Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the integration of the local context in the global economy. However, it
is important to stress once more that, as for the firm, not only may dif-
ferent typologies partially overlap in the same geographical area, but
also distinct models can be simultaneously at work within some regional
boundaries. As different layers of geography can be employed for ana-
lytical and policy analysis, one of the major difficulties for policy makers
lies precisely in identifying and applying the appropriate spatial scale of
intervention. Recent evidence (OECD 2011a, b; Dijkstra et al. 2012) sug-
gests that productivity growth in many countries is now starting to spread
out from many of the core city-regions, regions which clearly dominated
economic growth in the first decade of modern globalization, but which
now are facing greater competition from outer-lying areas. As such, these
emerging spatial trends may offer increased opportunities for MNEs to
explore new locations away from the global city-regions over the coming
decades. A dynamic view, however, is essential in order to understand and
identify how these interregional changes impact on the knowledge char-
acteristics of localities, and this is important both from the perspective of
MNE decision-makers and also from the perspective of policy-makers.
An evolutionary approach is very powerful where such an identification
process is required, because as we have seen in this topic these approaches
focus on the ways in which the relations between the firm and spatial
features are subject to change over time (Boschma 2009). Given that the
limited stock of theoretical tools presently available to us for analysing
these changing aspects of MNE-geography interactions, the arguments in
this topic suggest that the best way forward is to follow a rather heuristic
evolutionary approach built around the knowledge taxonomy discussed
in Chapter 5 and centring on the changes in the knowledge-technology-
innovation relationships between the MNE affiliate and its surround-
ings. Therefore, in order to improve our understanding of these changes
an increased stock of detailed and explicitly geographical case studies of
MNEs would be very helpful indeed. This is because to a large extent, it is
the regional historical evolution that determines both the available policy
options and also the probable outcomes of regional development policies
in today's integrated global economy.
9.2
IMPLICATIONS OF OUR ANALYSIS
FOR THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF
MULTINATIONALISM
Following the arguments in this topic the political economy of multina-
tionalism over the coming decades would appear to depend much less on
