Divergent growth trajectories in China’s chemical industry: the case of the newly developed industrial parks in Shanghai,Nanjing and Ningbo

In the late 1990’s, the “new-economy” industries in China proved to be relatively vulnerable and were strongly hit by the financial crisis in Asia. As a result, a new economic support policy was introduced in China’s Yangtze Delta region, which put greater emphasis on the support of traditional industrial sectors, including the chemical industry. This paper investigates the effects of the growth of this industry, as well as the potential and current problems emerging from new growth paths. It compares the growth of three newly developed chemical industry parks in Shanghai, Nanjing and Ningbo. The paper is based on an institutional perspective of clustering processes arguing that regional industrialization is subject to formal and informal institutions which shape the growth paths and contribute to divergent regional trajectories. Although these industrial parks all benefit from the general economic upswing in China, their development is influenced by different business models, economic contexts, goals and strategies, leaving room for divergence and specialization. Due to the existing structure of operations, these parks have a great deal of potential but also face substantial challenges, such as the establishment of internal networks and close customer linkages. It is argued that this might limit their innovative capability in the future. Furthermore, their growth prospects differ depending on future government policies.     

Downtown office location dynamics and transformation of central Seoul, Korea

In recent years, central Seoul has been experiencing a dynamic transformation. In the process of reorganization of the urban industrial structure including tertiarization and quaternarization of the economic base of Seoul, business services are growing very rapidly and large scale urban renewal projects are quickly implemented. Downtown office activities become a nucleus for economic performance of Seoul and high-rise office buildings steer the landscape transformation of central Seoul. Even though there appears to exist some evidence that office districts have dispersed to several subcenters, major office activities are still concentrated in central Seoul. This paper redefines office industry in a narrow sense comprising only relevant economic sectors and office buildings as office activity-functioning units. It then explores the industrial networking and territorial specialization of office activities focusing on the dual process of concentration and dispersion in Seoul. The changing characteristics of the downtown linkages of office activities in this post-industrial era transforms the spatial economy of central Seoul into a more flexible and volatile system, while territorial concentration of power and control functions are fortified at the same time. Finally, the paper addresses the development of manufacturing- tertiary-quaternary industrial complexes, which can be regarded as emerging industrial clusters, producing the cultural economy of urban space and images for clients and customers, in relation to urban competitiveness and territorial specialization of large metropolitan areas. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Regional innovation strategies in the knowledge-based economy

This paper aims to examine major regional innovation strategies for regional development in the knowledge-based economy in Korea. Innovation policy and Regional Innovation Systems (RIS) are becoming important issues in Korea in both national and regional perspectives. These issues have been evolving since the mid 1990s, especially since the financial crisis of 1997 in Korea. Five major policy issues for promoting innovation and regional competitiveness are examined in this paper. The major policy issues are: promoting region-specific clustering; building habitats for innovation and entrepreneurship; collective learning processes and innovation networks; building a stock of social capital; and promoting local and global networks. Several strategies are suggested for each of these policy issues. These major policy issues and related strategies for regional innovation and competitiveness can be regarded as common issues required for the successful development of RIS. Taking these basic policy issues into account, each region can develop their own region-specific RIS, with appropriate consideration of distinctive regional characteristics such as the level of development, industrial specialization, local labor market, local business climate, local financial system, etc.     

Relational networks of knowledge production in transnational law firms

For geographers, debates surrounding the knowledge economy have reinvigorated interest in the geographies of learning and knowledge production. Particularly topical are discussions of the possibility of spatially stretched (global) learning, something especially relevant to professional service firms where the production and management of knowledge across transnational organizational networks is essential. Taking this as its starting point, the paper explores the way knowledge is produced and circulated in transnational legal professional service firms. Drawing on the ideas of relational economic geography to analyse original empirical material, it highlights the way relational networks are socially constructed to allow learning to be stretched across space. The paper then goes on to identify the ‘politics’ of inclusion in these networks and the exclusivity of membership. It also highlights the geographies of power that influence the nature and effect of the knowledge produced and circulated. It does this by examining the role of relational knowledge networks in the ‘Americanization’ of legal practice in Europe and the impacts of such changes on national institutional and regulatory contexts. It is, therefore, argued that transnational corporate networks need to be viewed as heterogeneous and ‘embedded spaces of social practice’. It is shown that studying the actors and their interactions across relational networks is vital to fully understand how global relational forms are constructed and to understand their structuring effects on the global economy.     

全球氦气产业链分析与中国应对策略

氦气作为关系国家安全和高新技术产业发展的战略性稀有气体资源, 在液体燃料火箭发射、深潜水等多个领域无可替代, 深刻影响着“深空、深海、深地、深蓝”等领域的高质量发展。氦气产业链与创新链的融合发展是提高氦气资源供给安全的重要方式, 对推动氦气供给侧结构性改革、构建氦气多元供应体系具有重要意义。从资源端、供给端、消费端、贸易端、技术端等方面梳理了全球氦气资源产业链与创新链发展态势, 通过对中国氦气资源条件、产能建设、对外依存度、进口国集中度、进口企业集中度、未来供需趋势、产业技术链、管理机制等指标的梳理, 分析了中国氦气产业发展现状和面临的问题挑战, 探讨了相应的氦气产业发展路径。研究认为, 全球氦气资源潜力巨大, 但大多数国家勘探程度较低; 全球氦气产能、供给、需求和贸易格局深刻变化, 供需矛盾长期存在; 氦气成藏理论与勘查开发技术尚不成熟, 提氦装备不断完善; 全球氦气产能发展总体态势良好, 出现“氦热”潮, 开发主体日益多元化, 或将改变全球氦气供需格局。面对全球氦气资源产业链格局和产业发展新趋势, 中国氦气发展挑战与机遇并存。中国必须开展补链强链工作, 着力加强氦气资源调查评价, 开展关键技术装备攻关, 加大市场主体培育力度, 推进多元供应体系建设, 打造自主可控的创新链, 形成稳定、有韧性的产业链, 为高新技术产业发展提供氦气资源保障。     

我国西部六盘山片区产业结构趋同度比较研究

通过对六盘山片区2006-2011年间产业发展数据的整理, 利用产业结构相似度系数对片区四省区及所辖县市进行了定量测算与综合比较, 发现片区呈现“二三一”的产业结构类型. 其中, 第一产业比重仍处高位, 三次产业结构仍处于低级结构状态, 产业结构优化转型任务艰巨. 对片区各省区间产业结构的关系和所辖主要县市间产业结构的现状进行了由整体到局部的动态分析, 在对陕、甘、宁、青四省区涉及县市的产业结构趋同程度的定量分析与测算后, 确定陕西与宁夏区域产业结构趋同度属于较高层次, 区内产业结构趋同度处于0.9以上的高位, 产业结构同质化现象十分严重; 甘肃与青海区域产业趋同现象相对较轻, 存在明显的波动性, 并针对不同区县间的具体情况进行了系统分析. 最后, 依据分析结果, 从协同规划、培育特色产业、发展优势产业等方面提供了政策建议.     

Using economic geography to reinvigorate land-change science

In this paper we review the implications of neoclassical economic framings within the interdisciplinary field of land-change science. We argue that current pressing global environmental problems, such as land grabs, loss of critical carbon sinks and the increasing importance of corporate actors in land-use decision-making, necessitate a reconsideration of neoclassical conceptualizations of what the economy is, who economic actors are and how they make decisions, and how environment–economy linkages operate in a globalized world. We argue that concepts from economic geography can help land change science move beyond neoclassical framings. The first concept is that the economic (including markets, commodities, and rational decision-makers) is neither separate nor universal, but is historical and socially embedded. The second is to use these notions to understand the spatial organization of economic activity. The framework of global production networks, in particular, will help land change scientists conceptualize and represent teleconnections. Using economic geography to move beyond neoclassical economic framings will bring a fresh approach to economic change that holds much promise for invigorating land change science.     

Strategic globalizing centers and sub-network geometries: A social network analysis of multi-scalar energy networks

Over the past three decades, a multitude of studies have examined the relational properties of corporate networks as a proxy for analyzing interurban hierarchies and structures. While this has been important in illuminating the nature of global connectivity, a significant conceptual lacuna exists in understanding how a multi-scalar analysis of interurban networks informs a more complete understanding of the geographies of globalization, and how cities within these networks act as regional globalizing centers. Building upon the theoretical and methodological foundations of ‘world city network’ (WCN) research, this paper investigates the corporate networks of the energy industry as a historic driver of globalization using social network analysis from an Australia geographical perspective. Globally and nationally scaled energy networks derived from the Platts and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) corporate lists are used to explore the convergence of nationally and globally articulated networks, and identify cities instrumental in the globalization of the national industry sub-networks. These are strategic ‘globalizing centers’ which, in contradistinction to ‘global cities’ or ‘world cities’ as broad classifications, play nuanced roles in anointing industry-specific circuits of capital and information. The analysis of two complementary yet distinct networks provides theoretical insight into how scale plays an integral role in defining/articulating interurban relations.     

Network configurations and R&D activities of the ICT industry in Suzhou municipality, China

This paper analyzes the network structure and R&D activities of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in Suzhou municipality, known previously for its local state-directed Sunan model of development. Suzhou, however, has been undergoing dramatic restructuring to remake itself into a globalizing production center. We highlight the significance of the Chinese state and local/regional assets in shaping the trajectories of globalization and regional development, and the increasing importance of domestic markets and regional clusters/agglomeration for foreign ventures. We have found that Suzhou’s development path, heavily dependent on external forces, has made Suzhou a TNC (transnational corporation) satellite district. We also find that the ICT industry in Suzhou has a dual-structure, segmented between foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) and domestic firms. TNCs tend to network among themselves and their interfirm networks are increasingly domestic and regionally embedded in the Yangtze River Delta, while the linkages between TNCs and local firms are weak. We argue that there is a series of technological, structural, spatial, and institutional “mismatches” that limits the establishment of “global pipelines” of knowledge exchange. We hold that the nature of global-local networks is contingent upon regional endogenous capacities and the specific ways in which global capital interacts with local institutions. Therefore, perspectives on TNCs’ local embeddedness must be positioned in their regional/external networks. We also analyze the constraints placed on Suzhou’s development into an innovative city and promote the integration of global and local/regional assets through development of indigenous capacities.     

A site of transnationalism in the “Ungrounded Empire”: Taipei as an interface city in the cross-border business networks

This paper explores the dynamics of the economic development of Taipei City under conditions of globalization. Although Taipei City had undergone rapid industrialization and exploited the rural-urban division of labor since at least the 1960s, the city’s economic base changed dramatically after 1980. Initiating a process of industrial restructuring, the nation state encouraged high technology industries to help upgrade Taipei City’s role within global production chains. It was the transnational connection that kept regional growth within high ‘value-added’ activities. Instead of relying on a few major transnational corporations as the key agents of internationalization, Taipei City transformed itself into a node for high-technology knowledge, which connected the city with high-technology hubs elsewhere, and to Silicon Valley in particular, through transnational technical communities. At the same time, companies headquartered in the city extended their production chains across the Taiwan Strait to locate production facilities in the major coastal cities of mainland China. In consequence, Taipei City became a nodal city in these cross-border connections. These developments illustrate the limits of global city discourses which fail to pay sufficient attention to the role of developmental states and transnationalism in the process of global transformation.     

Global production networks in the passenger aviation industry

Although the number of directions which geographical research on transport is taking has recently increased, the extent to which transport geography capitalises on theoretical advancements made in other sub-disciplines of human geography is still fairly limited. This especially pertains to economic geography which, in contrast to the predominantly positivist and quantitative transport geography, has developed over the last few decades a more post-positivist and qualitative profile. By means of focusing on passenger air transport – one of the most neglected industries in economic geography – this paper aims to help bridge this gap. Three under-researched aspects of air transport are identified and a combination of two economic-geographical approaches – global production networks (GPN) and evolutionary economic geography (EEG) – is advocated as a useful conceptual basis for further, more qualitative and more critical research on this dynamic sector. The paper argues that GPN and EEG would help research on air transport to: (1) employ network thinking beyond the infrastructural understanding of networks of air connections and thus better explain the multi-actor nature of the aviation sector, (2) complement the research on supra-national and national regulatory frameworks with more attention to the array of sub-national environments that shape the aviation industry ‘from below’, and (3) explore how the relations between aviation and economic development are moulded by different place-specific institutional factors. To lay foundations under further research the paper conceptualises the aviation industry as a global production network and uses the example of Polish passenger air transport to highlight the paper’s key empirical implications.     

新时期煤炭地质勘查产业链重构展望

随着国家供给侧结构性改革的深化,传统煤炭地质勘查产业存在严重的产能过剩,煤炭地质勘查产业链的重构势在必行。通过对煤炭地质勘查产业发展历程研究和分析,提出了新时期煤炭地质勘查产业链的重构方向,不仅要纵向延伸,形成绿色矿山全生命周期内煤炭地质技术服务的完整产业链,保障国家能源安全和生态文明建设需要,而且还要横向拓展,充分发挥煤炭地质勘查行业的专业优势、技术优势,开拓城市地质、农业地质、灾害地质等新领域新产业,服务“美丽中国”建设,确保煤炭地质勘查行业绿色、协调、持续发展。     

The potential and prospect for global cities in China: in the context of the world system

Over the last two decades, accompanying their rapid economic development, many `mega-cities' in China have devoted themselves to changing their relationships to the global economy and some have aimed at attaining global (world) city status as a key future development goal. This paper examines the relationship between global (world) city status and the emerging world economic system, and discusses the intense competition between `mega-cities' in the Asia-Pacific region that Chinese cities will face in the 21st century, especially after the Asia financial crisis. It also explores the potential and possibility of achieving global or world city status in China. The main arguments are that only Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing have the possibility to attain leading positions in the global urban system in the future. Post-1997, it has been very important for the Chinese government to find a way to coordinate the functions of Hong Kong and the other major cities which allows them to operate smoothly together under quite different political systems. Finally, the authors analyse the relationships between these three metropolises and suggests some possibilities for coordinating their roles in the global urban system.     

“This is a Montreal Issue”: Negotiating responsibility in global production and investment networks

While geographers have increasingly focused on how global commodity and production networks create new ‘geographies of responsibility’ there has been little empirical work considering how responsibility is worked into management systems and social activism in such networks. Drawing on literature from global production networks, geographies of responsibility and other literatures, this paper explores the dynamic and contested ways in which concepts of responsibility can play a role in network regulation. Both foreign direct investment and commodity networks (here referred to as ‘global production and investment networks’) are subject to complex negotiations and compromises involving corporate social responsibility and sustainability initiatives as well as shareholder activist, human rights, labor, and environmental activism. This is illustrated by reference to conflicts in Canada over Alcan, Inc.’s investments from 1993 to 2007 in the Utkal Alumina Project in Orissa, India. The project involved significant socio-environmental conflict. In Canada, Alcan’s investment was met by civil society campaigns that tested the company’s commitments to sustainability and corporate social responsibility. The case study suggests revising theories of geographies of responsibility. While foreign direct investment can create new relationships between distant others, these are fluid and contingent and not necessarily desirable. Rather than see networks as a source of responsibility we should work to ensure that the relationships that networks foster be structured to ensure our deeper values are respected.     

信阳市浅层地下水质量评价

为了保护信阳市浅层地下水资源环境,进一步合理开发该区浅层地下水,在对信阳市市区大量浅层地下水水样分析资料的基础上,从饮用水评价,农业灌溉用水评价,工业锅炉用水评价及综合评价等四个方面对该区浅层地下水质量进行了评价。评价结果表明：评价区内虽没有极差的Ⅴ级水,但在人口集中和用水集中的市区均为较差的Ⅳ级水,是人们生产和生活用水质量下降的主要原因;人口集中带来的生活污染是本区浅层地下水主要污染源,次要污染源为工业污染,这些理应引起高度重视,防止污染的进一步扩大。     

The rise of strategic partner firms and reconfiguration of personal computer production networks in China: Insights from the emerging laptop cluster in Chongqing

In recent theorization of the Global Production Network (GPN) framework, viz. “GPN 2.0 theory” (Coe and Yeung, 2015), firm-specific strategies namely intra-firm coordination, inter-firm control, inter-firm partnership and extra-firm bargaining are conceptualized to understand the changing dynamics and reconfiguration of global production networks. Drawing upon the extra-firm strategies in the GPN 2.0 theory, this paper examines the spatial and organizational reconfiguration of personal computer production networks in China since late 2000s. Based on the information and data collected from years of observation and in-depth interviews with various firms and extra-firm actors, particularly government officials during June 2014 and December 2016, this study explores the emerging laptop cluster in Chongqing, a centrally-governed municipality in West China, which produced 40% of the world laptop computers in 2015. This paper argues that the rapid development in Chongqing in a short span has been attributed to the rising power of strategic partner firms of lead firms, primarily Taiwan-based contract manufacturers (e.g. Foxconn). It sheds light on the emerging strategic coupling between strategic partner firms and local government in Chongqing, which has brought about the reconfiguration of laptop production networks from the prevailed lead-firm centric to the emerging strategic partnership pattern. This study enriches the developing literature on the rise of strategic partner firms by extending the firm-centric analysis to extra-firm strategies, which echoes the extra-regional dynamics advocated recently by the Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) perspective.     

The role of industrial archaeology in conservation: The Reşiţa area of the Romanian Carpathians

Industrial archaeology has developed as an important aspect of conservation during the second half of the twentieth century in the Western world and there have been great opportunities in transition countries since 1989 on account of economic restructuring and the importance given to 'niche' tourism. While the core interest lies with machines and industrial buildings, attention is also given to transport systems and the social context, with respect to relations between owners, managers and workers. Moreover, the desirability of maintaining old industrial installations within their traditional landscape settings enables industrial archaeology to make a contribution to sustainable development. This paper considers the prospects for Romania, with particular reference to the Reşiţa area of the Banat Carpathians. The mineral resources of this region gave rise to a metallurgical industry which was established under Habsburg administration in the eighteenth century and continues today. In addition to the principal factories in Anina and Reşiţa, the mining installations, transport systems and power stations contribute to a diverse industrial region in a distinctive physical and cultural setting. The development of the complex is summarised and the opportunities for conservation are evaluated. The tourist infrastructure of the area is also examined with regard to the range of accommodation available. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Disarticulating distribution: Labor segmentation and subcontracting in global logistics

An enduring focus of scholarly work on global production networks (GPNs) is the process of insertion into production networks and the capacity of places to shape their manner of inclusion. Sometimes overlooked are ways in which these insertions are based on an evolving set of exclusions. A disarticulations perspective trains our attention on the mutual interplay between moments of inclusion and exclusion that produce uneven geographies and histories of development, foregrounding place-specific factors and offering a framework for understanding local experimentation. Firms continue to restructure under relentless pressure to improve performance and the concomitant need to experiment, causing firm strategy to shape-shift and re-making relations of inclusion and exclusion. In the distribution function of global supply chains, the prevailing value-creation strategy is downward pressure on the cost of labor, but this perhaps suggests a false sense of stability. Using data gathered in the distribution hub just outside of Chicago, I examine the role of labor market intermediaries in re-negotiating the boundaries of inclusion. This article explores processes of linking and delinking subsets of workers and the differential implications for worker segments and their attachment to the supply chain. Inscribed in the absorption of places and workers into GPNs are ongoing processes of disarticulation, evident in this case through the labor market strategies pursued by local firms and temporary staffing agencies. These processes lay bare the mechanisms that reproduce capital-labor relationships in global supply chains.     

陆地生态系统与全球变化的联网观测研究进展

全球变化引起的环境问题已成为国际社会及其科技界共同关注的重大挑战。陆地生态系统的联网观测作为研究全球变化与陆地生态系统相互关系的一种有效手段,越来越受到人们的重视,并且得到了广泛的应用。本文讨论了陆地生态系统联网观测在全球变化科学研究中的作用和地位,并简要介绍了几个有影响的国际陆地生态系统联网观测计划。在此基础上,分析评述了中国陆地生态系统联网观测研究的主要进展以及在全球变化研究中做出的主要贡献,并结合我国科学技术和社会经济发展的需求,指出了近期中国陆地生态系统联网观测研究应该重点发展的领域。     

Integrating diverse methods to understand climate-land interactions in East Africa

The questions of how land use change affects climate, and how climate change affects land use, require examination of societal and environmental systems across space at multiple scales, from the global climate to regional vegetative dynamics to local decision making by farmers and herders. It also requires an analysis of causal linkages and feedback loops between systems. These questions and the conceptual approach of the research design of the Climate-Land Interaction Project (CLIP) are rooted in the classical human-environment research tradition in Geography.This paper discusses a methodological framework to quantify the two-way interactions between land use and regional climate systems, using ongoing work by a team of multi-disciplinary scientists examining climate-land dynamics at multiple scales in East Africa. East Africa is a region that is undergoing rapid land use change, where changes in climate would have serious consequences for people’s livelihoods, and requiring new coping and land use strategies. The research involves exploration of linkages between two important foci of global change research, namely, land use/land cover (LULC) and climate change. These linkages are examined through modeling agricultural systems, land use driving forces and patterns, the physical properties of land cover, and the regional climate. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are being used to illustrate a diverse pluralism in scientific discovery.