Service Worlds

As the twenty-first century begins, significant changes are occurring in the way that services and goods are produced and consumed. One of the key drivers of this change is information and communications technology (ICT). It has transformed the role of space and time in patterns of economic development, in the rise of globalisation and in the scale and structure of organisations. ICT has therefore accelerated the process of continual change and evolution that is the hallmark of both the capitalist economy and of organisations. A student-friendly account is given of the diversity of theoretical perspectives for understanding the evolving economic geography of advanced capitalist economies. A series of detailed firm and employees' case-studies from Europe, North America and the Asia Pacific, are used to inform the theoretical case-studies. These also highlight and examine the significance of the increased blurring of the distinction between services and manufacturing functions in the production and consumption process. Contents: Acknowledgements 1. Services Worlds 2. Changing Perspectives on the Service Economy 3. From Networks to New Forms of Regulation 4. Service Knowledge and the Production Process 5. The Rise and Role of Producer Services 6. Service Work 7. Information and Communications Technology and Services: Opportunities and Impacts 8. Consuming Services: Circuits of Knowledge, Stages and Performances 9. Service Spaces 10. Services and Globalisation 11. Global Services: from Trade to Foreign Direct Investment 12. Service Worlds Revisited References