. embeddedness
The conceptual lens for considering this question is the notion of embeddedness
(Polanyi, 1944; Granovetter, 1985, 1992; Smelser & Swedburg, 1994; Grabher, 1993,
1994), which enables an exploration of the nature and form of social, economic and
institutional linkages. By adding a spatial dimension, economic geographers consider
the extent to which these relations are embedded within particular spaces and place.
Therefore, the notion of embeddedness is a starting point for considering quantitative
and qualitative aspects of employment, spillovers in the form of technological and
managerial know-how for indigenous firms and the establishment of new discourses
appropriate to a competitive regional economy. There have been extensive contributions
to understanding and conceptualizing the relationship between firms, localities and
regional environments (Dicken & Thrift, 1992; Oinas, 1995; Dicken et al., 1995) in
general, and those that have examined the role of foreign investment in transition economies
(Smith, 1998; Van Zon, 1998; Hardy, 1998, 2006, 2007; Pavlı´nek & Smith, 1998;
Altvater, 1998; Uhlir, 1998; Swain, 1998; Drahokoupil, 2008). However, there has been
little attempt to consider the impact on or embeddedness of investment in high-skilled
business services through offshoring arrangements to these economies.\citep*{Hardy_2011a}