Article ID: CBB001211715

Where Is Enron? Changing Perceptions of Geographic Relationships in the Deregulation of California's Energy Market (2008)

unapi

I examine the role geography plays when a large company with a distant headquarters conducts business in a particular location. Geographers see a power imbalance between the mobile capital of large corporations and fixed locations that must attract this capital, while companies sometimes downplay geographic distance. However, this strategy can become a liability if tensions between the company and a location emerge. As a case study, I look at changing geographic perceptions as Enron conducted business in California in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Enron`s initial strategy was to efface its complex geographic relationship to California. Although the company`s strategy was initially more or less successful, as the California energy crisis unfolded, Enron`s geographic identity quickly became a lightning rod for public and journalistic expressions of frustration and anger. I track this shift in geographic perception through Enron press releases and California newspaper stories, editorials, and letters to the editor.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001211715/

Similar Citations

Article Kean Birch; Kelly Bronson; (2022)
Big Tech (/isis/citation/CBB594109251/)

Book Jeremiah D. Lambert; (2016)
The Power Brokers: The Struggle to Shape and Control the Electric Power Industry (/isis/citation/CBB317525908/)

Article Yeager, Kurt E.; (Summer 2003)
Powering the Digital Age (/isis/citation/CBB554924404/)

Article Caskey, John F.; (Spring 2010)
Energy Independence: Can the U.S. Finally Get it Right? (/isis/citation/CBB603066638/)

Thesis Conley, Joe Greene, II; (2006)
Environmentalism Contained: A History of Corporate Responses to the New Environmentalism (/isis/citation/CBB001560794/)

Article Martina Fuchs; Peter Dannenberg; Cathrin Wiedemann; (2022)
Big Tech and Labour Resistance at Amazon (/isis/citation/CBB105245898/)

Book Srinivas, Smita; (2012)
Market Menagerie: Health and Development in Late Industrial States (/isis/citation/CBB001213400/)

Article Ryan Driskell Tate; (January 2021)
Rural Revolt: Power Line Protests and the Alternative Technology Movement in the United States, 1970s (/isis/citation/CBB243007913/)

Article Hultman, Martin; Nordlund, Christer; (2013)
Energizing Technology: Expectations of Fuel Cells and the Hydrogen Economy, 1990--2005 (/isis/citation/CBB001211945/)

Chapter Yves Bouvier; (2012)
Filming Electrical Consumption: EDF’s Promotional Films (1946-2004) (/isis/citation/CBB509113873/)

Article Adam Nix; Stephanie Decker; Carola Wolf; (Winter 2021)
Enron and the California Energy Crisis: The Role of Networks in Enabling Organizational Corruption (/isis/citation/CBB426496883/)

Article McNeill, Corbin A., Jr.; (Fall 2001)
Economic Determinants and the Role of Industry in the Future of Nuclear Power (/isis/citation/CBB704939792/)

Book Thomas O. McGarity; (2019)
Pollution, politics, and power: The struggle for sustainable electricity (/isis/citation/CBB204091874/)

Article James C. Williams; (2009)
Resource Conservation and Electrification in California (/isis/citation/CBB453040369/)

Book Mirowski, Philip; (2011)
Science-Mart: Privatizing American Science (/isis/citation/CBB001210019/)

Authors & Contributors
Valentina Roxo
Adam Nix
Caskey, John F.
Tate, Ryan Driskell
Bronson, Kelly
McNeill, Corbin A., Jr.
Concepts
Energy resources and technologies
Technology and economics
Electric power industry
Corporations
Energy consumption
Fuels and fuel technology
Time Periods
21st century
20th century, late
20th century, early
20th century
19th century
Places
United States
California (U.S.)
India
Nigeria
Ohio (U.S.)
South Africa
Institutions
Enron
Amazon (Firm)
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment