Abstract
The issue of upgrading in Global Value Chains (GVCs) has been treated in the literature, but there are still gaps to be filled in. One issue that still needs further investigation is the relation of business strategy and evolution of firms in GVCs, known as upgrading in the literature. In this paper, we have the objective of examining the occurrence and quality of upgrading in internationalized Information Technology (IT) firms of Brazilian origin. We employed the multiple case study method researching eight IT firms to study the issue. Different from what is expected, facts presented in the paper imply that although GVCs and upgrading are confirmed as useful concepts, not all the findings the literature presents converge with what this research brings. As for example, results don’t converge with what was found in the literature for clothing. In other results, we confirmed what is in the literature. Most notably, having the evolution in the chain blocked by clients and also competitive marginalization. As any research, this one has limitations, which we list at the end of the manuscript.
Highlights
Globalization processes, from the 1980 decade on, intensified flows of people, capital, goods and information
In line with the idea put by Humphrey & Schmitz (2002), firm C2 operates in a global chain that can be classified as quasi hierarchy and its executives believe that this characteristic has helped in achieving product upgrading
In this case the firm operates in a chain, that among the studied firms is the closest to what is considered in the literature a network, lead by a United States (US) company
Summary
Globalization processes, from the 1980 decade on, intensified flows of people, capital, goods and information. In this new configuration, learning and the ability to innovate became key to competitiveness and growth of countries and firms (Pietrobelli & Rabellotti, 2011). To face the issues presented by this new world, the phenomenon of integrating countries and regions through international chains of production and trade was observed. The global value chain is understood as a set of inter organizational networks, around a commodity or product, connecting families, firms and countries in the global economy (Gereffi & Korzeniewicz, 1994). Firms that connect to GVCs aim beyond profits: they search for competences, to developing more complex tasks with more added value. In the GVC literature, this event is known as upgrading (Gereffi, 1999) and has been used to characterize the trajectory of going up in the value chain (Ponte & Ewert, 2009)
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