The Organization of Production and the Production of Organization: Why Business Enterprises Matter in the Study of Geographical Industrialization

Abstract

In the complex set of economic, social, political and cultural processes which interact to create a continuously changing and uneven geographical structure of economic activity the role of the business enterprise remains central. This paper first addresses Walker's (1989) critique of 'corporate geography' and argues that business organization does matter. Particular emphasis is placed upon the need to take a broader socio-organizational view of the business enterprise in which transactional relationships between, and within, business organizations are conceptualized in terms of differential power relationships within interdependent production systems. Both intra- and inter-firm structures are best seen as complex networks of enormous diversity. Business organizations organize production systems but are themselves produced through an historical process of embedding. Geographical industrialization needs to be seen, therefore, not only in terms of changing industry trajectories but also in terms of dynamic webs of power relationships.