The Impacts of Private Standards on Global Value Chains - Literature Review Series on the Impacts of Private Standards, Part I

Abstract

While standards play an increasingly important role in international trade and global value chains, little is known about their actual impacts in these chains. By applying a systematic literature approach, this paper summarizes the key research findings to this question. We provide insights into the following issues: (i) how do standards impact value chain governance, including whether standards allow for ‘hands-off’ governance, (ii) what are the effects of mainstreaming strategies, (iii) how do standards change actors’ roles following standard adoption, and (iv) what leads to exclude some and involve others. Research also provides a good understanding of how value chain structure has changed following the implementation of standards and, conversely, how a certain structure/governance type allows for standard implementation along the chain. While upgrading opportunities is an important question for producers in the developing world, only a few studies researched this issue and many questions remain open. On the other hand, studies show that smallholders struggled when adopting standards and pointed out that the distribution of benefits is not even along the chain.