Chapter 3

Tangled Webs: Unravelling Complexity in the Global Economy

Review• Concepts to Review

– Globalization– Hyper-globalizers, sceptics,

transformationalists

• Key Words– Global production networks, transnational

corporations, processes of globalization, connectivity, complexity, geographical clusters

Global Production Networks• Definition of GPNs

– GPNs are networks which are geographically extensive and functionally integrated across national boundaries rather than actually span the whole world

• Traits of GPNs– Turning inputs into outputs through production

circuits– Unevenness of power relations– Involved in both cooperation and competition at

the same time.– Integrate firms into structures which blur

traditional organizational boundaries

… GPNs (continued)

• Infrastructure of GPNs– Formation of GPNs– Deterritorialization of capital– Multiscalar regulatory systems and

their impact on GPNs– Relationship of state to GPNs

Actors within GPNs

• Transnational corporations• Labour• Consumers• Global civil society organizations

Geographical Clusters • The nature of geographical clusters

– Generalized versus specialized– Formation– Structure– Territorial embeddedness

• Networks– Geographical – Organizational