Abstract:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full D… Show more
“…Moreover, and in line with recent calls for greater context sensitivity in GPN, my analysis has highlighted the negative impact of ‘larger social, cultural and political‐economic environments’ (Bair, : 168; cf. Schmitt & Schulz, ; McGrath, ) on recycling networks in Kolkata. I have described this situation as a form of territorial dis‐embeddedness associated with the societal embeddedness of recycling actors as ‘outsiders’ and/or low‐status Muslims or Dalits.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In this article, I draw on a broader notion of ‘societal embeddedness’ (cf. McGrath, ), that is, ‘the non‐economic, social relations in and through which firms operate’ (Crang et al ., ) in recycling networks. This differs from the notion commonly used in the GPN literature (Hess, ), in that it puts an emphasis on the social, cultural and in fact political contexts (cf.…”
Section: Environmental Change In Economic Geographymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…As McGrath (: 513) has pointed out, ‘value can be seen as socially, politically, historically, geographically, and discursively determined’, which has implications for the potential to create, enhance and capture value. The confluence of unfavourable social, cultural and political conditions shaping Kolkata's recycling networks is conducive to the ‘transfer’ (McGrath, : 513) of value from marginalized actors in the up‐stream sourcing segments of the recycling network, who lack social recognition and subsequently obtain a weaker position in price negotiations compared to already powerful economic actors, thus safeguarding the economic supremacy of the latter. This also negatively affects the value capture of economically powerful actors in the down‐stream segments, which highlights the social, cultural and political contexts of entangled economic and environmental change.…”
Section: The Contested Social Metabolism Of Plastic Recycling Networkmentioning
This article introduces plastic recycling networks in Kolkata, India, as a case to illustrate the contradictory entanglement of economic and environmental change in urban informal contexts of the Global South. In light of the prevailing environmental critique of informal plastic recycling in India, this article discusses plastic recyclers’ environmental impact and contribution as well as the potential to enhance the environmental and economic performance of their business. Network and chain approaches in the emerging field of Environmental Economic Geography are combined with the notion of social metabolism to conceptualize the entanglement of environmental and economic processes as well as socio‐environmental inequalities entailed in recycling networks. The analysis reveals the impact that the heterogeneity and fluctuation of plastic waste supply has on the economic organization of recycling networks, giving rise to distinct forms of governance in its intermediate and down‐stream segments. Such an integrated perspective also serves to explain why environmental upgrading is hard to achieve under prevailing circumstances by plastic recyclers in Kolkata. Based on an assessment of the social and political conditions of informality under which plastic recyclers operate, the adoption of common assumptions about ecological modernization imbuing parts of Environmental Economic Geography is called into question.
“…Moreover, and in line with recent calls for greater context sensitivity in GPN, my analysis has highlighted the negative impact of ‘larger social, cultural and political‐economic environments’ (Bair, : 168; cf. Schmitt & Schulz, ; McGrath, ) on recycling networks in Kolkata. I have described this situation as a form of territorial dis‐embeddedness associated with the societal embeddedness of recycling actors as ‘outsiders’ and/or low‐status Muslims or Dalits.…”
Section: Resultsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In this article, I draw on a broader notion of ‘societal embeddedness’ (cf. McGrath, ), that is, ‘the non‐economic, social relations in and through which firms operate’ (Crang et al ., ) in recycling networks. This differs from the notion commonly used in the GPN literature (Hess, ), in that it puts an emphasis on the social, cultural and in fact political contexts (cf.…”
Section: Environmental Change In Economic Geographymentioning
confidence: 99%
“…As McGrath (: 513) has pointed out, ‘value can be seen as socially, politically, historically, geographically, and discursively determined’, which has implications for the potential to create, enhance and capture value. The confluence of unfavourable social, cultural and political conditions shaping Kolkata's recycling networks is conducive to the ‘transfer’ (McGrath, : 513) of value from marginalized actors in the up‐stream sourcing segments of the recycling network, who lack social recognition and subsequently obtain a weaker position in price negotiations compared to already powerful economic actors, thus safeguarding the economic supremacy of the latter. This also negatively affects the value capture of economically powerful actors in the down‐stream segments, which highlights the social, cultural and political contexts of entangled economic and environmental change.…”
Section: The Contested Social Metabolism Of Plastic Recycling Networkmentioning
This article introduces plastic recycling networks in Kolkata, India, as a case to illustrate the contradictory entanglement of economic and environmental change in urban informal contexts of the Global South. In light of the prevailing environmental critique of informal plastic recycling in India, this article discusses plastic recyclers’ environmental impact and contribution as well as the potential to enhance the environmental and economic performance of their business. Network and chain approaches in the emerging field of Environmental Economic Geography are combined with the notion of social metabolism to conceptualize the entanglement of environmental and economic processes as well as socio‐environmental inequalities entailed in recycling networks. The analysis reveals the impact that the heterogeneity and fluctuation of plastic waste supply has on the economic organization of recycling networks, giving rise to distinct forms of governance in its intermediate and down‐stream segments. Such an integrated perspective also serves to explain why environmental upgrading is hard to achieve under prevailing circumstances by plastic recyclers in Kolkata. Based on an assessment of the social and political conditions of informality under which plastic recyclers operate, the adoption of common assumptions about ecological modernization imbuing parts of Environmental Economic Geography is called into question.
“…Attention is given to the competitive dynamics of these firms (optimising cost‐capability ratios, market imperatives, and financial discipline) and their risk environments. While this deepening of firm‐centricity has attracted critical attention (see McGrath, ; Yeung, ), it retains sufficient potential in unearthing strategic coupling logics and processes. After all, the original focus of the GPN framework—how flows generated by production networks are entwined with spatial development—remains intact: In order to understand the dynamics of development in a given place, […] we must comprehend how places are being transformed by flows of capital, labour, knowledge, power etc.…”
Section: Strategic Coupling In Gpns: Assumptions and Limitationsmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…(Henderson et al, 2002, p. 438, emphases‐in‐original)The orientation of the GPN framework towards place‐specific development is a significant conceptual advance as it offers a focalised vision of the regional scale—already identified in the 1990s as key “motors” of the global economy—as platforms for synergistic interchanges between economic and development geography (cf. McGrath, ; Vira & James, ). To Coe et al (, p. 469), regional development is construed “as a dynamic outcome of the complex interaction between territorialized relational networks and global production networks within the context of changing regional governance structures.” Institutional efforts within regions are thereby not independent of private financial capital and expertise; rather, these institutions must engage in the previously mentioned “strategic coupling” with the multifaceted needs of TNCs.…”
Section: Strategic Coupling In Gpns: Assumptions and Limitationsmentioning
This paper critically evaluates the relationship between state capitalism and "strategic coupling" within global production networks (GPN). It underscores specifically the lack of cases on "coupling" involving state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from developing countries and city-regions within developed countries. Most existing studies focus on the connection between regions in developing economies with lead firms originating from developed economies. This leaves open a conceptual and empirical gap as SOEs from developing countries (like those of China and India) are (1) increasingly becoming lead firms in their own right and (2) investing in developed economies. Against this backdrop, this paper highlights conceptually significant points from the acquisition of Nexen, a Canada-based oil and gas TNC, by CNOOC, a large Chinese SOE, and argues for a fresh research agenda that examines the strategic coupling of lead firms that are also SOEs from developing economies.The state capitalist countries do not exist apart from the rest of world capitalism; they are an integral part of it, one where state ownership and state enterprise have become the predominant institutional form for the operation of the economic mechanism of capitalism. (Buick & Crump, 1986, p. 15) State action and inaction is often a key aspect of GVC/GPN research narratives (about firms, regions, nations), but is rarely placed in the foreground, and even more rarely, given due theoretical consideration.
Contemporary capitalism is characterized by a high degree of economic globalization; uneven regional, national, and international development; and increasing fragmentation of production activities within and across borders, among other things. The global production network (GPN) framework has been developed in economic geography and cognate disciplines since the turn of the century as a heuristic device and more recently a theoretical approach to better understand and analyze these processes and their implications for regional socioeconomic development. GPNs are socially and geographically embedded, multiscalar systems of value creation, enhancement, and capture, orchestrated and governed by complex networks of firms, governments, and civil society actors. Their dynamics and configurations have powerful consequences for development, from the local to the global, catching the attention of researchers but also more recently policymakers and international organizations.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
