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Global Shift

Seventh Edition
Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy

Peter Dicken

A Paperback Originale-bookprint + e-book
A Paperback Original
February 10, 2015
ISBN 9781462519552
Price: $79.00
619 Pages
Size: 6.69" x 9.53"
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e-book
February 2, 2015
PDF and ePub ?
Price: $79.00
619 Pages
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print + e-book
A Paperback Original + e-Book (PDF and ePub) ?
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619 Pages
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The definitive text on globalization, this book provides an accessible, jargon-free analysis of how the world economy works and its effects on people and places. Peter Dicken synthesizes the latest ideas and empirical data to blaze a clear path through the thicket of globalization processes and debates. The book highlights the dynamic interactions among transnational corporations, nations, and other key players, and their role in shaping the uneven contours of development. Mapping the changing centers of gravity of the global economy, Dicken presents in-depth case studies of six major industries. Now in full color throughout, the text features 228 figures. Companion websites for students and instructors offer extensive supplemental resources, including author videos, applied case studies with questions, lecture notes with PowerPoint slides, discipline-specific suggested further reading for each chapter, and interactive flashcards.

New to This Edition:

“This book, unlike much writing on globalization, is unequivocally interdisciplinary, giving it strength and depth of insight. And it has companion websites for both students and instructors that include more than the usual sets of discussion or test questions, also a wide array of additional readings and resources….This is a very contemporary book—accessible, readable, and enlightening. The spectacular explanatory graphics are worth a look all on their own. They are illuminating, deftly conceptualized to illustrate complex issues and their interconnections, and beautifully presented in color. The book as well has a long list of up-to-date references….This new edition is truly a sprightly path through the thicket that is globalization or the world economy. It is a book highly accessible to all levels of readers, from undergraduates to scholars of globalization. In particular, it would be appropriate for courses and scholars in business/management, economics, development studies, geography, political science, and sociology. For demography or population studies courses, the book provides a vital backdrop for understanding demographic change….More than a readable book. It is a page-turner, opening up complex questions page after page and turning them over for the reader in clear, expository language to reveal an exciting adventure that leaves the reader hungry for more. This is no small task for a doorstopper of a book on the challenging and wide-ranging topic of global change. It is a masterful work.”

Canadian Studies in Population


“Peter Dicken…has been one of the major movers and shapers in debates in both economic geography and globalization....The great beauty of Global Shift is its clarity of argument and rigorous interrogation of rich, in-depth, up-to-the-minute empirical sources and examples.”

Economic Geography (on the sixth edition)


“Given the rapid changes in the configuration of the global economy, Global Shift, Seventh Edition, will be welcomed by academicians and assigned in graduate and undergraduate classes. While retaining the strengths that have made prior editions much adopted around the world, the seventh edition has been updated to weave in such important new topics as the impact of the recent global financial crisis, the global smartphone infrastructure, climate change, corporate social responsibility, and national and international inequality. Readable case studies and excellent figures and graphs provide students with the empirical illustrations they need to understand the larger theoretical concepts. A remarkable update by the foremost economic geographer of globalization that should be on everyone's reading list.”

—Martin Kenney, PhD, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis; Senior Project Director, Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy


Global Shift, Seventh Edition, continues to be a key resource for understanding the complexity of the global economy and the ongoing, often contentious negotiations among nations, corporations, and locales. In addition to clearly outlining larger institutional and structural processes, Dicken provides a wealth of detailed new empirical material to explain how the outcomes of the global economy manifest in specific contexts. The book's diverse concrete examples—such as the global production network of iPhones or corporate strategies to shield profits from taxation—are drawn directly from the headlines. An extremely valuable text for all courses on economic geography, globalization, international business, and economics.”

—Matthew Zook, PhD, Department of Geography, University of Kentucky


“Given the dizzying pace of change in the global economy, it's more important than ever to have a comprehensive point of reference to allow us to understand and map the transformations around us. Global Shift, Seventh Edition, is that book. While continuing to add new material on countries, sectors, and the policies that shape global industries, Global Shift also provides a solid analytical framework that helps the reader navigate the new terrain. And its great graphs, diagrams, and charts are a visual delight. If you had to use just one book to convey globalization's promise and perils, this is the book I would recommend.”

—Gary Gereffi, PhD, Department of Sociology and Center on Globalization, Governance and Competitiveness, Duke University


“Not just an update, the seventh edition of Global Shift offers compelling theoretical and empirical insights as it takes on the critical global political-economic processes and debates of our time. Dicken provides a welcome synthesis and interrogation of prevailing theories of the global economy and addresses such fraught issues as the 2008 financial crisis and the intensification of inequality. An amazing resource.”

—Erica Schoenberger, PhD, Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, The Johns Hopkins University


Global Shift defines the gold standard in the field of globalization studies, which it has had a large hand in defining. The revised seventh edition continues to accomplish what no other book in the field does—it presents a grounded but broad view of globalization, judiciously assesses the key debates, and recognizes (but never drowns in) complexity. Global Shift combines an authoritative voice with meticulous documentation and outstanding illustrations; it’s the trusted source.”

—Jamie Peck, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Urban and Regional Political Economy, University of British Columbia, Canada


“I used this text in my undergraduate Global Apparel Industry Dynamics class. It is a valuable text that explains the critical components and dynamics of the global economy in a straightforward and engaging style that is accessible to undergraduates as well as graduates. Dicken provides important historical perspectives on the evolution of the global economy while keeping abreast of recent developments. Key industries are examined in a relevant manner, adding an extra dimension to the work. Global Shift will equip any young graduate/executive with important insights into the global characteristics of business environments.”

—Peter Kilduff, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Apparel Merchandising and Management, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona


Global Shift has become the de facto textbook for middle- and upper-level courses in economic geography. Dicken synthesizes the economic, political, and social complexities of globalization in highly accessible prose. The case studies of various industries contribute to a better understanding of the processes of globalization.”

—Marc Vachon, PhD, Department of Geography, University of Winnipeg, Canada

Table of Contents

1. What in the World Is Going On?

The end of the world as we knew it?

Conflicting perspectives on ‘globalization’

Grounding ‘globalization’: geography really does matter

I. The Changing Contours of the Global Economy

2. The Centre of Gravity Shifts: Transforming the Geographies of the Global Economy sample

The importance of taking a long view: the imprint of past geographies

Roller-coasters and interconnections

Global shifts: the changing contours of the global economic map

The centre of gravity has shifted

II. Processes of Global Shift

3. Tangled Webs: Unravelling Complexity in the Global Economy

Connections, connections

Institutional macro-structures of the global economy

Global production network PNs

Even in a globalizing world, economic activities are geographically localized

Networks of networks

4. Technological Change: ‘Gales of Creative Destruction’

Technology and economic transformation

Processes of technological change: an evolutionary perspective

Time–space shrinking technologies

Technological innovations in products, production systems and organizational forms

Geographies of innovation

5. Transnational Corporations: The Primary ‘Movers and Shapers’ of the Global Economy

The myth of the global corporation

Why firms transnationalize

How firms transnationalize

TNCs as ‘networks within networks’

Configuring the TNCs’ internal networks

TNCs within networks of externalized relationships

Perpetual change: reshaping TNCs’ internal and external networks

6. The State Really Does Matter

‘The state is dead’ – oh no it isn’t!

States as containers

States as regulators

States as collaborators

III. Winning and Losing in the Global Economy

7. The Uneasy Relationship Between Transnational Corporations and States: Dynamics of Conflict and Collaboration

The ties that bind

Bargaining processes between TNCs and states

8. ‘Capturing Value’ Within Global Production Networks

Placing places in GPNs

Creating, enhancing and capturing value in GPNs

Upgrading (or downgrading) of local economies within GPNs

9. ‘Destroying Value’? Environmental Impacts of Global Production Networks

Production–distribution–consumption as a system of materials flows and balances

Disturbing the delicate balance of life on earth: damaging the earth’s atmosphere

Fouling the nest: creating, disposing and recycling waste

Used clothing

10. Winning and Losing: Where You Live Really Matters

Location matters

Incomes and poverty

Where will the jobs come from?

Over-dependence on a narrow economic base

Populations on the move

11. Making the World a Better Place

‘The best of all possible worlds’?

TNCs and corporate social responsibility

States and issues of global governance

A better world?

IV. The Picture in Different Sectors

12. ‘Making Holes in the Ground’: The Extractive Industries

Beginning at the beginning

Production circuits in the extractive industries

Global shifts in the extractive industries

Volatile demand

Technologies of exploring, extracting, refining, distributing

The centrality of state involvement in the extractive industries

Corporate strategies in the extractive industries

Resources, reserves and futures

13. ‘We Are What We Eat’: The Agro-food Industries

Transformation of the food economy: the ‘local’ becomes ‘global’

Agro-food production circuits

Global shifts in the high-value agro-food industries

Consumer choices – and consumer resistances

Transforming technologies in agro-food production

The role of the state

Corporate strategies in the agro-food industries

14. ‘Fabric-ating Fashion’: The Clothing Industries

A highly contentious industry

The clothing production circuit

Global shifts in the clothing industries

Changing patterns of consumption

Technology and production costs

The role of the state

Corporate strategies in the clothing industries

Regionalizing production networks in the clothing industries

15. ‘Wheels of Change’: The Automobile Industry

All change?

The automobile production circuit

Global shifts in automobile production and trade

Changing patterns of consumption

Where will the jobs come from?

Over-dependence on a narrow economic base

Populations on the move

16. ‘Making the World Go Round’: Advanced Business Services

The centrality of advanced business services

The structure of ABS

Dynamics of the markets for ABS

Technological innovation and ABS

The role of the state: regulation, deregulation, reregulation

Corporate strategies in ABS

Geographies of ABS

17. ‘Making the Connections, Moving the Goods’: Logistics and Distribution Services

Taking logistics and distribution for granted

The structure of logistics and distribution services

The dynamics of the market for logistics services

Technological innovation and logistics and distribution services

The role of the state: regulation and deregulation of logistics and distribution services

Corporate strategies in logistics and distribution services

Logistics ‘places’: key geographical nodes on the global logistics map


About the Author

Peter Dicken, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Economic Geography in the School of Environment and Development at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has held visiting academic appointments at universities and research institutes in Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States, and lectured in many other countries throughout Europe and Asia. He is an Academician of the Social Sciences, is a recipient of the Victoria Medal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) and of the Centenary Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

Audience

Students and instructors in geography, economics, sociology, management, international business studies, political science, and international relations; researchers, policymakers, and professionals interested in the global economy.

Course Use

Serves as a core text in advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses, including Economic Geography, Economic Sociology, Human Ecology, Globalization, Environmental Sociology, Multinational Business, Merchandising and Distribution, Marketing and International Business, Public Policy, Political Economics, Political Geography, Globalization, Economics of International Trade and Finance, Economics of Wealth and Poverty, and Global Economics.
Previous editions published by Guilford:

Sixth Edition, © 2011
ISBN: 9781609180065

Fifth Edition, © 2007
ISBN: 9781593854362

Fourth Edition, © 2003
ISBN: 9781572308992

Third Edition, © 1998
ISBN: 9781572303034

Second Edition, © 1992
ISBN: 9780898624885
New to this edition: