Instructor: Dr. Truong Thi Kim Chuyen Weblog:

World Economic Geography Paul Knox (2008),The geography of the world economy, Routledge; 5th edition Neil M.Coe, Phillip F Kelly, Henry W.C. Yeung (2007), Economic Geography, Blackwell Publishing Readings: Fellmann – Getis - Getis (1998). Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities. Brown & Benchmark.

Course Outline The geography of the world economy Economic Geography Conceptual foundations 01/ Conceptual foundations Page 1-25 Dynamics of economic space 02/ The changing world economy 04/ Patterns of Development and Change 05/ Services going global 03/ Commodity chains Page ’/ Technology and agglomeration Actors in economic space 10/ International and supranational institutionalized integration 06/ The state Page / The transnational corporation Page / Labour power Page / Consumption

07/ The transnational corporation - how does the global firm keep it all together? Aims: To question the claim that transnational corporations are really “global’ To understand how firms organize complex global activities To explore the variety of organizational forms used by transnational corporations To appreciate the inherent limits to the global reach of firms

OUTLINE Introduction The Myth of being everywhere, Effortessly Revisisting chains and networks: the basic building blocks of TNCs Organizing transnational economic activities 1: Intra- firm relationships Organizing transnational economic activities 2: Intra- firm relationships The limits to global reach? Summary

Summary TNCs as a system of both internal (intra-firm) and external (inter-firm) production networks.