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Firm agency and global production network dynamics

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  • Samson Afewerki

Abstract

The Global production networks (GPN) framework has been influential in the analysis of globally coordinated economic arrangements. However, research on GPNs tend to focus on a well-established industries and their existing governance structures with a very little attention to the temporality and changes in these networks and their governance structures. Specifically, despite the central role of ‘lead-firms’ in GPNs, the literature lacks a clear depiction of their competitive and evolutionary trajectory. In response, this paper is concerned with (re)opening the ‘black-box’ of firms and showing how lead-firms’ strategies and practices shape the evolutionary dynamics of GPNs. The paper argues that changing lead firm strategies play a crucial role in shaping the evolution of GPNs, reflecting changes in the industrial and/or business and institutional environments. The paper investigates the Danish, multinational energy company, Ørsted, and discusses the importance of accounting for firm dynamic capabilities, i.e. intra-firm practices and extra-firm (evolutionary) dynamic drivers, in analytical frameworks that analyse GPN dynamics and industries. Lead-firm strategies are shaped by firm-specific capabilities, industry-specific competitive dynamics, and institutions. Accordingly, GPNs’ evolutionary process can be understood as an adapting and/or response mechanism by lead-firms to changes in local and international business as well as multi-scalar institutional environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Samson Afewerki, 2019. "Firm agency and global production network dynamics," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(8), pages 1483-1502, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:eurpls:v:27:y:2019:i:8:p:1483-1502
    DOI: 10.1080/09654313.2019.1588857
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    Cited by:

    1. Philip Völlers, 2023. "Mitigating Extra‐Firm Risk Environments – The Case of Turkish Firms in Germany," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 114(3), pages 237-251, July.
    2. Philip Völlers & Thomas Neise & Philip Verfürth & Martin Franz & Felix Bücken & Kim Philip Schumacher, 2023. "Revisiting risk in the Global Production Network approach 2.0 - Towards a performative risk narrative perspective," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1838-1858, November.
    3. Stephen J. Ramos & Umit Yilmaz, 2023. "Energy transition and city–port symbiosis in biomass import–export regions," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 25(2), pages 406-428, June.

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