Manufacturing and value-added dynamics in global value chains: the case of Italy

Author(s):  
Chiara Burlina ◽  
Eleonora Di Maria

Purpose This paper aims to provide a snapshot of various countries’ contributions to value produced along global value chains (GVCs). It focusses on manufacturing activities and their evolution over time, in the context of GVC regionalisation. Design/methodology/approach The Trade in Value Added (TiVA) and World Integrated Trade Solution databases for the period of 2005-2015 were used to explore the case of Italy and its industries’ specialisations (Made in Italy): fashion, furniture, automotive and machinery traditionally organised into clusters. Various analyses were used to show the dynamics of gross import–export and imported–exported value-added. Moreover, the revealed comparative advantage index was computed to test whether the Made in Italy sector remains a source of competitive advantage for Italy within GVCs. Findings The results highlight how the geography of value-added is changing over time, with growing importance placed on the countries close to Italy and with a different pace according to each considered GVC. Originality/value The paper applied new methods to compare trade and analyse value-added dynamics through a recent database released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development within the TiVA initiative that is useful for scholars and policymakers.

Author(s):  
K. Muradov

Traditional trade statistics that originate in customs records is inadequate to measure the complex interdependencies in today’s globalized economy, or what is known as the global value chains. The article focuses on Russia–ASEAN trade. The author applies innovative methods of measuring trade in value added terms in order to capture the unobserved bilateral linkages behind the officially recorded trade flows. First, customs and balance of payments sources of bilateral trade data are briefly reviewed. For user, there are at least two inherent problems in those data: the inconsistencies in “mirror” trade flows and the attribution of the origin of a traded product wholly to the exporting country. This results in large discrepancies between Russian and ASEAN “mirror” trade data and, arguably, their low importance as each other’s trade partners. Next, the author explores new data from inter-country input-output tables that necessarily reconcile bilateral differences and offer greater detail about the national and sectoral origin or destination of traded goods and services. Relevant data are derived from the OECD-WTO TiVA database and are rearranged to obtain various estimates of Russia–ASEAN trade in value added in 2009. The main finding is that sizable amount of the value added of Russian origin is embodied in third countries’ exports to ASEAN members and ASEAN members’ exports to third countries. As a result, the cumulative flow of Russia’s value added to ASEAN members is estimated to be 62% larger than the direct gross exports, whereas for China and South Korea it is, respectively, 21% and 23% smaller. The indirect, unobserved value added flows can be largely explained by the use of Russian energy resources, chemicals and metals as imported inputs in third countries (China, South Korea) and ASEAN members’ own production. The contribution of these inputs is then accumulated along the value chain. Finally, the most important sectoral value chains are visualized for readers’ convenience. So far, it’s apparent that Russia is linked to ASEAN countries through intricate production networks and indirectly contributes to their trade with third countries.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-73
Author(s):  
Hsing-Chun Lin ◽  
Shih-Hsun Hsu ◽  
Ruey-Wan Liou ◽  
Ching-Cheng Chang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to extricate value-added exports in information and communications technology (ICT) industry earned by Taiwan and Korea. Additionally, the authors decompose Taiwan and Korea’s gross exports into various meaningful components. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use the inter-country input-output (ICIO) table which endows with cost structures of industries as well as trade information, facilitating in keeping track of the flow of products and value-added. The ICIO table used in this paper comes from the World Input-Output Database. The authors also use the way Wang et al. (2013) decomposed the intermediate goods exports into various components to provide further insights. Findings – The empirical results indicate that Taiwan and Korea’s ICT export to the world shrink by 47.8 and 40.9 percent when the trades are measured in value-added terms. Taiwan and Korea’s ICT export will also decrease by 75.1 and 57.8 percent. From the viewpoint of value added in trade, the share of value added embodied in Taiwan and Korea’s gross ICT exports continued to decrease and reached 24.9 and 42.2 percent in 2011, while the components of pure double counted terms kept growing in recent years. Originality/value – With global value chains flourishing in recent years, conventional trade statistics not only fails to highlight the vertical specialization among different countries, but also distorts the measurement of a country’s competitiveness. This paper extricates value-added exports in ICT industry earned by Taiwan and Korea and bring into focus the importance of trade in value added.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-92
Author(s):  
Jana Vlckova ◽  
Bublu Sarbani Thakur-Weigold

Purpose Medical technology (MedTech) is a growth industry, which like other manufacturing sectors has undergone fragmentation of production and emergence of Global Value Chains (GVCs). The purpose of this paper is to compare how two open European economies position themselves competitively within MedTech GVCs: highly developed Switzerland and the emerging Czech Republic. Design/methodology/approach The research applies a mixed methodology to analyze the performance of each location in the MedTech GVCs. It draws on macroeconomic, industry, trade and a proprietary sample of firm data, combined with onsite interviews. Findings The economic outcomes and GVC positions differ in both cases, whereas Switzerland focuses on high value-added activities such as R&D and after-sales service. Specialized manufacturing is also located here in spite of high costs. By contrast, the Czech Republic focuses mostly on low value-added activities, like manufacturing disposables, although some domestic innovative companies are notable. The authors generalize four types of firms in the industry, comparing their presence in both locations. Practical implications The competitive positions and challenges faced by each location when engaging in MedTech GVCs are summarized and related to economic outcomes. In the Czech Republic, the barriers to upgrading include its business environment, and weak links between education institutions and industry. Switzerland’s high cost structure is offset by adding high value in core competencies. Both countries should protect the inherent advantage their locations offer within responsive European supply chains. Originality/value GVC research in the MedTech sector has been limited. There is no comparison of two European countries, and their position in MedTech GVCs, nor of how firms, participate successfully in them.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nakgyoon Choi

The rise of global value chains (GVCs) has changed the patterns of trade in East Asia. This paper aims to analyze GVCs since the mid 1990s and to investigate the determinants of East Asian trade in value-added. At the world level, export (measured in value-added) is increasingly sensitive to the capital–labor ratio and high-skilled labor productivity. In East Asia, however, the opposite trend is seen. It is also found that free trade agreements do not promote export in East Asia, only export in intermediate goods.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Gölgeci ◽  
David Marius Gligor ◽  
Ewelina Lacka ◽  
Jawwad Z. Raja

PurposeThis paper examines the servitization phenomenon in the context of global value chains (GVCs) and presents a conceptual framework by connecting the two literature streams—servitization and GVCs—to depict the interconnected multilevel processes by which the influence of servitization on GVC structure and governance is manifested.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on cross-disciplinary literature, the authors develop a multilevel conceptual framework. The theoretically informed framework advances research on servitization and GVCs and provides a line of inquiry to be explored as avenues for future research opportunities.FindingsThe authors argue that servitization instigates the formation of new ecosystems and collaborative structures within GVCs, reduces the fragmentation of the overall network structure and increases embeddedness within the subclusters of GVCs. These changes are expected to be reflected in the increase in the complexity of firms' GVC governance tasks, a greater reliance on relational governance, and an increase in the dependency on local partners in terms of the governance of GVCs.Originality/valueThis conceptual paper establishes the link between servitization and GVCs, anchors the servitization phenomenon in GVCs, explains how servitizing firms can engage in and shape GVCs and offers insights into the servitization-driven changes in GVCs. The conceptual framework is intended to lay the foundation for future empirical research on the link between servitization and GVCs.


Author(s):  
Andrea Gelei ◽  
Magdolna Sass

Purpose This paper aims to trace the performance consequences of within-lead firm reconfigurations of global value chains with respect to business performance and upgrading. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on two detailed company case studies which are analysed in an organizational design approach. Findings Lead firms systematically separate and internalize high value-added activities in otherwise low value-added processes leading to constant reconfigurations and reorganizations of the production processes in global value chains. The study finds that similar reconfigurations may trigger different changes and changes and performance consequences may differ considerably according to the level of analysis. The two cases help to understand the specific roles of the outsourcing and offshoring decisions in shaping actual global value chain structures. Originality/value The consequences of within-lead firm reconfigurations are rarely analysed in the literature.


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