Production and Political Economy in the Animation Industry: Why Insourcing and Outsourcing Occur

• Main Authors: Tschang, Feichin, Ted, Goldstein, Andrea
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2004
• Subjects: Arts Management; Political Economy; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/2853; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/3852/viewcontent/Tschang2004OutsourcingAnimation.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper presents a framework for explaining production patterns in creative industries. In particular, we focus on the conditions under which insourcing occurs in the US threedimensional animation industry and where outsourcing in the conventional two-dimensional animation industry occurs to the Philippines. The work that is outsourced is not the most creative component of the entire production process. Institutional decisions (as related to the location of decision makers and primary markets), and business conditions in the world market, have both positively and negatively affected the local Filipino industry and its position within the global division of labor. Implications for knowledge-based theories of the firm are discussed.