scholarly journals The role of intermediaries in governance of global production networks: Restructuring work relations in Pakistan’s apparel industry

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 560-583 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal Munir ◽  
Muhammad Ayaz ◽  
David L Levy ◽  
Hugh Willmott
Keyword(s):  
Price Competition ◽  
Adjustment Process ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Work Relations ◽  
Professional Management ◽  
Restructuring Process ◽  
Apparel Companies

This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, after the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) quota regime, within the context of a global production network (GPN). We examine the role of a network of corporate, state, multilateral and civil society actors who serve as intermediaries in GPN governance. These intermediaries transmit and translate competitive pressures and invoke varied, sometimes contradictory, imaginaries in their efforts to realign and stabilize the GPN. We analyse the post-MFA restructuring of Pakistan’s apparel sector, which dramatically increased price competition and precipitated a contested adjustment process among Pakistani and global actors with divergent priorities and resources. These intermediaries converged on a ‘solution’ that combined and enacted imaginaries of modernization, competitiveness, professional management and female empowerment, while also emphasizing low costs and female docility. We highlight the intersection of economic, political and cultural dynamics of GPNs, and reveal the gendered dimensions of GPN restructuring. We theorize the role of these actors as a transnational managerial elite in GPN governance, who led a restructuring process that preserved the hegemonic stability of the GPN and protected the interests of western branded apparel companies and consumers, but did not necessarily serve the interests of workers.

scholarly journals Filtering strategic coupling: territorial intermediaries in oil and gas global production networks in Southeast Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moritz Breul ◽  
Javier Revilla Diez ◽  
Maxensius Tri Sambodo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Network

Abstract The Global Production Network (GPN) approach has not yet considered the importance of territorial intermediaries for strategic coupling. This article demonstrates how the prospects of strategic coupling for the case of Vietnam and Indonesia with the oil and gas GPN are affected by the gateway role of Singapore. Based on interviews, the analysis reveals how Singapore influences regional economic development along the GPN through different filtering mechanisms, limiting the potential for strategic coupling for Vietnam and Indonesia. For GPN research, the identified filtering mechanisms illustrate how the territoriality of GPNs contributes to differentiated territorial outcomes. The findings therefore indicate the need to intensify the appreciation of the particular territorial configuration of GPNs as this yields considerable explanatory power for understanding the unequal contours of the global economy.

Geographies of production II: Thinking through the state

2020 ◽  
pp. 030913252091199
Author(s):  
Marion Werner
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Critical Scholarship ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Restrictive Trade ◽  
Relations Of Power

As corporate power strains the liberal hegemony that has stabilized the globalization project, it is no wonder that scholars of global production are increasingly turning their attention to the role of the state. While the long-held assumption that the state primarily acted to facilitate capital’s priorities remains accurate, it is nonetheless incomplete. I discuss studies that focus on other state roles (regulator, buyer and producer) and pay particular attention to the ways that restrictive trade regulations and state-owned enterprises shape production arrangements. Turning from state roles (i.e. what states do), I go on to examine critical scholarship that focuses on why states act in the ways that they do and how social forces and class dynamics shape these institutional arrangements. Recent studies of labor regimes, the political economy of smallholder value chains, and the dialectic of geoeconomic/geopolitical logics offer useful insights into the role states play to stabilize (or not) global production arrangements. Overall, examining the state-production network nexus can shed light on the possibilities to work with, through or against the state in order to transform the relations of power materialized in and through global production networks.

The Invisible Networks of Global Production: Re-Imagining the Global Value Chain in Legal Research

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-117
Author(s):  
Anna Beckers
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Global Value Chain ◽  
Commodity Chain ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Legal Research ◽  
Legal Rules ◽  
Global Production Network

AbstractReviewing the burgeoning legal scholarship on global value chains to delineate the legal image of the global value chain and then comparing this legal image with images on global production in neighbouring social sciences research, in particular the Global Commodity Chain/Global Value Chain and the Global Production Network approach, this article reveals that legal research strongly aligns with the value chain image, but takes less account of the production-centric network image. The article then outlines a research agenda for legal research that departs from a network perspective on global production. To that end, it proposes that re-imagining the law in a world of global production networks requires a focus in legal research on the legal construction of global production and its infrastructure and a stronger contextualization of governance obligations and liability rules in the light of the issue-specific legal rules that apply to said infrastructure.

scholarly journals A comprehensive KPI network for the performance measurement and management in global production networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Verhaelen ◽  
F. Mayer ◽  
S. Peukert ◽  
G. Lanza
Keyword(s):  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Manufacturing Companies ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Performance Review ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Corporate Level

AbstractThe trend of globalization has led to a structural change in the sales and procurement markets of manufacturing companies in recent decades. In order not to be left behind by this change, companies have internationalized their production structures. Global production networks with diverse supply and service interdependencies are the result. However, the management of global production networks is highly complex. Key performance indicator (KPI) networks already exist at the corporate level and site level to support the management of complex systems. However, such KPI networks are not yet available to support the management of entire production networks. In this article, a KPI network for global production networks is presented, which links the key figures of the site level and the corporate level. By integrating both levels into a comprehensive KPI network, cause and effect relationship between the production-related KPIs and the strategic KPIs of a corporate strategy become transparent. To this end, this KPI network is integrated into a Performance Measurement and Management (PMM) methodology. This methodology consists of three phases: performance planning, performance improvement, and performance review. For testing the practical suitability, the PMM methodology is applied to the production network of an automotive supplier using a simulation model to estimate the effects of proposed improvement actions of the methodology.

scholarly journals Globalization of the Automotive Industry: Is Indonesia Missing Out?

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moekti P. Soejachmoen
Keyword(s):  
Export Performance ◽  
Trade Openness ◽  
Absorption Capacity ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Investment Policies ◽  
Left Behind ◽  
Automotive Production

International trade in automotive and auto parts has grown rapidly during the last two decades but Southeast Asia's largest economy, Indonesia, is lagging behind in its export performance. This paper uses a comparative perspective in examining Indonesia's role in automotive production networks in the context of the contemporary debate on opportunities for reaping gains from economic globalization through engagement in global production sharing. This research aims to answer two questions; the first addresses the determinants of a country's participation in the global production network, the second asks why Indonesia is being left behind in global production networks. Our analysis is based on the Jones and Kierzkowski fragmentation theory. The unbalanced panel trade data for 98 countries for the period 1988–2007 are estimated using the least square dummy variable method. The results show that in Asian countries, foreign direct investment openness is the most important determinant followed by trade cost, trade openness, competitiveness, and labor quality. Indonesia is being left behind for a number of reasons, such as restrictive foreign investment policies, higher trade costs and remaining high protection in the automotive sector in terms of tariff and non-tariff measure, and a low education level that hampers the absorption capacity in technology.

Forging connections: The role of ‘boundary spanners’ in globalising clusters and shaping cluster evolution

2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252110387
Author(s):  
Di Wu
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Spanning ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Boundary Spanners ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Boundary Spanner ◽  
Evolutionary Economic ◽  
Cluster Evolution ◽  
Global Connections

Synthesising the endogenous-centred evolutionary economic geography perspective, and the globally oriented ‘global pipelines’ and global production networks frameworks, this article develops the ‘boundary spanner’ concept to propose a theoretical framework to illustrate how resourceful actors, as boundary spanners, globalise clusters and in turn drive cluster evolution. This framework comprises four interrelated cluster boundary-spanning functions, namely, discursive construction, innovation promotion, production coordination and market reach. This article aims to advance the cluster literature by unpacking how clusters’ global connections are constructed and maintained, conceptualising the multidimensional role of the agency of boundary spanners and demonstrating boundary spanners’ contributions to cluster evolution.

Framework for determining the degree of centralization in global production networks

2021 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 537-551
Author(s):  
Günther Schuh ◽  
Andreas Gützlaff ◽  
Julian Ays ◽  
Tino X. Schlosser
Keyword(s):  
Complex Systems ◽  
Network Management ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Active Network ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks

Over the last decades, global production networks have developed to high complex systems. To adapt quickly the dynamic environmental conditions, an active network management is required. The network management and the associated distribution of responsibilities in the production network is mostly grown historically. Further, the issue is only commonly considered in current approaches. Therefore, this paper presents a framework for determining the degree of centralization in global production networks under the aspect of increasing efficiency. Beyond the theoretical framework, a workshop procedure is presented in which the framework can be tested.

scholarly journals Information Application of the Regional Development: Strategic Couplings in Global Production Networks in Jiangsu, China

Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 420
Author(s):  
Haiying Xu ◽  
Wei-Ling Hsu ◽  
Yee-Chaur Lee ◽  
Tian-Yow Chern ◽  
Shr-Wei Luo
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Regional Growth ◽  
Functional Coupling ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Value Capture ◽  
Local Supply ◽  
Capture Trajectories

The recent literature concerning globalizing regional development has placed significant emphasis on the Global Production Network (GPN 2.0). GPN 2.0 in economic geography emphasizes that regional growth is caused by a shift in the strategic coupling mode from a low to high level. In addition, GPN 2.0 regards firm-level value capture trajectories as key analytical object, rather than the interactive relationships among scalar and divergent actors in GPN 1.0. To provide a better understanding of causal linkages between the GPNs and uneven regional development in the background of globalization and to test the applicability of GPN 2.0 analysis framework, the paper analyzed 62 Korean-invested automotive firms in Jiangsu Province, China. In order to explore the value capture trajectories of lead firms in the GPNs, the authors applied K-means clustering method to quantitatively analyze the local supply networks of lead firms from organizational and spatial dimensions. Then, comparisons were made between strategic coupling modes of GPNs and regional development in North and South Jiangsu. This study found obvious similarities within these two regions but obvious differences between them in terms of value capture trajectories. We observed that North Jiangsu is currently in the stage of “structural coupling”, whereas South Jiangsu is in the stage of “functional coupling.” Thus, this article argues that spatial settings such as regional assets and autonomy are key factors influencing uneven economic development. This research may provide a crucial reference for the regional development of Jiangsu, China.

Global Production Networks and (Distributional) Regional Development: The Cinnamon Industry in Karandeniya and Matale, Sri Lanka

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-237
Author(s):  
Eunyeong Song ◽  
Douglas R. Gress ◽  
Edo Andriesse
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Regional Development ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Production Network ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Exporting Firms ◽  
Global Production Network ◽  
Developmental Dynamics

The purpose of this article is to examine the multi-spatial and developmental dynamics of the cinnamon industry in Sri Lanka, the largest exporter in the world by value added. This contribution compares Karandeniya, a major traditional cultivating hub, and Matale, a region new to cinnamon cultivation, deploying a Global Production Network (GPN) framework inclusive of regional development considerations. Analyses, based on input from 23 semi-structured, in-depth interviews, examine the potential for all stakeholders to acquire equity or ‘how’ captured value influences the region ‘and’ individual actors over the course of development. Fieldwork reveals four upstream actors in the cinnamon industry, namely—farmers, peelers, collectors and exporting firms. Results indicate that the cinnamon boom led to strategic decoupling with the exporting firms in Colombo and subsequent strategic recoupling with other actors. The primary contribution of the research rests in the interpretation of resulting structural changes in each region from a bifurcated view of regional development. Based on regional economic growth, Karandeniya appears to be more successful. However, considering the extent of value distribution within the region, Matale is on a more inclusive trajectory vis-à-vis cinnamon exports. Based on these results, three implications for GPN theory and related development policy are suggested.

scholarly journals Crossvergence of socially (ir)responsible employment practices in supplier firms

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 305-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britta Holzberg
Keyword(s):  
Decent Work ◽  
Production Networks ◽  
Global Production Networks ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Employment Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Conflicting Demands ◽  
Local Pressures ◽  
Global And Local

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the notion of crossvergence from international human resource management (IHRM) as a conceptual lens for understanding and analyzing the formation of socially (ir)responsible employment practices in supplier firms in global production networks (GPNs). The crossvergence perspective can particularly contribute to understanding how the agency of suppliers is influenced by the interaction of global–local dynamics. Design/methodology/approach The paper illustrates how the formation of socially (ir)responsible employment practices can be understood as a process of crossvergence. Subsequently, it reviews and structures insights from GPN and IHRM literature to detail the process. Findings The paper underscores the complicated role of suppliers in ensuring decent work in GPNs. Suppliers face a multitude of global and local interacting, and partially conflicting, demands. They process these demands as active agents and need to develop suitable employment practices in response. Originality/value The paper supports the nascent discourse on supplier agency in forming socially responsible employment practices. It connects different streams of literature to illuminate the perspective of suppliers, introduces IHRM insights to the debate and offers conceptual guidance for analyzing interacting global and local pressures on suppliers.

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