Elders IXL Ltd: finance capital and the geography of corporate restructuring

Despite widespread agreement that the economies of nation-states have become more closely integrated globally, there has been little concrete analysis of how this has occurred. In this paper a large Australian-based firm which has emerged rapidly as a transnational agribusiness and brewing conglomerate in the 1980s is examined. The fractions of capital now reorganised as Elders IXL Ltd have adopted over time various capital accumulation strategies, foraging, in each period, distinctive linkages with the global economy. To cope with restructuring crises during the 1970s, Elders has rapidly built a new global geography of production, trade, and investment, accompanied by extensive rationalisation and divestment in its Australian operations. The role of international finance capital has become increasingly important, and domestic restructuring can be understood only in terms of the new global strategies. -Author