IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v34y2002i8p1333-1353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Risk, Activity Modularization, Sourcing, and Economic Geography

Author

Listed:
  • Robert B Penfold

    (Department of Geography, University of Toronto, Sidney Smith Hall, 100 St. George Street, Room 5047, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3G3, Canada)

Abstract

Economic geography is fundamentally concerned with describing spatial variation in the economic landscape and explaining the processes through which this geography takes form. Firms are the primary units through which these processes operate. I reinterpret portfolio theory to provide a novel way of explaining and modeling the spatial implications of control structures and organizational decisions within and between firms. In this paper, I argue that each activity of the firm is like an asset with an expected rate of return and a level of risk. Firms implement spatial strategies to manage risk that trade profits for reductions in risk. These strategies encourage geographic switching and perpetuate regional disequilibria in production technology and employment. Risk management and the structure of control in a production chain explain the geographic distribution of economic activity better than do transaction costs, flexible specialization, or agglomeration economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert B Penfold, 2002. "Risk, Activity Modularization, Sourcing, and Economic Geography," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(8), pages 1333-1353, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:34:y:2002:i:8:p:1333-1353
    DOI: 10.1068/a34146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a34146
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a34146?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anders Malmberg & Bo Malmberg & Per Lundequist, 2000. "Agglomeration and Firm Performance: Economies of Scale, Localisation, and Urbanisation among Swedish Export Firms," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 32(2), pages 305-321, February.
    2. Paul Krugman & Anthony J. Venables, 1995. "Globalization and the Inequality of Nations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(4), pages 857-880.
    3. Bennett Harrison & Maryellen R. Kelley & Jon Gant, 1996. "Innovative Firm Behavior and Local Milieu: Exploring the Intersection of Agglomeration, Firm Effects, and Technological Change," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 72(3), pages 233-258, July.
    4. Frank Chen & Zvi Drezner & Jennifer K. Ryan & David Simchi-Levi, 2000. "Quantifying the Bullwhip Effect in a Simple Supply Chain: The Impact of Forecasting, Lead Times, and Information," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 46(3), pages 436-443, March.
    5. Gordon L. Clark & Neil Wrigley, 1997. "The Spatial Configuration of the Firm and the Management of Sunk Costs," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(3), pages 285-304, July.
    6. Ron Sanchez, 1997. "Preparing for an Uncertain Future," International Studies of Management & Organization, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(2), pages 71-94, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Otto Raspe & Frank Oort, 2011. "Growth of new firms and spatially bounded knowledge externalities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 495-518, June.
    2. Giulio Cainelli & Eleonora Di Maria & Roberto Ganau, 2011. "Agglomeration, related-variety and internationalisation. Does a relationship exist?," Openloc Working Papers 1114, Public policies and local development.
    3. Joël Cariolle & David A Carroll, 2020. "Digital Technologies for Small and Medium Enterprises and job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers hal-03004583, HAL.
    4. Danielle Galliano & Pascale Roux, 2008. "Organisational motives and spatial effects in Internet adoption and intensity of use: evidence from French industrial firms," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 42(2), pages 425-448, June.
    5. Danielle Galliano & Luis Orozco, 2011. "Les déterminants industriels et spatiaux du processus d'adoption de technologies : Le cas des systèmes de traçabilité dans les firmes industrielles françaises," Géographie, économie, société, Lavoisier, vol. 13(2), pages 135-163.
    6. Anders Malmberg & Peter Maskell, 2002. "The Elusive Concept of Localization Economies: Towards a Knowledge-Based Theory of Spatial Clustering," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(3), pages 429-449, March.
    7. Danielle Galliano & Pascale Roux, 2006. "Les inégalités spatiales dans l'usage des tic. Le cas des firmes industrielles françaises," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 57(6), pages 1449-1475.
    8. Galliano, D. & Roux, P., 2005. "The evolution of the spatial digital divide : from internet adoption to internet use by french industrial firms," Economics Working Paper Archive (Toulouse) 200513, French Institute for Agronomy Research (INRA), Economics Laboratory in Toulouse (ESR Toulouse).
    9. Karen Chapple & Ann Markusen & Greg Schrock & Daisaku Yamamoto & Pingkang Yu, 2004. "Rejoinder: High-Tech Rankings, Specialization, and Relationship to Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 18(1), pages 44-49, February.
    10. J. Knoben, 2009. "Localized inter-organizational linkages, agglomeration effects, and the innovative performance of firms," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 43(3), pages 757-779, September.
    11. Goerzen, Anthony, 2018. "Small Firm Boundary-spanning via Bridging Ties: Achieving International Connectivity via Cross-border Inter-cluster Alliances," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 153-164.
    12. Vigdis Boasson & Alan MacPherson, 2001. "The Role of Geographic Location in the Financial and Innovation Performance of Publicly Traded Pharmaceutical Companies: Empirical Evidence from the Untied States," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(8), pages 1431-1444, August.
    13. Peng Wang & Xiaoyan Lin & Dajun Dai, 2017. "Spatiotemporal Agglomeration of Real-Estate Industry in Guangzhou, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, August.
    14. Kutuk, Yasin, 2022. "Inequality convergence: A world-systems theory approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 150-165.
    15. Gao, Ting, 2004. "Regional industrial growth: evidence from Chinese industries," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 101-124, January.
    16. Pastore, Erica & Alfieri, Arianna & Zotteri, Giulio, 2019. "An empirical investigation on the antecedents of the bullwhip effect: Evidence from the spare parts industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 209(C), pages 121-133.
    17. Vasco Leite & Sofia Castro & João Correia-da-Silva, 2009. "The core periphery model with asymmetric inter-regional and intra-regional trade costs," Portuguese Economic Journal, Springer;Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestao, vol. 8(1), pages 37-44, April.
    18. Mary Amiti & Jozef Konings, 2007. "Trade Liberalization, Intermediate Inputs, and Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1611-1638, December.
    19. Cem Ertur & Antonio Musolesi, 2017. "Weak and Strong Cross‐Sectional Dependence: A Panel Data Analysis of International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(3), pages 477-503, April.
    20. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Tselios, Vassilis & Winkler, Deborah & Farole, Thomas, 2013. "Geography and the Determinants of Firm Exports in Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 225-240.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:34:y:2002:i:8:p:1333-1353. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.