Related to these ontological challenges, the GPN framework is also confronted with certain
epistemological problems, particularly with regard to its theoretical foundations. As noted in
Table 1, the GPN framework in economic geography owes its theoretical ideas much more to
economic sociology and network analysis than orthodox economics. This phenomenon is
certainly not accidental because, as observed by Peck (2005), economic geographers seem to
‘play out’ much more with sociologists and organizational theorists than hard-nosed
economists. In doing so, there is a danger in GPN work of over-emphasizing social relations
stretched across space at the expense of economic transactions that constitute the very
foundation of GPNs. As stated earlier, we should not lose sight of the fundamental economic
raison d’être of each global production network. The challenge to future GPN research rests
with our continual commitment to the analysis of the spatial creation, enhancement, and
capture of value – defined as surplus value and economic rent – in different configurations of
GPNs.