J-Reading - Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography, 2016
Since investment promotion practices have been a hallmark of the neoliberalizing global economy, ... more Since investment promotion practices have been a hallmark of the neoliberalizing global economy, how these practices changed after the 2008 economic crisis becomes a critical question for the viability of neoliberalism. This article studies the role of an Italian investment promotion community (IPC) in Shanghai in promoting transnational investments between Italy and China. It is based on 12 semi-structured interviews and trade and investment data collected between 2013 and 2014 as well as individual authors’ longer term research in both countries. There are two main findings. First, the Italian IPC in Shanghai is better organized with more functions than the similar communities in Central and Eastern Europe before the crisis. Second, there have been emerging practices of investment promotion catering to the bi-directional investment flows between Italy and China. The central theoretical contribution is that the Italian IPC in Shanghai signals the tension between continuity and chan...
Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 2019
Recent literature has problematized the limits of deeply held assumptions about linear, unidirect... more Recent literature has problematized the limits of deeply held assumptions about linear, unidirectional upgrading trajectories in global value chains (GVCs). As firm and chain trajectories and sources of upgrading have changed in recent years, GVC analysis has adjusted to focus on new emerging actors and new distributions of power within value chains. After a discussion of some limits to the treatment of upgrading in the GVC literature, the paper develops a simple extension of the classical model of upgrading in ways that do not presuppose particular valuations of functional, product, and processes upgrading, and that do not fetishize upgrading as such. The paper works with case studies of four Chinese firms located in Ningbo, China. Each 'wears multiple hats' and together they provide illustrative examples of the limits of linear, unidirectional approaches of upgrading. This simple model has the singular advantage of ensuring that trajectories of business upgrading and downgrading in GVCs can be understood as always open, often operating in diverse and contradictory ways. In this sense, the confusion of upgrading with firm strategy with their regional impacts can be avoided.
ABSTRACT Through an historical analysis, this article discusses outward investments promotion as ... more ABSTRACT Through an historical analysis, this article discusses outward investments promotion as an underexplored aspect of geoeconomics. The empirical focus is on Italy’s institutional support to the internationalization of firms from 1992 to 2015, between the post-socialist transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and the years following the global crisis of 2008. The main argument is that large geopolitical events led to complex interactions between Italy’s firms and policymakers. These interactions reshaped Italy’s geo-economic strategies as well as territorialities. The article identifies the emergence and consolidation of a group of public, semi-public and private actors, thus building a new model of an investment promotion community (IPC). It finds that (a) the IPC emerged to provide an institutional infrastructure necessary to project Italy’s sovereignty beyond national boundaries and (b) in so doing, the elites involved interpreted firms’ needs within broader political issues. Thus, the emergence of the IPC represents a shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics.
Since the early 2000s, the "race to the bottom" that typified the "China price" and the model of ... more Since the early 2000s, the "race to the bottom" that typified the "China price" and the model of export-oriented industrialization has been challenged by various factors, triggering another round of industrial restructuring and producing new economic geographies of production and employment in China. This paper provides a review of existing research on the new economic geographies of China's manufacturing industries. In doing so, we seek to show how critical engagements with China may help us "theorize back" at the dominant discourses and theories in economic geography (e.g., global value chain, global production network, new regionalism, spatial fix, and labor agency theories). Specifically, this paper focuses on two strands of literature that have engaged critically with China and sought to remake the economic geography through new insights from China-one on China's new geographical and industrial dynamics and the other on the issue of labor agency and labor regime in China. We argue that the sheer pace and rapidity of regional dynamics in China provide a fertile ground for new conceptual development, methodological innovation, and empirical insights.
In 2007/2008 the Labour Contract Law was introduced and enacted in China. Responses to the law ha... more In 2007/2008 the Labour Contract Law was introduced and enacted in China. Responses to the law have varied enormously. For many, it represented a major change in the conditions under which workers and employers can enter into contracts and, as a result, it has been seen as an important step in empowering workers to shape their conditions of work. For others, the law lacked teeth and was not implemented. In practice, the law has had different effects within and among different types of firms depending on their ownership structure, product mix, market orientation, size and geographical location. The differences are particularly clear among private sector firms and between and among private and public sector enterprises. This article outlines the conditions and terms of the 1995 Labour Law and how the 2008 Labour Contract Law changes these, particularly for global buyers sourcing from China and for workers and enterprises in China. In particular, it assesses the differential impacts of the new law on permanent and temporary workers in state-owned and private enterprises, and between private-and public-sector employees, with an emphasis in the latter case on the liberalisation, not enhanced protection, of workers' rights.
J-Reading - Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography, 2016
Since investment promotion practices have been a hallmark of the neoliberalizing global economy, ... more Since investment promotion practices have been a hallmark of the neoliberalizing global economy, how these practices changed after the 2008 economic crisis becomes a critical question for the viability of neoliberalism. This article studies the role of an Italian investment promotion community (IPC) in Shanghai in promoting transnational investments between Italy and China. It is based on 12 semi-structured interviews and trade and investment data collected between 2013 and 2014 as well as individual authors’ longer term research in both countries. There are two main findings. First, the Italian IPC in Shanghai is better organized with more functions than the similar communities in Central and Eastern Europe before the crisis. Second, there have been emerging practices of investment promotion catering to the bi-directional investment flows between Italy and China. The central theoretical contribution is that the Italian IPC in Shanghai signals the tension between continuity and chan...
Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 2019
Recent literature has problematized the limits of deeply held assumptions about linear, unidirect... more Recent literature has problematized the limits of deeply held assumptions about linear, unidirectional upgrading trajectories in global value chains (GVCs). As firm and chain trajectories and sources of upgrading have changed in recent years, GVC analysis has adjusted to focus on new emerging actors and new distributions of power within value chains. After a discussion of some limits to the treatment of upgrading in the GVC literature, the paper develops a simple extension of the classical model of upgrading in ways that do not presuppose particular valuations of functional, product, and processes upgrading, and that do not fetishize upgrading as such. The paper works with case studies of four Chinese firms located in Ningbo, China. Each 'wears multiple hats' and together they provide illustrative examples of the limits of linear, unidirectional approaches of upgrading. This simple model has the singular advantage of ensuring that trajectories of business upgrading and downgrading in GVCs can be understood as always open, often operating in diverse and contradictory ways. In this sense, the confusion of upgrading with firm strategy with their regional impacts can be avoided.
ABSTRACT Through an historical analysis, this article discusses outward investments promotion as ... more ABSTRACT Through an historical analysis, this article discusses outward investments promotion as an underexplored aspect of geoeconomics. The empirical focus is on Italy’s institutional support to the internationalization of firms from 1992 to 2015, between the post-socialist transformation of Central and Eastern Europe and the years following the global crisis of 2008. The main argument is that large geopolitical events led to complex interactions between Italy’s firms and policymakers. These interactions reshaped Italy’s geo-economic strategies as well as territorialities. The article identifies the emergence and consolidation of a group of public, semi-public and private actors, thus building a new model of an investment promotion community (IPC). It finds that (a) the IPC emerged to provide an institutional infrastructure necessary to project Italy’s sovereignty beyond national boundaries and (b) in so doing, the elites involved interpreted firms’ needs within broader political issues. Thus, the emergence of the IPC represents a shift from geopolitics to geoeconomics.
Since the early 2000s, the "race to the bottom" that typified the "China price" and the model of ... more Since the early 2000s, the "race to the bottom" that typified the "China price" and the model of export-oriented industrialization has been challenged by various factors, triggering another round of industrial restructuring and producing new economic geographies of production and employment in China. This paper provides a review of existing research on the new economic geographies of China's manufacturing industries. In doing so, we seek to show how critical engagements with China may help us "theorize back" at the dominant discourses and theories in economic geography (e.g., global value chain, global production network, new regionalism, spatial fix, and labor agency theories). Specifically, this paper focuses on two strands of literature that have engaged critically with China and sought to remake the economic geography through new insights from China-one on China's new geographical and industrial dynamics and the other on the issue of labor agency and labor regime in China. We argue that the sheer pace and rapidity of regional dynamics in China provide a fertile ground for new conceptual development, methodological innovation, and empirical insights.
In 2007/2008 the Labour Contract Law was introduced and enacted in China. Responses to the law ha... more In 2007/2008 the Labour Contract Law was introduced and enacted in China. Responses to the law have varied enormously. For many, it represented a major change in the conditions under which workers and employers can enter into contracts and, as a result, it has been seen as an important step in empowering workers to shape their conditions of work. For others, the law lacked teeth and was not implemented. In practice, the law has had different effects within and among different types of firms depending on their ownership structure, product mix, market orientation, size and geographical location. The differences are particularly clear among private sector firms and between and among private and public sector enterprises. This article outlines the conditions and terms of the 1995 Labour Law and how the 2008 Labour Contract Law changes these, particularly for global buyers sourcing from China and for workers and enterprises in China. In particular, it assesses the differential impacts of the new law on permanent and temporary workers in state-owned and private enterprises, and between private-and public-sector employees, with an emphasis in the latter case on the liberalisation, not enhanced protection, of workers' rights.
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