Global value chain Research Papers (original) (raw)

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- Performance Management, Value Chain, Global value chain

It has been shown that clustering helps local enterprises in industrial districts overcome growth constraints and compete in distant markets in advanced and less developed countries. Nevertheless, recent contributions have stressed that more attention needs to be paid to external linkages and to the role played by global buyers to foster upgrading at cluster levels. In this study, we contribute to this debate focusing on the analysis of the relationships existing between clustering, global value chains, upgrading, and sectoral patterns of innovation in Latin America. We find that sectoral specificities matter and influence the mode and the extent of upgrading in clusters integrated in global value chains.

- by Federica Tirone
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- Economics, Clusters, Latin America, Less developed countries

The aim of the paper is to analyze the role of design in re-launching the competitiveness of Italian SMEs. The importance of design in product innovation has grown dramatically during the last few years. Traditionally, design was considered an exception reserved for luxury segments and sophisticated niche markets that could appreciate a product's aesthetic and artistic values. Now, design is becoming the synthetic expression of a range of managerial processes, including product innovation, communication, distribution channels, and renewed customer relations, that are innovating products by adding communicative value. On the basis of the analysis of case studies and focus groups, the paper aims at pointing out competitive models based on design for upgrading in global value chains.

- by Stefano Micelli
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- Product innovation, Case Study, Focus Group, Global value chain

Since the 1980s, Mexico became an attractive location for global automobile assemblers. Geographical proximity and low production costs were associated with high productivity. As this industry became highly concentrated, benefits for the host localities turned into a controversial issue. Taking this controversy as a background, a case study was designed to gather evidence from new local knowledge-intensive firms within the supplier network in the automotive cluster led by Ford Motor Company in Hermosillo, Mexico. Our findings revealed that a new trend of knowledge-intensive small local companies emerged, providing higher value services and playing more important roles in the supply chain.

- by Jorge Alonso Estrada
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- Economics, Automotive Industry, Case Study, Global value chain

There is a growing literature exploring the role of international trade channels on economic growth, looking at the mechanisms through which import and export flows might affect productivity, technology diffusion and output growth. However, most of this literature appears to neglect an important part of the story, which is the form and the organisation of the relationships (the governance) among the various actors involved in these activities and their implications for development. The recent literature on global value chains and their governance takes this element explicitly into account, and we explore it empirically with a new dataset on Thailand. To this aim, we study global and domestic value chains in Thailand, and develop a quantitative measure of their governance, which takes into account different levels and types of buyer involvement with supplier activities. We then use this measure to explore econometrically its relationship with performance of suppliers. An important finding is that in value chains led by a multinational corporation, the relationships that the leaders have with their suppliers is multifold and generally more intense than for domestic value chains. Our estimates suggest that more intense buyer involvement with local suppliers, not only in the definition of product characteristics, design and quality, but also in technology dissemination and R&D, is generally associated with higher supplier productivity. This is consistent with other sources of evidence. However, the governance of the value chain appears to affect the productivity of suppliers in domestic value chains to a greater extent than for firms supplying multinational corporations or for exporters. We suggest that this result may be explained by the different nature of the information and knowledge being exchanged, and by the larger gaps in knowledge and capabilities between the domestic leader and its suppliers. two anonymous referees for helpful comments. We are also indebted to seminar participants in CNR workshops in Milan, Globelics India 2006 in Trivandrum, Eindhoven Technical University, UNU-MERIT Maastricht for many helpful comments. Financial contribution from the MIUR-PRIN project on 'Capabilities dinamiche tra organizzazione di impresa e sistemi locali di produzione' is gratefully acknowledged. The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and do not involve their respective organisations.

This paper examines the competitiveness of Cambodia's garment export industry, on which the country's recent and successful economic development has depended to an unusually heavy extent. Using primary interviews and drawing on the Japanese-language literature, it documents how Cambodia was inserted into garment global value chains, based almost entirely on inward investment. Despite its expansion in the face of strong Chinese competition since the end of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing in December 2004, the industry remains vulnerable as a result of deficient infrastructure, labour unrest, official corruption and the absence of a domestic textile industry, all of which serve to diminish its attractiveness to global buyers.

- by John Thoburn and +2
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- Sociology, Human Geography, Economic Development, Applied Economics

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to integrate the global value chain (GVC) perspective with firms' innovation in emerging economies (EE) and explain why EE firms can improve their innovation capabilities more from their domestic markets by focusing on R&D and marketing than from original equipment manufacturer/original design manufacturer (OEM/ODM) modes in the GVC and how they contribute to the national innovation system (NIS).

- by Erin Pleggenkuhle-Miles
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- Globalization, Telecommunications, Emerging Economies, China

Over the course of little more than a decade, Vietnam has become a significant exporter of garments to the EU and Japan, and now to the US too. Based on interviews with firms and buyers, and analysis of trade data, this paper traces how Vietnamese garment and textile firms are inserted into global garment and textile value chains. It considers ties between the Vietnamese garment and textiles industries. And, it reflects on how the nature of insertion into global value chains leads to differentiated gains for state owned and private enterprises, and for textile and garment workers. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

- by Khalid Nadvi
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- Human Geography, International Trade, Vietnam, Development

As global trade increases, some regions have become specialized in international trade and logistics, forming hubs to larger market areas. Although a lot is known about international trade in quantitative terms, much less is known about... more

- by Melika Levelt
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- International Trade, Economic policy, Case Study, Global value chain

Spatial shifts in the location of manufacturing continue, but understanding why particular regions prove attractive to particular industries and elements within those industries lags. A sharp increase in fuel cost prompted considerations of a major geographic shift shortening the distance between producers and markets in the furniture industry. This research focuses on the role of lo-

- by Susan Walcott
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- Human Geography, Competitive advantage, Global value chain, Product Life Cycle

This paper outlines the evolution of additive manufacturing technology, culminating in 3D printing, and presents a vision of how this evolution is affecting existing global value chains in production. In particular, we bring up questions about how this new technology can affect the geographic span and density of global value chains. Potentially, wider adoption of this technology has the potential to partially reverse the trend towards global specialization of production systems into elements that may be geographically dispersed and closer to the end-users (localization). This leaves the question of whether in some industries diffusion of 3D printing technologies may change the role of multinational enterprises as coordinators of global value chains by inducing the engagement of a wider variety of firms, even households.

- by Joshua Pearce
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- Business, Business Administration, Information Technology, International Business

La redacción de este artículo tuvo tres objetivos: presentar un inventario de empresas nanotecnológicas en la Argentina; implementar una clasificación económica sectorial sobre la base de los productos con nanotecnología lanzados al mercado y clasificar los productos de acuerdo con su lugar en la cadena de valor. La investigación arrojó un total de 58 empresas. Para la ubicación sectorial se utilizó la Clasificación Industrial Internacional Uniforme de todas las Actividades Económicas (CIIU) de Naciones Unidas. El sector de sustancias y productos químicos aglutinó al grueso de las empresas. Asimismo, la mayoría de los productos se situaron como medios de producción en la cadena de valor simple, lo que quiere decir que se utilizan en procesos industriales posteriores.

- by Edgar Zayago Lau and +2
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- Argentina, Nanotechnology, Value Chain, Global value chain

En este documento se analiza el sistema de gobernanza de las cadenas de mercancías/valor a efectos de establecer los elementos conceptuales que se requieren para su análisis y derivar consecuencias analíticas para estudios que se realicen con la intención de mejorar la competitividad de actores participantes en los segmentos periféricos de las cadenas, desde países en vías de desarrollo. El análisis se efectúa siguiendo el enfoque de cadenas globales de mercancías y su evolución hacia el concepto de cadenas de valor.

His published research covers a wide range of issues in open economy macroeconomics including work on global imbalances, Bretton Woods II, crises in emerging markets, debt restructuring, and capital flight. Professor Dooley received his... more

- by Mirian Schneider
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- International Trade, Applied Economics, Global value chain, Global Value Chains

The commercial aircraft manufacturing industry is starting a process of delocalization from developed to developing countries. From its original strongholds in the United States, Western Europe and Canada, it is now moving towards the largest new industrial countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The technology transfer channels include investment by multinational corporations, participation in global value chains, and outsourcing

This paper presents detailed methods for constructing a flexible philosophical–analytical model through which to apply the analytic principles of CDA for the interpretation of metaphors across policy texts. Drawing on a theoretical framing from Foucault and the augmentation of Nietzsche’s views on valuation, we sketch a framework for examining ways in which evaluative semantic categories can be linked to sociological theories in order to bring out their relevance for the purpose of critical discourse analysis. This multi-level research framework draws upon a relationship between language analysis, the philosophical study of valuation, and political economy as a composite formulation of values through which neo-liberalism is discursively entwined and progressed through a system of principles of e/valuation.

- by Nadira Talib and +1
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- Critical Theory, Business, Business Administration, Business Ethics

China and India have become major producers of products and services for global markets. This article explores to what extent they are also building up innovation capabilities. It draws on a combination of approaches-innovation systems, global value chains and professional networks-to analyze four of the most dynamic industries. We find that mounting innovation efforts only rarely materialized in cutting-edge innovations but suggest that if capital accumulation proceeds at the current pace, innovation capabilities will rapidly be built up in China and, with a time lag, India. We conclude by setting out the implications for both the developed and the developing world.

- by Andreas Stamm
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- Economics, Global value chain, Innovation System, Capital Accumulation

In this paper we argue that the path of economic development for would-be developers has changed fundamentally since the 1980s. Focusing on East Asia, and taking a broad perspective that spans the economic and social dimensions of development, we contend that the path charted by the “late development” model has become all but impassible. The path is now better conceived as one of “compressed development.” Key differences are 1) the extent and consequences of compression; 2) the primary mode of engagement with the world economy—via global value chains; and 3) the interaction of these. Compressed development forces states to address a number of simultaneous challenges, resulting in “policy stretch.” We identify key features of an “adaptive state” suited to navigating the path of compressed development.

- by Mon-Han Tsai and +1
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- East Asia, Economic Development, Global value chain

In this article we review the evolution and current status of Global Value Chain (GVC) governance theory and take some initial steps toward a broader theory of governance through an exercise in ‘modular theory-building.’ We focus on two GVC governance theories to which we previously contributed: a theory of linking and a theory of conventions. The modular framework we propose is built on three scalar dimensions: (1) a micro level – determinants and dynamics of exchange at individual value chain nodes; (2) a meso level – how and to what extent these linkage characteristics ‘travel’ up- and down-stream in the value chain; and (3) a macro level – looking at ‘overall’ GVC governance. Given space limitations, we focus only on the issue of ‘polarity’ in governance at the macro level, distinguishing between unipolar, bipolar and multipolar governance forms. While we leave a more ambitious analysis of how overall GVC governance is mutually constituted by micro/meso factors and broader institutional, regulatory and societal processes to future work, we provide an initial framework to which this work could be linked. Our ultimate purpose is to spur future efforts that seek to use and refine additional theories, to connect theories together better or in different modular configurations, and to incorporate elements at the macro level that reflect the changing constellation of key actors in GVC governance – the increasing influence of, for example, NGOs, taste and standard makers, and social movements in GVC governance.

- by Stefano Ponte
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- Globalization, Governance, Theory of Conventions, Value chain analysis

For producers motivated by their new status as self-employed, landowning, capitalist coffee growers, specialty coffee presents an opportunity to proactively change the way they participate in the international market. Now responsible for determining their own path, many producers have jumped at the chance to enhance the value of their product and participate in the new "fair trade" market. But recent trends in the international coffee price have led many producers to wonder why their efforts to produce a certified Fair Trade and organic product are not generating the price advantage they had anticipated. My study incorporates data collected in eighteen months of fieldwork, including more than 45 interviews with coffee producers and fair trade roasters, 90 surveys of coffee growers, and ongoing participant observation to understand how fair trade certification, as both a market system and development program, meets the expectations of the coffee growers. By comparing three coffee cooperatives that have engaged the Fair Trade system to disparate ends, the results of this investigation are three case studies that vii demonstrate how global processes of certification, commodity trade, market interaction, and development aid effect social and cultural change within communities. This study frames several lessons learned in terms of 1. socioeconomic impacts of fair trade, 2. characteristics associated with positive development encounters, and 3. potential for commodity producers to capture value further along their global value chain. Commodity chain comparisons indicate the Fair Trade certified cooperative receives the highest per-pound price, though these findings are complicated by costs associate with certification and producers' perceptions of an "unjust" system. Fair tradesupported projects are demonstrated as more "successful" in the eyes of recipients, though their attention to detail can just as easily result in "failure".

- by courtney dowdall
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- International Marketing, Fair Trade, Cultural change, Case Study

This paper explores the impact that a new type of pineapple, and subsequent changing consumer preferences in the Global North, has had on the livelihoods of pineapple growers in Ghana. The paper starts by tracing how research and development in Costa Rica by the world’s largest producers of pineapple, Del Monte and Dole, have resulted in a new variety MD2.

- by Katherine Gough
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- Multidisciplinary, Livelihoods, Research and Development, Global value chain

This paper develops a critical framework on international management and production that draws from the literatures on global commodity chains and global production networks (GPNs), from institutional entrepreneurship, as well as from neo-Gramscian theory in international political economy. The framework views GPNs as integrated economic, political, and discursive systems, in which market and political power are
intertwined. The framework highlights the contingent stability of GPNs as well as the potential for actors to engage politically in contestation and collaboration over system governance and the distribution of benefits. The framework offers a multidimensional
and multi-level approach to understanding power relations, ideology, and value appropriation in GPNs. The framework is valuable for examining the intersection of GPNs with charged political and social issues such as sweatshops and incomes for coffee growers, and the role of geography as a source of stability and tension in these networks.

- by David Levy
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- Social Movements, Complexity Theory, Gramsci, Institutional Entrepreneurship

The underlying fundamentals that have propelled the growth of global trade over the last decades are being questioned. The collapse of asset inflation, the decline in debt based consumption, the overreliance on export oriented strategies and the associated trade imbalances are imposing stringent readjustments on freight distribution systems and the global value chains they support. Yet, from a business cycle perspective periods of growth are commonly followed by adjustment phases where misallocations are corrected, particularly if based on credit. Thus, the wave that has led to impressive growth figures in transport demand may shift towards a new paradigm that could have substantial consequences on the operating conditions of maritime shipping companies and transport terminals. This paper will explore the ramifications that the readjustment of global imbalances entails over three issues.

- by Jean-paul Rodrigue
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- Distributed System, Value Chain, Value Creation, Global value chain
- by Erdem Ateş and +1
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- Global value chain, Global Value Chains, Turkic Republics, Türk Cumhuriyetleri

The growth of intensive export-oriented Pangasius catfish production in Vietnam's Mekong Delta is unparalleled in terms of rapidity and scale by any other agricultural sector, with production climbing from a low base to more than 1 million tons in a single decade. This paper examines the effects of this remarkable change on the rural class structure in locations where catfish farming has boomed, and analyses the role of local state-society relations in mediating outcomes resulting from the integration of local actors into the global value chain. We conclude that private economic activity is deeply embedded in informal relations with the state bureaucracy in Vietnam, with the result that the expansion of catfish aquaculture has generally acted to reproduce and entrench existing class relations rather leading to a radical reconfiguration of the rural class structure.

- by ben belton
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- Vietnam, Multidisciplinary, Global value chain, Social Relation

The organic sector is one of the fastest growing sectors globally. The sector provides an opportunity for developing countries to export high value products in the global market. One such opportunity for Uganda is the export of organic pineapples. The organic pineapple enterprise is relatively new, having existed for approximately 10 years. This paper traces the organic pineapple value chain, characterises and explains the functions of the actors in the chain. The study used the Global Value Chain Analysis Framework, using data obtained from 140
organic farmers, 10 exporters and 3 support institutions in Uganda. It is clear from the study that the chain is private- sector-driven, has relatively young smallholder farmers, and comprises of 10 small scale export companies.
Only 45% of the organic pineapples produced by farmers reach the organic consumers. Reasons for this included limited processing capacity of exporters, competition from conventional buyers and the few local organic consumers.
Other reasons were declining soil fertility, limited regulative institutional support and poor infrastructure. We recommend increased use of soil amendments, favourable legislations and investment environment, increased horizontal coordination among exporters and increasing the range of the organic export products in order to increase organic pineapple sales.

- by Paul Kledal
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- Development Studies, Organic agriculture, Global value chain

The Innovation Systems (IS) literature tends not to emphasize the crucial impact of international knowledge and innovation exchange and collaboration through, for example, inter-firm and intra-firm networks and Global Value Chains (GVC). In developing countries this aspect is crucial, with integration in GVC playing a growing and very important role in accessing knowledge and enhancing learning and innovation. However, there is no agreement in the literature about how innovation systems and GVC interact, and how this interaction is likely to affect enterprise learning. Three main conclusions emerge from the theoretical analysis and evidence presented in this paper. First, learning mechanisms can vary widely within the various forms of governance of GVC: they can be the result of the pressure to achieve international standards, or be facilitated by direct involvement of the value chain leaders when the suppliers' competence is low and the risk of failure to comply is high. When the competences of the actors in the value chain are complementary, learning is mutual and is based on intense face-to-face interactions. Second, as we "open" IS to foreign sources of knowledge, the relationship between GVCs and IS is nonlinear and endogenous, and mutually affecting. On the basis of our model, we would expect a well-structured and efficient innovation system would help to reduce transaction complexity and enable transactions based on relational forms of GVC governance. Third, the internal governance of GVC is a dynamic phenomenon that is subject to continuous adjustments and changes, and the nature of the IS affects this co-evolution.

- by Carlo Pietrobelli
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- Economics, Value Chain, Face to Face, Developing Country

The question that drives this paper is: When can we expect firm upgrading by developingcountry suppliers in global value chains will lead to improvements in labour conditions? To deal with this question we, (a) position firm upgrading in the global value chain approach, (b) investigate existing evidence and conceptualisations on how economic globalisation impacts on labour, and (c) develop some hypotheses on when we can expect firm upgrading and improvements in labour conditions to go together. We conclude that firm upgrading in developing-country suppliers in global value chains as a rule does not lead to improvements in labour conditions. Instead, the much broader and more forceful process of immiserising growth makes it very unlikely that workers in such relatively low-skilled production activities will enjoy improvements in labour conditions. Ethical sourcing may lead to improvements in labour conditions of core workers in final product manufacturers and key supplier firms, but it is as yet unclear to what extent such a business model can and will be disseminated. More generally, even though economic globalisation does selectively create new jobs, even labour conditions of core workers may be under pressure while the overall proportion of core workers appears to be declining.

- by L. Pegler and +1
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- Economics, Corporate Social Responsibility, Developing Country, Business Model
- by Elena Karpova
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- Education, Technology, Global value chain

The paper analyzes the features of Thai auto industry from the late 1980s to the present. It uses an approach consistent with the Global Value Chain analyses, and focuses on three aspects: the relation between local and foreign capital; the role of the local supply base in the process of value creation; value capture and transfer dynamics among countries. The country is a relevant case as it is the largest ASEAN market and a main regional and global export hub. Thailand represents the centre of the regional production networks of all Japanese automakers and, from the Asian crisis (1997)(1998), of the biggest western too. It has also a fundamental role for automakers regional market access strategies. The paper places Thai auto industry origins and development in the context of the expansion of Japanese industrial capital in Southeast Asia. Hence, it assumes that Japanese production organization has both shaped the local automotive manufacturing sector and determined its structural weaknesses. Data from the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database from 1989 to 2010 are processed in the paper, in order to analyze trade relations between Thailand on one hand and ASEAN selected countries and "Triad" countries on the other and, hence, to assess value transfer dynamics. In sum, the paper underlines two main problems for local auto industry: the first is a substantial technological dependence from foreign assets and the existence of captive linkages between foreign assemblers or first tier suppliers and Thai suppliers; the second is a partial transfer towards the Triad -mainly Japan -of the value created in the country, which happens through technological dependence and trade deficit mechanisms.

- by Chiara Pollio
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- United Nations, Asian Financial Crisis, Global value chain, Manufacturing Sector

Although the high-tech sector in developed countries is well understood, there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about the hightech sector in developing countries. This study addresses questions about the nature of high tech in Tunisia and about factors associated with information and communications technology (ICT) firms' success as examples of the high-tech sector. The literature identifies the key characteristics of the sector to be human capital, access to appropriate finance and supporting institutions to provide synergy. Thus we address these factors to establish if they have led to success in Tunisian ICT high tech. We surveyed 60 Tunisian ICT firms and employing a multiple component analysis, supported by a multinomial LOGIT analysis, we found that research and development was negatively associated with firm success. This, we argue, indicates the early stage of high-tech development. Our findings also suggest a subordinate role in the global value chain.The paper concludes with some observations and recommendations. r (S. Harbi), mariane5439@yahoo.fr (M. Amamou), a.r.anderson@rgu.ac.uk (A.R. Anderson). 1 Tel.: +216 22 94 22 26.

- by Alistair R Anderson and +1
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- Marketing, Developing Countries, ICT, Human Capital

Governments and development organisations consider the involvement of poor forest managers in global value chains and markets as a most promising approach for resolving the social and environmental challenges of the Amazon. This paper intends to provide a clearer picture about opportunities and potentials of this market-approach, by analysing integrated forest based development initiatives in the Bolivian, Brazilian, Ecuadorian and Peruvian Amazon. Findings suggest that the externally promoted initiatives seldom correspond to local realities and that they suffer from limited financial viability due to competitive disadvantages of locals in comparison to more capitalized actors. Success stories remain isolated without replication, and depend on external support for continuation. Only a limited number of families provided with privileged support have been able to overcome the technical, institutional and financial hurdles and to benefit from existing market opportunities. In some cases, interventions have generated conflicts and even weakened social organisation. Instead of simply copying the mistakes of the past regarding the emerging markets for environmental services, it is deemed essential to question the current market focus and search for alternatives placing greater emphasis on the interests, cultures and capacities of local people.

- by Benno Pokorny and +1
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- Rural Development, Multidisciplinary, Emerging Market, Forest Management

In this paper, Fair Value Chain Creation (FVC2;), as an approach that applies and extends principles of Fair Trade to exports from developed countries to the less developed countries, is being introduced. It awards a Fair Value label to goods which undergo further value adding in the host market. FVC2; attempts to utilize a label pointing at made for rather than made in by emblematizing the degree of Fair Value involved. Building on logistics and manufacturing postponement allows FVC2; to balance value chains in such a way that both stakes (North - South; developed countries - developing countries; country of origin - host market) are going to profit. Developing countries can increase their share in value chains originating from Northern countries. In turn, this enables those developed countries and corresponding manufacturers to level their resources. While postponing none-core activities to the developing countries and the respective host markets, manufacturers can focus even more...

- by Christian-Andreas Schumann
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- Economics, Fair Trade, Value Chain, Less developed countries

Compliance with international standards is now a sine qua non for entry into globalized production networks. Developing country firms and farms are confronted by an array of distinct product and process standards that they must meet. This has heightened the competitive challenges they face. Non-compliance can result in exclusion from profitable markets. This article uses the recent case of Nike's termination of sourcing of soccer balls from its lead supplier in Pakistan as a lens to analyse the relationship between standards and governance. The article addresses first the global governance implications associated with how standards are being shaped and implemented. Second, it considers how global standards affect the governance of value chain ties. Finally, in terms of questions for further research, it suggests the need to explore the relationship between standards and 'intra-firm' governance, in particular to assess outcomes for those engaged within the chains-namely local firms and their workers, and the social contexts in which global standards are imposed from the outside. 5khalid.nadvi@manchester.ac.uk4 1 Nike re-entered the Sialkot cluster in May 2007 albeit sourcing from a different local supplier. 2 There has been much debate on the appropriate terminology, and the nature of similarities and distinctions between the concepts of global production networks, GVCs, commodity chains and filie`res.

- by Khalid Nadvi
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- Human Geography, Economic Geography, Global Governance, Governance

Italian industrial districts are no longer self-contained systems of small firms, where firms' competitiveness is the result of physical proximity and links with global economy are limited to export sales. A new generation of firms is taking the lead, reshaping the form of districts through their innovative strategies focused on R&D, design and ICT. Most of these firms are leaders within their markets and organize their value chains by coupling district knowledge and competencies with opportunities offered by globalization processes. The rise of these open networks contributes to the transformation of industrial districts and the real drivers of the district firm's competitiveness. Based on a survey of 650 Italian SMEs from 41 Italian districts, the paper describes the characteristics of this new firm model, compared to the traditional district one. The paper also discusses implications for districts in terms of innovation dynamics and governance.

- by Stefano Micelli
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- Value Chain, Small Firms, Business Strategy, Global value chain
- by Sebastien Miroudot
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- Transfer Pricing, Global Production Networks, Firm-Level Data, Trade Policy
- by Andrea Morrison and +1
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- Human Geography, Capability Approach, Applied Economics, Less developed countries

Many policy prescriptions emphasise poverty reduction through closer integration of poor people or areas with global markets. Global value chain (GVC) studies reveal how firms and farms in developing countries are upgraded by being integrated in global markets, but few explicitly document the impact on poverty, gender and the environment, or conversely, how value chain restructuring is in turn mediated by local history, social relations and environmental factors. This article develops a conceptual framework that can help overcome the shortcomings in ‘standalone’ value-chain, livelihood and environmental analyses by integrating the ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’ aspects of value chains that together affect poverty and sustainability.

- by Andries du Toit and +2
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- Human Geography, Globalization, Action Research, Poverty
- by Ha Waltr
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- Human Geography, Capability Approach, Applied Economics, Less developed countries

- by John Thoburn
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- Human Geography, Vietnam, Development, Applied Economics

Este Policy Brief tiene como objetivo analizar los alcances y retos de los encadenamientos productivos en la Alianza del Pacífico (AP) como medios dedicados a promover la integración profunda entre los miembros de la AP. Para ello, se argumenta que el proceso de integración económica entre los miembros de la AP se facilitará en la medida que profundicen la formación de encadenamientos productivos entre sí. Se considera que la falta de suficiente certeza jurídica en los cuatro países integrantes de la Alianza es un factor institucional que limita la confianza de los inversionistas, el ambiente de inversión y, en última instancia, una conformación más concluyente de encadenamientos productivos en este mecanismo integrador. El texto postula también que la formación de encadenamientos productivos podría verse ampliamente favorecida en la medida que la AP cuente con un cúmulo crítico de capacidades industriales que genere una mayor interdependencia entre los participantes en el ámbito productivo. Esta conjetura representa un punto de partida para entender ¿por qué los flujos comerciales son comparativamente pequeños entre los países del bloque y sus implicaciones sobre el desarrollo de los encadenamientos productivos?

- by Gerardo Castillo Ramos and +1
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- Institutional Economics, Trade and Industrial Policy, Industrialization, Global value chain

Confronted with mixed evidence linking economic upgrading in global value chains to improved social outcomes, proponents have called for a new emphasis on "social upgrading" to promote better employment, gender equality, and poverty reduction. Originally focused on a central role for states, unions, and social movements, the discourse on social upgrading has shifted, emphasizing the benefits of corporate social responsibility and global markets. Drawing on political economic, critical theory, and psychoanalytic paradigms, we explore the politics of this shift and argue that social upgrading is gradually being deployed as a neoliberal market fantasy, designed not to challenge the limits of market integration , but to obscure and deny them. The strength of the social upgrading discourse emerges less from its pretense toward objective, data-driven analysis, than its effectiveness as an ideological fantasy in meeting the contradictory, non-rational desires of experts and non-experts.

- by Gavin Fridell
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- Fair Trade, Global value chain, Global Value Chains

Global value chains (GVCs) often represent one of the few options for local firms and suppliers in developing countries to get access to larger markets and to new technologies. While the potential benefits from GVCs for medium-income developing countries are well documented, the studies dealing with the impact of GVCs on low-income, poorer countries are scarce. To explore these issues, the paper uses primary and secondary empirical evidence and discusses how GVCs may affect upgrading, technological capabilities and competitiveness in the least developed countries (LDCs). This paper suggests that the opportunities exist, but are hardly utilised, and depend on a number of circumstances that may or may not occur. Public policies have an important role to play to improve the prospects of leveraging these opportunities and raising the probability of a positive effect on local firms. This paper focuses on the prospects of upgrading in natural resource-intensive LDCs from their participation in GVCs, and argues in favour of capacity building for policy formulation and implementation, strengthening the national standards infrastructure, defining the research priorities and disseminating research results to small-and medium-sized enterprises, and suggests that cluster-based development policies may offer better perspectives.

- by Carlo Pietrobelli
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- Governance, Regional development, Capacity Building, Multidisciplinary

In this paper we analyze the state’s preparedness for the
COVID-19 crisis, as well as argues the need for selective changes
following the detection of critical aspects of health security in the
Republic of Moldova. The main objective of this paper is to assess the
situation in the field of health security in the Republic of Moldova, as
well as its comparison with neighbouring countries in the regional
framework of Eastern European countries, in order to identify gaps in
health security indicators in the country. The novelty of the research
consists in conducting for the first time the benchmarking analysis
of health security in the Republic of Moldova based on the Global
Health Security Index. In the benchmarking analysis, the average
score calculated for Eastern European countries is considered as
the reference value for each category. In the analysis performed the
categories with lower than average ratings are considered critical.
Research has shown that the most critical categories of health security
for the Republic of Moldova are: Rapid response to and mitigation of the
spread of an epidemic; Health system; Early detection and reporting
for epidemics of potential international concern, and Overall risk
environment. Study has found significant weaknesses in the state’s
ability to prevent, detect and respond to health emergencies; severe
gaps in the health system; vulnerability to political, socio-economic
risks that may undermine pandemic preparedness and response. The
paper also identifies critical categories of health security in Eastern
European countries, including: Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic,
Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus that can be
used by decision makers in these countries in the process of adjusting
state policies and drafting policy documents.

- by Marica Dumitrasco
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- Global value chain

A recent concern in the debate on corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries relates to the tension between demands for CSR compliance found in many global value chains (GVCs) and the search for locally appropriate responses to these pressures. In this context, an emerging and relatively understudied area of interest relates to small firm industrial clusters. Local clusters offer the potential for local joint action, and thus a basis for improving local compliance on CSR through collective monitoring and local governance. This article explores the interrelationship between global governance, exercised through GVC ties, and local governance, via cluster institutions, in ensuring compliance with CSR pressures. It undertakes a comparative analysis of two leading export-oriented football manufacturing clusters in South Asia that have both faced common challenges on child labour. The article shows that both forms vertical and horizontal governance have played a part in shaping the response of the two clusters on child labour. Moreover, these two distinct forms of governance have also led to quite differentiated outcomes in terms of forms of work organization and child labour monitoring. This raises broader questions on how global CSR demands can locally be better embedded and the conditions under which football stitchers labour in these new work forms.

- by Khalid Nadvi
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- Marketing, Business Ethics, Applied Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility