Collaborative Research: Mapping Globalization: Geographies of Knowledge in the Oil Exploration and Production Industry

“全球化”已经成为一个笼统的术语，用来描述和分析标志着一个新的全球时代出现的社会、经济和政治变化。在许多方面，全球化被视为一种系统性和不可避免的力量，作为一只看不见的手运作，超出了行为者和机构的能力范围。当代经济地理学家的工作试图通过将注意力转向构成全球化的实践来挑战这一观点。与此同时，学术界和大众的观点也越来越多地强调“新经济”以知识为基础的性质，以及知识在确保竞争成功方面的作用。然而，知识和全球化这两个主题很少被放在一起。这一合作研究项目将“知识”和“全球化”联系起来，以便了解公司在寻求扩大其全球覆盖范围时如何以及在哪里生产、获取和调动不同类型的知识。该项目还试图研究这些知识网络如何构建经济活动的新地理区域。该项目专注于美国石油勘探和生产行业的全球化，有两个主要目标：(1)了解石油行业的公司如何获取、开发和调动不同类型的知识，以便在不同的地球物理和地缘政治环境中成功运营；(2)确定行业内的知识网络如何影响技术、组织和地理结构调整，并受到这些网络的影响。这项研究分为三项任务：提取和描述石油勘探和生产所涉及的各种知识类型；绘制与三个主要油田(墨西哥湾、委内瑞拉、哈萨克斯坦)开发有关的知识网络图；审查知识网络、技术和组织变革以及扩大全球影响的坚定战略之间的关系。研究方法包括对石油行业关键人物的半结构化访谈和三个油田勘探开发的对比案例研究。该项目将是关于成熟工业部门内知识获取、开发和动员的首批重大实证研究之一。它的目的是对经济地理学和更广泛的社会科学做出重大的实证、分析和理论贡献。具体而言，该项目将产生三项主要产出。首先，经验性工作将对使石油工业能够在不同的地球物理和地缘政治环境中勘探和生产的不同类型的知识进行评估。其次，该项目将导致开发一个分析框架，以了解知识在正在扩大其全球影响力的行业中的作用和意义。虽然它是从对石油行业的详细研究中产生的，但这一框架将适用于更广泛的经济部门。第三，这项研究的定位是为正在进行的关于全球化和新知识经济的辩论做出重大的理论贡献。随着知识作为一种经济资源变得越来越重要，随着经济活动的地理位置变得越来越复杂，将这两个传统上分散的研究领域结合在一起具有特殊的意义。

"Globalization" has become a catchall term for describing and analyzing social, economic, and political changes that are seen to mark the emergence of a new global era. In many accounts, globalization is seen as a systemic and inevitable force that operates as an invisible hand beyond the reach of actors and institutions. Contemporary work by economic geographers has sought to challenge this view by turning attention to the practices that make up globalization. At the same time, academic and popular accounts have increasingly emphasized the knowledge-based nature of the "new economy" and the role of knowledge in ensuring competitive success. The two themes of knowledge and globalization have rarely been brought together, however. This collaborative research project links "knowledge" and "globalization" in order to understand how and where different types of knowledge are produced, acquired, and mobilized by firms as they seek to extend their global reach. The project also seeks to examine how these networks of knowledge structure new geographies of economic activity. The project focuses on the globalization of the U.S. oil exploration and production industry and has two primary goals: (1) to understand how firms in the oil industry acquire, develop, and mobilize different types of knowledge to operate successfully in diverse geophysical and geopolitical environments; and (2) to determine how networks of knowledge in the industry influence, and are influenced by, technological, organizational, and geographical restructuring. The research is divided into three tasks: extracting and characterizing the range of knowledge types involved in the exploration and production of oil; mapping of the networks of knowledge associated with the development of three major oil fields (in the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela, Kazakhstan); and examining the relationships among knowledge networks, technological and organizational change, and firm strategies for extending global reach. Research methods include semi-structured interviews with key individuals in the oil industry and comparative case studies of exploration and development in three oil fields. This project will be one of the first major empirical studies of knowledge acquisition, development, and mobilization within a mature industrial sector. It is designed to make a significant empirical, analytical, and theoretical contribution to economic geography and the social sciences more broadly. Specifically, the project will generate three major outputs. First, the empirical work will generate an assessment of the different types of knowledge that enable the oil industry to explore and produce in diverse geophysical and geopolitical environments. Second, the project will lead to the development of an analytical framework for understanding the role and significance of knowledge in industries that are extending their global reach. While it emerges from detailed study of the oil industry, this framework will be applicable across a wider range of economic sectors. Third, the research is positioned to make a significant theoretical contribution to on-going debates over globalization and the new knowledge economy. With knowledge becoming increasingly significant as an economic resource and with geographies of economic activity becoming ever more complex, bringing together these two, conventionally discrete areas of inquiry has assumed special significance.