ABSTRACT
Analyzing a network of temporally and spatially dispersed production processes requires an extended conceptual framework. Such a framework can help expose the range of the division of labor, the dominant mode of production that characterizes the capitalist system, the major actors and the tasks they undertake, and the network relations that facilitate these production processes on a global scale. The global organization of production is based on flexible specialization, which is the dominant mode of production facilitated by multinational corporations. Globally dispersed production processes are interlinked in global value chains. Despite all its technical sophistication, the globalization of production is inefficient when it comes to avoiding yet another global economic crisis. This raises the following question: is there another way to produce, that is, to organize and facilitate production processes that may avoid the inescapable limitations of the capitalist system? This chapter tries to answer this important question.
