Global Organization Of Production Research Articles

Russian industrial policy in the context of global production system transformation and severe constraints

Russian industrial policy as an instrument of progressive structural changes has been attracting the attention of politicians and experts for three decades. In the last decade, the attitude of developed countries toward industrial policy in the context of increased global competition, countries’ repositioninig in world trade and transformation of global value chains has become more pragmatic and positive. Simultaneously, the approaches to industrial policy in the world have changed significantly due to shifts in the organization of global production. This defines a new demand for Russian industrial policy, especially in the context of tightening financial and time constraints. We identify key structural constraints of the Russian economy that must be taken into account to define industrial policy, including: fragmented participation of Russia in global trade, low commodity diversity of exports, geographic concentration of export and import flows, underdeveloped backward linkages, weak role of small and medium sized enterprises in value chains. We support the importance of maintaining integration of the Russian economy in the world economic system to ensure its competitiveness and discuss possible trajectories of re-positioning in global economic relations. Under new conditions several principles of implementation of Russian industrial policy are singled out, including flexibility, variability of solutions and encouragement of grass-roots initiative, specialization that takes into account specific features of production organization of various sectors of the Russian economy, building a system of decision-making aimed at the future and overcoming inefficient local equilibria in the economy.

From Individual Wage to Household’s Labor Income: Consequences of Women’s Labor Force Incorporation in Argentina, 1974–2018

The Argentinean real wage has suffered a profound deterioration since the mid-1970s. Simultaneously, there was a structural increase in women’s labor market participation. Consequently, looking at individual wages as indicators of the household’s reproduction conditions might be misleading. Here we put those two phenomena together under a new reading of Marx’s value of labor power concept within an understanding of the specificity of capital accumulation in Argentina. Transformations in the global organization of production led to a change in the concrete expression of the value of labor power, which is now divided into the wages of more than one household member. This expresses itself in the increased participation of women’s income in household income and the latter’s more favorable evolution compared to the individual one. JEL Classification: N36, B51, B54, J31

Uneven Decoupling

The macro-comparative decoupling literature has often sought to test the arguments made by the treadmill of production (TP) and ecological modernization (EM) theories. However, due to data limitations, these studies have been limited to analyzing the years after 1960. Given that both theories discuss historical processes operating before 1960, analyzing pre-1960 data is warranted to more comprehensively test the propositions made by both theories. We assess the long-term relationship between economic growth and CO2 emissions from 1870 to 2014 using a sample of global North nations. We use Prais-Winsten regression models with time interactions to assess whether, when, and how much CO2 emissions have decoupled from economic growth over time. We find that significant relative decoupling has occurred twice since 1870: during the last 30 years of the nineteenth century, the timing of which is contrary to what both the EM and TP theories might expect, and after 1970. We also observe that the relationship remained relatively stable from the turn of the twentieth century to approximately 1970, which aligns with the arguments made by the classical TP work. We conclude that shifts in the global organization of production have shaped the magnitude of the economic growth–CO2 emissions relationship and its changes over time, which has implications for climate mitigation policy.

Transgressing North–South Divide: Foxconn Production Regimes in China and the Czech Republic

In Europe, as elsewhere in the global North, the label “Made in China” has become synonymous with low wages, excessive overtime, and exploitative working conditions. Conventional literature on the international division of labor reifies the North–South divide in particular with respect to class formation and labor agency. Contrasting the working conditions in China to those in Europe sets these up as opposites in their managerial practices and treatment of the workforce. This article challenges such dualism and makes visible the commonalities of contemporary global capitalism. It does so by examining Foxconn’s production regimes in China and the Czech Republic and identifying a specific set of strategies on the part of the firm that enable its global organization of production. In indicating which practices Foxconn imported from China and which are an outcome of global extended production, the article challenges the Chinese political economy literature that posits the “Chinese model” as warranted when production is globally organized.

The Transnational Tilt of the Treadmill and the Role of Trade Openness on Carbon Emissions: A Comparative International Study, 1965–2010

There are various schools of thought regarding the relationship between the environment and economy. Ecological modernization argues that the harmful effects of economic growth and development on the environment decline through time, whereas the treadmill of production and ecologically unequal exchange postulate different perspectives. This study relies on World Bank and World Resources Institute data for the period of 1965–2010. Time‐series cross‐sectional Prais‐Winsten (PW) regression models with panel‐corrected standard errors (PCSE) are employed to examine whether economic growth and trade openness intensified or decoupled in relation to three measures of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions during this period. The findings of this study indicate that there has been a “tilt” in the treadmill of production—that is, the most environmentally degrading production processes have moved to less developed countries. Furthermore, integration into the world economy has been associated with an intensification in CO2 emissions for less developed countries. Surprisingly, however, this phenomenon does not seem to be driven by exports sent to high‐income nations, suggesting that there are mechanisms embodied within the global organization of production that require further exploration.

Comments by Deborah Swenson, on The Global Value Chain and the Competitiveness of Asian Countries

November 01 2017 Comments by Deborah Swenson, on The Global Value Chain and the Competitiveness of Asian Countries Author and Article Information Online Issn: 1536-0083 Print Issn: 1535-3516 © 2017 by the Asian Economic Panel and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology2017Massachusetts Institute of Technology Asian Economic Papers (2017) 16 (3): 282–283. https://doi.org/10.1162/asep_a_00574 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Comments by Deborah Swenson, on The Global Value Chain and the Competitiveness of Asian Countries. Asian Economic Papers 2017; 16 (3): 282–283. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/asep_a_00574 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsAsian Economic Papers Search Advanced Search Deborah Swenson: The organizations and activities of global value chains (GVCs) are of great policy interest because of their effects on the global location of employment. Although it is widely understood that decreases in trade and communication costs in recent decades have accelerated incentives for the relocation of production activities, a scarcity of relevant data has limited the ability of researchers and policymakers to comprehensively track the detailed economic features of this reorganization. For example, to gain insight into these questions economists have adopted a number of measurement approaches based on the movement of internationally traded products. Here, tracking items that are identified as intermediate inputs reveals information about the organization of global production. Additional changes have been identified through changes in firm investment as firms have changed the geographic placement of their affiliate operations. Because countries that contribute to production within GVCs only contribute a portion of value-added contained... You do not currently have access to this content.

Exploring the New International-Informational Division of Labor, Collision between Time-Space Configuration, and Engendered Work Organization: Reflections Lorn Argentina

The debate on the nature and dynamics of late 20th century capitalism, and the crucial role Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play in these dynamics, has centered on the transition towards a Third Industrial (Informational) Revolution. Little attention has so far been paid to the changes taking place in work organizations and engendered skills thnt sustain informational economic growth. This, in turn, has meant that the simultaneous construction of the New International-Informational Division of Labor (NIIDL) and the role that the new time-space configuration plays in the emergence and consolidation of that division has also tended to be overlooked. This article examines this debate, particularly in terms of the relationship between NIIDL and the global organization of production, skills and the control of women and men workers. This is doile on the basis of field research in the so-called artisan sector of an inland province of Argentina in thepast I5years. The theoretical and empirical exercise reveals serious structural obstacles that prevent any easy solution to the problem depending on the time-space configuration in which women artisans in particular arc inserted, the type of piece produced, work organization, technologies and sources of energy used, among others. There is pressing need to implement a number of active public policies promoting knowledge-based industry, alternative sources of energy, education, science and technology, socialization of information and democratization of communication to be carried out at international, regional, national and local levels with a view to ensuring the creation of an autonomous and humane intensified time-space configuration and to implement a new gender aware informational development agenda based on the defense of women’s (and men’s) human rights.

Technological strategies of Transnational Corporations affiliates in Brazil

This paper presents an analysis of the technological efforts made by Transnational Corporations' (TNCs) affiliates in Brazil. Many studies have indicated that most TNCs concentrate their main technological activities in their home, developed countries. However, empirical investigation has shown TNC affiliates in Brazil have presented a higher profile than local firms in terms of both innovative performance and R&D efforts. This study is an attempt to examine the technological efforts of TNC affiliates in Brazil and their main determinants, considering the recent changes in TNC strategies for global organization of production and technological activities. The study is based on data analysis from 450 firms controlled by foreign capital operating in São Paulo State in 1996. The database was taken from the first PAEP - Pesquisa da Atividade Econômica Paulista -, which comprises not only economic indicators, but also includes an innovation survey based on OECD guidelines. Using multivariate techniques, we have identified distinct strategies of TNCs subsidiaries in regard to technological activities, which reflect different technological effort patterns. In addition, the article reveals that such diversity of technological strategies has been influenced by the size of firms, the industrial sector to which the firm belongs and the nationality of foreign capital, in this order.