Overview
'Understanding the current wave in globalisation: the emergence and expansion of offshore service sector development in Mumbai and Manila'
The PhD student will be placed within the research group Geographies of Globalisations, which investigates how economic, political and cultural actors engage strategically with globalisations. It does so with a special attention for the geographical dimensions of such engagements, dealing explicitly with the geographically differentiated impact of globalisation processes, with geographically mediated opportunities and constraints (distance/proximity, boundary making through inclusion/exclusion, location, cluster, institutional context, etc) shaping the actors' (perceptions of) risks and resources, and the employment of geographically differentiated strategies.
This PhD project is part of a larger 5-year Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funded research project in which researchers from University of Amsterdam, Mumbai University and University of the Philippines collaborate to understand the local outcomes of contemporary globalisation by means of the international expansion of offshore service delivery. Three PhD-students and one Post-doc researcher will investigate the patterns of expansion of the offshore service sector in Mumbai and Manila, place these patterns in historical comparative perspective, investigate the segmented opportunity structure for upward labour mobility of workers, and examine its wider societal impact (for different segments in the urban labour market). The researchers collaborate in both cities with a variety of non-academic partners (business representatives, government, labour organisations) with which yearly stakeholder meetings are held in order to provide input to policy agendas in both cities.
Key Themes and Foci: Within the framework of the overall research project, this PhD-project will concentrate on the characteristics of the offshore financial back-office sector in Mumbai and Manila and investigate if it means a break with earlier processes of international outsourcing in terms of distribution of winners and losers. So far, India has been more successful than the Philippines in making the transition towards higher value added activities. This research will identify whether the offshore-service-sector in both cities is still mainly built on lower-value added activities or a service-sector based model of development (in which a shift towards more locally embedded and higher value added activities takes place) can be identified. The opportunities for linkage formation and increasing local embeddedness, transition towards higher value added activities and expansion of local firms in the offshore service-sector will be examined for a select number of sub-sectors within financial offshoring.
Methodologies: This project will start with identifying the local configuration of offshore service activities in Mumbai and Manila, focusing on the actors, types of activities, governance structures, their insertion in global production networks and their embeddedness in the local economy. A GIS-analysis will provide information on the spatial configuration of offshore service activities within these cities. An interlocking network analysis will be done to map the configuration of local and extra-local linkages of offshore service activities. This analysis will be complemented with open interviews with firm representatives to explore the nature of the transactions and exchanges taking place through these linkages. Semi-structured interviews with representatives from firms, business associations and government agencies will enable the researcher to make a classification between lower and higher order activities based on criteria such as value added, educational requirements, composition of employment, investments in human resources and the efforts made to move towards higher value added activities.
Output: A dissertation (with the publication of several articles in high reputation/impact scholarly journals, either sole-authored or with the promoter and co-supervisors).
Tasks
The PhD student will elaborate the theoretical and practical design of the project, carry out empirical fieldwork in Mumbai and Manila, analyse data and publish papers in international scholarly journals; together, this will provide the basis for a PhD thesis, which is to be completed within four years. The PhD student will follow courses and participate in seminars and conferences (and be involved in organising them). He or she will also assist senior faculty members in teaching courses and seminars at the BA and the MA level (max. 10% of the time).
Requirements
■A master's degree in Economic Geography, Regional Economics, International Development Studies or a closely related field in Social Science
■Experience with research on topics such as globalisation, changing international division of labour, global production networks
■Experience with mixed-methods research, for example in the Master's thesis
■A firm background in quantitative research and willingness to learn new statistical techniques
■The ability and interest to operate in an international interdisciplinary research team
■Excellent organisational skills
■Proven academic writing skills
Further information
For more information, please contact Dr Niels Beerepoot:
University of Amsterdam / AISSR
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
n.p.c.beerepoot@uva.nl
+31 (0)20 - 525 5753
Appointment
The position is initially for a period of one year; depending on the candidate's performance, it may be extended by a maximum of three years (i.e. to a total of four years) and should lead to a completed thesis. The gross monthly salary will be €2,042 in the first year and increases to €2,612 in the fourth year, based on a full-time appointment. We offer good fringe benefits and a high-quality training programme.
Job application
Candidates who are interested in applying for this position are requested to send a motivation letter, CV, proof of Master's degree and a short sample of academic writing (e.g. journal article, chapter of MA thesis, essay) before 22 October 2010 via regular mail to:
Ms Barbara Lawa
University of Amsterdam / GPIO
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
A written and oral presentation of ideas on the research topic is part of the application procedure.
Please kindly mention Scholarization.blogspot.com when applying for this scholarship
'Understanding the current wave in globalisation: the emergence and expansion of offshore service sector development in Mumbai and Manila'
The PhD student will be placed within the research group Geographies of Globalisations, which investigates how economic, political and cultural actors engage strategically with globalisations. It does so with a special attention for the geographical dimensions of such engagements, dealing explicitly with the geographically differentiated impact of globalisation processes, with geographically mediated opportunities and constraints (distance/proximity, boundary making through inclusion/exclusion, location, cluster, institutional context, etc) shaping the actors' (perceptions of) risks and resources, and the employment of geographically differentiated strategies.
This PhD project is part of a larger 5-year Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funded research project in which researchers from University of Amsterdam, Mumbai University and University of the Philippines collaborate to understand the local outcomes of contemporary globalisation by means of the international expansion of offshore service delivery. Three PhD-students and one Post-doc researcher will investigate the patterns of expansion of the offshore service sector in Mumbai and Manila, place these patterns in historical comparative perspective, investigate the segmented opportunity structure for upward labour mobility of workers, and examine its wider societal impact (for different segments in the urban labour market). The researchers collaborate in both cities with a variety of non-academic partners (business representatives, government, labour organisations) with which yearly stakeholder meetings are held in order to provide input to policy agendas in both cities.
Key Themes and Foci: Within the framework of the overall research project, this PhD-project will concentrate on the characteristics of the offshore financial back-office sector in Mumbai and Manila and investigate if it means a break with earlier processes of international outsourcing in terms of distribution of winners and losers. So far, India has been more successful than the Philippines in making the transition towards higher value added activities. This research will identify whether the offshore-service-sector in both cities is still mainly built on lower-value added activities or a service-sector based model of development (in which a shift towards more locally embedded and higher value added activities takes place) can be identified. The opportunities for linkage formation and increasing local embeddedness, transition towards higher value added activities and expansion of local firms in the offshore service-sector will be examined for a select number of sub-sectors within financial offshoring.
Methodologies: This project will start with identifying the local configuration of offshore service activities in Mumbai and Manila, focusing on the actors, types of activities, governance structures, their insertion in global production networks and their embeddedness in the local economy. A GIS-analysis will provide information on the spatial configuration of offshore service activities within these cities. An interlocking network analysis will be done to map the configuration of local and extra-local linkages of offshore service activities. This analysis will be complemented with open interviews with firm representatives to explore the nature of the transactions and exchanges taking place through these linkages. Semi-structured interviews with representatives from firms, business associations and government agencies will enable the researcher to make a classification between lower and higher order activities based on criteria such as value added, educational requirements, composition of employment, investments in human resources and the efforts made to move towards higher value added activities.
Output: A dissertation (with the publication of several articles in high reputation/impact scholarly journals, either sole-authored or with the promoter and co-supervisors).
Tasks
The PhD student will elaborate the theoretical and practical design of the project, carry out empirical fieldwork in Mumbai and Manila, analyse data and publish papers in international scholarly journals; together, this will provide the basis for a PhD thesis, which is to be completed within four years. The PhD student will follow courses and participate in seminars and conferences (and be involved in organising them). He or she will also assist senior faculty members in teaching courses and seminars at the BA and the MA level (max. 10% of the time).
Requirements
■A master's degree in Economic Geography, Regional Economics, International Development Studies or a closely related field in Social Science
■Experience with research on topics such as globalisation, changing international division of labour, global production networks
■Experience with mixed-methods research, for example in the Master's thesis
■A firm background in quantitative research and willingness to learn new statistical techniques
■The ability and interest to operate in an international interdisciplinary research team
■Excellent organisational skills
■Proven academic writing skills
Further information
For more information, please contact Dr Niels Beerepoot:
University of Amsterdam / AISSR
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
n.p.c.beerepoot@uva.nl
+31 (0)20 - 525 5753
Appointment
The position is initially for a period of one year; depending on the candidate's performance, it may be extended by a maximum of three years (i.e. to a total of four years) and should lead to a completed thesis. The gross monthly salary will be €2,042 in the first year and increases to €2,612 in the fourth year, based on a full-time appointment. We offer good fringe benefits and a high-quality training programme.
Job application
Candidates who are interested in applying for this position are requested to send a motivation letter, CV, proof of Master's degree and a short sample of academic writing (e.g. journal article, chapter of MA thesis, essay) before 22 October 2010 via regular mail to:
Ms Barbara Lawa
University of Amsterdam / GPIO
Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130
1018 VZ Amsterdam
The Netherlands
A written and oral presentation of ideas on the research topic is part of the application procedure.
Please kindly mention Scholarization.blogspot.com when applying for this scholarship
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