Career
He has been quoted as a true ‘Manchester man’ joining the University of Manchester in 1966 following the successful completion of his Master of Arts from the same institution. He is currently an Emeritus Professor at the same university which he has dedicated his academic life to, continuing his research on global patterns of business and globalisation. His self-described area of research is: ‘the changing multi-scalar geographies of the global economy and on the structures and dynamics of global production networks, particularly the relationships between transnational corporations and states’.
Throughout his career Peter Dicken has been involved in the following positions: Academic at the University of Manchester (1966–present) Held visiting academic professorships from universities in North America, Europe, Australia and East Asia.
Company-director of European Science Foundation – ‘Scientific Programme on Regional and Urban Restructuring in Europe’ (1989-1994). Consultant advisor to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development commission on transnational corporations (1993-1994).
Editorial positions on international journal boards Competition in change, Journal of economic geography, Global networks and Review of international political economy. Former managing editor of progress in human geography.
More specifically, Dickens research areas have involved: Global economic geographies of change.
Transport-national corporation’s impacts within the world economy. Economic development in East Asia – exploring business networks and production chains. Global economic change in different economic scales – involving global to local.
Peter Dicken’s key text ‘Global shift’ is regarded by some as a ‘bible of globalisation’ due to its encyclopaedic nature and because of this, it has sold many tens of thousands of copies over the last 30 years and is his best known and most widely cited work.
He has been described as ‘one of the most influential economic geographers in the discipline over the last 30 years’. He was amongst the first to point out the significance of TNCs, providing detailed analysis of their role in the world economy – explaining how they are a barometer for global economic change.
Dicken provided a greater understanding of chains and network structures - in particular by understanding the role, locational behaviour and organisation of Japanese capital and firms in Western economies. His work on the economic restructuring of Japanese firms regarding the Just-In-Time production process is widely cited.
Through his work, he was able to explain global economic change in relation to global-local dialect.
