Competitive Adjustment and Advancement in Global Commodity Chains II: The Case of the Singapore Garment Industry

This is the second part of a contribution to the debate on the possibilities of leveraging economic globalisation — through incorporation in international production networks and global commodity chains (GCCs) — as a strategy for developing countries to industrialise and advance their position in the world economy. In the first part, we analysed the experience of the East Asian apparel industry and addressed the issues of sustaining positions, upgrading to more rewarding roles, and advancing to less dependent positions within production networks and GCCs. We developed an analytical framework at both the firm and industry levels, and subsequently identified alternative firm- and industry-level strategies and trajectories. The present paper deals with these issues in the context of the Singapore apparel industry. Based on extensive empirical research, we demonstrate that although the East Asian experience of upgrading and repositioning within the GCC is to some extent emulated in the case of the Singapore apparel industry, the outcomes have been less favourable in terms of the depth, extent and strength of these trajectories. The differing outcomes can be explained in terms of different (systemic) conditions in the Singapore business environment, including the agency of local players, the geography of sourcing networks, and the role of the state and prevailing business attitudes. Our conclusions merit continued attention in both research and policy circles on the development of capabilities at the firm level, and the role of local business and institutional environments in local industry development processes under globalisation.     

Issues of Globalization and Reflexivity in the Japanese Tourism Production System: The Case of Whistler,British Columbia

This article examines contemporary Japanese overseas tourism from a supplier‐side perspective using the concept of production systems. We first outline characteristics of the evolving structure of Japanese overseas tourism, with an emphasis on the global spread of Japanese travel companies. This provides a frame for presenting an empirical account of the transactional relationships in the Japanese package tour production system in Whistler, British Columbia, where Japanese tour operators play a pivotal role. We conclude that the recent expansion of Japanese travel companies is fostering the functional integration of the global tourism production system and exhibits increasing reflexivity.     

Markets, ethnicity and environment in a vulnerable landscape: the case of small-scale vegetable production on the Jos Plateau, Nigeria, 1991–2001

This paper explores changing socio-environmental interactions in the vegetable producing areas of the Jos Plateau over the decade 1991–2001. It considers the pressures of market forces and ethnic competition and the tensions which arise as interactions between the two are played out in a fragile physical, social and institutional environment. The region has seen a remarkable expansion in irrigated vegetable production, as dry season surveys in 1991 and 2001 attest. Local farmers appear extremely positive in their perceptions of change, pointing not only to expanded production, but also to other improvements, like growing percentages of children in school and improved transport. But behind this rosy view of change there are tensions and a series of unresolved questions which may soon have to be addressed. We examine the changing nature of socio-environmental interactions over the decade and ask whether and how current levels of production can be sustained in the context of a currently largely unregulated production system and growing competition for land. Given the important role of the Plateau as a source of temperate fruit and vegetables in West Africa, these questions have significance far beyond the Plateau region itself.     

国外漂白粘土和澄清粘土的产销现状综述

漂白粘土和澄清粘土应具有较大的表面积、较高的吸附性能及褪色能力,多由膨润土经活化(酸化)处理后制成。当前,德国、美国在世界漂白土生产中占据重要地位。漂白粘土和澄清粘土世界市场销量约86万t/a,其中70％～80％用于食用油和油脂工业。漂白粘土的发展受食用油工业发展的影响最大,亚洲还有较大的发展空间。澄清粘土多用作葡萄酒、果汁等的澄清剂,也有一定的发展前景。漂白土再利用的途径,仍在探索中。     

Synthesis of zeolites using fly ash and their application in removing heavy metals from waters

Fly ash is the solid waste of thermal power plants where coal is used as fuel, and its management and utilization have been of environmental concern for decades. Since the technique of synthesizing zeolite from coal fly ash was introduced by Holler[1] (19…     

专题地图的生产制作

介绍使用计算机制作专题地图的工艺流程,及计算机制图在印刷前的生产制作的工作步骤和方法,指出了在制作中需要注意的事项,对出版高质量的地图在各环节如何加以控制提出了建议。     

河南省短期区域性暴雨动力诊断及综合预报方案

介介绍了（１）用Ｔ６３数值预报产品对河南省省６－８月区域性暴雨进行物理量诊断分析。（２）用人工智能研制的河南省６－８月分片大－暴雨短短期自动化预报系统与用Ｔ６３数值预报产品资料采用逐步回归分析法和预测误差平方和最不上准则两种选取回归自变量的方法，建立处分片预报方程的综合判别预报。（３）在１９９５，１９９６年７－８月业务预报中试验结果。     

Measurement of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Plumes from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska Oil Fields

Large carbon dioxide plumes with concentrations up to 45 ppm aboveambient levels were measured about 15 km downwind of the Prudhoe Bay, Alaskamajor oil production facilities, located at 70° N Lat. above the ArcticCircle. The measured emissions were 1.3 × 10³ metrictons (C) hour^-1 (11.4× 10⁶ metric tons(C) year^-1), six times greater than the combustion emissionsassumed by Jaffe and coworkers in J. Atmos. Chem. 20 (1995), 213–227,based on 1989 reported Prudhoe Bay oil facility fuel consumption data, andfour times greater than the total C emissions reported by the oil facilitiesfor the same months as the measurement time periods. Variations in theemissions were estimated by extrapolating the observed emissions at a singlealtitude for all tundra research transect flights conducted downwind of theoil fields. These 30 flights yielded an average emission rate of1.02 × 10³ metric tons (C) hour^-1 with astandard deviation of 0.33 × 10³. These quantity ofemissions are roughly equivalent to the carbon dioxide emissions of7–10 million hectares of arctic tussock tundra (Oechel and Vourlitis,Trends in Ecol. Evolution 9 (1994), 324–329).