The dynamics of the global economy and international trade are increasingly characterised by global value chains (GVCs), within which intermediate goods and services are traded in fragmented and internationally dispersed production processes. Successful integration of firms and countries in GVCs is increasingly important for their development and integration in the international economy. Based on an analysis of conceptual, empirical an policy-related literature on (i) GVCs in development economics and international trade models, (ii) factors behind the proliferation of GVCs, (iii) development effects, benefits and risks of integrating into GVCs, (iv) importance of GVCs for international trade, (v) theoretical considerations and empirical evidence on firms' (MNEs%) decision-making related to the establishing and modality of GVCs, (vi) GVC governance and upgrading a firm%s position within a GVC, and (vii) GVC-related changes to economic policy, we identify the priority topics for future GVCs research that are the most important for the economies of catching-up countries ("factory economies") and their firms.
COBISS.SI-ID: 22813158
This paper empirically accounts for the importance of the 'global supply chains' concept for export restructuring and productivity growth in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in the period 1995-2007. Using industry-level data and accounting for technology intensity, we show that FDI has significantly contributed to export restructuring in the CEECs. The effects of FDI are, however, heterogeneous across countries. While more advanced core CEECs succeeded in boosting exports in higher-end technology industries, non-core CEECs, including Slovenia, stuck with export specialization in lower-end technology industries. This suggests that where FDI flows have been directed is of key importance. Our results show that export restructuring and economic specialization brought about by FDI during the last two decades in the CEECs might matter a lot for their potential for long-run productivity growth. Industries of higher-end technology intensity have experienced substantially higher productivity growth and so have countries more successful in attracting FDI to these industries.
Using a large sample of micro data from four waves of Community Innovation Survey for EU member states, we investigate the relationship between firms’ export status, in general and within global value chains, and different sorts of innovation activities. We find systematically positive relationship between the two, whereby the strongest correlation is found in case of product innovation and the weakest in case of organizational innovations. While aggregate data show that innovation success is increasing in firm size, we find that exporting has the strongest effect on innovation in the medium-sized firms. We also explore cross-country differences in the impact of export status on innovation. Countries with a higher share of exports in GDP and greater share of spending on research and development generally display a stronger correlation between exporting status and innovation.