Value Chain Research Research Articles

Foreign Market Exits of Poorly Performing Publicly Traded Retailers

When publicly traded retailers experience faltering corporate sales, they engage in globalization and financialization strategies to reallocate capital for best uses. Utilizing divestment theory and global value chain (GVC) research, we examine whether under­performing corporations are more likely to exit completely from their operations in a foreign country, and which conditions accelerate/decelerate the corporate performance-foreign market exit (FME) relationship. Analyzing data from 59 retailers headquartered in 17 countries exiting their operations in 63 foreign markets, we employ a mixed-effects Weibull proportional hazards parametric survival model. Our findings show that as performance deteriorates, public retailers exhibit a higher likelihood of exiting a foreign market. Retailers with high corporate liquidity and debt slow down FMEs, while retailers’ higher growth foreign operations accelerate FMEs of poor performers. These findings offer valuable insights into how financialization practices moderate FMEs of under-performing retailers.

Bibliometric insights into fisheries value chain research

Bibliometric insights into fisheries value chain research

The value chain detective: A methods positive intervention

In this article, I propose the concept of the ‘value chain detective’ to offer a fresh perspective on the role of researchers investigating economic, social and environmental dynamics at the base of global value chains. I highlight significant methodological, fieldwork and ethical challenges inherent in studying these conditions. By recognizing and embracing this role, I suggest that researchers can transform how they engage with and navigate the intricacies of value chain research.

Challenges to groundnut value chain development: lessons from an (attempted) experiment in Ghana

ABSTRACT In developing countries, value chains for many crops are underdeveloped, leading to low producer prices and poor quality produce. Value chain research using secondary data is made difficult by selection problems, whereas experimental research is logistically very difficult and lacks external validity. With the intention of conducting a field experiment, we piloted an intervention connecting smallholder groundnut farmers in Ghana to a premium groundnut processor through aggregators. While we successfully delivered inputs and training to farmers, we failed in our attempts to link aggregators with downstream processors over two growing seasons. In this paper, we situate the challenges we faced in the broader literature on value chains and identify three problems that prevented us from establishing a value chain for high quality groundnuts: uncertainty, cash constraints, and trust. To help inform future research on this topic, we propose three specific interventions that could mitigate these problems.

Investigating the inclusiveness of the usipa value chain in Malawi

Investigating the inclusiveness of the usipa value chain in Malawi

Are yarn quality prediction tools useful in the breeding of high yielding and better fibre quality cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)?

BackgroundThe approach of directly testing yarn quality to define fibre quality breeding objectives and progress the selection is attractive but difficult when considering the need for time and labour. The question remains whether yarn prediction tools from textile research can serve as an alternative. In this study, using a dataset from three seasons of field testing recombinant inbred line population, Cottonspec, a software developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) for predicting ring spun yarn quality from fibre properties measured by High Volume Instrument (HVI), was used to select improved fibre quality and lint yield in the population. The population was derived from an advanced generation inter-crossing of four CSIRO conventional commercial varieties. The Cottonspec program was able to provide an integrated index of the fibre qualities affecting yarn properties. That was compared with selection based on HVI-measured fibre properties, and two composite fibre quality variables, namely, fibre quality index (FQI), and premium and discount (PD) points. The latter represents the net points of fibre length, strength, and micronaire based on the Premiums and Discounts Schedule used in the market while modified by the inclusion of elongation.ResultsThe population had large variations for lint yield, fibre properties, predicted yarn properties, and composite fibre quality values. Lint yield with all fibre quality traits was not correlated. When the selection was conducted first to keep those with improved fibre quality, and followed for high yields, a large proportion in the resultant populations was the same between selections based on Cottonspec predicted yarn quality and HVI-measured fibre properties. They both exceeded the selection based on FQI and PD points.ConclusionsThe population contained elite segregants with improved yield and fibre properties, and Cottonspec predicted yarn quality is useful to effectively capture these elites. There is a need to further develop yarn quality prediction tools through collaborative efforts with textile mills, to draw better connectedness between fibre and yarn quality. This connection will support the entire cotton value chain research and evolution.

Sago value chain analysis in Luwu and North Luwu District, South Sulawesi

As the center of sago production, sago business in Luwu District and North Luwu District has long been the main livelihood of the local community. This study as a whole examines the linkage of the sago value chain with government intervention. The method of determining the location by purposive sampling with the consideration that Luwu District and North Luwu District are the center of sago production in South Sulawesi. The analytical method used for value chain research is chain analysis with value chain mapping from ACIAR (2012) and qualitative descriptive analysis, namely content analysis and thematic analysis. The sago value chain in Luwu District and North Luwu District involves various actors, such as farmers/producers, collectors, and retailers in the sago production and distribution process. Government intervention in this study included providing training and procurement of equipment to sago farmers. The results of this study show that government intervention only focuses on reducing the workload of sago farmers. Government intervention in this study does not directly impact other sago value chain actors, but reducing farmers’ workload can potentially have an overall positive effect by increasing the availability of sago raw materials they obtain from farmers.

The impact of manufacturing servitization on consumption-based carbon rebound effect: A global value chain research perspective

The impact of manufacturing servitization on consumption-based carbon rebound effect: A global value chain research perspective

Inside-out strategic coupling for smallholder market integration – Mango production in Malawi as a test case

Starting from the observation that value chain research has informed much of agricultural development interventions in recent decades, this paper identifies five key challenges to current agricultural development policies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs): access to finance, infrastructure, land tenure, local linkages and knowledge transfer. Based on this review, it is argued that recent theoretical advances in the global production network (GPN) approach can help to achieve a more holistic view of agricultural development policies than the more linear value chain research. In particular, three key concepts from the GPN approach are highlighted: mobilisation of regional assets, strategic coupling and territorial embeddedness. These key concepts are used to propose a framework called ‘insight-out strategic coupling for smallholder integration’, which builds on the concept of strategic coupling in GPN research and applies it as a development tool to agricultural production. Using an in-depth case study approach, the usefulness of this framework is tested by examining the experience of Malawi Mangoes, a company established to promote smallholder exports. Malawi Mangoes was initially funded by private equity, but despite a number of challenges along the way, was soon able to attract development funding and integrate smallholders from surrounding villages throughout-grower schemes. Analysis of the case shows both the usefulness of the framework and the lost potential in implementing agricultural development policy. The authors conclude that the framework is useful for linking current debates on agricultural development interventions, but that the findings of critical GPN research need to be taken into account when developing agricultural development interventions in order to respect the ‘do no harm’ principle.

Power, governance and distributional skew in global value chains: Exchange theoretic and exogenous factors

AbstractThe relationship between power, governance and value creation/capture is a central concern in global value chain (GVC) research. In the context of calls to develop a more expansive view of power in GVCs, we argue for retaining a focus on bargaining power, but shifting the conceptualization of bargaining power from the dyad to the network. We advance two arguments. First, we elaborate an exchange theoretic model in which skew of value capture is a function of the degree of power asymmetry inherent in the ratio of buyers to suppliers. Second, we explain how this model can be expanded to consider the role of external factors, such as the institutional and normative contexts in which exchange occurs. Rather than see these factors as contending forms of power, we treat them as forces that can affect value skew by either attenuating the bargaining power of lead firms or by moderating the distributional effects of power asymmetries between exchange partners. We conclude that an exchange theoretic approach to bargaining power in GVCs provides a parsimonious framework for explaining how inter‐firm governance shapes the distribution of value capture in global production.

Value chain research and development: The quest for impact

SummaryMotivationFor decades, governments, donors, and practitioners have promoted market‐based development approaches (MBDA), most recently in the form of value chain development (VCD), to spur economic growth and reduce poverty. Changes in approaches have been shaped by funders, practitioners and researchers in ways that are incompletely appreciated.PurposeWe address the following questions: (1) how have researchers and practitioners shaped discussions on MBDA?; and (2) how has research stimulated practice, and how has practice informed research? We hypothesize that stronger exchange between researchers and practitioners increases the relevance and impact of value chain research and development.Methods and approachWe adopt Downs' (1972) concept of issue‐attention cycles, which posits that attention to a particular issue follows a pattern where, first, excitement builds over potential solutions; followed by disenchantment as the inherent complexity, trade‐offs, and resources required to solve it become apparent; and consequently attention moves on to a new issue. We review the literature on MBDA to see how far this framing applies.FindingsWe identify five cycles of approaches to market‐based development over the last 40 or more years: (1) non‐traditional agricultural exports; (2) small and medium enterprise development; (3) value chains with a globalization perspective; (4) value chains with an agri‐business perspective; and (5) value chain development.The shaping and sequencing of these cycles reflect researchers' tendency to analyse and criticize MBDA, while providing limited guidance on workable improvements; practitioners' reluctance to engage in critical reflection on their programmes; and an institutional and funding environment that encourages new approaches.Policy implicationsFuture MBDA will benefit from stronger engagement between researchers, practitioners, and funders. Before shifting attention to new concepts and approaches, achievements and failures in previous cycles need to be scrutinized. Evidence‐based practice should extend for the length of the issue‐attention cycle; preferably it should arrest the cycling of attention. Funders can help by requiring grantees to critically reflect on past action, by providing “safe spaces” for sharing such reflections, and by engaging in joint learning with practitioners and researchers.

Coffee producers’ perspectives of blockchain technology in the context of sustainable global value chains

Transparency and equitability are key for improved sustainability outcomes in global value chains. Blockchain technology has been touted as a tool for achieving these ends. However, due to the limited empirical evidence, claims on transparency and sustainability benefits are largely theoretical. We lack an understanding of the benefits and drawbacks for upstream actors within global value chains and how this affects technology adoption. Addressing this gap, we conduct an empirical study to identify the drivers and obstacles for coffee producers in Colombia in adopting blockchain. We base our research on an event-driven and permissioned blockchain model, specifically designed for this research. Applying the Participation Capacity Framework and conducting semi-structured interviews with coffee producers and key informants, we analyze adoption attitudes towards the blockchain application. We further identify opportunities and drawbacks from the producers’ perspective. We set these findings in the context of the Global Value Chain research, considering the existing power relations in the coffee value chain. The top-down nature of blockchain projects raises distributive concerns, as resource investments, implementation burden, and risks are significantly higher upstream, whereas downstream lead firms will benefit most. We identify data squeeze as an additional channel of sustainable supplier squeeze relevant in the case of blockchain initiatives. Data squeeze implies lead firms turning the data obtained through, likely unpaid, labour of blockchain participants into a monetizable assets and marketable value through branding and advertisement. Based on the findings, we identify potential design dimensions and implementation features that can contribute to materializing producer benefits, thus mitigating the risk of a sustainability-driven supplier squeeze.

Review of agricultural value chain analysis

Value chain analysis has a central role in determining the distribution of benefits of the participants to upgrade solutions to the value chain. This paper is based on an integrated approach of methods and results of research on agricultural product value chain analysis. Research focuses on analyzing value chain approaches commodity chain analysis, Porter’s value chain model, Global value chain and GTZ organization, the number of actors in the value chain, profit distribution among actors participating in the chain, some popular tools in value chain analysis, and solutions to upgrade the chain. On that basis, the paper also points out the gaps in the current agricultural value chain research: 1) There is no combination of SCP analysis framework with other approaches; 2) Researchers have not analyzed the causes of the markup through the actors or the market power of the actors; 3) There are few studies combine all three models: Porter’s five forces, PEST and SWOT to have a complete basis for proposing solutions to upgrade the value chain.

Review of agricultural value chain analysis

Value chain analysis has a central role in determining the distribution of benefits of the participants to upgrade solutions to the value chain. This paper is based on an integrated approach of methods and results of research on agricultural product value chain analysis. Research focuses on analyzing value chain approaches commodity chain analysis, Porter’s value chain model, Global value chain and GTZ organization, the number of actors in the value chain, profit distribution among actors participating in the chain, some popular tools in value chain analysis, and solutions to upgrade the chain. On that basis, the paper also points out the gaps in the current agricultural value chain research: 1) There is no combination of SCP analysis framework with other approaches; 2) Researchers have not analyzed the causes of the markup through the actors or the market power of the actors; 3) There are few studies combine all three models: Porter’s five forces, PEST and SWOT to have a complete basis for proposing solutions to upgrade the value chain.

Mapping the Field of Value Chain: A Bibliometric and Visualization Analysis

In recent years, the interest in academic research in the field of the value chain has increased rapidly. However, there is a lack of bibliometric and visualization research on this subject. This paper aims to analyze the main trends of the value chain in multidomain-related literature in the past decade. Thus, we used bibliometric 2002 documents data from the Scopus to generate figures like the trend, co-occurrence and proportion of the value chain by using Rstudio and VOSviewer. The results not only explained the main modern trends under the time series, but also showed the evolution of the development of the theme of the value chain. Additionally, the paper also determines the impact of the value chain in different journals and documents and analyzes the impact of themes, countries and keywords on the publication of the value chain literature. After identifying the most popular themes and keywords in the past decade, we predicted the trend and direction of future value chain research. Due to the lack of literature for data analysis on value-chain-related innovation, this study is a unique contribution to the literature on the measurement method as a supplement. This study also provides a visual and schematic framework for the relevant research in the field of the value chain and summarizes the trend and trajectory. This may help researchers understand the current trend of the research on the value chain and grasp the future research direction.

Microfoundations of global value chain research: Big decisions by small firms

In this study, we introduce a unique longitudinal dataset from the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance Annual Survey (IMEFAS) to assess how micro and small enterprises (MSEs) partake in the global economy by tapping into global value chains (GVCs). The results of the empirical analysis show that the great majority of micro and small enterprises are unable to establish direct links with GVCs. However, two sub-categories of subcontractors and branded producers were able to accomplish upgrading and partake in GVCs after the 2008 economic crisis. For both groups of firms, strategies implemented in domestic value chains contributed to their future participation in GVCs. By identifying small firms’ value chain decisions associated with their ability to access GVCs directly, this study sheds light on the microfoundations of GVCs. It paves the way for the future intersection of small business economics and GVCs, two areas of research that have seldom talked to each other.

What can evolutionary economic geography learn from global value chain and global production network research on developing and emerging economies?

ABSTRACT Although evolutionary economic geography (EEG) and global production network (GPN) and global value chain (GVC) research into regional industrial restructuring and development have developed in parallel and with little mutual engagement, they provide important complementary insights. This article concentrates on what the EEG approach can learn from the GVC/GPN approach by focusing on extra-regional linkages, institutional contexts and firm heterogeneity. Analysing the role of these factors not only overcomes some weaknesses of the EEG approach but also plays an especially important role in understanding regional industrial dynamics in developing and emerging economies and in the conduct of policy-relevant research.

Rethinking Social Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Worker Power, State‒Labour Relations and Intersectionality

ABSTRACTThis article builds on critiques of the concept of social upgrading in global value chain (GVC) research, which problematize its coupling to lead firm strategies and economic upgrading by supplier firms, by reconceptualizing social upgrading through the lens of worker power. It argues that a better understanding of the causal processes of social upgrading can be obtained by integrating insights from labour geography, which situates worker agency at the intersection of a ‘vertical’ dimension of transnational relations and a ‘horizontal’ dimension of local relations, with conceptualizations of worker power from (global) labour studies, particularly the modes of structural and associational power. The authors call for a deeper theorization of the places in which GVCs ‘touch down’, arguing that worker power is decisively shaped by state–labour relations as well as the intersectionality of worker identities and interlinkages between spheres of production and reproduction. Case study analyses of the apparel sectors in Cambodia and Vietnam employ this reconceptualization, drawing on the authors’ own fieldwork. In both cases, worker power expressed in strike action was a key causal driver of social upgrading; and in both, the outcomes were conditioned by GVC dynamics as well as shifting state–labour relations and intersections of worker identities linked to gender, household and community relations.

Global value chains, import orientation, and the state: South Africa\u2019s pharmaceutical industry

As opposed to the predominant focus of global value chain (GVC) research on export-oriented contexts, this article examines the prospects for development in places where the dominant form of engagement with GVCs is import-oriented. Through the case of South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry, this analysis demonstrates the challenge for local manufacturing to compete, and the associated state policy responses, in a place which is largely plugged into GVCs as an end market rather than as a production location. As multinationals have concentrated production elsewhere, South Africa’s manufacturing capacity in the pharmaceutical industry has relatively declined in recent decades. Having struggled in its facilitator role, the South African state’s efforts to promote local manufacturing have turned to the producer role through a state-owned company and especially the buyer role through public procurement. Motivations for state policy in this context, however, must navigate the tension which sometimes exists between the industrial interest in local manufacturing and the consumer and health policy interest in access to medicines. The experience of South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry points to the wider challenge and consequences of import-oriented engagement with GVCs for local industrial development.

Kontribusi Industri Bambu di Kabupaten Gunungkidul bagi Sumber Penghidupan Para Petani dan Pengrajin

The bamboo industry has a role in the rural economy as a source of livelihood. This research has examined the contribution of bamboo as a raw material for farmers and as a bamboo product for artisan, from the perspective of direct use and income. Through a case study approach to the kitchen equipment industry in Rongkop and durable bamboo in Patuk, a value chain research framework was carried out. Field observations, semi-structured interviews with 40 respondents, and focus group discussions were conducted to obtain primary data, and supported by secondary data from government documents. An analysis of expenditure-income accompanied by a descriptive qualitative analysis is used to explain the practices of these two industries and determine the economic contribution of the bamboo industry to each bamboo farmer and artisan in each chain. The products produced by each actor are allocated more for trade than for domestic use. The economic contribution for bamboo farmers in the durable bamboo chain and kitchen utensils to monthly income above the poverty line ranges between 7,7% - 13,5% and 6,4% - 8,9%, respectively. The economic contribution for artisan in durable bamboo chain and kitchen utensils chain to monthly income above the poverty line ranged between 13,2% -104% and 152% -472% respectively. Only kitchen utensil artisans make their activities in these two chains as the main work, while the other actors do not because the income from their businesses is still incidental.