ABSTRACT
Over the last ten or so years there has been a radical alteration in the economic geographies of production systems. This alteration reflects fundamental qualitative changes to the organisation of production systems that create many everyday products that are purchased by individuals and organisations. On the one hand, the alteration is obvious and is visible in the continual rise of manufacturing capacity in low-cost production locations. On the other hand, some of the complexities of this alteration have been overlooked. This qualitative change is apparent in catalogues as well as displayed on the packaging of many products. Let us take three examples. First, in 2007 the British company Imagination Technologies, an award-winning ‘manufacturer’of digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radios, developed a new product, the Siesta DAB & FM Clock Radio, that was sold as part of its Pure EcoPlus™ product family. This innovative product was designed and manufactured to minimise its environmental impact by ensuring that it had reduced power consumption, the raw materials came from recycled and sustainable sources, the optimum packaging size was designed for transport efficiency and components were selected to minimise their environmental impacts. All this highlights that this was a product developed to compete on its eco-credentials; the company was establishing a new eco-friendly brand, but this is not the most interesting aspect of this radio. The company was awarded the Queen’s award for enterprise innovation in 2004 as, according to the radio’s packaging, the company ‘uses UK-based design and engineering to produce the world’s most innovative range of DAB digital radios’. This company’s products are clearly labelled, both on the packaging and the product, ‘Designed and engineered in the UK. Manufactured in China’.
