Distance and discourse in the local labour market: the case of Singapore

Summary In this paper we use the example of Singapore to make two theoretical contributions to the geographical literature on local labour markets. Firstly, we suggest that the local labour market should be conceived of as an extended 'network space' that is constituted by extra-local linkages and flows as well as local interactions. The importance of certain kinds of foreign 'workers' and 'talent' in Singapore can be used to illustrate this argument. Secondly, we contend that locally constructed discourses can actively shape labour market dynamics, exemplified here by the rise of 'knowledge-based economy' rhetoric in Singapore.     

Young Workers in a Deindustrialising Economy: The Case of Christchurch, 1976–1996

Understanding the specificity of local labour markets is a more productive way of identifying employment dynamics in an era of de industrialisation than attending to universalist rhetorics on ‘the knowledge economy’. This article explores the employment destinations of young adults in the Christchurch labour market from the 1970s to recent times with a view to identifying how labour market opportunities facing them have changed, not only through the growth of part‐time work but also through the changing nature of access to full‐time work as sheltered ports of entry are replaced by requirements for tertiary education and training.     

Circuits of capital and industrial restructuring: adjustment in the australian clothing industry

Patterns and processes of industrial restructuring in the Australian clothing industry are examined, utilising a ‘circuits of capital’ approach in which the interrelationships between labour markets, labour processes and product markets are emphasised. Changes in product markets (where import competition is intensifying under the trade liberalisation policies of the Hawke government and where an increasingly concentrated retail sector has accrued enormous bargaining power in its dealings with clothing manufacturers) and changes in labour markets (where competition for the industry's traditional inner urban labour supply has intensified considerably) are argued to have provided the driving force behind the process of clothing industry adjustment. This process of adjustment has been characterised by: (i) increased use of outworking, which enables clothing manufacturers to reduce production costs and provides a means for new sources of home‐based labour within the urban labour market to be tapped; and (ii) the evolution of a spatial division of labour, as some of the labour‐intensive components of the industry have been relocated to non‐urban sites where a stable and plentiful labour supply is available. In contrast to experiences in Europe and the United States, there is little evidence in Australia at the present time of significant technical change nor of specialisation in the high quality/high fashion niche of the garment market.     

Economic drivers of contemporary smallholder agriculture in a transitional economy: A case study of Hu Village from southwest China

Based on an in‐depth case study of a rural community, this paper documents the contemporary state of Chinese smallholder agriculture and the changes that it has been experiencing in the context of dramatic socio‐economic transition through the lens of three main economic drivers: livelihood diversification, market conditions and government interventions. Results reveal that the change in Chinese smallholder agriculture has been complex and multidimensional. All three factors exert profound influence and shape the current state of Chinese agriculture. Massive rural‐urban migration has resulted in labour shortages, which in turn have led to a reduction in agricultural diversity and land use intensity and a shift from traditional labour‐intensive technologies to modern capital‐intensive technologies. However, because of well‐developed agricultural markets, input use levels are similar across farmer categories (such as income diversification), helping to maintain productivity. Furthermore, reduced profits from farming due to increasing input prices and decreasing output prices have exerted pressure on smallholders to increasingly turn to nonfarm activities and have also triggered a thriving informal land transfer market, which was previously non‐existent. Policy implications include the need to strengthen local economies, improve market conditions, invest in rural infrastructures and facilitate smallholders' mobility.     

云南典型山地乡村农业扶贫的机制与效应研究——以特色经济作物种植为例

农业扶贫是乡村发展与贫困减缓最为关键且重要的研究内容之一。西南山区孕育着独特的自然生态与社会文化,承载了中国传统人地互动的经典实践,同时也是观测国家发展计划实施后人地关系变迁的关键地方。本文以云南丽江高寒山区的玛咖种植与西双版纳热带山地的普洱茶生产为案例,分析并回溯两种特色农业扶贫计划实施的机制与过程,力图呈现并比较特色产业扶贫带来的乡村发展效应。研究发现：① 农业扶贫项目的选择与确立,需要符合“国家—地方”这一对多元尺度层级的社会文化语境与政治经济管治框架。各类经济作物被引进成为山地乡村的产业扶贫项目,得益于中国地缘政治战略、“内地—边疆”的社会文化分异以及地方多元行动者之间的复杂互动;② 农业扶贫使得山地乡村实现了资本下乡、土地利用有效转型,从而达到不同程度的经济资本积累与文化再造,使所在地方农民经历了从市场竞争的被动接受者到主动的市场主体的身份转型;③ 农业扶贫中“扶贫”与“产业”所表征的政治逻辑与市场逻辑之间并非互相矛盾与掣肘,二者在中国乡村发展语境之下得到了有效、协调的互促与兼容。本文为产业扶贫研究提供了来自地理学的新兴视角与反思,对西南边疆地区立足特色产业提振乡村经济亦具有一定的参考价值。     

新时代背景下基于文化自信的文化传承与空间治理——“文化传承与空间治理”专栏解读

近年来由西方主导的文化在向全球扩散的过程中逐渐暴露出一系列问题,导致对西方化的全球化能否达到全球整合目标的质疑不断出现,“各美其美”“美美与共”的多样文化并存的观点受到关注。在新时代发展背景下,需要树立对于中国本土文化的自信,从地理学的研究视角来透视全球化格局的空间治理,回答中国文化的地方性如何传承、如何把握地方性知识的核心等命题。通过继承、创新和发扬中国文化,提高空间治理、地方融合的有效性。因此,地理学关于空间治理的研究,应更多关注本土和“地方”文化。本专栏旨在系统探讨空间治理中的文化传承以及文化（历史性、地方性、乡村性）因素对空间治理的影响,涉及地域文化信仰空间、传统城市空间、乡村社区空间、乡村性、地方文化、精英实践以及身体实践等多尺度、多领域的治理问题,主要围绕历史地理、乡村性以及地方性实践三个层面的空间治理展开,并对基于文化自信的空间治理研究进行了展望,认为文化治理中的地理问题和空间治理中的地方文化研究应该予以进一步深化。     

Agribusiness and farmers in Mexico: the importance of contractual relations

In recent decades contract farming as a mechanism that integrates and subordinates agricultural production to export oriented agribusiness has expanded in Third World countries. In Mexico contract farming dominates the production of horticultural crops for processing and export. It is also used for barley and to grow some varieties of wheat for Cargill . The contract farming labour agreement represents an institution that links local and global processes where agribusiness is the key actor that integrates local farmers to national and world markets. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the implications of contract farming for productive relations by examining its impact upon farmers and firms. The study found that despite the disadvantages of contract farming for growers, and the disproportional risks born by producers, they enter into contract farming labour agreements because they lack alternatives for financing, technical assistance and access to markets. The experience of contract farming in Mexico and several Third World countries shows that its growth is related to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that are accompanied by the withdrawal of state support and regulation of agricultural production. In this context, contract farming represents a livelihood strategy for many Mexican growers.     

The Asian financial crisis,women's work and forced migration

The effects of the deepening financial crisis in Malaysia, Thailand and South Korea, led by the collapse of financial and currency markets, have spread beyond domestic boundaries to other Asian economies. Financial instability, devaluation and inflation are warning signals for other Asian countries in the process of repairing damage to their economies. The mobility of female labour, due to eviction and expulsion (forced migration), is related to forces of the new market mechanism in the era of the globalizing world. Two processes of forced migration are highlighted: between countries; and between urban and rural areas. Such processes have led to increasing mobility and to the eviction of immigrant labour and the female labour force, which has affected the local economy, type of work and gender relations. Thailand is examined as a case study, with supplementary data from other affected countries. There is a strong tendency for women especially to be priced out of the economy and forced to return either to their native villages within the host country or to their home countries. The type and pattern of migration and change of occupation helps in the understanding of the power of globalization, the dynamics of the crisis and its impact on women workers.     

产业集群的地方嵌入与全球生产网络链接——以上海文化创意产业园区为例

以全球生产网络理论为基础,通过问卷调查和深度访谈法,再现了上海创意产业集群在地方—区域—全球三个不同地理维度的产业链接网络结构和联系强度,运用三角坐标法分别考察上海创意产业在劳动力市场、外部供给、消费市场、合作关系四个产业链环节的地方嵌入性和全球链接性,探讨学习和创新网络的重要作用。研究结果显示：首先,上海创意产业集群在各个产业链环节都表现出很强的地方黏性,尤其是在地方劳动力市场方面,上海创意产业集群的地方嵌入性最为显著。其次,上海创意产业集群的外部链接存在异质性,其中技术类创意部门与文化类创意部门在劳动力市场、消费市场和合作关系等方面均表现出较大差异,本文从知识分化视角出发对以上异质性进行了解释。最后,总结了上海创意产业集群全球生产网络的基本特征及其地方—全球互动关系,为揭示中国大都市地区文化创意产业集群的地方嵌入和全球网络形成机理提供了详实的案例分析。     

Neoliberal Globalisation, "Exotic" Agro-exports, and Local Change in the Pacific Islands: A Study of the Fijian Kava Sector

The economically vulnerable and geographically isolated states and territories of the Pacific Islands find themselves increasingly powerless to resist the recent accelerated diffusion of globalisation and the economic options that this entails. Neoliberal policy has arrived in the ocean region later than elsewhere in the tropical world and in the developing world in general. However, it now almost exclusively frames regional and state policy agendas, and is profoundly restructuring economies and societies across the region. Agriculture, by far the leading economic sector in Pacific Island countries, has been targeted specifically for reform. The cultivation of non-traditional agricultural exports has formed the centrepiece of the evolving strategy. As well as "staple" exports such as sugar, copra, and taro going to non-traditional markets, "exotic" niche products are being developed for export to high income markets in Europe, Asia and North America. A major example of such a product is kava – a "traditional" crop used in the preparation of a ceremonial and/or social drink. Psycho- and physiological properties have been identified in the plant by the pharmaceutical industry that is marketing a range of kava products. Produced widely across the Pacific, Fiji is the major export source. This paper traces the evolution of globalisation in the Pacific Islands, placing the current wave of neoliberalism in its historical context. It goes on to outline the evolution of the Fijian kava export sector, and investigates some of the local socio-economic impacts of recent market growth. Given the evidence presented in this study, the paper asks if the power relations evolving under contemporary neoliberal globalisation are likely to be any different from those that existed during colonial globalisation.     

市场间邻近性与广东省出口企业的地理集聚

对外贸易是塑造广东省产业空间分布格局的重要力量,深入地探讨出口贸易与广东省企业集聚的内在联系机制,具有重要意义。本文从出口市场与本地市场之间的多维邻近性角度,为广东省的企业集聚发生机制提供了新的解释,具有一定的理论与政策参考价值。本文认为,企业的出口市场与本地邻近性越低,企业自身越难以远距离地直接获取关于目的市场的出口知识。在这种情况下,企业为了实现出口的成功扩张,其在空间上倾向于集聚分布,以在本地获取相关知识的溢出。基于2000—2016年中国海关进出口贸易数据,本文对广东省出口企业的外部出口市场格局以及内部空间集聚格局进行了描述,并实证测度了企业的出口市场与广东省在地理、经济、文化、政治和制度五个维度上的邻近性与企业地理集聚水平之间的关系。特别地,本文运用DO方法对企业集聚水平进行定量测度,还原了企业集聚的原始微观形态,一定程度上弥补了现有对于集聚水平测度方法的不足。描述性分析表明,一方面,广东省企业的出口市场具有多样化的特点,其扩张一定程度上遵循“邻近性”原则;另一方面,广东省的企业空间分布呈现明显的“核心-边缘”格局。实证结果表明,当出口至与本地在经济、政治和制度三个维度上邻近性较低的市场时,企业在本地更加集聚。市场间地理和文化邻近性对企业集聚水平的影响不显著。同时,该影响效应在出口市场为发达地区和发展中地区的企业样本中具有差异。     

"Power Geometries

Feminist contributions to the geographical literature on capitalist restructuring have tended to emphasize the importance of examining women's experiences vis-a-vis those of men. This research in progress report on the telecommunications service industry in New Zealand suggests that assuming the relative homogeneity of ‘women’ as an analytical category, then assessing the experience of women against those of men using national data, may no longer be satisfactory in a context in which production, finance and labour markets have been internationalised.     

Population pressure and global markets drive a decade of forest cover change in Africa's Albertine Rift

Africa's Albertine Rift region faces a juxtaposition of rapid human population growth and protected areas, making it one of the world's most vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. Using satellite-derived estimates of forest cover change, we examined national socioeconomic, demographic, agricultural production, and local demographic and geographic variables, to assess multilevel forces driving local forest cover loss and gain outside protected areas during the first decade of this century. Because the processes that drive forest cover loss and gain are expected to be different, and both are of interest, we constructed models of significant change in each direction. Although rates of forest cover change varied by country, national population change was the strongest driver of forest loss for all countries – with a population doubling predicted to cause 2.06% annual cover loss, while doubling tea production predicted to cause 1.90%. The rate of forest cover gain was associated positively with increased production of the local staple crop cassava, but negatively with local population density and meat production, suggesting production drivers at multiple levels affect reforestation. We found a small but significant decrease in loss rate as distance from protected areas increased, supporting studies suggesting higher rates of landscape change near protected areas. While local population density mitigated the rate of forest cover gain, loss was also correlated with lower local population density, an apparent paradox, but consistent with findings that larger scale forces outweigh local drivers of deforestation. This implicates demographic and market forces at national and international scales as critical drivers of change, calling into question the necessary scales of forest protection policy in this biodiversity hotspot. Using a satellite derived estimate of forest cover change for both loss and gain added a dynamic component to more traditionally static and unidirectional studies, significantly improving our understanding of landscape processes and drivers at work.     

“共位集群”视角下的农业产业集群演化路径与网络——以福建省漳平市茶产业为例

结合实地调研与半结构访谈法,从集群演化生命周期视角出发,建立“路径－网络－制度”演化研究框架,在此基础上对比两种不同类型农业产业集群形成演化路径与特征,探究其共位发展的演化过程,并探讨形成“共位集群”的潜力与发展路径。结果表明：1）漳平永福高山茶集群作为外资驱动型集群,其发展显示出较强的“初动能”与正式制度依赖性,在台资驱动下经历两端在外、原生路径移植的萌芽期,叠加多级政策外力进入成长期,并逐步实现三产融合发展的路径突破,其间伴随由原生关系网络转向本地生产网络,逐步嵌入全球生产网络的演化过程,但其本地溢出效应有限且存在用地资源限制等路径锁定风险因素;2）作为本地内生型集群,漳平水仙茶产业集群具备更强的“能动性”与社会制度依赖性,在原有历史积淀及地区禀赋基础上萌芽,通过政府扶持实现路径修复,逐步恢复由地方关系网络主导的集群生产网络而进入成长期,初步形成专业化分工格局,成熟的产业氛围及较强的地方根植性使得集群创新网络已初现雏形,但因企业规模有限、外部力量不足等限制存在路径锁定风险;3）集群的共位发展可辅助消除路径锁定风险,而两者由萌芽阶段的独立共生,演化至成长阶段前期的共位竞争,并最终形成共位竞合关系,表明其具备形成“共位集群”的发展潜力与潜在路径。由此,推动地区农业“共位集群”的发展,地区正式制度安排是关键推力,而龙头企业、中小企业与农户组织在其中扮演着重要角色。     

Staging the Local: rethinking scale in farmers' markets

Local food has become a significant focus of food studies analysis in recent years with much of this work identifying the potential environmental, social and economic benefits of food localisation. However, a growing body of literature destabilises these assumed benefits with research now questioning the utility of scale in assessing food system outcomes. This paper explores this destabilisation by examining how concepts associated with the ‘local’ have been deployed by the Capital Region Farmers Market (CRFM) in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This leads to two key conclusions: firstly, the practical case study confirms theoretical insights highlighting the instability of the local, identifying how it is animated in multiple and sometimes contradictory ways often in response to conventional market forces; and secondly, we argue that the role of farmers' markets may not be best understood through the lens of the local but, rather, through their role in facilitating citizen engagement with the food system via the direct consumer–producer relationship at markets and the characteristics of the food purchased there (i.e. freshness and quality). In these ways, farmers' markets can disrupt conventional forms of engagement with the food system, creating a space that enhances social embeddedness and which may promote new forms of consumer understanding of food systems.     

Foreign direct investment and local supplier upgrading – the case of grocery retail in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Foreign direct investments (FDIs) are noted as an important cross-border channel for knowledge. Thus, expanding companies can contribute to local supplying companies’ capability development, an important precondition for upgrading processes. Several transnational grocery retailers have expanded globally and introduced modern supply chain management practices to markets of emerging and developing countries. However, agri-food industries are under-researched regarding FDI-induced knowledge transfer and supplier upgrading. Based on qualitative interviews with both retailers and suppliers in the emerging market of Turkey, this article discusses the upgrading processes of fresh food suppliers driven by the FDI of grocery retailers. This article shows how the foreign retailers’ fresh fruit and vegetable supply structures have evolved towards the preferences of suppliers that vertically integrate value chain functions. Within this dynamic, transnational retailers proactively shape their suppliers and promote (functional) upgrading. The findings imply that (1) local regulatory environments should foster local sourcing and (2) the way for suppliers to work towards a solid value chain positioning is to fully integrate supply chain functions including agricultural primary production. This article argues that integrating low value-adding functions can be a type of functional upgrading that has not yet been acknowledged.     

The price of spice: Ethnic minority livelihoods and cardamom commodity chains in upland northern Vietnam

The northern uplands of Vietnam are witness to rapidly developing commodity markets for a range of forest and agricultural products. Since the early 1990s the cultivation of black cardamom (Amomum aromaticum) has become a source of cash income for a growing number of ethnic minority households in these uplands. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, and utilizing a commodity chain and livelihoods approach, this article investigates the contemporary dynamics surrounding the cultivation, harvesting and trade of dried cardamom fruit from Hmong cultivators in Lao Cai province to consumers elsewhere in Vietnam and beyond to China and the global market. We analyse the spatial and social structures of these commodity chains, drawing attention to a range of mechanisms of access. We find that these mechanisms are reliant upon specific ethnic relations as well as different forms of capital that together sustain economic advantages for particular actors. While focusing on the ethnic minority cultivators active in these commodity chains, we also call for more nuanced understandings of how the trade in forest products fits within local agricultural systems and household livelihood decision making processes in the Vietnam uplands.     

面向“多样化联系空间”的企业区位选择——基于SGWR模型的城市微区位分析

文章引入“多样化联系空间”视角,使得空间附着了更多的社会、经济、制度和文化等内涵,并以此作为城市微区位和企业区位选择的空间基础。理论上,企业在城市微区位的选址不仅是通过市场机制与经济因素发生,也特定于区位的经济、社会和地理的紧密交织及其交互作用,其理论机制是空间的多样化联系以“成本共担”的形式降低企业的生产成本和交易成本,从而引致企业的区位选择和空间集聚;并以深圳市的高新电子信息企业为例,应用OLS回归、地理加权回归（GWR）和半参数地理加权回归（SGWR）模型,对城市微区位、多样化联系与企业区位选择的耦合进行实证分析,结果显示城市微区位存在显著的空间异质性,且存在全局变量和局部变量的差别,这在一定程度上验证了城市微区位的多样性、异质性。     

Determinants of microregional agricultural labour productivity – Evidence from Czechia

In this paper we aimed to explain differences in agricultural labour productivity at microregional level. We tested the effects of three major independent variables – farmland fragmentation, urbanization economies and farm size structure with particular emphasis on the relationship between land-use fragmentation and microregional differences in agricultural labour productivity. Our principal question therefore was if higher agricultural labour productivity at microregional level is associated with internal scale economies resulting from large average farm size (in terms of employment), proximity to large cities as a proxy for urbanization economies and lower levels of land-use fragmentation. We also asked if productivity gains from large average size of plots is higher than potential losses resulting from land tenure (tenants are generally less productive than farmland owners). Drawing on a case study of Czechia – a country with extremely fragmented farmland ownership, but the largest average size of plots in the EU and a strong role of farmland rental market – we confirmed our initial expectation that land-use fragmentation affects negatively microregional agricultural labour productivity. Larger average size of plots is positively related to microregional agricultural labour productivity despite potentially negative effects of land tenure. At the same time, no significant effects of urbanization economies and farm size structure were documented.     

中非农产品贸易国别变化时空分析

近年来,中非农产品贸易快速增长,虽然国内对中非农产品贸易变化已经展开很多研究,但是针对中非农产品贸易的国别分布和时空变化特征的研究还很匮乏。本文采用统计分析和空间集中度指标等方法,分析了1992-2010 年间中非农产品进出口在空间分布上的特征和变化趋势。研究发现：中非农产品贸易的国别聚集度很高,中国从非洲进口农产品的国别集中度有较显著的分散趋势,但是对非洲农产品出口的国别集中度却没有明显变化,中国与非洲国家间农产品贸易不平衡特征非常明显。