In this paper, the literature on ‘flexible production’ and on branch-plant-led regional development are drawn upon to outline a number of different forms of contemporary backward material linkage change. Then, an empirical examination of the spatial implications of these forms of linkage change at four branch plants in one older industrial region is provided. These examples of linkage change suggest that a process of linkage simplification is an integral part of contemporary industrial restructuring in the peripheral region setting. It is suggested that this process of linkage simplification is one facet of the continued integration of peripheral region manufacturing industry into increasingly spatially dispersed networks of production.
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