De-industrialisation and re-industrialisation: reinventing the Swedish textile and clothing industry 1970–2005

The purpose of the project is to analyse the driving forces behind the expansion of the textile industry in Sweden after the structural crisis of the 1970s. The starting point is taken in the growing literature on "second wave globalization". The project is theoretically anchored in an approach of creative destruction and industrial renewal, combined with theories of technological and institutional change, as well as the role of the state in corporate strategies and market behaviour. The project studies how companies, owners and the state in Sweden acted during periods of radical technological development and changed market conditions, which provides knowledge about re-industrialization processes and relocation in an ongoing new global division of labour.