Economic Geography Research Group

The pre-millennial workplace: new geographies of employment

Convenors: Christian Berndt (Katholische Universität Eichstätt), Andy Cumbers (University of Aberdeen), Jane Wills (University of Southampton)

Chair: Christian Berndt

Wednesday 5th January

Module 1: Globalisation and spaces of resistance

Chair: Jane Wills

Globalisation, networking and the Liverpool dock dispute 1995-8; military particularism and global ambition ,
Peter Waterman (Institute of Social Studies, The Hague).

Rescaling solidarity politics: trade unions in a globalising pharmaceutical industry ,
Christian Zeller (Universität Hamburg).

Organising the scale of labour regulation: community-based labour organising in Australia and the US ,
Jessica Walsh (University of Melbourne).

Module 2: European geographies of labour market change

Chair: Christian Berndt

Fragmentation and social differentiation of urban labour markets in a wealthy environment: the case of Hamburg ,
Jurgen Ossenbrugge (Universität Hamburg).

Mass unemployment, labour market restructuring and ‘post-communist’ transition: employment and non-employment on the eastern periphery of Europe ,
Adrian Smith (University of Sussex).

Class, social mobilisation, and spatial scale: labour market and welfare restructuring in Denmark and Britain ,
David Etherington (University of Huddersfield), Martin Jones (University of Manchester).

Module 3: New forms of work organisation

Chair: Jane Pollard

Workplace change and social outcomes in the pharmaceutical industry ,
Mia Gray (University of Cambridge).

The re-organisation of work and the re-working of the organisation ,
Damian Grimshaw (UMIST), Jill Rubery (UMIST), Huw Beynon (University of Manchester), Kevin Ward (University of Manchester).

Flexible working: a means of reconciling work and family life: or a new form of precariousness? ,
Diane Perrons (London School of Economics).

Module 4: The future of work

Chair: Andy Cumbers

Insecurity at work and welfare: towards a transatlantic model of labour regulation? ,
Jamie Peck (University of Manchester), Nik Theodore (University of Illinois at Chicago).

Coercing labour with cooperatioon: globalisation and the redefinition of capital-labour relations in the Rhur ,
Christina Berndt (Katholische Universität Eichstätt).

The new inequality: the price of capitalism's flexible fix ,
Ron Martin (University of Cambridge), Peter Sunley (University of Edinburgh).

Panel discussions (with PolGRG)

Convenors: Adam Tickell (University of Southampton), Jamie Peck (University of Manchester).

Wednesday 6th January

Module 1:Re-forming or re-placing the welfare state?

Chair: Steve Pinch

Participants:
Angus Cameron (University of Durham),
Jim McCormick (Scottish Council Foundation, formerly IPPR),
Jamie Peck (University of Manchester),
Nikolas Theodore (University of Illinois at Chicago).

Module 2: Britain and the Euro

Chair: Adam Tickell

Participants:
Gordon Clark (University of Oxford),
Ray Hudson (University of Durham),
Alan Simpson MP.

The political economy of Britain at the millennium

Convenors: Adam Tickell (University of Southampton), Gordon MacLeod (University of Wales)

Wednesday 6th January

Module 3: The state

Chair: Adam Tickell

The British road to a Schumpeterian workfare post-national regime: on the clearway or a dead end street ,
Bob Jessop (University of Lancaster).

The politics of devolution and development ,
Kevin Morgan (University of Wales).

The city, the mayor and the state: reconstituting London's representational regime ,
Mark Goodwin, Gordon MacLeod (University of Wales).

Module 2: The economy

Chair: Gordon MacLeod

The geography of venture capital investment in the UK in the 1990s: a case of greater regional inequality ,
Colin Mason (University of Southampton), Richard Harrison (University of Aberdeen).

The political economy and regional implications of energy policy in Britain ,
David Sadler (University of Durham).

The branch plant economy: a reassessment based on new evidence from the UK regions ,
Mike Crone (University of Sheffield).

Social exclusion in rural Britain ,
Lorna Philips, Mark Shucksmith (University of Aberdeen).

Finance, the firm and economic geography

Convenors: Gordon Clark (University of Oxford), Neil Wrigley (University of Southampton)

Wednesday 7th January

Module 1: Finance and global structure

Chair: Adam Tickell

The new economic geography of money ,
Ron Martin (University of Cambridge).

Competition and innovation in the investment management industry ,
Gordon Clark (University of Oxford).

Linking geographies of globalisation: legal services and banking in the world economy ,
Richard Smith (University of Leicester), Johnathan Beaverstock, Peter Taylor (University of Loughbrough).

Discussant:
Nigel Thrift (University of Bristol).

Module 2: Finance and firms

Chair: Gordon Clark

Capital structure transformations of the firm and corporate restructuring ,
Neil Wrigley (University of Southampton).

Financing European transitions: banking in Poland ,
Melanie Feakins (University of Oxford).

Merger mania: the political economy of bank mergers in Canada ,
Adam Tickell (University of Southampton).

Discussant:
Jane Pollard (University of Birmingham).

Postgraduate research in economic geography at the end of the millennium

Convenors: Andrew Lincoln (University of Southampton), Dan Mansfield (University of Manchester)

Wednesday 7th January

Module 3

Chair: Dan Mansfield (University of Manchester)

Competition versus nested-interdependency in scale relations ,
Sally Randles (University of Manchester).

Working people's money at work: the role of labour-sponsored investment funds in Canadian regional development ,
Andrew Lincoln (University of Southampton).

Mutual environmental risk: moral economy in corporate insurance clubs ,
Paul Bennett (University of Oxford).

Rebuilding the entrepreneurial city: Manchester as a local state project ,
Adam Holden (University of Manchester).

Module 4

Chair: Andrew Lincoln

Constructing environmental responsibilities: perspectives on environmental transport policy and attempts to reduce car use ,
Suzanne Martin (University of Aberdeen).

Private funding inevitable? A geo-economic analysis of the Private Finance Initiative ,
Dan Mansfield (University of Manchester).

Franchising: the geography of new organisational form ,
Juliet Cox (University of Southampton).

Economic crisis in Indonesia and the impact on the clothing industry ,
Markus Hassler (University of Manchester).