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Local supplier corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries represents a powerful tool to improve labour conditions. This paper pursues an inter-organizational network approach to the global value chain (GVC) literature to understand the influence of suppliers' collective behaviour on their CSR engagement. This exploratory study of 30 export-oriented and first-tier apparel suppliers in Bangladesh, a developing country, makes three relevant contributions to GVC scholarship. First, we show that suppliers are interlinked in a horizontal network that restricts unilateral CSR engagement. This is justified in that unilateral CSR engagement is a source of heterogeneity in labour practices; consequently, it triggers worker unrest. Second, we present and discuss an exploratory framework based on four scenarios of how suppliers currently engage in CSR given their network's pressure toward collective behaviour: unofficial CSR engagement, geographic isolation, size and competitive differentiation, and external pressure. Finally, we show the need to spread CSR homogeneously among suppliers and to reconceptualize the meaning of CSR in developing countries, encouraging more scrutiny toward horizontal dynamics.

Objective: The objective of the article is to identify and systemize the governance dynamics and related socio- economic consequences of the fintech transformation in banking, while acknowledging spatial contexts. Research Design Methods: The research framework comprised Global Production Networks (GPN), Global Value Chain (GVC), and co-evolutionary approaches to guide a systematic literature review in the Scopus, Web of Science, and Taylor Francis databases for 2016-2021. The final sample comprised 76 sources that became the basis for selective coding and the synthesis of the results.Findings: Fintech impacted banking governance by creating a dual and interrelated system of global financial networks and a ‘mosaic’ of territorial financial ecologies and ecosystems, where incumbent banks held an im- portant but not exclusive position. The fintech-enhanced governance transformations had both positive socio- economic effects (improved efficiency, expanded range of services, and inclusion of unbanked or under-served customers) and negative effects (over-indebtedness, surveillance, and exclusion of some customers). Wider so- cio-economic consequences refered to sustainable development and changes in economic and social behaviour. Implications Recommendations: A research framework and agenda for future studies related to the dy- namics of fintech-driven governance in banking have been elaborated. The article derives the immediate and wider economic and social consequences of fintech-driven transformations. The results can also be applied in public policies oriented towards sustainable socio-economic development.Contribution Value Added: The study provides theoretical and policy-relevant contributions. Firstly, it broadens the research on the transformation of banking governance in the spatial context. Secondly, it contributes theoretically by proposing a research framework of GVC and GPN governance augmented by a co-evolutionary perspective. Thirdly, the article informs policy that seeks financial inclusion for cohesive and sustainable development.

This paper examines the role of state policymaking in a context of global value chains (GVCs). While the literature acknowledges that states matter in GVCs, there is little understanding of how they matter from a policy perspective. We address this tension between theory and practice by first delineating the state’s facilitator , regulator , producer and buyer roles. We then explore the extent to which corresponding state policies enable or constrain the following policy objectives: GVC participation; value capture; and social and environmental upgrading. We do so via a systematic review of academic GVC literature, combined with analysis of seminal policy publications by International Organizations. Our findings indicate that state policymakers leverage facilitative strategies to achieve GVC participation and enhanced value capture; with regulatory and public procurement mechanisms adopted to address social and environmental goals. Mixed results also emerged, highlighting tensions between policies geared towards economic upgrading on the one hand, and social and environmental upgrading on the other. Finally, we suggest that effective state policies require a multi-scalar appreciation of GVC dynamics, working with multiple and sometimes competing stakeholders to achieve their developmental objectives.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the concept of global value chains (GVCs) in terms of the distribution of benefits among participating countries by deepening the international division of labor and including geographically distant and differently developed countries.   Theoretical framework:  The article emphasize that the involvement of countries in GVCs, along with benefits, has several risks associated with both endogenous and exogenous factors.   Design/methodology/approach:  The authors analyzed GVC studies and used such research methods as a case study and factor, comparative, and structural analysis. Russian and international statistical data were used as the study materials.   Findings:  The results of the analysis indicate that exogenous factors related to the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions have led to the breakdown of GVCs and increased their instability. To address these issues, the authors suggest increasing the domestic value added in industries that rely heavily on foreign resources, reforming GVCs by localizing partnerships through deglobalization processes, and seeking out new trading partners.   Research, Practical & Social implications: The study authors propose to make changes to the current structure of GVCs. This can help minimize negative consequences for the economy through the introduction of practices aimed at increasing the number of suppliers, expanding sales markets, and optimizing production processes.   Originality/value:  The value of the study lies in its identification of both the advantages and challenges of GVC participation for countries. It also offers practical solutions to enhance the resilience of GVCs, making the study results relevant for policymakers, businesses, and industries involved in GVCs.

This paper focuses on the low-end lock-in problem faced by China’s equipment manufacturing industry, which is heavily involved in the global value chain (GVC). Specifically, we use the production chain length system and total trade accounting framework to measure some physical and economic location indicators. The physical location measures the forward production length, backward production length, and the location index, whereas the economic location measures various types of value-added in industry exports. The results show that China’s equipment manufacturing industry has deepened its physical and economic low-end lock-in with the gradual deepening of China’s equipment manufacturing industry’s participation in GVC. From a segmented perspective, the manufacture of fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment) and electrical equipment has the deepest degree of low-end lock-in physical location; the manufacture of computer, electronic, and optical products has the deepest degree of economic low-end lock-in. Therefore, China should accelerate its breakthroughs in the low-end locking dilemma and climb the GVC by adopting various measures such as accelerating the implementation of the intelligent manufacturing strategy, developing service-oriented equipment manufacturing industries, cultivating the domestic market, realizing low-carbon manufacturing, and improving enterprises’ independent innovation capabilities.

As opposed to the predominant focus of global value chain (GVC) research on export-oriented contexts, this article examines the prospects for development in places where the dominant form of engagement with GVCs is import-oriented. Through the case of South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, this analysis demonstrates the challenge for local manufacturing to compete, and the associated state policy responses, in a place which is largely plugged into GVCs as an end market rather than as a production location. As multinationals have concentrated production elsewhere, South Africa’s manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical industry has relatively declined in recent decades. Having struggled in its facilitator role, the South African state’s efforts to promote local manufacturing have turned to the producer role through a state-owned company and especially the buyer role through public procurement. Motivations for state policy in this context, however, must navigate the tension which sometimes exists between the industrial interest in local manufacturing and the consumer and health policy interest in access to medicines. The experience of South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry points to the wider challenge and consequences of import-oriented engagement with GVCs for local industrial development.

For its promise in enhancing sustainability, the global value chain (GVC) has grown in relevance and sparked many studies. Due to different value activities in multiple countries and industry clusters, the competition and cooperation among value chains have attracted the considerable attention of business leaders and academicians worldwide. GVC-related sustainability research is a niche area despite its widespread presence in the literature. To bridge the gap, we use scientometric analysis in this paper, examining the corpus of 753 articles published in Web of Science journals from 2001 till 2021. This review illuminates the research performance constituents (e.g., most prolific authors, nations, institutions, and journals), the themes and issues that underpin the fields’ intellectual structure, and transforming discoveries. GVC depends on nine basic clusters for sustainability research (i.e., global value chain participation, gendered global production network, repositioning organisational dynamics, labour stands, learning opportunities, Internet era). Future studies can be conducted to generate new knowledge across ten thematic (based on keywords) clusters (i.e., market liberalisation, trade pollution nexus, value chain dynamics, global value chain reconfiguration, non-governmental organisation, multipolar governance). A model that encompasses current knowledge of the global value chain for sustainability is developed, and avenues for future research are provided.

Despite the rapid development in digital technology, the influence of taxation on firm-level digital transformation in global value chains (GVCs) remains unclear. To empirically test this impact, this study uses a logit model with a sample comprising 1,742 Chinese listed firms in the period 2003 to 2016. The results indicate that higher tax burdens hinder firms’ participation in the digitalization of GVCs, especially in less developed regions and non-high-tech industries. Furthermore, the results regarding the mediation effects highlight that tax incentives for firms positively impact their ability to invest in research and development and adopt digital technologies, thereby enhancing their potential to participate fully in the digitalization of GVCs. These findings offer valuable insights that deepen the understanding of the role of tax incentives in promoting digital transformation and reshaping firms’ participation in GVCs. JEL Classification: F14, F23, H25, O31.

Firms’ reshoring strategies have recently sparked academic and policy interest due to their contribution to rebalancing advanced economies. In line with the ongoing debate and by examining the journey of a company based in the West Midlands region of the UK, this work illustrates the adoption of a manufacturing reshoring strategy in response to a changing competitive environment. Further, by utilizing a mixture of primary and secondary data, this work not only shows how regional dynamics are pivotal for attracting manufacturing reshoring but also how regional characteristics can change the narrative on reshoring from a national to a regional focus. By doing so, this work demonstrates how regional implementation of industrial policies can facilitate a multiplier effect in the value of the region by increasing the attractiveness of hosting a manufacturing reshoring strategy.

Background Against the backdrop of deep specialization within global value chains (GVCs), it is crucial to explore how firms’ participation in global production networks affects their carbon efficiency, a key factor in achieving green growth. Using merged data from the Chinese National Tax Survey Database, the Chinese Customs Trade Statistics Database between 2008 and 2014, and the World Input-Output Database, this paper empirically examines the effect of firms’ position embedded in GVCs on carbon emission efficiency in China’s manufacturing sectors. Results It is found that: (1) Improving firms’ position embedded in GVCs can significantly improve their carbon emission efficiency. (2) This improvement is primarily driven by trade structures optimization and technological innovation. (3) Forward GVCs embeddedness exerts a stronger positive impact on carbon efficiency compared to backward embeddedness. And the carbon efficiency benefits of upgrading to higher positions within GVCs are more pronounced in firms with a higher degree of participation, those engaged in mixed and general trade, firms in high-pollution industries, and those located in non-resource-oriented cities. (4) Participation in GVCs contributes to energy conservation and emission reduction, supporting long-term low-carbon and intensive development of enterprises. Conclusions The findings shed light on the crucial role of GVCs embeddedness in enhancing carbon emission efficiency, offering a solid foundation for understanding how globalization contributes to achieving long-term sustainable development goals.