Journal of Economic Geography - current issue

The emerging market for European corporate governance: the relationship between governance and capital expenditures, 1997-2005

Bauer, R., Braun, R., Clark, G. L. — 2008-06-10

We examine European corporate governance with respect to the relationship between shareholder value and capital investment. Based upon Europe's largest listed companies, it is shown that Anglo-American conceptions of shareholder value are increasingly important for European firms whatever their home jurisdictions and inherited traditions. Using annual capital expenditures (CAPEX) as a proxy for corporate managers’ commitment to shareholder value, it is shown, contra arguments to the effect that the map of European corporate governance regimes is fixed and virtually immutable, even large firms from paradigmatic stakeholder regimes believed focused upon long-term value increasingly act to maximize short-term shareholder value. We divide Europe into three regions based on ownership concentration, legal systems, board structures and the presence of corporate governance codes. In this multi-jurisdictional setting, we compare the effects of different elements of corporate governance on CAPEX in each region. Our analysis shows that the overall effect of investor-sensitive corporate governance on CAPEX is consistently negative notwithstanding differences in the formal nature and quality of governance standards between regions. We explain this finding by reference to the governance standards of the United Kingdom: a market for corporate governance that has come to dominate its continental European neighbours.

Getting there fast: globalization, intercontinental flights and location of headquarters

Bel, G., Fageda, X. — 2008-06-10

This article examines the determinants of the location of large firms’ headquarters across a rich sample of European urban areas, focusing on the availability of non-stop intercontinental flights. We also account for the influence of other aspects: the proximity to large markets and specialized providers, congestion and tax costs, the availability of skilled labor, and the role of the urban area in the home country. Controlling for these factors, we find that the availability of direct non-stop flights has a large influence on headquarters’ location. This confirms the importance of transport infrastructures and tacit information exchanges between cities for firm location.

Negotiating cultures of work in transnational law firms

Faulconbridge, J. R. — 2008-06-10

The geographical strategies of transnational corporations have received extensive attention from economic geographers. A particularly important line of study has focused upon the diverse national institutions that create geographically heterogeneous cultures of work. Yet, none of these studies place questions about how global firms act as ‘cultural entrepreneurs’ at the centre of their analysis. This article, therefore, uses the case of transnational law firms to extend theoretical debates about the geographies of learning and best practice through new micro-scale consideration of the way managers in TNCs act as cultural entrepreneurs, driving change in institutionalized cultures of work through strategies that alter the cognitive frames of workers. Drawing primarily on data from interviews, the article reveals how the strategies used by influential partners in transnational law firms to drive changes in cultures of work do not lead to forms of global strong convergence in practice, but converging divergences as cultures change in subtle, often unpredicted ways. It is argued that economic geographers need to pay more attention to the mechanisms of such changes in culture, and the processes of change in national business systems more widely, so as not only to contribute to debates about corporate culture but also the varieties of capitalism.

'The flea on the tail of the dog': power in global production networks and the restructuring of Canadian automotive clusters

Rutherford, T., Holmes, J. — 2008-06-10

Recently, studies of industrial clusters and global production networks (GPNs) between large transnational corporations (TNCs) and smaller firms have focused on how power differentials shape, and sometimes undermine cluster innovation and governance. Such studies raise issues of how to conceptualize TNCs power within GPNs and some economic geographers have adopted approaches that seek to integrate the post-structural insights of actor network theory (ANT) with heterodox and Marxian value theory. Based on a case study of the Canadian automotive industry, we engage in a sympathetic critique of this perspective via a realist position that distinguishes between structural and actual power. We argue that differences in structural position derived from financial size matter, although do not necessarily determine actor network relations. Yet, TNC Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) have a tendential actual or ‘power over’ smaller automotive suppliers due to superior financial resources, their strategic position within GPNs and especially their relationship with state accumulation projects designed to capture those segments of GPNs, which offer the greatest potential for the creation and enhancement of value. We show that such projects were critical to the development of the Canadian automotive industry and the Kitchener and Windsor, Ontario automotive clusters. Although large firms were generally favoured by such policies, suppliers and SMEs were able to partially offset power asymmetries through innovation, often by accessing informal local networks in clusters. More recently, however, smaller component firms and the coherence of these clusters are being threatened by neo-liberal Schumpterian Competition State policies that privilege OEMs and larger firms and by the restructuring of automotive GPNs in response to overcapacity and falling profits.

Walls and bridges: knowledge spillover between 'superdutch' architectural firms

Kloosterman, R. C. — 2008-06-10

Innovation thrives on the face-to-face exchange of tacit knowledge. In this article, the focus is on how firms in a cutting-edge cultural industry, namely architectural design in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, can exchange knowledge. By using in-depth interviews with the main players in this field, I have explored different conduits for the exchange of knowledge. These conduits turned out to be rather different than was expected: the importance of the individual signature creates high walls between firms and no project-based organizations were found. Instead, the spin-offs, the highly mobile labour pool and the dedicated institutions function as bridges for knowledge exchange.

Divide to conquer? Limits to the adaptability of disintegrated, flexible specialization clusters

Press, K. — 2008-06-10

This article investigates the role of disintegration for the adaptability of clusters. It develops a simulation model to test when disintegrated flexible specialization clusters can be more adjustable than those with firm centred, quasi-integrated production networks. The benefits to flexible specialization are conditional on limited product complexity and greater firm numbers. Moreover, flexible specialization increases the risk of firm failure. For the viability of such clusters, strong start-up dynamics are therefore required. These results provide an explanation for the contrasting evidence on flexible specialization and adaptability in Italian districts and the Silicon Valley–Boston 128 case.

Economic geography: a contemporary introduction * Neil Coe, Philip Kelly and Henry Yeung

James, A. — 2008-06-10

Work, locality and the rhythms of capital * Jamie Gough

Lier, D. C. — 2008-06-10

European Cohesion Policy * Willem Molle

Dall'erba, S. — 2008-06-10