Abstract | Globalization processes in the clothing industry of Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine, Reg. Studies 37 , 173-186. This paper sets out to examine the integration of a region undergoing a process of post-socialist transformation in the global marketplace. In doing so it draws upon the experience of the clothing industry in Transcarpathia, Western Ukraine. The findings of extensive fieldwork investigation suggest that, during the mid 1990s, sub-contracting linkages were established through intermediaries located in economies, which achieved significant advances in the process of transformation (such as Hungary and Slovakia), between local manufacturers and parent enterprises abroad. The role of the mediators was subsequently diminished, partly due to the adoption of greater commitment strategies by some parent enterprises and the emergence of local mediators and a handful of entrepreneurial manufacturers. This led to the formation of complex networks of production and role differentiation among local and global economic agents. The resulting recovery in the employment provided by the industry to some 60% of the pre-1991 levels constitutes a rare success story in the regional context. However, there are serious concerns about the long-term viability of this pattern of growth. |
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