Innovation and Competitiveness in Mining Value Chains in Latin America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Nenci ◽  
Francesco Quatraro

This paper provides an international overview of the mining global value chain (GVC) and its most recent transformations and trends, focusing on Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. The study uses international trade data and patent and scientific publications data. By using trade in value added, we first investigate the role of those countries in the international mining trade, and their specialization, participation, and position in the mining GVC for the period 2005-15. The analysis is carried out for both mining products and mining-related services, and also looks at the contribution of services to mining exports. Second, we analyze the evolution of innovative activity and the direction of technological change in the mining sector over the past 40 years by looking at patent applications, both internationally and with attention to the three target countries. We also provide an overview of, and some insights on, knowledge flow in the mining sector based on scientific production.

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.


Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgios Angelidis ◽  
Evangelos Ioannidis ◽  
Georgios Makris ◽  
Ioannis Antoniou ◽  
Nikos Varsakelis

We investigated competitive conditions in global value chains (GVCs) for a period of fifteen years (2000–2014), focusing on sector structure, countries’ dominance and diversification. For this purpose, we used data from the World Input–Output Database (WIOD) and examined GVCs as weighted directed networks, where countries are the nodes and value added flows are the edges. We compared the in-and out-weighted degree centralization of the sectoral GVC networks in order to detect the most centralized, on the import or export side, respectively (oligopsonies and oligopolies). Moreover, we examined the in- and out-weighted degree centrality and the in- and out-weight entropy in order to determine whether dominant countries are also diversified. The empirical results reveal that diversification (entropy) and dominance (degree) are not correlated. Dominant countries (rich) become more dominant (richer). Diversification is not conditioned by competitiveness.


2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-131
Author(s):  
Hao Zhang

This article explores how wage determination is coordinated within a regional value chain in China's auto industry and the underlying mechanism that governs this coordination. While the market-economy reform over the past four decades has granted firms considerable autonomy in managing their own employees, this case demonstrates that in China's private sector, wage determination is not at individual employers' full discretion. In general, scholars agree that Western-style formal institutional structures for wage coordination – centralized collective bargaining – have not been effectively established in China. But in Tianjin's auto industry, spontaneous multi-employer wage coordination occurs through informal arrangements that leverage a lead firm's control over its suppliers and various social networks that connect employers, labor unions, and workers in the locality. As a result, wages across the local auto industry are greatly compressed. This article concludes by discussing the important role of informal institutions in China's private governance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhushan Praveen Jangam ◽  
Badri Narayan Rath

Purpose This paper aims to examine the relationship between global value chains (GVCs) and domestic value-added content (DVA) in a panel of 58 countries for the period 2005–2015. Design/methodology/approach First, the authors quantify the refined measures of GVC linkages by using the Borin and Mancini (2019) decomposition technique. Second, the authors apply the feasible generalised least squares method to test the relationship between GVCs and DVA empirically. Findings First, the authors find that GVC links are crucial to the enhancement of DVA. Second, a study at the sectoral level reveals that GVC links in the primary sector raise DVA whilst reducing DVA in the services sector. Third, the authors find that only upstream activities enhance value-added content. Fourth, the authors note the augmenting role played by national policies in mediating the gains associated with GVCs. Finally, the authors note that the outcomes associated with GVCs are consistent when the sample of countries is divided into groups based on income. Practical implications The results lead us to urge policymakers to promote greater integration of business activities into GVCs to reap their benefits. Originality/value This paper contributes to the research on the impact of GVCs on DVA by emphasising the significance of the types of GVC activities and policies that improve DVA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 252 ◽  
pp. R19-R32
Author(s):  
Robert Marschinski ◽  
David Martínez-Turégano

The EU´s falling share in global manufacturing has fuelled concerns about an overall loss of EU competitiveness, in particular vis-à-vis China. We analyse the empirical evidence underlying these concerns by applying a newly developed decomposition technique to global input-output data spanning the years 2000 to 2014. Our results confirm the diminishing role of the EU in manufacturing value chains, but also show that this is mostly, by nearly 75 per cent, a consequence of the geographical and sectoral reallocation of global demand, reflecting the lower economic growth in the EU relative to the rest of the world. Still, the other almost 25 per cent of the EU’s loss of global share is explained by its lower participation in manufacturing value chains, which confirms a downturn in EU competitiveness. By extending the analysis to individual manufacturing activities we show that this general trend is more pronounced for low-tech (e.g. textiles) than high-tech sectors, with pharmaceuticals emerging as the most resilient EU industry. Policy concerns appear to be most warranted for electronics, a key sector for which the EU´s global share fell even more than for overall manufacturing, without evidence that EU value added from upstream service inputs could significantly mitigate this trend.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabyasachi Mitra

Enhancing participation in global value chain (GVCs) can facilitate development outcomes that India strives to achieve, including generating productive employment opportunities, increasing labor productivity, and gaining a larger share of global exports. This paper draws from the Asian Development Bank’s Multiregional Input–Output Database and highlights the role of various drivers of GVCs participation across primary, manufacturing, and services sectors. It also evaluates the drivers and economic consequences of participating in different segments of GVCs, which can apply to India’s potential development outcomes. Results of the study indicate increasing GVC participation can positively impact the economy and contribute to raising per capita income, labor productivity, investment, and exports.


2022 ◽  
pp. 000812562110694
Author(s):  
Gary Gereffi ◽  
Pavida Pananond ◽  
Torben Pedersen

This article examines the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on resilience. Resilience is not a one-dimensional concept but has different meanings at the levels of the firm (operational efficiency), the global value chain (appropriate governance), and the nation-state (national security). It illustrates resilience dynamics through lessons from case studies of four medical supply products—rubber gloves, face masks, ventilators, and vaccines. It explores how each adjusted to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and presents key strategies that can guide managers and policymakers in building resilience for future supply chain disruptions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Selwyn

The proliferation of global value chains is portrayed in academic and policy circles as representing new development opportunities for firms and regions in the global south. This article tests these claims by examining original material from non-governmental organizations’ reports and secondary sources on the garment and electronics chains in Cambodia and China, respectively. This empirical evidence suggests that these global value chains generate new forms of worker poverty. Based on these findings, the article proposes the novel Global Poverty Chain approach. The article critiques and reformulates principal concepts associated with the Global Value Chain approach – of value-added, rent and chain governance – and challenges a core assumption prevalent within Global Value Chain analysis: that workers’ low wages are a function of their employment in low productivity industries. Instead, it shows that (1) many supplier firms in the global south are as, or more, productive than their equivalents in the global north; (2) often predominantly female workers in these industries are super exploited (paid wages below their subsistence requirements) and (3) chain governance represents a lead firm value-capturing strategy, which intensifies worker exploitation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 693
Author(s):  
Trond Selnes ◽  
Else Giesbers ◽  
Sander W. K. van den Burg

The European seaweed sector transitions from harvesting wild stocks only to harvesting and farming seaweed. This transition comes with the need to rethink the role of the European sector on the global scale; insight is needed into the organization of, and innovation in, the global seaweed value chain. This article presents results from our study on value chains using Gereffi’s conceptual framework. A systematic review of scientific publications published between 2010 and 2020 was executed for five markets: pharmaceuticals, bioplastics, biostimulants, alginate and cosmetics. It is concluded that innovation in the use of seaweed takes place across the globe and thus that a focus on high-value applications alone will not set the nascent European seaweed sector apart from established producing regions such as Asia. The studied global value chains are organised around strong lead firms that require suppliers to produce according to codified product characteristics. The European seaweed sector needs to increase the collaboration and develop joint efforts to develop safe and sustainable products that meet the demands of regulators, lead firms and consumers. Stronger coordination in the value chain will facilitate further business development, by stimulating collaboration and innovations.


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