1st Edition
The Changing Economic Geography of Companies and Regions in Times of Risk, Uncertainty and Crisis
This book offers conceptual and empirical insights from economic geography to explore how uncertainties, crises and risks, shape, reshape, and ultimately transform the spatial arrangements of companies and regions.
This book provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of economic interactions amidst contemporary challenges. It explores concepts such as global value chains, global production networks, regional resilience and the impact of crises, risks, and uncertainties on spatial economic patterns. Case studies from various regions, nations, and industries, including lesserresearched sectors such as medical technology and the restaurant and bar industry offer tangible and real world manifestations of these dynamics. Through its comprehensive coverage and interdisciplinary approach, this book equips readers with practical knowledge applicable to academia and real-world contexts. It offers a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between economic geography and contemporary challenges at a variety of levels.
The book provides valuable perspectives for academics, practitioners, and policy makers in the fields of Economic Geography, Regional Studies, Political Sciences, Economic Sociology, Economics and International Business Studies.
1. Introduction: Changing economic geographies in times of risk, uncertainty and crisis
Thomas Neise, Martin Franz, Philip Verfürth
SECTION A: Conceptual discussion of uncertainties, risk, and crisis within economic geography
2. Contemporary Perspectives on Uncertainties, Risks, and Crises in Economic Geography
Philip Verfürth, Thomas Neise, Philip Völlers, Felix Bücken, Martin Franz
3. Advancing Regional Economic Resilience Theorizing by Integrating Global Value Chain Resilience
Frank Jicha, Robert Hassink, Han Chu
4. Jenga Capitalism and the Cyber-Energy-Production Plexus: New forms of Risk and Uncertainty that are Reshaping Economic Geography
John R. Bryson
5. Regional Economic Resilience, Uncertainty, and Fictional Expectations
Pieter Terhorst, Hilal Erkuş
SECTION B: Economic Transition and Resilience of Companies and Regions
6. Learning from the COVID-19 Crisis - How can Business Development and City Marketing Agencies support the Restaurant and Bar Industry?
Martin Franz, Thomas Neise, Philip Verfürth, Philip Völlers
7. Towards a Green Transformation based on Eco-Innovations of Enterprises in Old Industrial Areas: The Case of Silesia Province
Michał Męczyński, Przemysław Ciesiółka
SECTION C: Uncertainties and Risks in the Global Economy
8. Risk Narratives and Reconfiguration of Global Production Networks – The Case of the German Medical Technology Industry
Thomas Neise
9. Barriers and Risks in Digitalization and Industry 4.0 Process: Evidence from Carpet Industry in Gaziantep, Turkey
Nuri Yavan, Ceyda Kurtar Anlı, Mehmet Ragıp Kalelioğlu
10. Risk perception of Foreign Businesses in the face of Local Contextual Conditions
Piotr Pachura
Biography
Thomas Neise is Interim Professor of Economic and Social Geography at the Heidelberg University in Germany. His research focuses on the adaptation and resilience strategies of companies to extreme weather events, climate change and crises. Another research interest lies on risks in global production networks. He also studies the role of foreign direct investment for regional development in Southeast Asia.
Philip Verfürth is a post-doctoral researcher at the Institute of Geography, Osnabrück University. He has been a visiting scholar at Ankara University and the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space in Erkner, Germany. His research interests include the spatial dynamics of globalization, with a focus on global production networks, the geographies of digital transformation, and the intersection of firm resilience and regional development.
Martin Franz holds the Chair for Human Geography with emphasis on Economic Geography at Osnabrück University. After studying geography in Bochum, Martin Franz worked at the Center for Interdisciplinary Ruhr Research (ZEFIR) in Bochum and the Departments of Geography at the Philipps-University of Marburg and the University of Bayreuth.
