ABSTRACT
The discussions of this chapter highlight key economic and socio-political differences between Synthetic Rubber producing regions. Geographical and associated elements are usually crucial in economic activity, and in this case include the location of SR plants relative to petrochemical complexes and the nature of conversion processes in the latter. These respective kinds of integration are partially explained by differing historical and social circumstances, where the forwards integration in North America began with the special needs of the Second World War, and the socialist arrangements in Eastern Europe and China stemmed from the commanding role of government in those economies. In general, the former category covers producers in Western Europe and to some extent in Japan, and the latter producers in North America. Vertical integration has key economic advantages in enabling more effective mediation of transactions between agents, including reduced riskiness of this process. The chief and powerful politico-social justification for official support of SR industries has been strategic self-sufficiency.
