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Hege Merete Knutsen

Professor emerita

Academic Interests

  • Upgrading, downgrading and development in global chains and networks
  • Institutional change, production and labour in transformation economies
  • Labour Geography: labour regimes, welfare regimes and temporary work
  • Corporate social responsibility
  • Geographical areas: primarily Asia and Norway/Scandinavia

Background

  • Cand.philol. in human geography at UiO 1986
  • Project coordinator for Care International in Sri Lanka for two years
  • Dr.polit. in human geography at UiO 1997
  • Associate Professor at ISS UiO 1995
  • Full Professor at ISS UiO from 2005

Positions Held

  • Head of the human geography section at ISS UiO 1999-2001
  • Head of research of the human geography section from 2008-2011
  • Programme leader of the cross-disciplinary BA-programme in development studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, UiO, 2006-2009
  • 2008 - Member of the steering committee of the Sasakawa Young Leader Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) at UiO, chair 2011-2016
  • 2009-2011 - Substitute representative of the UiO at the Nordic Centre at Fudan University, Shanghai
  • Appointed external advisor to the four-year research programme: Understanding the current wave of globalisation: the segmented outcomes of offshore service development in Mumbai and Manila. University of Amsterdam - Amsterdam Institute of Social Science Research. Funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research, 2011-2014

Partners

Tags: Human Geography

Publications

  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Jordhus-Lier, David (2026). Endring i arbeidsregimer. In Jordhus-Lier, David; Stokke, Kristian & Sæther, Bjørnar (Ed.), Samfunnsgeografi: Perspektiver og prosesser. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202899028. p. 261–271. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete; Jordhus-Lier, David; Sliwa, Marcin & Østring, Peder Ressem (2025). The role of unions in shaping work-based precarity on the Norwegian continental shelf. Economic and Industrial Democracy: an international journal. ISSN 0143-831X. doi: 10.1177/0143831x251383669. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete; Hansen, Arve; Wethal, Ulrikke Bryn & Potapohn, Manoj (2023). Brewing the Global Shift: Variegated Capitalism, Firm Strategies, and the Restructuring of the Southeast Asian Beer Industry. Journal of Contemporary Asia. ISSN 0047-2336. doi: 10.1080/00472336.2023.2254774. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Ta, Khanh Do (2020). Reforming state-owned enterprises in a global economy:The case of Vietnam. In Hansen, Arve; Bekkevold, Jo Inge & Nordhaug, Kristen (Ed.), The Socialist Market Economy in Asia: Development in China, Vietnam and Laos. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9789811562471. p. 141–166. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-6248-8_5. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete; Fangen, Katrine & Zabko, Oksana (2019). Integration and exclusion at work: Latvian and Swedish agency nurses in Norway. Journal of International Migration and Integration. ISSN 1488-3473. doi: 10.1007/s12134-019-00660-5. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2018). Health institutions, temporary work agencies and the mobility power of nurses. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. 8(4), p. 25–44. doi: 10.18291/njwls.v8i4.111927. Full text in Research Archive
  • Zampoukos, Kristina; Knutsen, Hege Merete; Kiil, Maiken Bjerga & Olofsdotter, Gunilla (2018). Mobile with an agency: Negotiating the spatiotemporalities of the temp migrant worker. Geoforum. ISSN 0016-7185. 93, p. 40–47. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2018.05.003. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Haugen, Heidi Østbø (2017). Utvikling i globale verdikjeder og produksjonsnettverk. In Jordhus-Lier, David Christoffer & Stokke, Kristian (Ed.), Samfunnsgeografi: En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202547752. p. 95–108. Full text in Research Archive
  • Kiil, Maiken Bjerga & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2016). Agency by exit: Swedish nurses and the "Not below 24,000" movement. Geoforum. ISSN 0016-7185. 70, p. 105–114. doi: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.02.012. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Ou, Xiaoxi (2015). Ecological modernisation and dilemmas of sustainable development in China. In Hansen, Arve & Wethal, Ulrikke Bryn (Ed.), Emerging Economies and Challenges to Sustainability: Theories, strategies, local realities. Routledge. ISSN 9780415747325. p. 65–78. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2015). Transfer of 'Western' institutions to a transition economy context: experiences from the Vietnamese petroleum sector. Forum for Development Studies. ISSN 0803-9410. 42(1), p. 65–87. doi: 10.1080/08039410.2014.918054. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit; Bergene, Ann Cecilie & Jordhus-Lier, David Christoffer (2015). Labor, Geography of. In Wright, James D. (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition. Elsevier. ISSN 9780080970868. p. 163–168. Full text in Research Archive
  • Dokka, Synne; Knutsen, Hege Merete & Endresen, Sylvi Birgit (2014). Outsourcing with a human face? Variegated workplace regimes in the Norwegian hotel sector. In Jordhus-Lier, David Christoffer & Underthun, Anders (Ed.), A hospitable world?: Organising work and workers in hotels and tourist resorts. Routledge. ISSN 9780415747790. p. 84–100. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2014). Restructuring and socially managed flexibility in the Norwegian hotel industry. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-1951. 68(5), p. 271–281. doi: 10.1080/00291951.2014.965739. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2012). Industriell oppgradering og arbeidsmarked. In Bekkevold, Jo Inge & Kristoffersen, Henning (Ed.), Kinas økonomi. Gyldendal Akademisk. ISSN 9788205418103. p. 117–137. Full text in Research Archive
  • Magnusson, Ola Anders; Knutsen, Hege Merete & Endresen, Sylvi Birgit (2010). Between coercion and consent : understanding post-apartheid workplace regimes. In Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (Ed.), Missing links in labour geography. Ashgate. ISSN 9780754677987. p. 169–181. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). Re-engaging with agency in labor geography. In Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (Ed.), Missing links in labour geography. Ashgate. ISSN 9780754677987. p. 3–14. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). Approaches to the Social and Spatial Agency of Labour. In Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (Ed.), Missing links in labour geography. Ashgate. ISSN 9780754677987. p. 227–240. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Hansson, Eva (2010). Theoretical approaches to changing labour regimes in transition economies. In Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (Ed.), Missing links in labour geography. Ashgate. ISSN 9780754677987. p. 155–169. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2008). Impeding industrial development? Regional trade arrangements as response to quota abolition in the textile and garment industry. In Taylor, Mike & Tamàsy, Christine (Ed.), Globalising worlds and new economic configurations. Ashgate. ISSN 9780754673774. Full text in Research Archive
  • Hesselberg, Jan; Knutsen, Hege Merete; Barton, Jonathan R.; Jenkins, Rhys & Bartzokas, Anthony (2007). Environmental regulation and industrial competitiveness in pollution-intensive industries. In Parto, Saeed & Herbert-Copley, Brent (Ed.), Industrial innovation and environmental regulation: Developing workable solutions. United Nations University Press. ISSN 9789280811278. p. 51–80. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2006). Changing terms of competition in the global textile and garment industry: the role of location in Vietnam as a restructuring option to firms from Taiwan. In Chun, Hsien (Eds.), Research forerunner of Southern Taiwan society: from theory to practice. National Pingtung University of Education. ISSN 9789860043181. p. 155–175. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2006). Geographies of informalization. Conceptual Dilemmas over Social Standards and Informalization of Labor. In Gatrell, Jay D. & Reid, Neil (Ed.), Enterprising Worlds. A geographic perspective on economics, environments and ethics. Springer. ISSN 9781402052255. p. 221–230. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Nguyen, Cuong Manh (2004). Preferential treatment in transition economy the case of state-owned enterprises in the textile and garment industry in Vietnam. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-1951. p. [125]-135–[125]-135. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2004). Industrial development in buyer-driven networks: the garment industry in Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Journal of Economic Geography. ISSN 1468-2702. 4(5), p. 545–564. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2003). Globalisation and the garment industry in Sri Lanka. Journal of Contemporary Asia. ISSN 0047-2336. 33(2), p. 225–250. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2003). Black entrepreneurs, local embeddedness and regional economic development in Northern Namibia. The Journal of Modern African Studies. ISSN 0022-278X. 41(4), p. 555–586. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2003). The garment industry - a steppingstone of industrialisation in Vietnam? Occasional paper. ISSN 0803-0596. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2000). Leather tanning: environmental regulations and competitiveness. In Hesselberg, Jan & Knutsen, H.M. (Ed.), FIL Working Papers. Universitetet i Oslo. p. 8–36. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2000). Environmental practice in the commodity chain: the dyestuff and tanning industries compared. Review of International Political Economy. ISSN 0969-2290. 7(2), p. 254–288. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Leather tanning, environmental regulations and competitiveness in Europe: a comparative study of Germany, Italy and Portugal. FIL Working papers. ISSN 0804-5828. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). The concept of sustainable development: way out or far out? SUM occasional paper. ISSN 0803-1223. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Wiik, Karin (1999). Tanning and the environment in Mexico: The case of León. FIL Working papers. ISSN 0804-5828. p. 63–89. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1998). Restructuring, stricter environmental requirements and competitiveness in the German, Italian and Portuguese tanning industry. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-1951. 52(4). Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1998). Globalisation and the international division of labour. Two concepts- one debate? Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-1951. 52(3). Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1997). The use of case studies in analyses of industrial change in the third world. FIL Working papers. ISSN 0804-5828. p. 37–52. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). Missing links in labour geography. Ashgate. ISBN 9780754677987. 246 p. Full text in Research Archive
  • Jenkins, Rhys; Barton, Jonathan; Bartzokas, Anthony; Hesselberg, Jan & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2002). Environmental regulation in the new global economy. The impact on industry and competitiveness. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781840645408. 349 p. Full text in Research Archive

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  • Isaksen, Arne; Hermelin, Brita & Knutsen, Hege Merete (2019). Jøranli, Ingvild. 2018. Labour markets and the geography of firm learning. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-1951. p. 1–3. doi: 10.1080/00291951.2019.1589568. Full text in Research Archive
  • Zabko, Oksana; Knutsen, Hege Merete & Fangen, Katrine (2017). Inclusion and exclusion at work: experiences of Latvian and Swedish temporary nurses in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
  • Underthun, Anders; Knutsen, Hege Merete; Kiil, Maiken Bjerga & Hansen, Per Bonde (2017). Bør bemanningsbyråer forbys? [Internet]. Forskning.no. Full text in Research Archive
  • Zampoukos, Kristina; Knutsen, Hege Merete; Kiil, Maiken Bjerga & Gunilla, Olofsdotter (2017). Swedish temp nurses and agency warehouse workers in Norway: Negotiating and strategizing the spatiotemporalities of the migrant workers. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Kiil, Maiken Bjerga (2017). Mobility Power in the Labour market- guests at work: Swedish temp nurses in Norway. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Kiil, Maiken Bjerga (2015). Agency by exit: Swedish nurses and the Not below 24,000 movement. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2011). Globalization and the transfer of "Western institutions": possibilites and challenges of developing a regualtory framework for HSE in the Vietnamese petrolem sector. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2011). Oil for development in Vietnam: In what ways is context sensitivity reflected in the programme and how does it affect outcome? Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). William G. Moseley and Leslie C. Gray, eds. Hanging by a thead: cotton,globalization and poverty in Africa. Professional Geographer. ISSN 0033-0124. 62(1), p. 147–149. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). Industrial relations under global stress: What is at stake for management in the Norwegian hotel sector? Some preliminary observations and findings. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2010). Hanging by a Thread: Cotton, Globalization and Poverty in Africa. Professional Geographer. ISSN 0033-0124. 62(1), p. 147–149. doi: 10.1080/00330120903446513. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Hansson, Eva (2008). Theoretical approaches to changing labour regimes in transformation economies. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2007). Context-sensitive explanations of creation and appropriation of value: lessons from Vietnam. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2006). Changing positions of labour in global production networks. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2006). Impeding industrial development? Regional trade arrangements as response to quota abolition in the textile and garment industry. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2005). Changing terms of competition in the global textile and garment industry: the role of location in Vietnam as a restructuring option to firms from Taiwan. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2005). Formalising the informal: dilemmas over social standards and informalisation of labour. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2003). Industrial development in buyer-driven networks: the case of the garment industry in Vietnam. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2003). Different contexts- similar outcome: the role of buyer-driven networks for industrial development in the garment industry in Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (2001). Black entrepreneurs and regional economic development in Northern Namibia. Theories on economic linkages and social relations as analytical framework. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Leather tanning and the environment in León, Mexico. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Leather tanning,environmental regulations and competitiveness in a North - South perspective. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Globalization and developing countries. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Ti år med FIL. Samfunnsgeografen. ISSN 0802-9091. p. 16–19. Full text in Research Archive
  • Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (1996). Klassisk eller ny arbeidsdeling? Hvor hender det?. ISSN 0801-9509. Full text in Research Archive
  • Horst, Cindy; Knutsen, Hege Merete & Christophersen, Sara (2020). Embodied Possibilities: A study of dance as an artistic, everyday practice in Palestine. Universitetet i Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
  • Jordhus-Lier, David; Bergene, Ann Cecilie; Knutsen, Hege Merete & Underthun, Anders (2010). Hotel workplaces in Oslo and Akershus. OsloMet - storbyuniversitetet. ISSN 9788270718344. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete & Wiik, Karin (2002). Assessing the uptake of EST in developing countries: the case of the leather tanning industry in Leòn, Mexico. UNIDO. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Leather tanning, environmental regulations and competitiveness - final report. Samfunnsgeografi, Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1999). Om å skrive mellomfagsoppgave. Samfunnsgeografi, Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1998). Leather tanning, environmental regulations and competitiveness in Europe: a comparative study of Germany, Italy and Portugal. Environmental regulation, globalisation of production and technological change - phase two report. Department of Sociology and Human Geography. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1998). Internationalisation of capital and the opportunity to pollute. Department of Sociology and Human Geography. Full text in Research Archive
  • Bergstø, B.; Endresen, Sylvi Birgit & Knutsen, Hege Merete (1998). "Source and hide pollution". Industrial organisation, location and the environment: sourcing as a firm strategy. Institutt for sosiologi og samfunnsgeografi. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1991). "International Location of Polluting Industries: Methods Applied in Selected Studies". Department of Human Geography, University of Oslo. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1991). Flytting av forurensende industri til utviklingsland. Norske Geografers Forening. Full text in Research Archive
  • Knutsen, Hege Merete (1991). "International Location of Polluting Industries: Review of Literature". Department of Human Geography, University of Oslo. Full text in Research Archive

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Published Oct. 5, 2010 10:57 AM - Last modified Mar. 11, 2026 10:30 AM

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