Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism

The current restructuring of the world-economy under global capitalism has further integrated international trade and production. It thus has brought to the fore the key role of commodity chains in the relationships of capital, labor, and states. Commodity chains are most simply defined as the link between successive processes of manufacturing that result in a final product available for individual consumption. Each production site in the chain involves organizing the acquisition of necessary raw materials plus semifinished inputs, the recruitment of labor power and its provisioning, arranging transportation to the next site, and the construction of modes of distribution (via markets and transfers) and consumption. The contributors to this volume explore and elaborate the global commodity chains (GCCs) approach, which reformulates the basic conceptual categories for analyzing varied patterns of global organization and change. The GCC framework allows the authors to pose questions about development issues, past and present, that are not easily handled by previous paradigms and to more adequately forge the macro-micro links between processes that are generally assumed to be discretely contained within global, national, and local units of analysis. The paradigm that GCCs embody is a network-centered, historical approach that probes above and below the level of the nation-state to better analyze structure and change in the contemporary world.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Global Commodity Chains by Gary Gereffi, Roberto P. Korzeniewicz, and Miguel Korzeniewicz Historical and Spatial Patterns of Commodity Chains in the World-System: Commodity Chains in the Capitalist World-Economy Prior to 1800 Commodity Chains: Construction and Research by Terence K. Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein The Shipbuilding Commodity Chain, 1590-1790 by Eyüp Özveren The Grain Flour Commodity Chain, 1590-1790 by Sheila Pelizzon Conclusions About Commodity Chains by Terence K. Hopkins and Immanuel Wallerstein Competition, Time and Space in Industrial History by Erica Schoenberger The Global Distribution of Commodity Chains by Roberto P. Korzeniewicz and William Martin The Organization of Commodity Chains: The Organization of Buyer-Driven Global Commodity Chains: How U.S. Retailers Shape Overseas Production Networks by Gary Gereffi Where Is the Chain in Commodity Chains? The Service Sector Nexus by Eileen Rabach and Eun Mee Kim Institutionalizing Flexibility: A Comparative Analysis of Fordist and Post-Fordist Models of Third World Agro-Export Production by Laura T. Reynolds The Geography of Commodity Chains: The New Spatial Division of Labor and Commodity Chains in the Greater South China Economic Region by Xiangming Chen Commodity Chains and Industrial Restructuring in the Pacific Rim: Garment Trade and Manufacturing by Richard Appelbaum, David Smith, and Brad Christerson Strategic Reorientations of U.S. Apparel Firms by Ian M. Taplin Automobile Commodity Chains in the NICS: A Comparison of South Korea, Mexico and Brazil by Naeyoung Lee and Jeffrey Cason Consumption and Commodity Chains: Commodity Chains and Marketing Strategies: Nike and the Global Athletic Footwear Industry by Miguel Korzeniewicz Fresh Demand: The Consumption of Chilean Produce in the United States by Walter L. Goldfrank Commodity Chains and the Korean Automobile Industry by Hyung Kook Kim and Su-Hoon Lee Cocaine, Commodity Chains, and Drug Politics: A Transnational Approach by Suzanne Wilson and Marta Zambrano Bibliography Index

About the Author :
GARY GEREFFI is Associate Professor of Sociology at Duke University. His most recent book is Manufacturing Miracles: Paths of Industrialization in Latin America and East Asia. MIGUEL KORZENIEWICZ is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of New Mexico.

Review :
?Gereffi and Korzeniewicz have assembled a coherent and impressive collection of essays that chart new directions of inquiry into global capitalism.?-Contemporary Sociology "Gereffi and Korzeniewicz have assembled a coherent and impressive collection of essays that chart new directions of inquiry into global capitalism."-Contemporary Sociology