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The purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity in efforts to conserve biodiversity.

The paper examines a case study of biodiversity conservation efforts to restore a degraded blanket bog habitat. The analysis adopts a social nature perspective, which sees the social and the natural as inseparably intertwined in socio-ecological systems: complexes of relations between (human and non-human) actors, being perpetually produced by fluid interactions. Using a theoretical framework from the geography literature, consisting of four mutually constitutive dimensions of relations – territory, scale, network, and place (TSNP) – the analysis examines various forms of accounting for biodiversity that are centred on this blanket bog.

The analysis finds that various forms of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity have rendered this blanket bog visible and comprehensible in multiple ways, so as to contribute towards making this biodiversity conservation thinkable and possible.

This paper brings theorising from geography, concerning the social nature perspective and the TSNP framework, into the study of accounting for biodiversity. This has enabled a novel analysis that reveals the productive force of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity, and the role of such accounting in organising the world so as to produce socio-ecological systems that aid biodiversity conservation.

As place branding is reaching an impasse in terms of its development with numerous shortcomings being uncovered, this commentary suggests that the practice can be repositioned as part of the more comprehensive notion of place reputation. By building on the idea of corporate reputation and embryonic evidence of its application to geographical entities, this paper aims to argue for a more substantial translation of this concept to cities and regions.

This idea was investigated through empirical work in English second-tier cities, specifically concerning semi-structured interviews with local and regional stakeholders on the topic of place reputation conducted in 2014.

The empirical work found that place branding and place reputation can remain complimentary to one another, are entwined and are problematic to disentangle. This discovered that place branding is not as effective when used in isolation, and the concept benefits from the support of a more comprehensive reputation management strategy. In addition, this study found that the idea of reputational capital is a key theory for the development of reputation, allowing this broad notion to be tackled in terms of audiences, domains and sectors.

Moreover, this commentary constitutes a novel piece of research, and this is achieved by exploring gaps in both interdisciplinary place branding and corporate literatures of reputation being applied to place. This is addressed from a relational economic geography perspective, with the support of reputational capital which has links to Pierre Bourdieu’s (1986) Forms of Capital, this seeks to raise issues and add value to current place branding debates.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the use of small river ferries as an under-researched but novel mode of travel which enhances and brings new dimensions to tourist experiences of travelling landscapes.

The study used a mixed methods approach including participant observation, a survey and interviews with ferry users and staff at one river crossing in South West England.

The ferry attracts tourists as a different and practical mode of transport. The river crossing provides an experience of being on water, and the material structure of the ferry significantly shapes on-board interactions whilst providing new perspectives of place.

This article draws on data collected for a study of ferry crossings conducted at three sites in Devon and Cornwall, England, using multiple methods. The material presented in this article focuses on one site and draws on four interviews, twelve reflection cards and observations.

The research highlighted the extent to which the ferry is dependent on tourist use. At the same time, it reveals the extent to which the crossing enriches the tourist experience and celebrates a ferry’s contribution to local place-making.

The majority of research on ferry crossings focuses on commuter experiences, marine crossings and larger passenger vessels. This article makes an original contribution to literature on ferries, as it offers a perspective on tourist experiences of river ferry crossings, reveals how the ferry structure influences interrelations on-board and provides distinctive insights into place through a focus on movement across water.

The purpose of this research is to understand how power relations in global value chains (GVCs) shape the upgrading of offshoring service providers (OSPs). More specifically, the chapter addresses two questions: (1) How power asymmetry in GVC shapes the upgrading prospects for OSPs? and (2) How OSPs manage the power asymmetry in GVC and upgrade to a more favorable position?

The context for this study is the software value chain. Drawing upon relational economic geography and GVC literature, we build an analytical framework based on three conceptual building blocks: client power, upgrading, and upgrading practices. Based on the analytical framework and in-depth interviews, we design a case study of one OSP in the Pakistani software industry, referred to as OSP#A.

The findings reveal that GVCs exercise a high level of power on OSPs. This power is exercised through enforcing certain conditions to participate and coordinate in GVCs. However, it is found that OSP#A is not passive recipient of these demands. Instead, it actively manages the power asymmetry through building practices to adapt and collaborate in GVCs and attain relational proximity.

The chapter highlights the significance of upgrading practices and conceptualizing upgrading as a process of improving relational power in GVCs by attaining relational proximity.

Through an intervention from a geographical perspective on organizational space, this article aims to offer a new horizon in understanding international business strategy.

Starts with two interrelated questions: does space exist in organizations and how does an organization manipulate and produce this organizational space in order to gain competitive advantage? By tackling these questions in the context of international business activities, this paper engages existing (international) management theories.

This article critically reviews the narrow focus of most international business theories on physical location and distance as a significant determinant of foreign direct investment and diverse activities of transnational corporations (TNCs). Quantitative empirical studies in this genre tend to emphasize physical space as a mere “container” of different locations of TNC activities and to measure the distance between these locations as an independent variable in statistical models. Drawing upon recent theoretical developments in economic geography, the paper develops a relational perspective on business organizations. In such an organization space, there are no fixed locations manifesting themselves in physically measurable forms. Instead, locations and distances in an organizational space are relational and thus discursively constructed through actor‐specific strategies and practice. The paper argues that one key strategic goal of business organizations is to continuously expand its organizational space (viz. physical space) and to economize on this spatial expansion.

Reveals the need for a critical reexamination of existing management and organization theories to take account of how space and boundaries may influence the strategy, structure, and performance of business organizations.

Examines the properties of organizational space and applies the proposed concept to the case of TNCs.

This paper analyses how neighbourhood governance of social care affects the scope for frontline workers to address health inequities of older ethnic minorities. We critically discuss how an area-based, generic approach to service provision limits and enables frontline workers' efforts to reach out to ethnic minority elders, using a relational approach to place. This approach emphasises social and cultural distances to social care and understands efforts to bridge these distances as “relational work”.

The authors conducted a two-year multiple case study of the cities of Nijmegen and The Hague, the Netherlands, following the development of policies and practices relevant to ethnic minority elders. They conducted 44 semi-structured interviews with managers, policy officers and frontline workers as well as 295 h of participant observation at network events and meeting activities.

Relational work was open-ended and consisted of a continuous reorientation of goals and means. In some cases, frontline workers spanned neighbourhood boundaries to connect with professional networks, key figures and places meaningful to ethnic minority elders. While neighbourhood governance is attuned to equality, relational work practice fosters possibilities for achieving equity.

Further research on achieving equity in relational work practice and more explicit policy support of relational work is needed.

The paper contributes empirical knowledge about how neighbourhood governance of social care affects ethnic minority elders. It translates a relational view of place into a “situational” social justice approach.

The implementation of Smart Manufacturing (SM) is deemed a key enabler in the enhancement of manufacturing competitiveness and performance. Nevertheless, SM's repercussion on consumer perceptions and the contextualization of SM's performance-enhancement effects remain undetermined and have yet to be clarified. This study analyzes the effect of SM on operational and customer performance. Moreover, this study explores how these relationships change depending on a firm's geography of production (i.e. national/local vs transnational operations) and the relational arrangement adopted (i.e. service-oriented vs transaction-oriented manufacturers).

This research surveys 351 Spanish manufacturing firms operating in an SM environment. The theoretical framework comprises a Multiple-Indicators Multiple-Causes (MIMIC) model and is tested using a Generalized Structural Equations Model.

The results obtained substantiate the positive effect of SM implementation on both of the performance measures analyzed (i.e. operational and customer focused). Moreover, the study reveals that while geography of production moderates the effect on a firm's operational performance, relational arrangement also does so in terms of customer performance.

This research clearly differentiates the benefits of SM depending on business context. In this regard, transnational production firms tend to gain in operational performance while service-oriented manufacturers gain in customer performance.

This study aims to explore how a relational brand experience can be designed using an integrated retail experience. It addresses the research gap between relational brand experience strategy, retail experience design, as well as online-offline integration, by providing applicable tools and knowledge.

Based on a literature review, a relational experience analytical framework (REAF) was developed as a diagnostic tool for relational brand experience. A case study was then conducted using the REAF to determine the relational brand experience factors, strategies in practice and related initiatives.

Three distinguishing integrated relational brand experience factors were identified (online-offline integration, overall activeness and the centre of relationships). A typology for an integrated relational brand experience was established with clarifying experiential characteristics and the required initiatives for each type. Based on the findings, a framework was proposed for an integrated brand experience design and its application in the retail experience design process.

The frameworks and strategies proposed can serve as a guide to industry professionals in designing integrated relational brand experiences.

The theoretical contributions of this study are in clarifying the relational brand experience dimensions and an integrated relational brand experience strategy typology. It also illustrates the strategic application of integrated retail experience based on a brand experience strategy using the proposed framework and the process.

This paper aims to explore the well-being impacts of social enterprise, beyond a social enterprise per se, in everyday community life.

An exploratory case study was used. The study’s underpinning theory is from relational geography, including Spaces of Wellbeing Theory and therapeutic assemblage. These theories underpin data collection methods. Nine social enterprise participants were engaged in mental mapping and walking interviews. Four other informants with “boundary-spanning” roles involving knowledge of the social enterprise and the community were interviewed. Data were managed using NVivo, and analysed thematically.

Well-being realised from “being inside” a social enterprise organisation was further developed for participants, in the community, through positive interactions with people, material objects, stories and performances of well-being that occurred in everyday community life. Boundary spanning community members had roles in referring participants to social enterprise, mediating between participants and structures of community life and normalising social enterprise in the community. They also gained benefit from social enterprise involvement.

This paper uses relational geography and aligned methods to reveal the intricate connections between social enterprise and well-being realisation in community life. There is potential to pursue this research on a larger scale to provide needed evidence about how well-being is realised in social enterprises and then extends into communities.

Alliances often turn into acquisitions (i.e., one alliance partner is acquired by the other). In these transitional governance trajectories, geography-related factors can play a crucial role. Factors like location and distance can notably influence the decision to acquire the alliance partner, as well as the performance implications of such a transition. However, existing studies on transitional governance tend to underemphasize the geographic dimension of the phenomenon. In this chapter, we take a first step toward connecting the field of transitional governance and the discipline of economic geography, which does emphasize location and distance as critical determinants of economic activities. We discuss how economic geography can inform the field of transitional governance and propose some promising avenues for future studies linking organization, place, and space in transitional governance trajectories.