Global Production Networks

Abstract

Contemporary capitalism is characterized by a high degree of economic globalization; uneven regional, national, and international development; and increasing fragmentation of production activities within and across borders, among other things. The global production network (GPN) framework has been developed in economic geography and cognate disciplines since the turn of the century as a heuristic device to better understand and analyze these processes and their implications for regional socioeconomic development. GPNs are socially and geographically embedded, multiscalar systems of value creation, enhancement, and capture, orchestrated and governed by complex networks of firms, governments, and civil society actors. Their dynamics and configurations have powerful consequences for development, from the local to the global, catching the attention of researchers but also, more recently, policymakers and international organizations.