The spatial organisation of corporations : a case study of the multinational chemicals industry with specific reference to ICI

Abstract

This thesis is about the spatial implications of multinational corporations. It is argued that a better understanding of these spatial impacts can be achieved only by focusing on the complex organisation of corporate structures. Such an emphasis provides a supplementary perspective which can be used to explain the emergence of a new international division of labour during the 1970s and 1980s, a phenomenon which must be viewed partially as the outcome of the multinational evolution and restructuring of individual enterprises. The chosen theoretical perspective requires that a framework be established which provides a means of linking macro- and micro-scale processes operating in space, integrating propositions relating the organisation and spatial structure of corporations. The business organisation itself, therefore, is taken as the appropriate unit of analysis to gain insights into the position particular geographical events occupy within corporate space. Consequently, the analytical framework is derived from theories concerning the structure of business organisations. The argument is conducted within the context of business organisations operating in the chemicals industry between 1970 and 1980, special attention being given to one corporation, ICI. In particular, several conceptual problems on corporate structure are identified and addressed, concerning differentiation between and within organisations, and the role space plays in establishing, maintaining and increasing structural inequalities. The analysis expands the general arguments of the thesis, but also underlines the importance of historical patterns of corporate development which are embodied in organisational structures. Furthermore, the analysis both clarifies and exposes factors influencing the creation of a changing spatial division of labour, by emphasising the need to address processes operating inside individual plant locations, as well as inside different types of business organisation.