global networks is justified, but they also indicate that not every development problem results from global network participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws upon the experience of mainly women workers in the Bangladeshi apparel industry to explore whether deregulated bodies are the fundamental condition of work in the global production network (GPN). We organised the study during the first waves of Covid-19. To conceptualise how 'deregulated bodies' have been structured into the industry as the exchange condition of work, we draw on the work of transnational feminist and Marxist scholars. The study provides insights about how a gendered GPN emerged under the neoliberal development regime; the pattern of work and work conditions are innately linked to volatile market conditions. By documenting workers' lived experiences, the paper enhances our empirical understanding of how workers depend upon work, and how a form of expendable but regulated life linked with work has been embedded in GPN. Our findings reveal that unlike those of other human beings, workers' bodies do not need to be regulated by norms that enable protection from Covid-19. As for the workers, work implies earning for living and survival, so 'live or be left to die' becomes the fundamental employment condition, and the possibility of their death an overlooked consideration. This reality has not changed or been challenged, despite the existence of compliance regimes. We further argue that as scholars, we bear a responsibility to consider how we engage in research on the implications of such organisation practices in a global environment, when all of us are experiencing the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Labour rights violations and poor working conditions are rife in global production networks (GPNs). Until now research on labour governance in GPNs has been dominated by private measures. We ignite discussions on the role of the state in governing labour conditions in GPNs by focusing on a less well‐known public governance instrument – socially responsible public procurement (SRPP). SRPP is the inclusion of social criteria on working conditions in public procurement contracts. Revised European Union (EU) directives on public procurement widened the space to exercise SRPP including for outsourced and offshored production. Understanding how states can exercise SRPP as a labour governance instrument requires a conceptualization of state powers. We present a conceptualization of the hybrid regulator‐buyer state and show that an effective SRPP approach requires both strong regulator powers, differentiated as legislative, institutional, judicial and discursive, and buyer power which depend on purchasing volumes and supplier and market characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigate how innovative environments as a local strategic policy with particular features of the new entrepreneurial developmental state associated to what we call a Schumpeterian-style of policy can transform regions of middle-income countries, like Brazil. In particular, we sought to answer the following research question: how the São José dos Campos Science and Technology Park (STP-SJC) has been used as a tool to promote regional development? To answer it, having a logical model of this policy in perspective, we focus on this environment’s main objectives and empirically we performed a case study applying process tracing methodology.

Research on the strategic coupling between regions and global lead firms has largely assumed that the regional assets for coupling are ready made and are largely unchanging throughout the coupling process. This article takes this assumption as its critical point of departure and presents a new framework that considers how regional assets are actively (re)configured across multiple scales in ways that could redefine the prevailing mode of strategic coupling. The empirical basis of this framework is derived from a long-term case study on the formation and evolution of Sino-German production networks in environmental goods and services (EGS) in Jieyang, a relatively peripheral city in Guangdong province in China. The analysis draws from thirty-three interviews and seven focus group discussions, conducted between 2014 and 2020, with nonstate and state actors in Jieyang. Findings highlight how Zhongde, a coalition of Jieyang-based firms, transcended the limitations of structural coupling, which exemplifies uneven power relations between regions and lead firms, and attained more balanced coupling relations with German-led EGS global production networks (GPNs) through realigning interests with those of national-level institutions. Responding positively to the structural constraints and opportunities within a Chinese state structure based on experimental governance, Zhongde connected German EGS lead firms to the highly profitable but protected EGS market in China. This ability to jump between scales underscores the cross-scalar and dynamic aspects of strategic coupling: Zhongde was able to meet German-led EGS GPNs' demand for market access and enhanced localization economies through reconfiguring regional assets. Abstracting from these findings, the article enhances the explanation of the evolution of strategic coupling by conceptualizing its intrinsic dynamism and incorporating state structural effects. Finally, it presents two directions for further research on GPN reconfigurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a new method to analyse the impact of exogenous shock and its transmission mechanism within the global production network, based on scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic. We decompose domestic and international technology spillovers and introduce them into an economic growth model to investigate the elasticities of factor inputs and knowledge spillovers through industrial linkages, and eventually estimate a model with spatial specifications. The results from the scenario simulations suggest that the global total output is projected to fall by 3.60% and 8.41% under the V-shaped and L-shaped recovery scenarios, respectively, and that the propagation through input-output linkages is an important channel that causes global economic fluctuations. Economies at the hub of the production network, that is, the United States, China, and Germany, are the most seriously affected. Structural decomposition analysis results indicate that the shortage of intermediate inputs supply is the main driver of output decline, followed by the blockage of technology diffusion, and lastly, the reduction of labour supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This editorial proposes three fundamental issues in the international economic field evoked by the US-China trade war. The first is the intensifying conflict between protectionism measures and the coherence with relevant global trade rules. The second is decoupling between the US and China and subsequent evolution in the global production network. The third is the digression in the trade flow between the US and China and the resulting change in innovative capabilities and manufacturing competitiveness among major industrial countries. This editorial also offers the long-term perspective of the current global trade war and how the world encounters repercussion of openness and protectionism as well as times of prosperity and uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The trend of globalization has led to a structural change in the sales and procurement markets of manufacturing companies in recent decades. In order not to be left behind by this change, companies have internationalized their production structures. Global production networks with diverse supply and service interdependencies are the result. However, the management of global production networks is highly complex. Key performance indicator (KPI) networks already exist at the corporate level and site level to support the management of complex systems. However, such KPI networks are not yet available to support the management of entire production networks. In this article, a KPI network for global production networks is presented, which links the key figures of the site level and the corporate level. By integrating both levels into a comprehensive KPI network, cause and effect relationship between the production-related KPIs and the strategic KPIs of a corporate strategy become transparent. To this end, this KPI network is integrated into a Performance Measurement and Management (PMM) methodology. This methodology consists of three phases: performance planning, performance improvement, and performance review. For testing the practical suitability, the PMM methodology is applied to the production network of an automotive supplier using a simulation model to estimate the effects of proposed improvement actions of the methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Bank, World Trade Organization and others promote integration into global markets as a certain path towards economic development. Some researchers share this optimism, arguing that development is the record of how one thing leads to another, once peripheral locations have plugged into global networks. Comparing resource peripheries in South America, Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa with regard to the upstream oil and gas sector, we call for a more nuanced assessment. Against the backdrop of 38 narrative, open-ended interviews, we show that there is spatial polarization between 'gateways' and peripheral sites in Southeast Asia. Argentinean and Ghanaian case studies reveal that local firms usually provide generic services, with little prospects of venturing into higher value-adding activities. We conclude that at least the oil and gas sector is not suitable for fulfilling very optimistic expectations on development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the way firms reconfigure their supply base and reshape their production network to capture value from Free Trade Zone incentives to capture value from incentives. Six production networks located in Manaus, Brazil are analyzed using the Global Production Network framework and factors related to plant type and supplier relationships. A multiple case study was conducted. Data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews administered in loco, and the selected the firms were leaders in three different industries: transportation, mechanical assembly and chemicals. The results indicate that, if effectively applied, incentives can impact production network configuration from an embeddedness perspective, causing a firm to change its strategic role. Based on the analysis, we propose five propositions that challenge the relationships among autonomy, value creation, plant types and levels of embeddedness. The propositions are particularly useful for suppliers and distributors, as well as public agencies, including infrastructure providers and policymakers.

The branding process of a creative industry cluster is not solely embedded in a local spatial association between place and creative products; increasingly, trans‐local branding is being developed at different regional marketplaces through state participation in building trans‐local networks. However, the role of state strategy in the trans‐local branding of a creative industry cluster remains relatively unexplored. When globalisation presents the uneven geographic differentiation of creative production and consumption in an interconnected world, how does the state strategically facilitate the trans‐local branding of a creative industry cluster to articulate a trans‐local network? This paper aims to explore this issue through a case study of the product design industry in Taipei. Based on 65 semi‐structured interviews with product design companies and government officers, this paper argues that the trans‐local branding of a product design industry cluster creates a firm‐event nexus as the spatial outcome; this outcome is underpinned by three state‐led strategic practices: strategic anchoring, coupling, and curating. The role of state strategy is presented as brand curation, in which the state no longer operates as an economic regulator but as a brand curator. This implies that geo‐political and geo‐economic calculations are also revealed in state strategy‐making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to present the concept of global production networks (GPNs) through the prism of the audiovisual industry (focus - film industry). The theory of global production networks is relatively new and is associated mainly with classical industries such as automotive, textile industry and others. Its application to the field of cultural industries goes beyond the economic dimensions and emphasizes the cultural and socio-political aspects of global markets. Global production networks are the framework in which the main trends in the audiovisual industry over the last decade will be interpreted, as well as the main stages and market players in the film industry.

This paper examines regional distribution of indigenous lead firms in global production networks (GPNs). The paper triangulates unique evidence at the firm-level from a large innovation survey, extensive field interviews and detailed case studies in Czechia. The results indicate that lead firms are not predominantly urban species, as often assumed in the literature, but tend to be located to a surprisingly high extent in rural areas. Nevertheless, rural lead firms differ significantly from the urban ones in many respects. Urban regions turn out to be a seedbed for young, ambitious, close to the market and networked lead firms in new industries, which conforms to typical urbanization economics in action, whereas rural regions tend to harbor mature, established and relatively self-reliant lead firms with strong technical know-how in traditional industries, which build on location-specific resources and traditions. The results call for a more nuanced view on the coupling between GPNs and location advantages and more granular take on the regional dimension of innovation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The periphery of the world economy is integrated into global production networks (GPNs) by 'gateways'. These are intermediary places from where transnational corporations organise their business activities in close cooperation with corporate service providers. Gateways may also serve as logistics nodes as well as sites of industrial processing and knowledge generation. While some claim that gateways are engines of growth, others argue that they prosper at the expense of peripheral places. The article applies these thoughts to Mauritius, oil and gas GPNs, and the gateway's impact upon sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis indicates that Mauritius holds a certain potential for logistics and corporate control. The island serves as a hub of service provision already today. Only its status as a tax haven has a negative effect on resource peripheries. Against the backdrop of these findings, the authors discuss whether gateways should be seen as drivers or obstacles of peripheral development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to wildlife conservation, Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programmes aim to foster regional development. To achieve this, communal areas couple to tourism Global Production Networks (GPN). In this paper, we conceptualise Namibian communal Conservancies as Social-Ecological Systems (SES) and combine the SES and GPN approaches to benefit from the SESF's explanatory power for ecological and social relationships at a local level as well as from the GPN grasp of global linkages. We analyse the impact of trophy hunting on three communal conservancies in Namibia: King Nehale, Nyae Nyae, and Ehi-Rovipuka. Although wildlife numbers in these conservancies have increased, positive economic impacts are often insufficient, unevenly distributed across regions, and parts of the population are excluded. At the same time, findings indicate that in some areas, where revenues are larger and population is smaller, benefits from hunting can be significant and can contribute to SES sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, the changing nature of global production and distribution processes has raised a number of critical questions regarding work and employment relations. Presenting a qualitative case study of the football industry in Pakistan as an example of the general mechanism of the social relations of re/production in a global system of industrial organization, this research highlights how and under what conditions informal workers are embedded in extended global production networks. By drawing on the integrated conceptual framework of the global production network (GPN) and labour process theory (LPT), this research sheds light on the working conditions and living realities of informal workers. A potential contribution of this paper is to extend the horizon of production network theory by analysing the work and employment conditions of informal workers, which are absent in existing discussions of these conceptual frameworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many of which operate as suppliers in global production networks (GPN), often times lack behind large enterprises in terms of Industry 4.0 implementation. For this reason, scientific contributions recommend SMEs to approach Industry 4.0 through pilot projects in which individual Industry 4.0 use cases are developed and implemented. Hence, to allow for a targeted development and implementation of Industry 4.0 use cases for SMEs in GPN, this paper proposes a five-step process model that seeks to make use of Industry 4.0 potentials in terms of increased product qualities and logistics performances within such networks. In contrast to existing process models, this paper follows a holistic approach that initially focuses on the identification of potential problems that impede increased product qualities and logistics performances. Building upon these problems, potential Industry 4.0 solutions are derived and transferred into use cases using a structured idea generation and selection process. After the successful implementation of the use case, the procedure is completed by the conversion of the use case into a showcase that might serve as a lighthouse project illustrating the potentials of Industry 4.0 for other production network partners. For testing its practicability, the procedure is exemplarily applied to the GPN of an automotive supplier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on labour governance actors in global production networks (GPNs) has been limited to civil society organisations, firms and governments. Understanding the influence of actors in GPNs has been dealt with singular and overt modes of relational power. This paper contributes to both debates by examining an intermediary actor—the social auditing organisation Verité—and its exercise of multiple modes of overt and covert powers to illustrate the complex terrain of change in GPNs. Verité, whose exposure of forced labour in Malaysian electronics subsequently changed labour governance practices in the electronics industry, mobilised power resources of credible information to exercise powers of expert authority and acts of dissimulation across various networked relationships in the GPN. This paper puts forth a multi-power framework of analysis to understand the micro-politics of GPNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims at interpreting the territorialization of the Niobium Global Extractive Network in Goiás state, Brazil. The methodology is based on secondary data and qualitative and quantitative information. The first part of the article describes the niobium extraction in Brazil, characterizing the metal's properties, its main applications in different economic sectors, location of the significant reserves, and operating mines. It also highlights the leading extractive corporations, their market strategies, and the evolution of iron-niobium production, market, and prices. In the second part, the text describes the participation of niobium mining corporations in the integration of Goiás state in the global extractive network. The final section summarizes the main results and underlines possible contributions for future critical research on the Brazilian mining model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

World cites are critical nodes in global production networks (GPNs). Being 'gateways', they serve as hubs for transport and logistics, industrial processing, corporate control and service provision as well as knowledge transmission. In this article, the concept of gateway cities is applied to Buenos Aires and the oil and gas sector. The author explains processes of concentration and dispersal, showing that Buenos Aires concentrates corporate control, whereas the other gateway elements can also be found at peripheral locations. The competition of gateway cities and places subordinate to them relates to debates about downsides of integration into the global economy that may result from a gateway's 'agglomeration shadow'. From a conceptual perspective, the article brings the GPN approach and the world city literature together so as to better understand the territoriality of GPNs and draw attention to city-to-hinterland relations. Being an open heuristic, the concept allows for incorporating experiences from the Global South and overcoming the bias of the world city literature towards advanced producer services and corporate control. Against the backdrop of the findings on Buenos Aires, the author suggests to better recognize a city's attractiveness as a place to live and work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though labour has been an important research topic in the field of economic geography for many years, up to now little has been known about transnational labour migration of highly skilled employees in global production networks. This article examines the role and the impact of highly skilled (re-)migrants of Turkish origin who studied and/or worked in Germany for several years in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) offshoring. To do so we analyse the empirical case of a German automotive company that operates as a lead firm within a global automotive production network. The company has insourced enterprise resource planning (ERP) software services from their suppliers in Germany and offshored those to a captive offshore service centre in Istanbul (Turkey). Based on our empirical material, we found that highly skilled (re-)migrants of Turkish origin are used as boundary spanners to efficiently and effectively manage the knowledge transfers from the onshore organizations to the service centre in Istanbul. Thereby, highly skilled (re-)migrants of Turkish origin help to mitigate resistance and facilitate the dis- and re-embedding of knowledge within the offshoring process. The exploration of highly skilled labour migration from a transnational perspective contributes to the discussion about the role of labour in global production networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]