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The division of labor and the market areas of manufacturing firms

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Sociological Forum

Abstract

A sociological framework for relating the division of labor to the market areas of manufacturing firms is reformulated. The growth of exchange and the dynamics of differentiation and integration are discussed as key processes that explain changes in these market areas from local to regional to multiregional to national and also the rise of industrial regions. A case study of nineteenth-century plow manufacturing in the United States illustrates the utility of the proposed framework.

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Meyer, D.R. The division of labor and the market areas of manufacturing firms. Sociol Forum 3, 433–453 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01116434

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