Export of Services of Servicing Exports?

Information and communications technology has ensured that many producer services, as well as more ‘basic’ services such as transportation or insurance, are now more tradable than ever. All the indications are that this trade will increase. This has raised the international profile of service and altered governments to their potential as sources of export revenue. This is seen as one way of enhancing national (or regional) economic performance. But should this be assumed to be a panacea for improving national economic growth and restructuring? The general pattern and structure of international trade in services is examined to show that, while valuable, the direct contribution of services to national exports is actually growing relatively slowly and the pattern of trade is highly concentrated. It may actually be important to recognize and nurture the indirect contribution of services to overall national export activity. Goods production and distribution is increasingly dependent on service knowledge and skill; its export competitiveness is a function of the expertise and intellectual knowledge (mainly services) incorporated in the products, the ‘value’ of those products to consumers, and the ways in which they reach out to their markets.     

西方地理学界关于生产性服务业作用研究述评

生产性服务业是目前西方大部分服务业体系中对国民经济作用最显著的部分,20世纪70年代以来,西方学者关于生产性服务业作用的研究日益增加。总括而言,西方地理学者对生产性服务业作用的研究主要从四个方面进行:生产性服务业对城市与区域整体发展的作用、对地区的制造业发展的作用、对地区其他服务业发展的作用,以及对城市等级序列重构的作用。其中,主要是从产业的内在功能和布局两个角度研究生产性服务业的作用。     

Geographical Perspectives on Producer Service Industry Research in Australia

In contrast to the situation in North America and Europe, producer services research in Australia has largely focused on their international role rather than their domestic one. The growing internationalisation of the Australian economy in the last decade has been closely interrelated with the progressive internationalisation of producer service industries. International banking and finance as well as trade-related services have had significant urban impacts in major cities. Australia's growing linkages with East Asia are having impacts on the geography of service industries. However, little is known about the urban and regional implications of economic restructuring in these industries. There are important urban and regional implications resulting from the externalisation of services from manufacturing, as well as from the shedding of labour on the part of large service industry organisations. Similarly, little attention has been given to urban and regional implications of producer services by policy makers either at a federal or state government level.     

Spatial Reach of Office Firms: Case Study in the Metropolitan CBD of Tel Aviv, Israel

This paper, using the CBD of metropolitan Tel Aviv, Israel, as a case study, discloses the spatial range of linkages of office firms, situated in newly built office towers. The linkages explored, from the results of a sample of 120 office firms, are those held by office firms with clients, suppliers of goods and services, and with other service firms as partners or as subcontractors. The magnitude of the linkages is revealed in the context of Israel's recent entry into the post-industrial age and its rapid affiliation with the global economy, accompanied by functional restructuring of the service economy. It is also visible in the built environment of Tel Aviv, with large-scale construction of over thirty Class A office tower buildings. Complex spatial interrelationships are found, extending from their immediate metropolitan environment toward the world's leading economic centres. Future avenues of research are explored.     

中国生产性服务业发展水平的时空特征及其影响因素

基于标准差椭圆、ESDA-GWR和空间计量方法，对2003-2015年中国286个地级单元生产性服务业发展水平的时空特征及影响因素进行分析。结果显示：2003年以来，我国生产性服务业发展水平综合指数有较大提升，从沿海向内陆阶梯状递减的趋势逐渐增强，并形成沿海向内陆的“中心-外围”结构；空间上表现出在东-西方向上先极化后分散，南-北方向上先分散后极化的演变特征；城市间生产性服务业存在较强的正相关性，虽强度有所减弱但仍非常显著。影响因素结果显示：服务生产率、开放程度、城市化率、产权结构、知识资本密度对城市生产性服务业水平提高产生正向影响，而工业化程度对其产生抑制作用，挤出效应明显。     

Producer Services,Transaction Activities,and Cities: Rethinking Occupational Categories in Economic Geography

Applying insights from 'new institutional economics' to classify economic activities or occupations avoids some problems for which conventional classifications of services and particularly producer services have long been criticized. In institutionalist thinking the mixture of organizational forms such as market, hierarchy or network in an economy is mainly determined by transaction costs, which can in turn be correlated to specific 'transaction activities'. Typical transaction activities can be identified in markets and in other institutional arrangements, allowing the classification of real economic activities, occupations or firms as transactional or not. Many other commonly applied labels like informational related activities appear comparatively imprecise. This categorization and differentiation sheds new light on discussions about spatial development, from the world city debate to claims about the presumed role of high-tech occupations in metropolitan areas. It is argued that transactional occupations, especially those requiring higher qualifications, can be expected to be highly concentrated in larger agglomerations. In contrast, many non-transactional occupations though requiring high qualifications and usually also regarded as basic for metropolitan economies, like parts of R&D, are not necessarily concentrated there.     

我国生产性服务业与经济发展关系研究

本文首先通过阐述我国经济结构的变化和目前生产性服务业的地位特征,分析我国生产性服务业发展与经济结构变化及经济发展水平的特征及关系,从而预测我国生产性服务业的发展潜力。然后针对我国经济发达地区,探讨生产性服务业对区域发展的作用。再以广州市为例,分析生产性服务业在城市发展中的地位及对区域的影响。试图从全国、区域以及城市三个层次对生产性服务业与经济发展关系进行研究。     

Debunking the Myth of Localized Agglomerations: The Development of a Regionalized Service Economy in South-East England

The central argument of this paper is that localized clusters of economic activity, or 'agglomerations', have been overemphasized in economic geography since the mid-1980s. In particular, such analyses are too manufacturing-biased, and place too much weight on the importance of local supply, market and partnership linkages. We will re-emphasize the service-based nature of growth in the core region of the UK economy, and will explore how a broad band of producer service activity is emerging in the Western Arc, owing largely to common locational logics, including back-office decentralization and the new firm-formation process. Such growth is both stimulated and supported by the high demand levels of the regional economy, but evidence suggests that the linkages of such firms extend well beyond the 'local', to cover at least the 'Greater South-East'. Furthermore, the international element in service growth needs to be recognized, as highlighted by the concentration of US foreign direct investment in the software industry along the M4 corridor. When areas outside the South-East are considered (such as Edinburgh, Tyne and Wear, Cheshire), the evidence appears to support Allen's (1992) notion of a 'regionalized mode of service growth' in the South-East.     

Debunking the Myth of Localized Agglomerations: The Development of a Regionalized Service Economy in South-East England

The central argument of this paper is that localized clusters of economic activity, or 'agglomerations', have been overemphasized in economic geography since the mid-1980s. In particular, such analyses are too manufacturing-biased, and place too much weight on the importance of local supply, market and partnership linkages. We will re-emphasize the service-based nature of growth in the core region of the UK economy, and will explore how a broad band of producer service activity is emerging in the Western Arc, owing largely to common locational logics, including back-office decentralization and the new firm-formation process. Such growth is both stimulated and supported by the high demand levels of the regional economy, but evidence suggests that the linkages of such firms extend well beyond the 'local', to cover at least the 'Greater South-East'. Furthermore, the international element in service growth needs to be recognized, as highlighted by the concentration of US foreign direct investment in the software industry along the M4 corridor. When areas outside the South-East are considered (such as Edinburgh, Tyne and Wear, Cheshire), the evidence appears to support Allen's (1992) notion of a 'regionalized mode of service growth' in the South-East.     

Services in Russia: past,present, and future

In spite of ambitious modernization plans of the government, structural change in Russia is not proceeding in the direction of highly developed economies. Part of the lag in the tertiarization process can be explained by the fact that, as during the Soviet period, the role of services in the economy is still ignored, particularly regarding innovation. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of the evolution of services in Russia since the mid-1990s and its future prospects by compiling data from the World Bank, the International Labor Organization, Rosstat, and the World Input–Output Database. Two complementary and novel perspectives are adopted: a production system perspective and a spatial perspective. Regarding services in the Russian production system, comparison of interindustry linkages reveals that, in addition to traditional relevant activities like wholesale/retail trade and transport and communications, business services are acquiring great importance as production process inputs. Concerning the spatial perspective, we observe a greater presence of non-market services in less densely populated federal districts, while strategic service activities are highly concentrated in the most dynamic ones. Analysis of major Russian cities confirmed the trend of business services concentrating in densely populated and highly innovative cities. In brief, services, and in particular business services, can be a means to boost innovation and growth in Russia, but more attention from political leaders is necessary for these activities. The modernization process should abandon its current “high-technology industry myopia” and take into consideration the innovative, and especially, the knowledge-diffuser role, that services can exert.     

Air Services at Australian Cities: Change and Inertia 2005–2010

This research analyses international and domestic air services in Australia during a six year period, 2005–2010. We place air services into their urban context by relating them to city‐based measures such as population, tourism, and producer services employment among other measures. The research takes a supply‐side approach in an assessment of international and domestic capacity at major Australian airports from the perspective of the number of seats, the nature of links, and competition. Multiple linkage analysis and the concept of effective competitors allow us to explore this perspective at greater depth. Our findings show substantial changes in international patterns, specifically favouring Melbourne, Perth, and Gold Coast. In contrast, the domestic scene is characterised by little change, an outcome we link to the underlying stability in the settlement system and the location of some major economic activities. While the results are related to our measures of urban characteristics, some special region‐specific aspects are also at work. Finally, in both the international and domestic cases we find evidence of greater airline diversity which may benefit consumers.     

西方地理学视角下的生产性服务贸易研究进展

服务业已成为国际贸易中发展最快的部门之一,生产性服务业作为其中最具有贸易可能的部门,已引起了西方地理学界的关注。本文试图基于地理学的视角,从区别于国际贸易学的角度对西方学者在生产性服务贸易的概念、产生、开展、影响,以及研究的方法等方面的内容所做研究进行述评,进而提出生产性服务贸易研究中值得进一步探讨的问题。     

Evolution of Knowledge Intensive Services in a High-tech Region: The Case of Hsinchu,Taiwan

Communication costs have reduced markedly owing to improvements in communication technology. Despite this development, face-to-face interactions facilitated by geographic agglomeration remain important in high-tech innovation activities owing to the ambiguity and uncertainty related to new knowledge. Consequently, location remains a major influence on global strategies of transnational companies, and enables global cross-border divisions of labour in high-tech industries. On the one hand, this phenomenon transforms the geographic distribution and structure in industry; on the other hand, it creates demand for strategic functions in management and organizational innovation. The emergence, introduction and operation of such functions all rely on the support of specialized service industries. During the two decades of development of the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP), the area around HSIP saw the gradual formation of a distinctive and strong network including production, incubation and research and development (R&D) activities. Within this network, knowledge intensive services provide a crucial interface between the supportive environment and technological infrastructure. This investigation analyses the interactions, geographic transformation and distribution between HSIP firms and producer services around HSIP, as well as the coordination between HSIP firms and research institutions. This investigation found that competition strongly influences the development and geographic transformation of producer services. Together with different industrial resources, they formed production networks. Such networks caused the development and geographic transformation of the Hsinchu area, and thus further influenced the growth of knowledge-intensive service businesses.     

Services sector in India: trends,issues, and the way forward

This paper provides an overview of the Indian services sector. It shows that services is the fastest growing sector in India, contributing significantly to gross domestic product (GDP), GDP growth, employment, trade, and investment. India is a major proponent of liberalizing services both in the World Trade Organization and in its bilateral trade agreements. However, there are some concerns. In the recent past, economic growth and growth of the services sector has slowed down. Growth in employment in services has not been commensurate with the share of the sector in GDP. Although India is a major exporter of services, its export competitiveness concentrates in few sectors and a few markets. The paper identifies a number of barriers faced by the services sectors and suggests policy measures which, if implemented, will lead to inclusive growth, increased productivity, generate quality employment, increase trade and investment, and enhance India’s global competitiveness in services.     

Consumer and Producer Behavior in a Multipurpose Shopping Environment

This paper analyzes the shopping behavior of consumers across space within the context of multipurpose shopping. The degree of multipurpose shopping is derived, as are the optimal number of single- and multipurpose trips, and the quantities of high- and low-order goods purchased on such trips. It is shown that all consumer choice variables are a function of consumer location relative to producer location. The consumer analysis is then utilized as an input into the profit-maximizing equation that determines optimal producer location. The model is illustrated through the use of numerical analysis.     

论中世纪英格兰庄园的运输役

中世纪英格兰运输役起源于庄园领主的物资供应需求,随着12、13世纪市场的激增以及运输条件的改善,市场型运输役逐渐普及。运输役一般由农民上层承担,其运输距离、目的地、运输种类等都受习俗制约。运输役衰落的原因主要有直营领地的衰落、运输的专职化以及私下交易的流行。运输役的兴衰与中世纪英格兰市场培育密切相关,是市场已有一定发育但还不太成熟的产物。     

Italian Industrial Districts: An Industrial Economics Interpretation

The Italian debate on industrial districts suggests that local development can be based on small and medium-sized firms, provided they work in teams and are embedded in a local system of social relations. If the availability of local public goods complements the private supply of local specialized services and goods, Marshallian external economies are engendered. When inner social and economic relations boost the supply of local public goods, and are reproduced by the consistent economic behaviour of local (economic and political) agents, they become local factors of economic development, or, in other words, the district's social capital. These propositions are considered within a three-layered framework comprising structure, conduct and performance. The relations among these levels allow joint consideration of three different processes of economic selection: competitive, strategic, evolutionary. This complexity is necessary if the conditions that foster significant Marshallian external economies are to be represented correctly.     

Exotica in Context: Reconfiguring Prestige,Power and Wealth in the Southern African Iron Age

Prestige goods, in various combinations and permutations, feature prominently in anthropological and archaeological templates of the emergence of social inequality and early state formation in premodern societies. In Africa, discussion of the contribution of prestige goods to the evolution of cultural behaviours such as class distinction and statehood has been conducted primarily through theoretical lenses that allocate significant weight to the proceeds of external long distance trade. The major outcome is that archaeologists have rarely paused to evaluate not just the definition of prestige goods but also the congruity between global ‘universals’ and African ‘particularities’. Using empirical evidence from the southern African historical and archaeological records, this paper seeks to evaluate the concept of prestige goods and to assess their contribution to the evolution of Iron Age (AD 200–1900) communities of different time periods, from locally centred positions. It reveals that the distribution, use and deposition of exotic imports in southern Africa is not compatible with the pattern suggested by the prestige goods model, and points towards their valuation as embedded within situational contexts of meaning. In fact, hinterland elites controlled neither the source nor the distribution of exotic goods from producer regions, making them a volatile source of power and prestige. While local elites used exotic imports when available, and imposed taxes on their citizens—payable in both local and external goods—land, cattle, religion and individual entrepreneurship were far more predictable and stable sources of prestige, wealth and power. This provides the basis for reassessing the development of complexity in the region and potentially contributes towards global debates on the impact of long-distance trade in the development of complex states.     

2005 Cultural Heritage Legal Summary

Abstract

Archaeologists studying ancient state societies often divide political economic models into separate prestige goods and subsistence goods systems. For the Maya during the Late Classic period (ca. A.D. 600–900), scholars have suggested that the elite centrally controlled the production and circulation of prestige goods while local communities and households were responsible for subsistence goods manufacture and exchange, which operated in a largely decentralized fashion. We examine an alternative to this dichotomous system through a festival market model that postulates a wide array of social groups engaged in material goods exchange during ceremonial events and public festive gatherings. This model is investigated using modal, petrographic, and Instrumental Neutron Activation analyses (INAA) of Late Classic ceramic figurines from the Motul de San José region, Petén, Guatemala. Ceramic figurines are frequently associated with household affairs because of their presence in household middens. We find that paste types crosscut different household status groups and communities within the region and argue that figurines were exchanged within the context of festival markets. This exchange pattern has important implications for linking households to larger political and regional spheres of social and economic life.     

Welcome to the club! An exploratory study of service accessibility in commodity housing estates in Guangzhou,China

In post-reform China, gated commodity housing estates play a crucial role in the provision of urban services. Such collective service provision is criticized in the urban studies literature, because ‘club goods’ are thought to exclude people that do not live in gated communities. This paper reflects on the global relevance of that argument with an exploratory study in Guangzhou, China. We argue that access to collective services is structured in local social practices, involving diverse actors and specific rules and resources. Discussions on the exclusionary effects of service provision through gated communities should therefore focus on the characteristics of these practices of access in specific cities. Employing this perspective, the paper shows that in Guangzhou at least two mechanisms partly ease the exclusion of non-residents from club goods. On the one hand, municipal government maintains a considerable role in service management, mediating exclusion from services for people who do not live in commodity housing estates. On the other hand, generally the management of services is separated from housing estate management, and service providers try to increase profits through service provision to non-residents. We discuss the consequences of such mediations for an adjusted research agenda on service provision by gated communities.