Distant yet linked places - a theoretical outlook on geography of contemporary economic activity

• Authors: Robert Łuczak

Abstracts

EN

As number of studies show, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have become important factor of economic activity worldwide. This article presents a proposal of a theoretical approach to contemporary geography of economic activity - a phenomena narrowed here to business processes usually referred to as information or knowledge-based sector of the economy. The reasoning is based on a theoretical model presented by Michael Storper that has been developed further. The output shows the existence of a distinctive paradox of digital era: the ICT potentially being able to overcome spatial barriers, lead to refocusing on spatial dimension of business. It is concluded that ICT introduce new dimension of division of business process and labor, namely a spatial one. It is leading to worldwide reconfiguration of the geography of economic activity developed under fordist regime of production - hitherto separate areas and territories are being transformed into network economy of distant yet linked places.

Keywords

EN

information economy; information and communication technologies; spatial division of labor; agglomeration; offshoring; outsourcing; network economy

• Publisher: Wydział Geografii i Studiów Regionalnych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
• Journal: Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 13
• Pages: 169-175

Dates

published

2008

Contributors

author

Robert Łuczak

• University of Warsaw - Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies - Institute of Regional and Global Studies, Warsaw

References

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• Castells M., 1989, The Informational City. Information Technology, Economic Restructuring, and the Urban-Regional Process, Basil Blackwell, Oxford.
• Foray D., 2004, The Economics of Knowledge, The MIT Press, Cambridge - London.
• Hepworth M.E., 1990, Geography of the Information Economy, The Guilford Press, New York - London.
• Scholte J.A., 2006, Globalizacja [Globalization; in Polish], Oficyna Wydawnicza Humanitas, Sosnowiec.
• Scott A.J., 1998, Regions and the World Economy. The Coming Shape of Global Production, Competition, and Political Order, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Storper M., 2000, Globalization and Knowledge Economy: An Industrial Geographer's Perspective. [in:] Dunning J.H. (ed.), Regions, Globalization, and the Knowledge-Based Economy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
• Yip G.S., 2004, Strategia globalna [Total Global Strategy; in Polish], Polskie Wydawnictwa Ekonomiczne, Warszawa.

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

2029780