institutions. Firms are the main engines for driving production but it is in the interplay between

different types of firms, their constant re-organisation to adjust to different market imperatives and

technological changes, and clever use of relational assets with institutions, that we find the

manifestations of growth and development.

Mathews (2005, 2006) and Kenny and Florida (2004) have shown that flexibility and speed are

probably more important considerations. The organisation of production in a fast changing and highly

competitive world with rapid changes in technology requires greater levels of innovative

organisational arrangements. Reorganising production in the past would have required the relocation

of plants and production somewhere else. Innovations currently in vogue and which help firms to

improve the flexibility of their operations include outsourcing, OEM, ODM, CM and EMS

arrangements. These arrangements help to foster various forms of GPNs and the global orientation of

manufacturing.

Figure 1.3 Inter-regional competition for Taiwan investment in the Pearl River Delta

(PRD) and the Yangste River Delta (YRD) in the global production networks: a trans-

local analytical framework

Source: Yang (2010)