There has been a growing interest in connecting production and consumption through the study of commodity chains. We identify three distinct approaches to the chain and review debates concerning the merits of a ‘vertical’ rather than a ‘horizontal’ approach. Drawing upon the example of the home furnishings commodity chain, the article highlights the importance of including horizontal factors such as gender and place alongside vertical chains. We consider geographical contingencies which underpin commodity chain dynamics, the role of space in mediating relationships across the chain and the spatialities of different products.
Appelbaum, R. and Gereffi, G.1994: Power and profits in the apparel commodity chain. In Bonacich, E. , Cheng, L. , Chincilla, N. , Hamilton, N. and Ong, P. , editors, Global production: the apparel industry in the Pacific rim, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press , 42-62.
2.
Arce, A. and Marsden, T.K.1993: The social construction of international food: a new research agenda . Economic Geography69, 293-312 .
3.
Atkinson, A.1983: Principles of political economy. London: Belhaven .
4.
Attfield, J.1990: The empty cocktail cabinet: display in the mid-century British domestic interior. In Putnam, T. and Newton, C. , editors, Household choices, London: Futures Publications , 84-88.
5.
Attfield, J. 1992: The role of design in the relationship between furniture manufacture and its retailing 1939-1965. PhD thesis, Brighton University.
6.
Bell, D. and Valentine, G.1997: Consuming geographies. We are where we eat. London: Routledge .
7.
Boyd, W. and Watts, M.1997: Agro-industrial just-in-time: the chicken industry and post-war American capitalism. In Goodman, D. and Watts, M. , editors, Globalizing food: agrarian questions and global restructuring, London: Routledge , 192-225.
8.
Clarke, A.J.1998: Window shopping at home: classifieds, catalogues and new consumer skills. In Miller, D. , editor, Material cultures: why some things matter, London: UCL Press , 73-99.
9.
Clarke, D.B. and Purvis, M.1994: Dialectics, difference and the geographies of consumption . Environment and Planning A26, 1091-1109 .
10.
Cook, I. and Crang, P.1996a: The world on a plate: culinary culture, displacement and geographical knowledges . Journal of Material Culture1, 131-153 .
11.
Cook, I. and Crang, P.1996b: Commodity systems, documentary filmmaking and new geographies of food: Amos Gitai's Ananas. Draft paper available from the authors: Ian Cook, School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK ; Phil Crang, Department of Geography, University College London, 26 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AP, UK .
12.
Cook, I. , Crang, P. and Thorpe, M.1997: Tropics of consumption: representing ‘exotic'fruit in ‘British’ culinary culture. Eating Places Working Paper 2. London: UCL .
13.
Crang, P.1996: Displacement, consumption and identity . Environment and Planning A28, 47-67 .
14.
Crang, P.1997: Cultural turns and the (re)constitution of economic geography. In Lee, R. and Wills, J. , editors, Geographies of economies, London: Arnold , 3-15.
15.
Crang, P. and Malbon, B.1996: Consuming geographies: a review essay . Transactions, Institute of British Geographers21, 704-711 .
16.
Crewe, L.1994: Consuming landscapes: designing desire in the Nottingham Lace Market . East Midland Geographer17, 22-27 .
17.
Crewe, L. and Davenport, E.1992: The puppet show: changing buyer-supplier relationships within clothing retailing . Transactions, Institute of British Geographers17, 183-197 .
18.
Crewe, L. and Forster, Z.1993a: A Canute policy fighting economics? Local economic policy in an industrial district: the case of Nottingham's Lace Market . Policy and Politics21, 275-288 .
19.
Crewe, L. and Forster, Z.1993b: Markets, design and local agglomeration: the role of the small independent retailer in the workings of the fashion system . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space111, 213-229 .
20.
Crewe, L. and Gregson, N.1998: Tales of the unexpected: exploring car boot sales as marginal spaces of consumption . Transactions, Institute of British Geographers23, 39-53 .
21.
Crewe, L. and Lowe, M.1995: Gap on the map? Towards a geography of consumption and identity . Environment and Planning A27, 1877-1898 .
22.
de Certeau, M.1984: The practice of everyday life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press .
23.
Ducatel, K. and Blomley, N.1990: Rethinking retail capital . International Journal of Urban and Regional Research14, 207-227 .
24.
du Gay, P. , Hall, S. , Janes, L. , Mackay, H. and Negus, K.1997: Doing cultural studies: the story of the Sony Walkman. London: Sage .
25.
Fine, B.1993: Modernity, urbanism and modern consumption: a comment . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space11, 599-601 .
26.
Fine, B.1995: From political economy to consumption. In Miller, D. , editor, Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies, London: Routledge , 127-163.
27.
Fine, B. , Heasman M. and Wright, J.1996: Consumption in the age of affluence: the world of food. London: Routledge .
28.
Fine, B. and Leopold, E.1993: The world of consumption. London: Routledge .
29.
Forty, A.1995: Objects of desire: design and society since 1750. London: Thames & Hudson .
30.
Gereffi, G.1994: The organisation of buyerdriven global commodity chains: how US retailers shape overseas production networks. In Gereffi, G. , Korzeniewicz, M. and Korzeniewicz, R. , editors, Commodity chains and global capitalism, Westport, CN: Greenwood Press , 95-122.
31.
Gereffi, G. , Korzeniewicz, M. and Korzeniewicz, R.1994: Introduction: global commodity chains. In Gereffi, G. , Korzeniewicz, M. and Korzeniewicz, R. , editors, Commodity chains and global capitalism, Westport, CN: Greenwood Press , 1-14.
32.
Gibbs, D.C.1992: ‘The main thing today is shopping’: consumption and the flexibility debate. SPA Working Paper 15. Manchester: School of Geography, University of Manchester .
33.
Glennie, P.D. and Thrift, N.J.1993: Modern consumption: theorising commodities and consumers . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space11, 603-606 .
34.
Gregson, N. and Crewe, L.1997: The bargain, the knowledge and the spectacle: making sense of consumption in the space of the car-boot sale . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space15, 87-112 .
35.
Harvey, D.1989: The condition of postmodernity: an enquiry into the origins of cultural change. Oxford: Blackwell .
36.
Harvey, D.1990: Between space and time: reflections on the geographical imagination . Annals of the Association of American Geographers80, 418-434 .
37.
Hinchliffe, S.1997: Home-space and the will to disconnect. In Hetherington, K. and Munro, R. , editors, Ideas of difference: social space and the labour of division, Oxford: Blackwell , 200-219.
38.
Hopkins, T.K. and Wallerstein, I.1986: Commodity chains in the world-economy prior to 1800 . Review10, 157-170 .
39.
Hughes, A.1999: Constructing competitive spaces: on the corporate practice of British retailer-supplier relationships . Environment and PlanningA 31, 819-839 .
40.
Industry Canada1996: Household furniture. Part 1. Overview and prospects. Ottawa: Industry Canada .
41.
Jackson, P.1993: Towards a cultural politics of consumption. In Bird, J. , Curtis, B. , Putnam, T. , Robinson, G. and Tickner, L. , editors, Mapping the futures: local cultures, global change, London: Routledge , 207-228.
42.
Jackson, P. 1997: Learning from Loaded: reading the new men's ‘lifestyle’ magazines . Paper presented to the Association of American Geographers’ Annual Meeting, Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, April (available from the author, Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Winter Street, Sheffield S10 2TN UK).
43.
Jackson, P. and Taylor, J.1996: Geography and the cultural politics of advertising . Progress in Human Geography20, 356-371 .
44.
Jackson, P. and Thrift, N.1995: Geographies of consumption. In Miller, D. , editor, Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies, London: Routledge , 204-237.
45.
James, A.1996: Cooking the books: global or local identities in contemporary British food cultures. In Howes, D. , editor, Cross cultural consumption: global markets, local realities, London, Routledge , 77-92.
46.
Johnson, R.1996: The story so far: and further transformations? In Punter, D. , editor, Introduction to contemporary cultural studies, London: Longman , 277-313.
47.
Kidd, A.1996: UK furniture makers increase efficiency, but we still lag behind most of Europe. Cabinet Maker 26 November, 9.
48.
Kirkham, P.1994: ‘If you have no sons’: furnituremaking in Britain. In Attfield, J. and Kirkham, P. , editors, A view from the interior: women and design, London: The Women's Press , 109-130.
49.
Kirkham, P. , Mace, R. and Porter, J.1987: Furnishing the world: the east London furniture trade 1830-1980. London: Journeyman .
50.
Leitch, C.1997: Furniture firms sitting pretty . Globe and Mail 13 January, B1-B1, B3-B3 .
51.
Leslie, D.1997: Flexibly specialized agencies? Reflexivity, identity and the advertising industry . Environment and Planning A29, 1017-1038 .
52.
Löfgren, O.1990: Consuming interests . Culture and History7, 7-36 .
53.
Loxley, T.1996: Fashion houses . Canadian Select HomesApril, 48-53 .
Mackay, H. , editor, 1997: Consumption and everyday life. London: Sage .
56.
Madigan, R. and Munro, M.1996: House beautiful: style and consumption in the home . Sociology30, 41-57 .
57.
Marsden, T. , Harrison, M. and Flynn, A.1998: Creating competitive space: exploring the social and political maintenance of retailer power . Environment and Planning A30, 481-498 .
58.
Marsden, T. and Little, J. , editors, 1990: Political, social and economic perspectives on the internation - alfood system. Aldershot: Avebury .
59.
Marsden, T. and Wrigley, N.1995: Regulation, retailing and consumption . Environment and Planning A27, 1899-1912 .
60.
Marsden, T. and Wrigley, N.1996: Retailing, the food system and the regulatory state. In Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M. , editors, Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography, Harlow: Longman , 33-47.
61.
May, J.1996: A little taste of something more exotic: imaginative geographies of everyday life . Geography81, 57-64 .
62.
McRobbie, A.1997: Bridging the gap: feminism, fashion and consumption . Feminist Review55, 73-89 .
63.
Miller, D.1990: Appropriating the state on the council estate. In Putnam, T. and Newton, C. , editors, Household choices, London: Futures Publications , 43-55.
64.
Miller, D.1994: Modernity: an ethnographic approach. Oxford: Berg .
65.
Miller, D.1995: Consumption as the vanguard of history: a polemic by way of introduction. In Miller, D. , editor, Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies, London: Routledge , 1-57.
66.
Miller, D.1997: Capitalism: an ethnographic approach. Oxford: Berg .
67.
Miller, D.1998: A theory of shopping. Cambridge: Polity Press .
68.
Miller, D. , Jackson, P. , Thrift, N. , Holbrook, B. and Rowlands, M.1998: Shopping, place and identity. London: Routledge .
69.
Molotch, H.1996: LAas design product. How art works in a regional economy. In Scott, A.J. and Soja, E.W. , editors, The city: Los Angeles and urban theory at the end of the 20th century, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press , 225-275.
70.
Morley, D.1995: Theories of consumption in media studies. In Miller, D. , editor, Acknowledging consumption: a review of new studies, London: Routledge , 296-328.
71.
Mort, F.1996: Cultures of consumption: masculinities and social space in late twentieth-century Britain. London: Routledge .
72.
Mort, F.1997: Paths to mass consumption: Britain and the USAsince 1945. In Nava, M. , Blake, A. , MacRury, I. and Richards, B. , editors, Buy this book: studies in advertising and consumption, London: Routledge , 15-33.
73.
Mort, F. and Thompson, P.1994: Retailing, commercial culture and masculinity in 1950s Britain: the case of Montague Burton, the ‘Taylor of Taste’ . History Workshop Journal38, 106-127 .
Nava, M.1996: Modernity's disavowal: women, the city and the department store. In Nava, M. and O'Shea, A. , editors, Modern times: reflections on a century of English modernity, London: Routledge , 38-76.
76.
Nixon, S.1996: Hard looks: masculinities, spectator - ship and contemporary consumption. London: UCLPress .
77.
Parr, J.1990: The gender of breadwinners: women, men and change in two industrial towns, 1880-1950. Toronto: University of Toronto Press .
78.
Peet, R.1989: World capitalism and the destruction of regional cultures. In Johnson, R.J. and Taylor, P. , editors, The world in crisis, Oxford: Blackwell , 175-199.
79.
Piore, M. and Sabel, C.1984: The second industrial divide: possibilities for prosperity. New York: Basic Books .
80.
Pred, A.1996: Interfusions: consumption, identity and the practices and power relations of everyday life . Environment and Planning A28, 11-24 .
81.
Putnam, T.1993: Beyond the modern home: shifting the parameters of residence. In Bird, J. , Curtis, B. , Putnam, T. and Tickner, L. , editors, Mapping thefutures: local cultures, global change, London: Routledge , 150-167.
82.
Ritson, M. , Elliot, R. and Eccles, S.1996: Reframing Ikea: commodity-signs, consumer creativity and the social/self dialectic . Advances in Consumer Research23, 127-131 .
83.
Sabel, C.1989: Flexible specialization and the reemergence of regional economies. In Hirst, P. and Zeitlin, J. , editors, Reversing industrial decline? Industrial structure and policy in Britain and her competitors, Oxford: Berg , 17-70.
84.
Sack, R.D.1992: Place, modernity and the consumer's world. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press .
85.
Sayer, A. and Walker, R.1992: The new social economy: reworking the division of labour. Oxford: Blackwell .
86.
Scott, A.J.1996a: The craft, fashion and cultural products industries of Los Angeles: competitive dynamics and policy dilemmas in a multisectoral image-producing complex . Annals of the Association of American Geographers86, 306-323 .
87.
Scott, A.J.1996b: Economic decline and regeneration in a regional manufacturing complex: southern California's household furniture industry . Entrepreneurship and Regional Development8, 75-98 .
88.
Shackleton, R.1996: Retailer internationalisation: a culturally constructed phenomenon. In Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M. , editors, Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography, Harlow: Longman , 137-156.
89.
Slater, D.1997: Consumer culture and modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press .
90.
Smith, M.D.1996: The empire filters back: consumption, production and the politics of Starbucks' coffee . Urban Geography17, 502-525 .
91.
Usherwood, B.1997: Transnational publishing: the case of Elle Decoration. In Nava, M. , Blake, A. , MacRury, I. and Richards, B. , editors, Buy this book: studies in advertising and consumption, London: Routledge , 178-190.
92.
Walker, R.1992: Regulation, flexible specialization and the forces of production in capitalist development. Draft. Copy available from the author: Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, 507 McCone Hall, Berkeley, CA94720-4740, USA .
93.
Weiss, B.1996: Coffee breaks and coffee connections. The lived experience of a commodity in Tanzanian and European Worlds. In Howes, D. , editor, Cross-cultural consumption: global markets, local realities, London: Routledge , 93-105.
94.
Whatmore, S.1997: Dissecting the autonomous self: hybrid cartographies for a relational ethics . Environment and Planning D: Society and Space15, 37-53 .
95.
Wrigley, N.1992: Antitrust regulation and the restructuring of grocery retailing in Britain and the USA . Environment and Planning A24, 727-749 .
96.
Wrigley, N. and Lowe, M. , editors, 1996: Retailing, consumption and capital: towards the new retail geography. Harlow: Longman .
