Prof Andrew Jones
Head of Department of Geography, Environment & Development Studies.
Contact details
Room 162
Department of Geography, Environment & Development Studies
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HX
tel: +44 (0) 207 631 6471
fax: +44 (0) 207 631 6498
email: a.jones@bbk.ac.uk
Research interests
The key areas of my research interests are:
- transnational work in the commercial and voluntary sectors
- globalisation and the nature transnational firms and organisations
- theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the 'globalisation' debate
- corporate social relations, contact networks, culture and business practices
- critical social theory and the relationship between politics, the academy and policy development
- urban policy and transport planning
At root, I am an economic geographer with a leaning towards the sociocultural aspects of economic activity, although in researching globalisation more widely what I do has implications for urban studies as well. My previous research sought to deconstruct a whole range of issues surrounding globalization as an idea, and the nature of the global economy in particular. Focusing on transnational firms, I have been examining the nature of social and cultural relations at the transnational scale along with the implications this has for global organizations and the people who work in them. I am currently undertaking research work that explores in greater detail the social practices through which transnational companies are constituted in the global context - the nature of managerial and control functions, communications and cultural cohesion, for example. I am also interested in the evolving interaction of social, material and virtual business spaces in the global economy in the context of ongoing globalization. In many respects, much of my work falls within what has been turned the 'relational' and 'practice-centred' turn within economic geography and I often try to relate my empirical research to wider conceptual debates within the sub-discipline - for example, how and whether the concept of embeddedness continues to provide powerful insight into the nature of global economic activity.
Specifically, my recent research consists of two related projects under the umbrella of ‘transnational work’:
- Internationalization in UK Law Firms
- ‘Gap years’ and international voluntary work
Both projects have investigated the transformations of work in different forms in the context of wider processes of globalization. My interest in professional legal service firms built on my work on consultancy firms and banks. It examined the nature of transnationalization occuring in the UK legal service sector, focusing on firms with major operations in the City of London. The study examined the scale and nature of internationalization, business travel, transnational working, management practice and of other forms of global working in this key sector in the UK economy. In contrast, I am also continuing to conducting research into the nature of transnational voluntary work - specifically, the experiences of British people undertaking Gap years and voluntary work abroad. This work is examining the extent of transnational voluntary work, the impact it has on participants' skills and careers as well as the wider sociological nature of the experience of working in a different country and culture. More recently my interest in working practices has also focused on issues of power, agency and social networks in other financial and business service sectors such as the private equity industry (with Paul Search).
In relation to these themes, I recently organised sessions at the 2006 and 2007 Association of American of Geographers Annual Meetings in Chicago and San Francisco with Professor Henry Yeung (National University of Singapore) on 'Relationality and the Space Economy' and 'Global Economic Practices'. The Call for Papers for the latter provides more detail: .
At present, I am developing new research projects around two areas. These new research projects are linked to the establishment of the new Centre for Applied Economic Geography within Birkbeck:
- Globalization and Innovation in the Knowledge Economy
- The Rise of Private Equity Capitalism in the Global Economy
I am also the Treasurer of the RGS-IBG Economic Geography Research Group and a Board Member of the Association of American Geographer's Economic Geography Specialty Group.