FIRM ORGANIZATION AND SPATIAL DYNAMICS

For the past three years the world economy has suffered a recession. In contrast to earlier global, as well as national, recessions when manufacturing industries were most vulnerable, business services have been significantly affected. Not surprisingly, this has revived old doubts about the role of services in modern economies. The papers in this section re-examine the problematics associated with the efficiency and productivity of service organisations. Even if the social division of labour is a strong argument to support the growth of service industries, attempts to understand better the connection between service firm location and different ways of internally organising and coordinating production might be one useful direction for future research.