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The article presents information on four papers discussed at the University of Nottingham conference held in June 2005. The papers focus on the determinants behind the decision making in global trade and the implications of globalization for firm-level adjustment. It states that the papers explains the three themes namely, exports, multinationals enterprises and outsourcing.

This paper explores the neglected issue in the 'globalisation' debate concerning the contraction and withdrawal of capital from the territories. The analysis is built upon consideration of the institutional architecture, state inter-relations and territoriality and nationality of capital. The paper concludes that historical evolution and contingency are critical to left analysis of the 'globalisation' of capital and may help to resist and contest regressive changes and lay the foundations of collaboration and alliance building for more progressive economic and social strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper forms part of a series of papers investigating how a handful of European regions responded, in most cases successfully, to deepening global economic integration during the period 1995−2005. This particular case considers the response of the English region comprising the territories of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes (the 'UKJ1 region') located to the immediate West and Northwest of Greater London. It investigates why this region was able to exploit deepening global integration as well as it did, even though it does not have a major urban centre at its territorial core. It also asks what lessons the region's experience holds for other European regions. The messages to emerge from the case study are that the UKJ1 region's success in leveraging these global flows is inextricably linked to its functional interdependence with Greater London and that, to the extent policy factors played a role in this integration process, central government policy-making played a significantly more important role than regional government policy making. The messages to other European regions then are: ( i) to consider and cultivate all kinds of links between regions on the periphery of major national urban centres and those urban centres themselves; and ( ii) to communicate clearly and forcefully the strengths and vulnerabilities of individual regions to the national level policy-makers responsible for the pace of global integration. Resumen. Este artículo forma parte de una serie que investiga el modo en que unas pocas regiones europeas respondieron, en la mayoría de casos de modo exitoso, a la consecución de una integración económica global más profunda en el periodo 1995-2005. Este caso en particular considera la respuesta de la región inglesa que incluye los territorios de Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire y Milton Keynes (la región 'UKJ1' en NUTS), inmediatamente vecinos al oeste y noroeste del Gran Londres. Se investiga por qué esta región fue capaz de explotar en mayor profundidad la integración global tan bien como lo hizo, aunque no tenga un centro urbano importante en el núcleo de su territorio. También se pregunta acerca de las lecciones que la experiencia de esta región puede aportar a otras regiones europeas. Los mensajes que emergen del estudio de caso son que el éxito de la región UKJ1 en cuanto a aprovecharse de estos flujos globales está inextricablemente vinculado a su interdependencia funcional con el Gran Londres y que, en tanto que varios factores políticos han jugado un papel en este proceso de integración, la formulación de políticas del gobierno central ha jugado un papel significativamente más importante que las políticas formuladas a escala regional. Las lecciones para otras regiones europeas son por tanto: (i) considerar y cultivar todo tipo de vínculo entre regiones en la periferia de los principales centros urbanos nacionales y de los propios centros urbanos; y (ii) comunicar de manera clara y enérgica las fortalezas y vulnerabilidades de cada región a los formuladores de políticas responsables del avance de la integración global. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between gentrification and globalisation has recently become a significant concern for gentrification scholars. This has involved developing an understanding of how gentrification has become a place-based strategy of class (re)formation during an era in which globalisation has changed sociological structures and challenged previously established indicators of social distinction. This paper offers an alternative reading of the relationship between gentrification and globalisation through examining the results of a mixed method research project which looked at new-build gentrification along the River Thames, London, UK. This research finds gentrification not to be distinguished by the gentrifer-performed practice of habitus within a ‘global context’. Rather, the responsibility for gentrification, and the relationship between globalisation and gentrification, is found to originate with capital actors working within the context of a neoliberal global city. In order to critically conceptualise this form of gentrification, and understand the role of globalisation within the process, the urban theory of Lefebvre is drawn upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we argue that a process of super-gentrification, similar to that first identified by Lees (2003 Urban Studies 40 2487–509) in Brooklyn Heights, New York City, is occurring in the already gentrified, inner London neighbourhood of Barnsbury. A new group of super wealthy professionals working in the City of London is slowly imposing its mark on this inner London housing market in a way that differentiates it and them both from traditional gentrifiers and from the traditional urban upper classes. We suggest that there is a close interaction between work in the newly globalizing industries of the financial services economy, elite forms of education, particularly Oxbridge, and residence in Barnsbury which is very different from other areas of gentrified inner London. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considerable debate has occurred over whether ‘global cities’ are witnessing polarization of their labour forces into highly paid professionals and low paid personal service workers. This paper offers evidence on paid domestic labour in London, some of which occurs in the informal sector, and considers its potential significance for the polarization debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of information and communications technologies (IT) is playing a key role in transforming the nature of work. The link between IT and transformation is poorly understood, and further theoretical developments are needed to advance our current knowledge of this relationship. In this paper, we develop a conceptual scheme by drawing on and extending Giddens' social theory of transformation that relates changes in modern institutions to shifts in self-identity. We illustrate the value of these ideas in making sense of the introduction of an electronic trading system, LIMNET EPS, across the London Insurance Market. Furthermore, our case analyses suggest some practical implications on electronic trading and work transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a comparative analysis of teacher education for vocational education and training in Scotland and England, which is set within a European context. A 'home international' intra-comparative framework is used for the study, identifying both strengths and weaknesses within both systems. A number of themes are identified and discussed within the study including the issues of governance, regulation, pedagogy and professionalisation. The findings indicate that both countries have responded in different ways to the pressures of neo-liberal competitiveness and globalisation, in particular by adopting different systems of governance and regulation. However, it is argued that although these differences are significant when viewed within a 'cross-border' setting, they also underline how both countries have by and large disengaged from European policy making in vocational education teacher training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the values of early career teachers being positioned in Norway, Germany and England. The research questions were related to the values held by becoming teachers in relation to their proposed occupation, similarities and differences in values of the teachers among the three national settings and the role played by national pedagogic traditions, national policy contexts and institutional settings in the changing values of newly-qualified teachers. It was based on the theory and methods related to globalization and followed a layered approach of study focusing on both macro and micro phenomena. The study concluded that all the three nations had different cultural traditions and were subject to the forces of economic globalization.

This article presents the conceptual and methodological framework of a two-year comparative research project (2002-2004), funded by the University of Paisley. The study, entitled 'Convergence or Divergence? Initial Teacher Education in Scotland and England', investigated initial teacher education (ITE) policy and practice in England and Scotland in order to establish whether there is evidence of convergence or divergence between the two systems. The article first sets out the rationale for such work in the dual contexts of globalization and devolution before presenting and justifying the specific comparative methodological approach selected. The second half of the article focuses particularly on the study design and some of the challenges involved with its implementation, relating the discussion to the existing methodological literature. Finally, the authors attempt to highlight the methodological potential of the study for others working in the field of comparative education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial markets and information technologies are key issues for contemporary social theory and the anthropology of globalization. Drawing on fieldwork in Chicago and London, I examine the interplay between processes of technological rationalization and the situated actions of traders in two financial futures markets-one that operates on open-outcry pit technology and the other process online. Both technologies represent the market in numbers. Traders use these symbols to read and interpret the market. Yet each technology configures numbers differently. The technologies influence traders' practices by shaping this basic unit of financial knowledge, [finance, globalization, knowledge, numbers, technology, United States, England] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]