Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (Contributions in Economics and Economic History)

In the past two decades, industrialization on a world scale has undergone significant shifts. This volume develops a new set of conceptual categories for analyzing new patterns of global economic organization. The contributors to this volume explore and elaborate the global commodity chains (GCCs) approach, which reformulates the basic conceptual categories for analyzing new patterns of global organization and change. The GCC framework allows the authors to pose questions about contemporary development issues that are not easily handled by previous paradigms and to more adequately forge the macro-micro links between processes that are generally assumed to be discretely contained within global, national, and local units of analysis. The paradigm that GCCs embody is a network-centered, historical approach that probes above and below the level of the nation-state to better analyze structure and change in the contemporary world. Introduction : Global Commodity Chains / Gary Gereffi, Miguel Korzeniewicz, And Roberto P. Korzeniewicz -- Commodity Chains : Construct And Research / Terence K. Hopkins And Immanuel Wallerstein -- The Shipbuilding Commodity Chain, 1590-1790 / Eyüp Özveren -- The Grain Flour Commodity Chain, 1590-1790 / Sheila Pelizzon -- Conclusions About Commodity Chains / Terence K. Hopkins And Immanuel Wallerstein -- Competition, Time, And Space In Industrial Change / Erica Schoenberger -- The Global Distribution Of Commodity Chains / Roberto P. Korzeniewicz And William Martin -- The Organization Of Buyer-driven Global Commodity Chains : How U.s. Retailers Shape Overseas Production Networks / Gary Gereffi -- Where Is The Chain In Commodity Chains? : The Service Sector Nexus / Eileen Rabach And Eun Mee Kim -- Institutionalizing Flexibility : A Comparative Analysis Of Fordist And Post-fordist Models Of Third World Agro-export Production / Laura T. Raynolds -- The New Spatial Division Of Labor And Commodity Chains In The Greater South China Economic Region / Xiangming Chen -- Commodity Chains And Industrial Restructuring In The Pacific Rim : Garment Trade And Manufacturing / Richard P. Appelbaum, David Smith, And Brad Christerson -- Strategic Reorientations Of U.s. Apparel Firms / Ian M. Taplin -- Automobile Commodity Chains In The Nics : A Comparison Of South Korea, Mexico, And Brazil / Naeyoung Lee And Jeffrey Cason -- Commodity Chains And Marketing Strategies : Nike And The Global Athletic Footwear Industry / Miguel Korzeniewicz -- Fresh Demand : The Consumption Of Chilean Produce In The United States / Walter L. Goldfrank -- Commodity Chains And The Korean Automobile Industry / Hyung Kook Kim And Su-hoon Lee -- Cocaine, Commodity Chains, And Drug Politics : A Transnational Approach / Suzanne Wilson And Marta Zambrano. Edited By Gary Gereffi And Miguel Korzeniewicz. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [317]-319) And Index. "The current restructuring of the world-economy under global capitalism has further integrated international trade and production. It thus has brought to the fore the key role of commodity chains in the relationships of capital, labor, and states. Commodity chains are most simply defined as the link between successive processes of manufacturing that result in a final product available for individual consumption. Each production site in the chain involves organizing the acquisition of necessary raw materials plus semifinished inputs, the recruitment of labor power and its provisioning, arranging transportation to the next site, and the construction of modes of distribution (via markets and transfers) and consumption. The contributors to this volume explore and elaborate the global commodity chains (GCCs) approach, which reformulates the basic conceptual categories for analyzing varied patterns of global organization and change. The GCC framework allows the authors to pose questions about development issues, past and present, that are not easily handled by previous paradigms and to more adequately forge the macro-micro links between processes that are generally assumed to be discretely contained within global, national, and local units of analysis. The paradigm that GCCs embody is a network-centered, historical approach that probes above and below the level of the nation-state to better analyze structure and change in the contemporary world." -- Provided by publisher Commodity chains link the processes of manufacturing that result in a final product available for individual consumption. This book explores the global commodity chains approach, which reformulates the basic conceptual categories for analysing patterns of global organisation and change