1st Edition

Regional Change in Industrializing Asia Regional and Local Responses to Changing Competitiveness

By Leo van Grunsven Copyright 1998
    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1998 this boo responds to the dynamics of Industrializing Asia and the behavioural changes of actors which, in response to changing internal and external forces, have given rise to and are constantly giving rise to alterations in patterns of growth. From a geographical perspective, these are expressed in regional change, understood as a reconstruction of spatial organization. The imperatives of dynamic comparative advantage, changing global or regional competitiveness, and regional competition, faced by different actors, entities or territorial units can be identified as important forces underlying and shaping regional change. This volume provides further illumination, contextualization and interpretation of the spatiality of the economic reality in Industrializing Asia, as well as the role played by, and the implications for, different actors.

    The objectives of this book are 1) to outline the processes of regional change, linked to responses in the form of restructuring and integrative and regionalization tendencies, as well as the realignment of the global-regional-local divide in production systems/complexes and the operation of firms associated with reorganization of production in the process of maintaining and reconfiguring comparative advantage; 2) to highlight the wide scope of the process by considering differential units of analysis, linked to the agents and manifestations of regional change, and the role of scale in terms of the spatial units involved; 3) to highlight the implications as to the current and future position or role of differential actors/agents (particularly nation state) in shaping the new economic reality in the region and as a corollary, its positioning in the global economic order.

    1. Introduction: Regional Change in Industrializing Asia. Leo van Grunsven. 2. Asia Pacific Regionalization: Reality and Rhetoric. Geoff Missen and John McKay. 3. Economic Integration of the ASEAN Countries. Erja Kettunen. 4. Intra-Regional Division of Labour and Industrial Change in East Asia. Emerging High-Technology Interaction between Korea and Taiwan. Claes G. Alvstam and Sang-Chul Park. 5. Diaspora Investment and Their Regional Impacts in China. Chung-Tong Wu. 6. Industrial Restructuring in the Asian NIEs, the Behaviour of Firms and the Dynamics of Local Production Systems. The Case of Audio Production in Singapore. Leo van Grunsven. 7. Paths of Development in the Japanese Automotive Industry. Changing Competitiveness and the Just-in-Time System. Bo Terje Kalsaas. 8. Local-Global Networks of High-Technology Industrial Districts in Korea. Sam Ock Park. 9. World City Futures: The Role of Urban and Regional Policies in the Asia Pacific Region. John Friedmann. 10. Economic Integration or Interdependence? The Nation State and the Changing Economic Landscape of Southeast Asia. Carl Grundy-Warr and Martin Perry.

    Biography

    Leo van Grunsven

    ’...provides much needed empirical analysis of industrial and economic processes operating at the national and regional scales in Asia...some interesting insights into the multi-faceted nature of dynamic transformations in Asia.’ Third World Planning Review ’...certainly add a new dimension to our understanding of the changes that are taking place in East and South East Asia.’ Journal of Contemporary Asia Publishers ’...this edited volume is welcome...covering a wide range of issues, very contextualised, informative and interpretively insightful...a succession bringing out new illumination, contextualisation and interpretation of the spatiality of the economic reality in industrializing Asia.’ Journal of Economic and Social Geography ’...the book will be useful for readers who are just beginning to take an interest in the implications of regional changes in industrializing Asia Pacific...’ Journal of Regional Science ’...a lively collection of papers that add fascinating insights into the world’s most dynamic region. Students of the region and of industrial location dynamics in general have much to ponder in this volume.’ Progress in Human Geography