Economic and social upgrading dynamics in global manufacturing value chains
A comparative analysis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4142998 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Thomas Bernhardt (0000-0002-3143-6419, Myanmar Development Resource Institute – Centre for Economic and Social Development (MDRI-CESD), Myanmar, corresponding author), Ruth Pollak (Research and Industrial Policy Advice Unit, United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Vienna International Centre, Austria) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 48 |
| Issue | 7 |
| Pages | 1220-1243 |
| Publication date | 2016-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0308518x15614683 |
| OpenAlex | W583644099 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 23 |
| References cited | 22 |
Recent decades have witnessed an increasing integration of developing countries into global value chains (GVCs). This growing participation in global production sharing has raised hopes for economic upgrading within such value chains. However, globalization has intensified international competition, and achieving economic upgrading is not an easy task. Moreover, the social consequences of participating in GVCs are not always positive; however, they have received considerably less attention in the literature. This paper suggests a simple and parsimonious approach to measuring economic and social upgrading (and downgrading) in GVCs. Applying this parsimonious methodology and using quantitative secondary data, we analyze how widespread upgrading has been in four selected manufacturing GVCs: apparel, wood furniture, automotive, and mobile phones. We also investigate to what extent downgrading is part of the reality and undertake a comparative analysis across GVCs, regions and country groups (developing vs. developed countries). We find that the promise of industrial upgrading through participation in GVCs does not materialize for everyone. Indeed, economic upgrading has taken place in just over a quarter of the countries in our sample, among them mainly developing countries. Finally, we examine the relationship between economic performance and social performance in the different GVCs to investigate whether or not economic upgrading is typically associated with social upgrading. While patterns differ across GVCs, we find that economic upgrading is more likely to occur simultaneously with social upgrading than without, and vice versa. Our analysis, thus, suggests that economic upgrading is conducive to, but not sufficient for, social upgrading to occur
Automotive industry · Business · Clothing · Developing country · Development economics · Economic geography · Economic globalization · Economic growth · Economics · Global value chain · Globalization · Market economy · Political science · Engineering · Global trade, sustainability, and social impact · Innovation and Socioeconomic Development · Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Research on the impact of digital upgrade of sports event industry on value chain reconstruction
Poverty chains and global capitalism
Value chain upgrading and seafood exports
How can the “resource curse” be broken? Transition factor flows, the urban life cycle and value chain upgrades in resource-based cities
Searching for institutions
De la montée en gamme économique à la montée en gamme sociale dans le secteur éthiopien du textile et de l'habillement
Reglobalizing trade
The Bitter and the Sweet
The hidden costs of environmental upgrading in global value chains
Working Conditions in Global Value Chains
The impacts of value chain upgrading on the export of processed food
Do Global Value Chains Enhance Economic Upgrading? A Long View
Is social upgrading occurring in South Asia’s apparel industry
Multipolar governance and social upgrading in the international services value chains
Employment, Technology and Value Chain
How Evidential Pluralism Mitigates Epistemic Injustice in Evidence-Based Evaluation
Study and Analysis of Barriers for Implementation of Industry 4.0 Technologies Using Spherical Fuzzy Topsis Method
The horizontal governance of environmental upgrading
The 'factory manager dilemma
At the territorial roots of global processes
Microfoundations of global value chain research
The firm-territory nexus in a fragmented economy
State-Firm Nexus, Indigenous Coupling, and Social Downgrading in the Aerospace Global Production Network
Social Upgrading and Labour in Global Production Networks
Economic and social upgrading in global production networks
Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism
Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality
Globalization, Poverty and Inequality
Global value chains in a post-Washington Consensus world
Which Way is “Up” in Upgrading? Trajectories of Change in the Value Chain for South African Wine
Industrialization Trajectories in Madagascar’s Export Apparel Industry
Local Clusters in Global Chains
Does Economic Upgrading Lead to Social Upgrading in Global Production Networks? Evidence from Morocco
Globalisation and Poverty
How does insertion in global value chains affect upgrading in industrial clusters
| Citations per year | 2.56 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2017 - 2026 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |