REGIONAL CREATIVE DESTRUCTION - PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION, GLOBALIZATION, AND THE ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION OF THE MIDWEST

This article examines the role of new forms of production organization in the process of regional economic transformation. I argue that ther e is a geographic ol regional element to the transformative forces whi ch Schumpeter identified as gales of creative destruction as new forms of production organization transform older regions. I question a cent ral theme of recent geographic theory, that new forms of production or ganization are the province of newly emerging regions, while older man ufacturing legions remain trapped in older, outmoded forms. The resear ch explores these issues through the lens of the Industrial Midwest, a region depicted as beset by chronic economic decline and as being loc ked into outmoded forms of production organization. The data are drawn from a survey of Midwest manufacturers and field research consisting of site visits and personal interviews at a sample of manufacturing pl ants. The main findings of the reseal-ch indicate that there has been a high rate of adoption and diffusion of new forms of work and product ion organization in the Midwest and that this shift has been accelerat ed by globalization, particularly by the influx of transplant manufact ures who have transferred new production systems to the region. The re search also suggests that the region's broader economic recovery is to some degree linked to the adoption and diffusion of these new forms o f production organization. The key findings indicate that new forms of production organization have taken root in this older industrial legi on, contributing to its economic transformation.