Interconnected worlds of electronics global production networks after the pandemic: current trajectories and future agendas

Keywords: global production networks; electronics industry; East Asia; post-pandemic restructuring; research agendas; economic geography
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 41

Abstract

Based on my forthcoming monograph Interconnected Worlds (Stanford University Press, Spring 2022), this presentation offers some key observations on the co-evolutionary trajectories of electronics global production networks in semiconductors, personal computers, mobile handsets, and consumer electronics up to the late 2010s – a historical peak period in the global markets for these intermediate and end products just before the devastating impacts arising from the US-China trade war since mid-2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic since 2020. While some of these trends were established ahead of the 2010s, their intensity and significance became more apparent during the 2010s. I then examine their most significant implications in the post-pandemic 2020s: (1) greater significance of East Asia as a major end market, (2) pro-ecosystem approach to capability development, supply ecosystems, and market access, and (3) strategic partnership through global production networks as the organizational key to resilience building. I end with a discussion of three relevant future research agendas on technology, resilience, and politics for the post-pandemic economic geographical studies of global production networks and global value chains.