Understanding Relocation Dynamics and the Changing Regulatory Framework of the Turkish Shipbreaking Industry: An Empirical Analysis from a Relational Economic Geography Perspective

Abstract

In Turkey, the shipbreaking industry is characterized by long withstanding tensions between relatively unregulated labour conditions and the international regulations aimed towards raising environmental and occupational health and safety standards. Furthermore, this industry was relocated from Istanbul to Izmir in the mid-1970s. This context displays complex relationships between space, environment, labour, and regulations, thus providing a rich empirical basis to analyse the conditions of a burgeoning economic landscape. To explain the industry's transformation, we employ the perspective of relational economic geography. In this perspective economic action is the main focus of analysis and viewed as social action that is constantly reproduced within agentic networks and filtered by space. In this context, our study aims to provide a spatio-temporal focus to illustrate how the Turkish shipbreaking industry has been transformed in the face of new spatial and institutional requirements. We designed our research in a qualitative fashion. Thirty-three in-depth interviews were carried out with various individuals from the local industry. Our findings indicate that the impacts of relocation and the changing regulations on the industry are felt at different temporal and organisational layers. While the former has gradually transformed the local value chain and paved the way for the emergence of new agents, the latter was abrupt and resulted in the replacement of some of the old business practices with new ones. At the firm level, the death and birth of new routines are observed differently depending on the ability and willingness of firms to adapt to enacted laws.