Research Interests

I have broadly based interests in industrial geography, notably in the relationships between industrial organization, location and local development. Conceptually, I favour an institutional approach to economic geography that conceptually emphasizes political economy interpretations of location dynamics. In terms of research design, I have given particular emphasis to field-work based strategies involving both case studies and extensive surveys, as well as hybrids of these approaches.

Much of my work has focused on British Columbia's forest economy and this research was synthesized in my recent (2000) book: Flexible crossroads: The restructuring of British Columbia's Forest economy, Vancouver: UBC Press. More broadly, this research is exploring the dynamics of resource regions, especially with respect to the idea of contested space.
Recent MA theses that I have supervised in the context of BC's forest economy have focused on the implications of restructuring for social change in forest communities, high school student expectations in resource communities, and value added developments in the Vancouver metropolitan region.

In the past 10 years I have also developed research interests in Asia, particularly Japan, with respect to trade, foreign investment and production systems. This research has extended my interests in BC's forest economy to Japan as a market and as an alternative exemplar of how forest resources are developed. I have also explored the spatial impacts of Japanese direct foreign investment in Asia, especially that by the 'electronic' MNCs. A recent MA thesis under my supervision examined the export of houses from BC to Japan. I now (2002) have two PhD students who are focusing on the dynamics of production systems in Japan.

At the present time (May 2002), I have two SSHRC research grants. The first explores the implications of environmentalism, and the so-called Green paradigm, for BC's forest economy, especially in relation to value added developments. This research will focus on Vancouver metro and hinterland communities. The second grant, in cooperation with Dr. David Edgington (UBC), funds research into the impacts of Japanese MNCs on the transfer of technology in selected regions of Asia, especially Taiwan, South China and Malaysia.

Students interested in my areas of research expertise are welcome to apply to the graduate programme in the Geography Department and to contact me if you have any questions.

If you wish to check out my research interests in a little more detail, I have listed some recent publications:


Books

R. Hayter and R. B. Le Heron (eds) forthcoming, Knowledge, Industry and Environment:
Innovation and Institutions in Territorial Perspective, London: Ashgate.

R. Hayter, 2000 Flexible Crossroads: The Restructuring of British Columbia's Forest Economy Vancouver: UBC Press.

R. Hayter, 1997 The Dynamics of Industrial Location: The Factory, The Firm and The
Production System Chichester: John Wiley

T Barnes and R Hayter (eds) 1997 Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest
Economy in Transition Victoria: Western Geographical Press

R. Hayter and P. Wilde (eds) 1990 Industrial Transformation in Canada and Australia, Ottawa: Carleton University Press.

R. Hayter, 1988 Technology Policy Perspectives and the Canadian Forest Product Industries, Background Study No.56, Science Council of Canada, Ottawa, 1988.

Recent Journal Articles (1996-2001)

T. Reiffenstein, R. Hayter and D. Edgington 2001 Crossing Cultures: Producing Houses
for Consumption in Japan, Economic Geography

T. Barnes, R. Hayter and E. Hay, 2001 Stormy Weather, Cyclones, Harold Innis, and
Port Alberni Environment and Planning A 33:

R. Hayter and T. Barnes, 2001 Canada's Resource Economy, The Canadian Geographer 45: 80-
5.

D. W. Edgington and R. Hayter, 2001 Japanese Direct Foreign Investment and the Asian
Financial Crisis, Geoforum 32: 103-120

D. W. Edgington and R. Hayter, 2000 Foreign Direct Investment and the Flying Geese Model:
Japanese Electronics Firms in Asia, Environment and Planning A 32: 281-304

T. Barnes, R. Hayter and E. Hay (1999) 'Too Young to Retire, Too Bloody Old to Work': Forest
Industry Restructuring and Community Response in Port Alberni, British Columbia,
Forestry Chronicle 75: 781-87

R. Hayter, J. Patchell and K. G. Rees 1999, Business Segmentation and Location Revisited:
Innovation and the Terra Incognita of Large Firms, Regional Studies 33: 425-42

R Hayter and D W Edgington, 1999, 'Getting Tough' and 'Getting Smart': Politics of the North
American-Japan Wood Products Trade, Environment and Planning C: Government and
Policy 17: 319-44

J. Skulason and R. Hayter, 1998 Industrial location as a Bargain: Iceland and the Aluminium Multinationals 1962-1994, Geografiska Annaler, Series B 80: 29-48

R. Hayter and S. Han, 1998 Reflections on China' s Open Policy Towards Direct Foreign
Investment, Regional Studies 32: 1-16

J. Patchell and R. Hayter, 1997 Japanese Precious Wood: The Paradox of Value Added,
Geographical Review 87: 375-95

R. Hayter and T. Barnes, 1997 The Restructuring of British Columbia's Forest Sector: Flexibility
Perspectives, BC Studies No. 113, (Spring), 7-37

R. Hayter and D. Edgington, 1997 Cutting Against the Grain: A Case Study of MacMillan Bloedel's Japan Strategy, Economic Geography 73: 187-213

D. Edgington and R. Hayter, 1997 The Dynamics of International Trade and Production Chains: Japan's Timber Trade with British Columbia, Regional Studies 31:151-66

R. Hayter, 1997 High Performance Organizations and Employment Flexibility: A Case Study of
In Situ Change at the Powell River Paper Mill, 1980-94, The Canadian Geographer 41:
26-40

R. Hayter and D. Soyez, 1996 Clearcut Issues: German Environmental Pressure and the British Columbia Forest Sector, Geographische Zeitschrift 84: 143-56

K. Rees and R. Hayter, 1996 Flexible Specialization, Uncertainty and the Firm: Enterprise Strategies and Structures in the Wood Remanufacturing Industry of the Vancouver Metropolitan Area, British Columbia, The Canadian Geographer 40: 203-219.

Book Chapters (1996-2002)

R. Hayter and R. B. LeHeron, 2002, Industrialization, Techno-economic Paradigms and
the Environment. In R. Hayter and R. B. LeHeron (eds), Knowledge, Industry and
Environment: Innovation and Institutions in Territorial Perspective, London: Ashgate,
11-30.

R. Le Heron and R. Hayter, 2002, Introduction to Knowledge, Industry and Environment.
In R. Hayter and R. B. LeHeron (eds), Knowledge, Industry and Environment:
Innovation and Institutions in Territorial Perspective, London: Ashgate, 1-10.

R. Hayter and R. B. LeHeron, 2002, Conclusions: Institutions and Innovation in
Territorial Perspective. In R. Hayter and R. B. LeHeron (eds), Knowledge, Industry and
Environment: Innovation and Institutions in Territorial Perspective, London: Ashgate,
399-410.

R. Hayter and J. Holmes, 2001, The Canadian Forest Industries: The Impacts of
Globalization and Technical Change. In M. Howlett (ed) Canadian Forest Policy:
Regimes, Policy Dynamics and Institutional Adaptations Toronto: University of Toronto
Press,

R. Hayter, 2000 Single Industry Resource Towns. In E, Sheppard and T. Barnes (eds) A Companion to Economic Geography Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 290-307.

D.W. Edgington and R. Hayter, 2000 Japanese Electronics Firms in Malaysia: After the Financial Crisis. In G.B. Hainsworth (ed.) Globalization and the Asian Economic Crisis, Vancouver: Institute of Asian Research, UBC, 345-56.

D.W. Edgington and R. Hayter, 1999, Japanese Electronic Firms in the Asia Pacific Region. In
Proceedings of the Fifth Ritsumeikan - UBC Seminar, 1-10.

R. Hayter and J. Holmes, 1999 Continentalization in an Era of Globalization - a Perspective from Canada's Resource Periphery. In T. Barnes and M. Gertler (eds) Institutions and the Space Economy, London: Routledge, 176-201.

J. Patchell, R. Hayter and K. Rees 1999 Innovation and Local Development: the Neglected Role
of Large Firms. In E J Malecki and P Oinas (eds.) Making Connections: Technological Learning and Regional Economic Change, Aldershot: Ashgate.

R. Hayter and T. Barnes 1997 Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest Economy in Transition. In T Barnes and R Hayter Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's
Forest Economy in Transition Victoria: Western Geographical Series, 1-10.

R. Hayter and T. Barnes 1997 The Restructuring of British Columbia's Coastal Forest Sector: Flexibility Perspectives. In T Barnes and R Hayter (eds) Troubles in the Rainforest: British Columbia's Forest Economy in Transition Victoria: Western Geographial Series, 181-202.

R. Hayter, 1996 R&D Systems. In W. F. Lever and P. Daniels (eds) The Global Economy in Transition, London: Longmans, 164-92.

R. Hayter, 1996 Technological Imperatives in Resource Sectors: Forest Products. In J. N. H. Britton (ed) Canada and the Global Economy, Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queens Press, 101-22.