1st Edition
Worldwide Knowledge? Global Firms, Local Labour and the Region
Putting forward a comprehensive view of knowledge with a specific perspective on place and space, this book provides a new perspective on the globalisation of knowledge. Crossing disciplinary boundaries, the principal agenda of this volume is to open up a perspective ’beyond knowledge’ - i.e. beyond the interpretation of knowledge as scientific-technical knowledge. Author Martina Fuchs introduces further kinds of knowledge and interpretation which influence managements’ perception of globalisation and therefore the knowledge which is going global. She refers to knowledge in the sense of experiences, competencies in the production and labour process, as well as mutually shared mental constructs which are embedded in a context of understanding and interpretation. Exploring beyond the meaning of worldwide knowledge as general open access knowledge, this book also discusses barriers to knowledge, problems of transfer, and the influence of governance and control.
Biography
Martina Fuchs is Professor at the Department of Economic and Social Geography, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Cologne, Germany.
’Putting the global proliferation of knowledge, interpretation, learning and expertise centre stage, this book offers novel and illuminative perspectives even to experts of globalisation. Some of the most intangible and elusive concomitants of internationalised production are exposed, which reveals how rising producers in the Southern periphery challenge the powers of maturing industries in the North.’ Martina Fromhold-Eisebith, RWTH Aachen University, Germany ’The rapid dispersion of production-related knowledge to places outside the core economies has become an important feature in the accelerating process of globalization. At the same time research and development activities by multinational companies are increasingly being located in previously peripheral regions. Martina Fuchs has produced a timely and insightful account of this fascinating process, accompanied by well-chosen, illustrative empirical examples from different parts of the world.’ Claes G. Alvstam, University of Gothenburg, Sweden ’With the persistent internationalization of business, what is happening to the knowledge necessary to manage and upgrade corporate operations? This book is a stimulating invitation to participate in drawing the complex, evolving map of corporate knowledge in the global economy. Martina Fuchs proposes a multidimensional account of knowledge and interpretation to suggest that its global dynamics eschew any simple North-South divisions and its creation and use are more entwined with local circumstances.’ Päivi Oinas, Turku School of Economics, University of Turku, Finland
