Title: Dr' Dominic Power Uppsala University dominic'powerkultgeog'uu'se Technology forces behind globalizat
1Dr. Dominic Power Uppsala Universitydominic.powe
r_at_kultgeog.uu.se Technology forces behind
globalizationEkonomisk geografi
2Next 3 lectures
- Next 3 lectures based on Dicken part 2
- Technology an inevitable force underpinning
globalization? - TNCs the firms that drive globalization and
internationalization? - The state and governance is politics and society
reacting to globalization or in fact laying the
groundwork for it?
3Kap 4 Technology the great growling engine of
change
- The evolutionary perspective on technological
change and economic development - Distance shrinking technology
- New products, new production processes
- The geography of innovation
4An evolutionary perspective?
- Many people see technological change and economic
development as tied together in an evolutionary
relationship - Marx and the technological base
- But we should not forget that evolution is always
contingent and is far from inevitable - Technological development is far from isolated
from the rest of the world (and thus we should be
careful to give it causal primacy and think it is
the base) - War is the locomotive of history Trotsky
- Necessity is the mother of invention
5Technological change a typology
- incremental innovations (stegvisa förändringar av
existerande teknik) - radical innovations (uppfinningar ny produkt,
ny process) - changes in technology system (innovationer som
leder till uppkomst av helt nya
företag/branscher) - changes in the techno-economic paradigm
(innovationer som förändrar alla branscher/hela
samhället)
6- Idea that economic growth happens in long waves
brought about by technology development - 5 Kondratiev-waves and their characteristics
7 Better transport (of things, people and
information) shrinks the world - The death of
distance?
8Uneven time-space convergence
9Trains, planes and automobiles (and boats - 95
percent of world cargo volume still moves by ship)
- 1807 - Comet, first steamship
- 1825 - Stockton to Darlington railway opened
- 1843 - Launch of Brunel's Great Britain, the
first screw-propellor-driven steamship to cross
the Atlantic - 1866 - First successful transatlantic cable the
technologies of communication the telegraph and
the telephone (1880s) revolutionise commerce - 1877-81 First refrigeration ships - frozen meat
to Britain from Argentina, Australia and New
Zealand - 1930-90s - Air and road haulage of goods made
increasingly serious inroads into sea-borne trade
- 1950s Bulk carriers (e.g. oil tankers) and
Container ships developed faster, cheaper,
lower labour costs - Bigger and faster - container ships are now on
average 8 times bigger than in 1970. - Containers spelled the death of distance for
manufacturing
London Docks - unloading port wine from Oporto,
1909
Chiwan Container Terminal 2005 - MSC Pamela, the
world's largest container ship room for 9300
containers/1,2 million 29inch TVs
10The 5th Kondratiev cycle IT Information tech
seen as the driver Increased capacity
inter-continental under water cables
11Broadband/optical cables takes over Atlantic
traffic from satellites But it is not just
increased capacity we are also able to get more
into the capacity we have
12Internetexponential growth (number of hosts)
13Uneven access communications technology
14- Uneven access Internet infrastructure and
backbones 2002
15Uneven access internet usage
16Technical and product development the product
life cycle model
Innovate or evaporate!
17Stages of technological development?
- 7 stages (Edling)
- 1. LIght industry, low capital intensity (raw
materials, hand crafts) - 2. Assembley and light manufacturing (Toys,
clothes) - 3. Heavy industry, consumer electronics (TV, CD
players) - 4. More technology intensive processes and
investments in own brands - 5. High class electronics, export of capital
intensive prodcuts (chemicals, cars, advanced
electronics) - 6. Domestic consumption begins to drive the
market, world leading position in certain
high-tech forms of production (but not
innovation) - 7. Innovation at the forefront of technology
18Technology leading to more effective production
processes historical phases
- Manufacture
- Machinofacture
- Scientific management (Taylorism)
- Fordism
- Post-Fordism/Flexibel specialisering
19Fordism
Flexible specialization
- Standardization
- Scale economies
- Mass production
- Production process
- Vertical integration
- Hierarchial
- Price competition
- Global spread of routine production
- Tailored to the customer
- Flexibility
- Many parts to production
- Product innovation
- Vertical disintegration
- Network
- Dynamic competition
- Agglomerations/ clusters of innovative businesses
20Variation on the same theme
21Just-in-time replaces Just-in-Case .
22Geography of Innovation
- Be careful not to confuse technological
development with innovation innovation involves
a whole lot more