Globalisation and Raw Materials-Based Development: The Case of the Aluminum Industry

Abstract

Current analyses of globalisation often assume that this is a new phenomenon and that it operates in the same manner across all sectors of the economy. This paper argues that precisely the opposite is true: globalisation is a longstanding process that exhibits distinct characteristics in different industries and different time periods. The analytic strategy to examine this process is historically grounded in the aluminum industry, one of the pioneers of the process of globalisation. This paper analyses the changing nature of the process of globalisation in the aluminum industry, focusing attention on the articulation of the competitive strategies of globalising firms and the economic development strategies of national governments over four distinct phases of globalisation in the past century. The paper also analyses the consequences of the evolution of globalisation for firms, states and economies involved in the aluminum industry.