Towards A New Map Of Automobile Manufacturing In Europe

This book is the product of four years of collaborative work within the framework of the European Science Foundation's Regional and Urban Restructuring in Europe (RURE) programme. With one exception, all of the chapters have been prepared by participants in RURE - the exception being that commissioned from Conti and Enrietti on Fiat and Italy to provide a fuller coverage of changes in the main automobile producing companies and countries of Europe. A - perhaps the - central theme around which the RURE programme was conceived is that the restructuring of the production system lies at the heart of the changing map of Europe. Equally, it continues to be the case that the automobile industry lies at the cutting edge of the search for viable new models of production. Some eighty years ago the automobile industry occupied a pivotal position in the transition from craft to mass production - indeed "Fordism" came to denote not just a particular micro-economic model of production organisation in the factory but a macro-scale model of economic development, characterized by a particular pattern of relations between mass production, mass consumption and national state regulation. From the late 1960s, however, it became increasingly clear that Fordism as a macro-scale model of advanced capitalist development was reaching its limits.

This book is the product of four years of collaborative work within the framework of the European Science Foundation's Regional and Urban Restructuring in Europe (RURE) programme. With one exception, all of the chapters have been prepared by participants in RURE - the exception being that commissioned from Conti and Enrietti on Fiat and Italy to provide a fuller coverage of changes in the main automobile producing companies and countries of Europe. A - perhaps the - central theme around which the RURE programme was conceived is that the restructuring of the production system lies at the heart of the changing map of Europe. Equally, it continues to be the case that the automobile industry lies at the cutting edge of the search for viable new models of production. Some eighty years ago the automobile industry occupied a pivotal position in the transition from craft to mass production - indeed "Fordism" came to denote not just a particular micro-economic model of production organisation in the factory but a macro-scale model of economic development, characterized by a particular pattern of relations between mass production, mass consumption and national state regulation. From the late 1960s, however, it became increasingly clear that Fordism as a macro-scale model of advanced capitalist development was reaching its limits.

This book is the product of four years of collaborative work within the framework of the European Science Foundation's Regional and Urban Restructuring in Europe (RURE) programme. With one exception, all of the chapters have been prepared by participants in RURE - the exception being that commissioned from Conti and Enrietti on Fiat and Italy to provide a fuller coverage of changes in the main automobile producing companies and countries of Europe. A - perhaps the - central theme around which the RURE programme was conceived is that the restructuring of the production system lies at the heart of the changing map of Europe. Equally, it continues to be the case that the automobile industry lies at the cutting edge of the search for viable new models of production. Some eighty years ago the automobile industry occupied a pivotal position in the transition from craft to mass production - indeed "Fordism" came to denote not just a particular micro-economic model of production organisation in the factory but a macro-scale model of economic development, characterized by a particular pattern of relations between mass production, mass consumption and national state regulation. From the late 1960s, however, it became increasingly clear that Fordism as a macro-scale model of advanced capitalist development was reaching its limits.

′The social and political power of the verity that there are no such things as economies, only economic geographies demands an analysis of the complex flows and relations implied by it. At last, here is a book – the book - which addresses the questions central to the critical understanding of economies and their formative geographies. This is a highly creative and transformative contribution′ Roger Lee, Professor of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London How do we conceptualise the production and re-production of social life? What are the most appropriate ways to conceptualise capitalist economies and their geographies? Economic Geographies integrates ideas of structure, agency, and practice to provide: · a detailed overview of recent key debates in economic geography: from political-economy and Marxism to post-structuralism · an explanation of the of relations between production, retail and consumption, governance and regulation · a discussion of the economy in terms of circuits, flows, and spaces that systematically relates the material to the cultural Economic Geographies is a systematic audit of related developments in economic geography and the social sciences: these include consumption; economy and nature; and culture. The text will be required reading for upper-level undergraduates on courses in economic geography.

In common with most other advanced capitalist economies of the Global North, the UK has experienced a decline in the manufacturing industry and an increase in the service sector in recent decades. At the same time, there has been a substantial manufacturing growth in a number of countries in the Global South, especially China and India. Why have these changes occurred? What have been their economic and ecological consequences? How can we best understand the way the contemporary economy functions? This book explores the answers to these questions, proposing that the contemporary capitalist economy is best understood as a complex socio-spatial system of co-production involving relations between people, things and non-human entities. It is argued that these people typically have conflicting and competitive interests yet can come together to resolve their differences or find ways of regulating their conflicting interests. National states continue to have a critical role in establishing these systems of regulation. At the same time, many companies draw on the knowledge of their customers while others enrol animals, insects and plants as co-producers. As a result, the improbable processes of commodity production and capital accumulation continue more or less routinely; with problems and occasional crises overcome in a variety of ways. Co-produced Economies will be of interest to students of economic geography, political economy and economic development, and more generally to social scientists interested in issues of the causes and consequences of economic change. It will also be of relevance to policy makers seeking to develop economic policies in the increasingly volatile global economy and in the context of growing environmental concerns.

The New European Automobile Industry is about the struggle for survival going on among the assembler and components firms which constitute the European automobile industry. It describes and explains the competitive, structural, organisational and technological changes currently sweeping the industry and outlines the spatial and economic effects of those changes. The empirical core of the book is a study of a number of technology fields in automobile components. These sections draw on the latest research carried out by the authors in Europe through which they evaluate the extent to which lean production techniques have permeated the vehicle assemblers and components industry.

Drawing upon 25 years of original research, Production, Places and Environment provides a unique combination of rich, varied and theoretically informed case studies, along with more general analyses of processes and changing theoretical and methodological perspectives in economic geography that are informed by original empirical research. Through a huge range of his own groundbreaking case material the author explores such essential factors as space, production, social and political concerns, and environmental issues, being careful to ground the more complex theory in the more general tendencies in economic geography and the social sciences.

This volume looks at the temporal and volatile ways in which Frankfurt and Tel Aviv engage the global economy and function as nodes within global networks. Drawing on a combination of qualitative and quantitative empirical studies of leading sectors, it systematically analyzes the process of network formation and highlights the role of national and regional policy. It will be of interest to academics, researchers, practitioners and policymakers working in urban and economic geography, public policy and economic development.