Shifting Production to Southeast Asia: Electronics Transnational Corporations Moving to Vietnam since the 2000s explores how a labor-intensive industry has been expanded from the 'World Factory' - China to developing Southeast Asia under the changing dynamics in the global and regional production networks, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tension, by using the case study of the production relocations of the consumer electronics manufacturing industry to Vietnam. David Yuen Tung Chan and Chun Yang explore the changing trade and investment patterns as well as the transformations of the electronics production networks and the changing roles and functions of China, Vietnam and other Asian countries, the relocations of firms and the strategic coupling with Vietnam, as well as the impacts of the post-pandemic dynamics. The shifting electronics production from China to Vietnam, which increased since the mid-2000s, is not a simple expansion led by the conventional lead firms from the 'North' solely to cut costs, but it is a rather complicated and multiscale process that has been simultaneously driven by various tiers of firms and levels of governments from different origins out of various dynamics at different spatial scales.
David Yuen Tung CHAN is research assistant professor at the School of Graduate Studies and a center fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies at Lingnan University
Chun (Charlotte) YANG is chair professor in the department of geography and associate dean (Research) at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Hong Kong Baptist University.
This timely work unpacks the global relocation of the electronic sector, increasingly driven by forces beyond the leading transnational corporations from the "Global North." A thoroughly researched, deeply well-informed and thought-provoking book by two economic geographers!
--Fenghua PanDespite the explosion of research on global value chains and production networks in recent times, rigorous book length studies of production network restructuring are still relatively few and far between. In that context, this detailed and thoughtful study of Asia's consumer electronics industry, and in particular production relocation from China to Vietnam, is very welcome. It tells a fascinating empirical story as well as distilling a range of theoretical implications for production network theory. Highly recommended.
--Neil M. Coe, University of SydneyShifting Production to Southeast Asia: Electronics Transnational Corporations Moving to Vietnam since the 2000s is a rare and highly valuable piece that analyses the movements and trajectories of production activities from China to Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam. By using the production network perspective, the authors investigate the recent shifting positions of Asian countries in the labor-intensive manufacturing sector in a timely fashion. In electronics manufacturing sector, Vietnam seems to have the momentum to replace China as an assembly hub, instigating the questions of "Why?" and "How?" Based on their years long on-site investigations and interviews in both China and Vietnam, the authors provide insightful findings that unveil the complexity of the system, drivers, and mechanisms behind the movement. Not just the enterprises, but the non-enterprise actors at various levels and in different regions also play important roles in driving the relocation and the (de)coupling processes. The research has been extended to cover the latest dynamics in the post-pandemic era when geopolitical tension has heightened. It is interesting to see how different actors responded to the uncertainties and reorganized their production activities. Apart from the empirical advancements, the components related to the global production network framework, are also significant as they contribute an interesting and valuable tile and brick in the broad production network literature. As I have maintained a continuous interest in geography of finance, foreign direct investment, economic geography, industrial shift, and published voluminous related research articles over the years, I feel greatly encouraged to read this recent addition to the related fields. I'm glad to attest to the excellence and necessity of the book and wholeheartedly recommend it to readers.
--Simon Xiaobin Zhao