116 DYNAMICS OF ECONOMIC SPACE Further reading » Gereffi (1994) and Gereffi et al. (2005) are two seminal statements on the global commodity/value chain perspective. See Dicken et al. (2001) for a geographical critique. • Hughes and Reimer (2004) provide a wide range of geographical studies of commodity chains. o For more details on the hard disk drive, catfish, fresh vegetable and coffee commodity chains described in this chapter, see Gourevitch et al. (2000), Duval-Diop and Grimes (2005), Dolan and Humphrey (2004), and Ponte (2002), respectively. • Hartwick (2000) discusses a wide range of potential strategies of consumer politics, while Friedberg (2004) and Hughes (2005) offer more critical takes on consumption-based strategies. » Henderson et al. (2002) and Barrett et al. (2004) discuss the potential for developing a production/commodity network approach to global economic formations. Sample essay questions • How does a commodity chain approach enable us to reconnect distant producers and consumers in the global economy? a How and why are commodity chains governed in different ways? • In what ways might the institutional contexts of a commodity chain affect its structure and operation? « What are the pros and cons of adopting consumption-based approaches to commodity chain regulation? • What are the potential advantages of a network-informed understanding of global economic connections? Resources for further learning • http://www.globalvaluechains.org: this site contains a wealth of conceptual and empirical material on global value chains. • http://www.unido.org; the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UN1DO) website also offers a wide range of data and reports on different commodity chains and the potential they offer for economic development in different localities. • http://www.ico.org/index.asp: the website of the International Coffee Organization provides a range of information on the coffee industry, and in particular, its evolving regulatory structures. COMMODITY CHAINS 117 • http://www.fairtrade.org.uk: the UK's Fairtrade Foundation is one of the best-known attempts to improve the economic returns offered to commodity producers. • http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage: The International Standard's Organization's website is rich in information on a variety of international standard schemes. References Antipode (2004) Intervention symposium: geographies of anti-sweatshop activism, 36: 191-226. Barratt, H.R., Browne, A.W. and Ilbery, B.W. (2004) From farm to supermarket, in A. Hughes and S. Reimer (eds) Geographies of Commodity Chains, London: Routledge, pp. 19-38. Dicken, P. (2003) Global Shift, 4th edn, London: Sage. Dicken, P., Kelly, P.F., Olds, K. and Yeung, H.W.C. (2001) Chains and networks, territories and scales: towards an analytical framework for the global economy, Global Networks, 1: 89-112. Dicken, P. and Miyamachi, Y. (1998) 'From noodles to satellites': the changing geography of the Japanese sogo shosha, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 23: 55-78. Dolan, C. and Humphrey, J. (2004) Changing governance patterns in the trade of fresh vegetables between Africa and the United Kingdom, Environment and Planning A, 36: 491-509. Duval-Diop, D.M. and Grimes, j.R. (2005) Tales from two deltas: catfish fillets, high-value foods, and globalization, Economic Geography, 81: 177-200. Friedberg, S. (2004) The ethical complex of corporate food power, Environment and Planning A, 22: 513-31. Gereffi, G. (1994) The organization of buyer-driven global commodity chains: how US retailers shape overseas production networks, in G. Gereffi and M. Korzeniewicz (eds) Commodity Chains and Global Development, Westport, CT: Praeger, pp. 95-122. Gereffi, G., Humphrey, J. and Sturgeon, T. (2005) The governance of global value chains, Revieus of International Political Economy, 12: 78-104. Gourevitch, P., Bohn, R. and McKendrick, D. (2000) Globalization of production, World Development, 28: 301-17. Guardian, The (2003) Miles and miles and miles: how far has your basket of food travelled?, Food section, 10 May, p. 18. Hartwick, E.R. (1998) Geographies of consumption: a commodity chain approach, Environment and Planning D, 16: 423-37. Hartwick, E.R. (2000) Towards a geographical politics of consumption, Environment and Planning A, 32: 1177-92. Harvey, D. (1989) Editorial: a breakfast vision, Geography Review, 3: 1. Henderson, J., Dicken, P., Hess, M. Coe, N.M. and Yeung, H.W-C. (2002) Global production networks and the analysis of economic development, Review of International Political Economy, 9(3): 436-64. Hughes, A. (2005) Corporate strategy and the management of ethical trade: the case of the UK food and clothing retailers, Environment and Planning A, 37: 1145-63. 118 DYNAMICS OF ECONOMIC SPACE Hughes, A. and Reimer, S. (eds) (2004) Geographies of Commodity Chains, London: Routledgc. Humphrey, J. and Schmitz, H. (2004) Chain governance and upgrading: raking stock, in H. Schmitz (ed.) Local Enterprises in the Global Economy, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 349-77. Kessler, J. and Appelbaum, R. (1998) The growing power of retailers in producer-driven commodity chains: a 'retail revolution' in the US automobile industry?, unpublished manuscript, Department of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA. Mutersbaugh, T. (2005) Fighting standards with standards: harmonization, rents, and social accountability in certified agrofood networks, Environment and Planning A, 37: 2033-51. Nadvi, K. and Waltring, F. (2004) Making sense of global standards, in H. Schmitz (ed.) Local Enterprises in the Global Economy: Issues of Governance and Upgrading, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 53-94. Oxfam (2003) Mugged: Poverty in your Coffee Cup, Oxford: Oxfam International. Ponte, S. (2002) The 'latte revolution'? Regulation, markets and consumption in the global coffee chain, World Development, 30: 1099-122. Smith, M.D. (1996) The empire filters back: consumption, production, and the politics of Starbucks coffee, Urban Geography, 17: 502-24. Watts, M. (1999) Commodities, in P. Cloke, P. Crang and M. Goodwin (eds) Introducing Human Geographies, London: Arnold, pp. 305-15. iß \ b TECHNOLOGY AND AGGLOMERATION Does technology eradicate distance? Aims To demonstrate how certain kinds of technologies can be used to transcend time and space To appreciate the limits of the spatial impacts of technology on economic systems To understand why proximity still matters for many different kinds of economic activity To reflect on the importance or relational proximity in shaping contemporary economic geographies. 5.1 Introduction eBay has been one of the few undisputed economic successes of the Internet age. The online auction site was established in the US in October 1995. By 2005, 150 million users worldwide were buying and selling goods worth over US$40 billion, producing a profit of over US$1 billion for the company. The basic principles underlying eBay are simple. "While anyone can browse its website, both buyers and sellers have to register. Buyers - after searching through over 40,000 different types and subcategories of goods - enter the most they are prepared to pay for an item. eBay then bids on their behalf in pre-determined increments, or the shopper can buy instantly in some instances. The company makes its money from the 'registration fee' paid by the seller and a final-value fee on goods that are sold. eBay facilitates the processing of credit card payments through its PayPal system, but buyers may incur other costs associated with shipping, taxes, and import duties. The basic honesty trading system is protected by feedback profiling that records the online reputation of buyers and