POSTGRADUATE SUPERVISION

I am always keen to supervise PhD students and would welcome applications in any area of economic geography and/or geographies of music. The School of Nottingham currently has four PhD scholarships available each year, and more details on the application process can be found here:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~lgzwww/research/postgraduate%20research/

Please contact me if you would like more information on the application process: andrew.leyshon@nottingham.ac.uk

Note that to be eligible for ESRC funding you must have been resident in the UK for three years prior to taking up the award and will require the completion of an ESRC recognised masters course (1+3). For more information on the range of masters courses available at Nottingham, go to:

http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~lgzwww/taught-courses/postgraduate-courses/

Current PhD students

Chiung-wen Chang, ‘Taiwanese high technology production in the Yangtze River Delta, People’s Republic of China’. Self-funded

Thomas Wainwright, ‘The Geographies of Securitisation and Credit Scoring.’. Economic and Social Research Council.

James Corah, ‘The Economic Geographies of Religious Institutions’. Economic and Social Research Council.

Amanda Huskinson, ‘Blues, Identity and Place’. Economic and Social Research Council.

Former PhD students

Karen Lai, ‘Approaches to ‘Markets’: The development of Shanghai as an International Financial Centre’, 2004-2007. University of Nottingham/ORS Scholarship. Examined and passed January 2008. First destination: Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Department of Geography, University of British Columbia.

Keith Jones, ‘Networks of Ambience: networks of sound, technology and society’, 2001-2004. Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship. Examined and passed March 2005. First destination: ESRC postdoctoral fellowship, University of Nottingham, 2005-2006.

Julian Clarke, ‘The development of call centres within the context of the retail finance sector’, 2000-2003. University of Nottingham Scholarship. Examined and passed, March 2004. First destination: Research Associate, University of Leicester.

Martin Roche, ‘Constructing spatial accounts of social capital: case studies of the Catholic Church in the UK and Ireland’, 1995-1998. Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship. Examined and passed December 1999. First destination: Research Associate, University of Wolverhampton.

Shaun French, ‘Bristol and the reconfiguration of financial space in the UK: fields-of-learning in the Life Assurance industry’, 1994-1997. Economic and Social Research Council Scholarship. Examined and passed, November1998. First destination: Research Associate, University of Bristol; Subsequently Lecturer, School of Geography, University of Nottingham.

Duncan Fuller, ‘Financial exclusion in Hull’, 1994-1997. University of Hull Scholarship. Part-time. Examined and passed, April 2000. First destination: Lecturer, Department of Geography, University of Northumbria.

Jonathan Pratt, ‘Re-placing money: the evolution of banking systems in Britain and Germany’, School of Geography and Earth Resources, University of Hull, 1991-1994. Part-time. University of Hull Scholarship. Examined and passed, February 1996. First destination: Teaching Assistant, University of Southampton; Subsequently, Research Manager, Stepahead Research Ltd., Kent.

Roger Lee, Andrew Leyshon and Adrian Smith, “Rethinking economy/economic geographies”. Final submitted version of paper published in Geoforum (200

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Award/Grant Name: Putting e-commerce in its place: constructing electronic times and spaces

Award/Grant Holders: Andrew Leyshon, Shaun French, Louise Crewe and Nigel Thrift.

Duration: November 2001 - January 2004

For the full End of Award Report, click here and for a Project Summary click here

Non-Technical Summary

The research focuses on e-commerce from producers’ perspectives, and sets out to investigate claims (made before and during the dot.com boom) that the internet would fundamentally change the relationship between supplier and consumer.

Detailed observation of organisations in the sectors chosen - music, fashion, and retail financial services - constituted the bulk of the research activity. Interviews and analysis of texts were also undertaken.

The main objectives were (in brief):

1. To modify the concept of ‘virtualism’ to incorporate a broader set of participants beyond academic economists, and to include types of abstractions outside formal economic theories.
2. To analyse ways in which such ideas and concepts are translated into practices.
3. To produce an audit of the e-commerce knowledge community (EKC)
4. To consider the take up of ideas and concepts among managers in the chosen industries.
5. To map the material impact of e-commerce on the chosen industries.
6. To consider the ways in which e-commerce has forged new interaction between companies and consumers, and the effects of its outcome.

Key findings

1. Broadly, virtualism is the translation of abstract ideas and concepts into material form. The dot.com boom was integral to transforming ideas to reality, and then to acceptance as the norm.
2. Following the dot.com collapse in April 2000, the role of e-commerce was fundamentally reassessed. Dot.com companies faced the same success criteria as traditional business - sufficient revenue has to be generated to cover the cost of capital and make profits. This led to a change in the assessment of the desired outcome for many e-commerce activities. Most companies now have web sites, but for a variety of purposes. Many are not directly aimed at, nor designed to make sales, but used for promotion, information dissemination, research, assessment of success/failure and other measurements.
3. Evidence supported the hypothesis that a discernable EKC has emerged, and that it is a more diverse and dynamic group than originally envisaged, with boundaries which are constantly shifting. The ECK is wide ranging, encompassing management consultancies, business schools, the media, etc. at one end, and practitioners such as software and technology providers at the other.
4. Practical, incrementally gained, and even mundane knowledge was frequently more influential in shaping e-commerce than researched theory and concepts, particularly for smaller businesses. Larger organisations, such as financial service providers, were more likely to use formal and consultancy findings than were smaller companies such as fashion retailers. In general, the better the economic climate the more experimental firms become in using new e-commerce technology.
5. Originally it was thought that e-commerce was best developed by start up and stand alone businesses. With some notable exceptions, the most successful e-commerce has been undertaken within existing organisations. Cost absorption, market knowledge and the use of established brands have all contributed to this success.
6. i. The internet has provided faster access and better knowledge of commodities and prices.
   ii. The ability to exchange information in both directions between producer and consumer has created a relationship not previously possible, and can result in modification of the product or service.
   iii. Information exchange and web chats for fan club members, hobbyists, collectors, etc. is enabled. It poses questions about the relationships between formerly ‘isolated’ individuals with shared, but sometimes competitive, interests.
   iv. Consumers appreciate being able to make fast transactions, search for unusual items, participate in auctions, and track markets.
   v. The screens on electronic devices have become a motif of cultural transmission, and a new way of monitoring activities. All organisations are now expected to have a website.
   vi. Speed has become the accepted ‘ambient’ pace.

The impact on the three sectors researched differed considerably:

• fashion retailing relies to a large extent on touch and fit. E-commerce has had little impact beyond specialist items.
• established financial service providers use e-commerce as an additional distribution network.
• the music industry’s value chain has been completely destabilised by piracy, leading to a major restructuring.

About the study

The project was started in November 2001 and ended on 31 January 2004. It involved five researchers: Professor Andrew Leyshon (Principal Researcher), co-applicant Dr S French, and Professor L Crewe (all from the School of Geography, University of Nottingham), Dr P Webb (University of Birmingham) and Professor NT Thrift (University of Oxford).

Key words

E-commerce, producer/consumer relationship, internet transactions, information dissemination, dot.com boom

Peter Daniels, Andrew Leyshon, Mike Bradford and Jon Beaverstock (Eds) (2007) Geographies of the New Economy: critical reflections, Routledge, London

Andrew Leyshon, Roger Lee and Colin Williams (Eds) (2003) Alternative Economic Spaces, Sage, London

Andrew Leyshon, David Matless and George Revill (Eds) (199 The Place of Music, Guilford, New York

Andrew Leyshon and Nigel Thrift (1997) Money/Space: geographies of monetary transformation, Routledge, London

Andrew Leyshon. “The software slump: digital music, the democratisation of technology and the decline of the recording studio sector within the musical economy”. Submitted to Environment and Planning A. Please do note cite without permission. Comments welcome.

The leaks emanating from the private equity firm Terra Firma about the excesses they claim to have found at record company EMI has no doubt ensured that large helpings of schadenfreude have been hungrily consumed within the rest of the musical economy in recent weeks. Terra Firma bought EMI in the summer of 2007 and has been poring over its books and accounts ever since as part of the standard private equity project to reorganise a company so that it be flipped back onto the market in three to five years time at a profit. Terra Firma has a track record of buying companies with ‘failed’ business models ; ironically, it has already given the private equity treatment to Thorn, previously part of the Thorn- EMI conglomerate before it was demerged in the 1990s. This in itself should have sent some kind of message to the outgoing executives of EMI that Terra Firma hardly had a positive view of their managerial abilities. The revelations of extravagance approaching the bacchanalian seem to have so shocked the sober-suited bean counters Terra Firma that they were simply unable to keep it to themselves. Admittedly, the disclosure reveals business practices that one might think a tad unusual and indulgent, such as the £20,000 spent on candles to decorate a Los Angeles apartment used to entertain clients, and a £200,000 annual budget for fruit and flowers.

Over the last couple of years, as part of research I’ve been conducting on the musical economy, I’ve talked to large numbers of people who work in recording studios and associated activities, and it is safe to say that they do not hold recording companies and their employees in high esteem. Indeed, one senior member of this community was so dismissive of their abilities that he insisted that should anyone care to undertake an comparative analysis of management ability across the British economy he was confident that it would record company executives would be found way to the left of the bell curve. So, while those working at the sharp end of the musical economy would certainly have found Terra Firma’s revelations of interest, they probably would not have been all that surprised. The recording studio sector in the UK and elsewhere is under going a crisis of significant proportions, which has meant that the institutional base of the sector has been receding at a rapid rate. Many studios have closed and those that remain open often struggle to get by. Redundancies have followed while those that remained in employment have found their conditions casualised or degraded.

But in addition to spinning against the old management, the head of Terra Firma, Guy Hands, has also discredited the established record company business model, and argued that executives in the company were slow to embrace the possibilities of transforming the demand for downloads into a viable business model. In this respect, Hands echoes findings from earlier research which has argued that one of the problems for record companies was an industry-wide corporate cultural crisis, and the inability to think beyond the business model that has sustained the recorded music industry for the past 100 years or so. The problem is finding a new business model that will enable to the industry to sustain itself – and allow Terra Firma to get their money back and more. Ironically, one band that left EMI to strike out on their own rather than work for Terra Firma was Radiohead, but which at least provided conclusive evidence of one model that they can safely discard: the pay what you think it’s worth model. Customers wishing to download the album were invited to set their own tariff, plus an obligatory 45 pence to cover administrative charges. As many as 60% of people chose to pay nothing at all. Radiohead are rich enough so that this level of freeloading doesn’t really matter, and can easily make this back in ticket sales from a stadium tour. But it is hardly a promising business model for new bands without Radiohead’s brand recognition. Terra Firma’s urgent need to find a coherent business model for the music industry will be worth watching.

* ‘EMI’, The Sex Pistols, Virgin Records, 1977.

Neoliberalization, financialization and economic citizenship: one-day workshop

10^th October 2007, University of Nottingham

Organized by the School of Geography’s New Economic Geographies Research Theme, this one-day workshop addressed the relationship between processes of neoliberalization, financialization and economic citizenship. The motivation for the workshop was to discuss the implications of the remaking of the contract between individuals and the state in many Euro-American countries, with personal responsibility and markets increasingly becoming the default mode for processes such as welfare provision, short-term income smoothing and long-term financial security. At the same time, there have been increases in economic polarisation, raising concerns about social and financial exclusion. Various concepts have been deployed to help explain such a transformation. This workshop focused upon neo-liberalization and financialization, concepts which share many potential points of contact but which hitherto have tended to run in parallel to one another. Studies of neo-liberalization have proved effective in disciplines such as economic geography where it has informed analyses of welfare reform, the reorganization of labour markets, local government, nature-society relations, etc. Financialisation, which focuses on the growing power and systemic influence of money and finance within contemporary life, has become increasingly significant in fields such as economic sociology and critical management studies. The workshop provided an opportunity to explore the relationship between processes of neoliberalization and financialization, with speakers working in both traditions, and explored the consequences of both for economic citizenship, a contested concept which denotes the ability of individuals and households to participate fully in the economy and produce economic security.

The day was characterised by a series of rich presentations and some fascinating and informative debate.

The workshop’s programme was as follows:

Session 1. Chair: Sarah Hall (University of Nottingham)

Jamie Peck (University of Wisconsin-Madison): ‘Finding the Chicago School’

Shaun French, Andrew Leyshon and Thomas Wainwright (University of Nottingham): ‘Financializing space’

Session 2. Chair: Shaun French (University of Nottingham)

Wendy Larner (University of Bristol): ‘Situating neoliberalism’

Sue Smith (University of Durham): ‘Home ownership: managing a risky business?’

Session 3. Chair: Andrew Leyshon (University of Nottingham)

Paul Langley (University of Northumberland): ‘Neo-liberal financialised subjects’

Adam Swain (University of Nottingham): ‘Neo-liberalizing post-soviet space’

Discussant: Noel Castree (University of Manchester).

The other participants in the workshop were:

Jon Beaverstock (University of Nottingham), Angus Cameron (University of Leicester), James Corah (University of Nottingham), Louise Crewe (University of Nottingham), Gwamaka Kifukwe (University of Nottingham), Karen Lai (University of Nottingham), Roger Lee (Queen Mary University of London), Yajing Li (Queen Mary University of London), Steve Musson (University of Reading), Jane Pollard (Newcastle University), Alison Stenning (Newcastle University), Kendra Strauss (University of Oxford), Adam Swain (University of Nottingham), Thomas Wainwright (University of Nottingham) and Kevin Ward (University of Manchester).

Many thanks to all speakers and participants for contributing to a successful and rewarding day, and to Karen Lai for her invaluable organizational skills!

Andrew Leyshon

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council

Award/Grant Name: The changing geography of British bank and building society branches, 1995-2003.

Award/Grant Holders: Andrew Leyshon, Shaun French and Paola Signoretta.

Duration: June 2004 - May 2005.

For the full End of Award Report, click here.

Non-technical Summary

When banks and building societies close their branches, it can have significant consequences for customers, who may have to incur extra travel costs to make transactions or get face-to-face advice. Closures also engender a sense of loss and abandonment within local communities. This project, by the University of Nottingham, mapped the changing provision of bank and building society branches between 1995 and 2003 - updating research into changes between 1989 and 1995.

Key Findings

Continuous decline

• The branch networks of both banks and building societies have now been in a continuous process of decline over this period.
• Between 1989 and 2003, banks closed 32 per cent of their branches, converted building societies 22 per cent, and building societies 20 per cent. Between 1995 and 2003, banks closed 21 per cent of their branches, converted building societies 19 per cent and building societies seven per cent.

Poor inner cities hit hardest

• Distribution of closures was uneven. The average closure rate for all areas between 1995 and 2003 was 25 per cent. However, the highest rate - more than 30 per cent - was experienced in ‘multicultural metropolitan’ areas, which include poor inner city areas.
• Meanwhile, areas that experienced fewer than average branch closures tended to be more affluent, areas which could safely be described as typically ‘Middle England’.

Market forces

• This long run process of branch closure is a product of a more competitive market for retail financial services, which forces firms seriously to appraise costs against revenues.
• It is also a result of new distribution channels for financial services, such as use of the telephone, developed in the 1980s, and the Internet, from the late 1990s.
• However, perhaps the most significant new channel arose from government moves with the 16 largest banks and biggest building society to ensure basic bank accounts for low-income customers. To facilitate provision to poorer communities, they were made available through post offices. This widens the scope of the retail financial services industry, but was cited as a potential factor in driving further bank closures.
• Closures vary between institutions, with banks in particular being anxious to drive down costs in the face of investor pressure.

Regional distribution

• Lng-run disparities in economic and population growth have contributed to an uneven regional distribution of branches. There is a marked concentration of networks in the South East of England, in contrast to the situation in, say, Wales.
• However, based on branches per population, Wales, the South West and parts of Scotland come out best, while the lowest number per capita are in the East and West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside.

About the Study

The project was led by Professor Andrew Leyshon, of the School of Geography, University of Nottingham. It included developing a database of bank and building society branches for the period 1995-2003 for analysis, building on one produced for previous research. Findings were discussed in 15 interviews with leading decision and policy makers, consumer organizations and representatives of mainstream financial services.

Key words

Banking, building societies, financial services, exclusion, communities, inner cities

Andrew Leyshon and Nigel Thrift. Final submitted version of paper published in Theory, Culture and Society (2008).

This project is funded by the Financial Services Research Forum.

Duration: April 2008-March 2009

Principal Investigators: Andrew Leyshon and Shaun French

Research Background

The growth of the buy to let (BTL) market is a notable achievement of the UK financial services industry. The re-regulation of the private rented sector in the late 1980s encouraged the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) and private sector lenders to develop BTL in 1996; by 2007 it accounted for 12% of all mortgage lending in the UK (939,000 outstanding BTL loans collectively valued at £108 billion). The development of the BTL market has produced social benefits, such as the revival of the private rented sector increasing housing tenure choice. It has also enabled the market to respond to the growing demand for rented property as a result of social change, the rapid growth in the number of students, and increases in the number of immigrants in the UK. Moreover, the BTL market has provided an alternative investment channel for those seeking regular returns through rental income and/or long-term financial security through capital gains in the value of property.

BTL has been subject to a number of studies in recent years (for example, Pannel and Heron, 2001; Rhodes and Bevan, 2003; Scanlon and Whitehead, 2005; Thomas, 2006) which suggest that the market is relatively robust, due to the long-term aspirations of BTL investors, lower levels of repossession for BTL mortgages and the fact that BTL borrowers tend to be less highly geared than do first-time buyers. However, despite general optimism such studies have also highlighted a source for concern; the stability of the BTL market will be severely threatened by interest rate rises and/or declines in rental income. We are currently at such a moment of risk due to shifts both in the domestic and international economies. There have been five interest rate rises within the space of a year, while the continued expansion of the BTL sector has seen the supply of property on the market increase, exerting downward pressure on rents. In August 2007, ARLA estimated that 67% of BTL landlords realised a rental return of 5% or less while interest rates are currently at 5.5% (Thomas, 2007), casting doubt on the future growth potential of the market and limiting the scope for remortgaging. In addition, recent problems in the sub prime mortgage market, the crisis in interbank lending, and growing evidence of a credit crunch, means that many financial institutions are assessing their approach to the BTL market. A number of institutions have abandoned the market altogether, while others have reduced their range of BTL products and/or increased interest rates to control for increased exposure to risk. Finally, the burden of regulation has increased, adding to the cost of compliance for BLT landlords. Such changes are taking place against a background of growing public concern about the impacts of the BTL market, such as the crowding out of first-time buyers and the homogenisation of some local housing markets, with implications for the provision of local services such as schools, as families are priced out of some local housing markets in favour of multiple occupancy properties.

Aims
This project aims to undertake a survey of the BTL market in 2008 to determine the implications of interest rate rises, a change in the appetite of financial institutions for the market and increases in the regulatory burden. It will explore the response of the main stakeholders to these changes through a case study of the BTL market in Nottingham, one of the most important markets for BTL outside London (The Guardian, 2007). The sustainability of the BLT market will be determined through an examination of key actors positioned along the BTL value chain, which will include BTL investors, lenders, local government and community groups, and regulators. A desk-based review of extant reports and databases will provide a context for the research through an analysis of the characteristics of buy-to let investors. Through a case study approach the project will combine a focus on broader processes of change with attention to substantive material outcomes through empirical examples. In particular, the research will provide a detailed assessment of the robustness and sensitivity of the BTL market to external shocks and will contain an assessment of its future prospects in terms of its size and value.

Relevance
This research project is relevant to both practice and policy in the field of financial services and will provide critical insight into the consequences of macroeconomic and regulatory change for the BTL market in the UK. Interviews will be conducted across the range of the BTL value chain and will indicate how the market is adapting to exogenous pressures, and will provide pointers to ongoing and future developments. The case study approach will provide an insight into the ways in which the BTL has local impacts, and how both local and national regulators and activists seek to understand this phenomenon.

References

Pannel B, Heron, J, 2001, Goodbye to But-to-Let? Housing Finance, November, 18-25

Rhodes D, Bevan M, 2003, Private Landlords and buy-to-let, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, October (http://www.jrf.org.uk)

Scanlon K, Whitehead C, 2005, The Profile and Intentions of Buy-to-Let Investors, Council of Mortgage Lenders, London

The Guardian, 2007, Nottingham’s forest of housing despair, June 16 (http://money.guardian.co.uk)

Thomas R, 2006, The growth of buy-to-let, Housing Finance, September, 1-14

Thomas D, 2007, Lending slows for but-to-let, Financial Times, October 5 (http://www.ft.com).

More information
Contact Andrew Leyshon (andrew.leyshon@nottingham.ac.uk) or Shaun French (shaun.french@nottingham.ac.uk)