From Hobby to Billion-Dollar Industry

This Open-Access book examines the process-nature of economic structures as commodity chains within the modern world-system. Building on the theoretical and methodological concepts developed by Hopkins and Wallerstein, it introduces ‘process-oriented commodity chain mapping’ as a method for analyzing and understanding the process-nature of economic structures. The cut flower commodity chain, with a particular focus on the Aalsmeer region, serves as a case study to illustrate the application of this methodological concept. The analysis encompasses the structure of actors, the spatial structure, and the inherent power structure within time periods from the 1850s to 2022. Furthermore, the book analyzes the process-nature of the commodity chain within and across these time periods, enabling the mapping of power establishment and maintenance processes within the cut flower commodity chain. By demonstrating the practical implementation of process-oriented commodity chain research, this book makes an empirical contribution to world-system analysis by providing a concrete definition of power within economic structures and introducing collective actors in the modern world-system.