Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
activities, the concentration of trade in these blocks has also been
increasing consistently, to the point that many scholars prefer to
use the term 'Triadization', instead of Globalization, of the world
economic activity.
FDI figures for the most recent years are rather volatile, due
to the uncertainties brought about by the economic crisis since
2008 and the still rather fragile recovery at the world-wide level.
However, it is worth pointing out that the most recent trends have
shown a strong resilience of developing and transition econo-
mies, that have registered an enormous increase in their relative
weight in international production networks, in contrast with the
contraction or very slow pace of foreign investment from and into
developed countries, particularly the European core countries
(UNCTAD 2010). In 2010, developing and transition economies
increased remarkably their importance both as FDI recipients -
absorbing more than half of global FDI inflows and representing
half of the top-20 host economies - and as investors - accounting
for 29 per cent of global FDI outflows and being increasingly
represented in the top-20 of the world's investors (UNCTAD
2011). These positive trends, however, mask a high variation
in the geographical distribution of the involvement in foreign
production, with East and South-East Asia, and Latin America
increasing their shares at the expenses of other weaker develop-
ing economics (UNCTAD 2011). Some of the players in the Triad
may lose ground, but a really 'global' convergence remains to be
confirmed.
the world becoming more alike? Some have argued that both of these are
so, and that the world is becoming in some economic and social sense flat
(e.g., O'Brien 1992; Ohmae 1995; Cairncross 1997; Friedman 2005). It is a
claim that advances in technology and business organization have enabled
actors anywhere in the world, be they consumers, investors, entrepreneurs,
or firms, to link up and do business with others anywhere with such ease
and accessibility that obviates the advantages that once were accrued to
those who were attached to favoured localities, regions or nations. The
'flat world' thesis implies that economic activities can be done just as well
in India as America, by small firms as by large firms, because we are in the
age of the network organization, and these networks are global.
The story of flatness rests on two big claims, one of which is geographi-
cal and one of which is organizational. Many have claimed that distance
