Theorizing Economic Geographies of Asia

Abstract

Economic geographies of Asia are highly fascinating, not the least because Asia has increasingly emerged as a significant economic player in all spheres of global competition: production, consumption, and circulation. This dynamic mosaic of economic landscapes in Asia was further complicated during the 1997-1998 economic crisis and thereafter. While some aspects of these economic geographies of Asia have already received research attention, many complex economic geographic processes in Asia have been undertheorized in the literature. This agenda-setting article makes two critical observations. First, the theorization of dynamic economic changes in Asia needs to be more critical of economic geography theories developed elsewhere in the Anglo-American context. The Asian case may significantly challenge existing theories in economic geography. Second, certain geographic processes in Asia require fundamentally new approaches to theorization that may contribute to the development of broader theories in economic geography. The economic dynamism of Asia has provided a useful site for the development of theory and empirical understanding in contemporary economic geography. To support our arguments and observations, we discuss the situatedness and specificity of influential theories of economic geography and offer some constructive suggestions for an intellectual agenda for developing new theories in economic geography.

Local Innovation Systems in Emerging Countries

“…This aspect has been highlighted by scholars examining the characteristics and specificities of national and regional innovation systems of some developing nations (Intarakumnerd et al 2002;Patibandla and Peterson 2002;Finegold et al 2004;Lee and Saxenian 2008). Their contributions are primarily descriptive in character, not offering alternative theoretical models, but have the benefit of showing certain peculiarities of developing nation innovation systems that clearly distinguish them from the models proposed for developed nations (Park and Markusen 1995;Yeung and Lin 2003).…”

Urban China in transformation: Hybrid economy, juxtaposed space, and new testing ground for geographical enquiries

“…As Brenner and Theodore (2002) commented, ′neoliberal doctrine represents states and markets as if they were diametrically opposed principles of social organization, rather than recognizing the politically constructed character of all economic relations′. One may add that there is also a lack of recognition of place-specific and historically contingent economic and social relations in other regions of the world outside the Anglo-American core (McGee, 1991;Lin and Wei, 2002;Yeung and Lin, 2003).…”

Fifty years of organisational change in container shipping: regional shift and the role of family firms

“…In container shipping the former is far more evident than the other two. The Korean chaebols (Kim 1996), the Chinese conglomerates (Olivier 2006;Yeung and Lin 2003) and some of the European family firms have retained family control by passing power to the sons, as is the case with Evergreen and PIL, while OOCL has nominally been retained by members of the Tung clan; in the case of both MSC and CMA-CGM responsibilities have been passed on to the sons and daughters of the founders. Maersk, on the other hand has a professional management team, while the family retains financial control.…”