Tangibles, Intangibles and New Geographies of Manufacturing/Production: Beyond Global Production Networks?
Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting
(Seattle, Washington, April 12-16, 2011)
Organizers: John R. Bryson (University of Birmingham, UK) and Vida Vanchan (Buffalo State College)
Companies compete through complex blends of tangible and intangible assets, which can enhance or reduce corporate resilience and competitiveness. Much of the focus of recent debate has been on understanding the geographies of production networks. Many of these networks operate globally and are central to the Global Production Network (GPN) approach that has developed in economic geography. This session invites contributions that engage critically with the GPN framework or attempt to move beyond this approach. The focus of the session is to contribute to the development of a ‘new geography of manufacturing/production’ based on the premise that companies, large and small, compete on the basis of historical association, place-based associations, brands, design and continual product and process innovations. Many of these forms of competitiveness are intangible and difficult to measure and are not included in the GPN framework that has a tendency to emphasize the tangible elements involved in the organization of production. This raises an important question regarding the contribution that tangibles and intangibles make to corporate and regional competitiveness. The emphasis in the session is on manufacturing, but does not exclude papers on service functions that contribute directly and indirectly to the creation of manufactured products. The session also welcomes papers that engage conceptually with the concepts of manufacturing, production, intangibles and tangibles; and those that explore the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as well as multinational corporations.
This session seeks to bring together papers that explore the dynamics of production or manufacturing geographies theoretically and empirically in order to advance geographical debates and understanding about the processes and transformations that have been experienced in the ways in which products are created and sold. Papers might examine topics including but not restricted to:
* New geographies of production/manufacturing and regional economic development.
* Theoretical conceptualizations that would inform the development of a new geography of manufacturing/production.
* Product and process innovation and innovation in the geographic organization of production.
* Rethinking, redefining, and reconceptualising the concept of manufacturing and/or production in the twenty-first
century.
* The role of tangibles and intangibles (brand, design, history, place-based associations, identity) in the production of
goods.
* Contractual relationships versus trust-based relationships and the procurement process.
* Impact of the economic downturn on the manufacturing sector at all scales
* Labour and production.
* Production/manufacturing and corporate resilience.
* Resilient and less resilient regional economies.
* Conceptual and empirical papers that explore the concept of resilience
* Papers that that attempt to move beyond Global Production Network (GPN) approaches.
* Case studies of large and small firms, and sector studies (automotive, aerospace, consumer products, food, etc).
Anyone interested in participating in the session should send an abstract conforming to the requirements of the AAG (see http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers/abstract_guidelines) by October 14, 2010 to John Bryson ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>), Vida Vanchan ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>)
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