Regional production, information–communication technology, and the developmental state: the rise of Singapore as a global container hub

Abstract The production strategies of transnational corporations (TNCs) have revolutionized the structure of global port and container shipping industries as both have adopted information and communication technology (ICT) to better articulate the spatial movement of goods between producing and consuming regions. This research first explores the structural synergies between TNC production, ICT and container transport. With in the context of “developmental state” policies, the bulk of the paper examines the rise of Singapore as an ICT-based global container hub to serve the simultaneous processes of spatial agglomeration and dispersion associated with regional TNC production strategies. The aggressive adoption of ICT by the Singapore Port Authority (PSA) enabled the city-state to territorially embed and competitively manage trade flows through a complex, but spatially flexible hub and spoke geometry of container movements. Through the process of “glocalization”, the PSA has itself become a TNC by operating container terminals around the world.

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