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Book
The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy
(2015)
Abstract
Much of the literature and debate over the last decade has been on understanding service-based economies, neglecting manufacturing and its effects on the economy. The current financial crisis has been associated with political debates that revolve around the ‘real’ economy and a call for rebalancing regional and national economies. Over the last decade or so, manufacturing has been transformed but academic understanding has not kept pace with these alterations. Many of these alterations revolve around the development of new forms of expertise-driven manufacturing, new geographies of production, jobless growth and new forms of financialisation applied to manufacturing. These on-going transformations suggest that it is timely to explore the development of a new geography of manufacturing. This book highlights contributions that critically engage in understanding manufacturing and production. It seeks to bring together papers that explore the dynamics of manufacturing theoretically and empirically to advance debates and understanding of manufacturing from pre- to post-industrial worlds. The book also seeks to develop conversations between different but often unrelated debates in economic geography, for example manufacturing and financialisation, manufacturing and creative work,manufacturing and logistics or manufacturing and consumption. Chapter examine topics including, but not restricted to: • theory and method as well as theoretically grounded empirical analysis production process, pre and post production (from raw materials to marketing, design, and consumption including embedded services and supporting services), factors of production, financialisation. • product and process innovation including innovation in the geographic organization of production and consumer-informed innovation (end-user or participatory innovation). • rethinking, redefining, and reconceptualizing the concept of manufacturing and/or production in the twenty-first century. • the on-going evolution of the spatial division of labor. • Global Value Chains, Commodity Chains, and Global Production Network as well as alternative ways of conceptualizing the production process. • the role manufacturers play in the making market/s. • manufacturing and logistics including supply chain management. • studies that explore different types of manufacturing firm – contract manufacturers, virtual manufacturers, original design manufacturers, original equipment manufacturers. • case studies (of all forms) of small, medium, and large manufacturing firms, and all subsector studies (process chemicals, automotive, aerospace, energy, agricultural equipment, consumer products, etc.). • the impacts of new technologies including 3D printing. • studies that explore manufacturing in particular regional or national settings. • strategies and policies that attempt and/or assist in bolstering the manufacturing sector. • the relationship between manufacturing and consumption. • manufacturing impact on society and economy ranging from wages, wage security, to social benefits and labor reproduction.
Keywords
  • manufacturing,
  • economic geography,
  • industry studies
Publication Date
Summer June 1, 2015
Editor
John R. Bryson, Jennifer Clark, Vida Vanchan
Publisher
Edward Elgar
ISBN
978 1 78100 392 3
Publisher Statement
The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy provides a critical and multi-disciplinary state-of-the-art review and analysis of current manufacturing processes, practices and policies. Expanding our knowledge and understanding of production and innovation, this volume demonstrates that manufacturing continues to matter in the world economy.

The contributors, including scholars ranging from engineering to policy to economic geography, cover manufacturing policy and the revival of the industrial base in the US, UK and Canada, and engage national and regional strategies for implementing advanced manufacturing policies. Questions of economic resilience in the wake of the recent recession are asked, and industry and firm case studies are utilised in an international comparative context. Applying a wide range of international cases from the US, EU, Australia and Asia, this approach allows readers to view transformations in production systems and processes across sectors, technologies and industries.

Students, scholars and policymakers in the fields of public policy, economic geography, city and regional planning, and business and management will find this collection invaluable in understanding how firms and industries adapt, through dynamic and design-driven strategies, to produce for established and emerging markets. 
Citation Information
Bryson, John R., Jennifer Clark, and Vida Vanchan, Eds. (2015 hardback; 2016 paperback) The Handbook of Manufacturing Industries in the World Economy. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.