The rise of emerging market lead firms in global value chains

Abstract

Extending the resource-based view that location characteristics influence firms’ resources and internationalization, we argue that the global value chains (GVCs) of lead firms from emerging and advanced economies differ in three dimensions: objectives, trajectory, and governance. First, because GVC objectives are driven to resolve home-country endowment deficiencies, we propose that emerging market lead firms use GVCs to upgrade resources while advanced economy lead firms do so to distribute activities. Second, as GVC trajectory reflects home country consumer characteristics, we argue that emerging market lead firms expand abroad to accumulate additional value-added segments of their GVCs to serve more sophisticated demands, while advanced economy lead firms disaggregate simplified segments to reduce costs. Third, since GVC governance reflects the home-country institutional quality, we propose that emerging market lead firms use more internalization, particularly acquisitions, to exert control in their GVCs, while advanced economy lead firms rely more on externalization, especially offshore outsourcing.