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Global Commodity Chains (global + commodity_chain)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

World City Networks and Global Commodity Chains: towards a world-systems' integration

GLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 1 2010
ED BROWN
Abstract There are two literatures that explicitly describe the spaces of flows that constitute contemporary globalization , World City Network analysis and Global Commodity Chain analysis. We explore the possibilities of their integration by returning to their common origins in world-systems analysis. Each model is described and critiqued and it is argued that each can be used to address some of the other's limitations. This is illustrated through world city process additions to understanding the coffee commodity chain and commodity chain additions to understanding Mexico City and Santiago's positioning in the World City Network. This complementarity is just a first step towards a more complete integration; the conclusion describes the next steps towards just such a research agenda. [source]

Commodity chains, foreign investment and labour issues in Eastern Europe

GLOBAL NETWORKS, Issue 2 2003
Laszlo Czaban
In terms of ownership and operations, many companies in Eastern Europe have now been integrated into the world economy. In this article, informed in part by a critical engagement with the Global Commodity Chains (GCC) perspective, we explore the nature and significance of international linkages among firms in Eastern Europe. In particular, we argue that it has been the legacies of the state socialist past embedded in the inherited macro- and microeconomic structures, on the one hand, and the strategies of multinational firms on the other, rather than the international linkages in any simple sense, that have been the main influencing factors. While we do not deny the existence of inter-firm relations similar to the ones described in the GCC literature, we point out that these relationships are much more complex than assumed in that approach and that this complexity is a product of the very different historical backgrounds and modes of incorporation into the world economy of the various Eastern European societies. Drawing on empirical evidence from Hungary and focusing specifically on employment and other labour issues, we argue that there are a variety of firm development paths in Eastern Europe and that these have differing implications for the integration of firms, regions and countries of Eastern Europe into the world economy. [source]

Global Commodity Chains and the Marxian Law of Value

ANTIPODE, Issue 2 2010
Guido Starosta
Abstract:, This paper develops a Marxian critique of the "global commodity chain" (GCC) paradigm. It is argued that this approach fails to provide an actual explanation of the phenomenon it sets about to investigate. Instead, it offers a typological description of the immediate manifestations of the determinations at stake. As a consequence, the GCC approach one-sidedly conceptualises the relations among individual capitals within a commodity chain as the simple result of relations of power (or co-operation), that is, of direct social relations. By contrast, this paper argues that the latter are concrete mediations of the inner laws regulating the indirect social relations among individual capitals: the process of global competition through which the formation of the general rate of profit asserts itself. On this basis, it develops an alternative account of the social determinations underlying the genesis, structure and evolving configuration of GCCs as an expression of the unfolding of the Marxian "law of value". [source]

Alliance-Driven Governance: Applying a Global Commodity Chains Approach to the U.K. Biotechnology Industry

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2008
Kean Birch
Abstract As the economy has globalized, it has also regionalized, which has led to the integration of different spaces across different scales. A number of theories contend that the endogenous assets of these locations provide them with the means to compete in this globalizing economy, especially in relation to knowledge-based sectors like biotechnology. Among these theories, the cluster concept stands out. However, there is little support for the arguments that local linkages are the central contributors to innovation. Extralocal linkages have also been highlighted, suggesting that other theories that account for these linkages may prove useful in the discussion of knowledge-based sectors, in general, and biotechnology, in particular. One such theory is the concept of global commodity chains, which explicitly concerns the interconnections within and across different geographic scales. As yet it has seldom been applied to the biotechnology industry. This article uses the approach to explore the U.K. biotechnology industry. [source]