Globalization, networks and regions

Globalization has caused students of international trade and of technological change to rediscover the significance of time and place in their explanatory models. If one accepts the proposition that institutional and technological changes are the main driving forces of globalization, one may raise the following questions: (1) To what extent does history matter, i.e., how strongly are competitive advantages of nations and regions shaped by initial conditions and path dependence? (2) Has the increasing international mobility of information, especially of technological information, replaced hierarchies with networks, in the process undermining the technological hegemony of the old industrialized economies? (3) How have these developments affected the location of production, and therefore the significance of regions as cohesive economic units? Attempts to answer these questions can be based on old and new theoretical insights, combined with empirical evidence. Answers will always remain tentative, however, because of the essential unpredictability of future technological advances

Globalization, networks and regions

Globalization has caused students of international trade and of technological change to rediscover the significance of time and place in their explanatory models. If one accepts the proposition that institutional and technological changes are the main driving forces of globalization, one may raise the following questions: (1) To what extent does history matter, i.e., how strongly are competitive advantages of nations and regions shaped by initial conditions and path dependence? (2) Has the increasing international mobility of information, especially of technological information, replaced hierarchies with networks, in the process undermining the technological hegemony of the old industrialized economies? (3) How have these developments affected the location of production, and therefore the significance of regions as cohesive economic units? Attempts to answer these questions can be based on old and new theoretical insights, combined with empirical evidence. Answers will always remain tentative, however, because of the essential unpredictability of future technological advances.

Comparing a new technology with its predecessor--Steel making

This paper examines the physical and economic performance of a major innovation in steel making, the Basic Oxygen Furnace, and compares it with the performance of the traditional, open-hearth process. Evaluations are based on actual records from five American plants, covering three different time periods, and are set against engineering and management expectations as to the innovation's effects. Interviews with managers and technical personnel complemented the statistical findings. The analysis considers: how the attractiveness of the innovation was determined ex ante; the relative accuracy of the expected technological and economic expectations; the interactions of the innovation with the surrounding production system; and the objectives of post-installation technical and managerial adaptations.