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The purpose of this paper is to guide companies in conducting benchmarking studies of their manufacturing processes by viewing across industries, locations and products. In particular, the proposed framework can help corporate decision makers in terms of production footprint and site location studies. The level of benchmarking performance can be measured by evaluating defined benchmarking evaluation profiles.

This paper develops a tool to operationalize value-added manufacturing processes for benchmarking evaluations. In this context, an object-oriented database structure has been developed for the business areas such as product development, manufacturing and assembly. This paper focuses on manufacturing processes. Furthermore, a framework for applying high-performance benchmarking has been developed and applied in a case study.

This paper shows that object class-oriented modeling approach can be applied to manufacturing processes. The higher the degree of independence in terms of locations, industry sectors and products, the more powerful thus a higher performance of benchmarking is achieved. The performance level of benchmarking has been defined by proving and demonstrating higher and lower performance levels. The high-performance benchmarking tool has been successfully applied to a production footprint case study.

This paper takes up the superiority of process benchmarking that has been the focus of numerous research papers on benchmarking techniques in the past. The potential of process benchmarking has been enhanced and operationalized as a tool. A classification logic for benchmarking evaluation profiles has been developed and integrated in the overall tool set. The model helps decision makers to configure their benchmarking studies tailored to their strategic entrepreneurial questions and to guide them to achieve a higher benchmarking performance level.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the value added of exports of services, which increasingly involve intermediate inputs to manufacturing and are indirectly embodied in intermediate and finished good exports to the global market earned by Taiwan and South Korea.

This paper uses the World Input-Output Database to examine and compare the competitiveness of service industry between Taiwan and South Korea in China from 1995 to 2011. The author measures the value added of export in two ways: value added in trade (VAiT) and trade in value added (TiVA).

The proportion of domestic (intermediate and final demand) VAiT was created by Taiwanese and South Korean exports to China. The services amount share of value added embodied in Taiwanese electrical and optical equipment (ELE) exports to China increased gradually (38.0–45.7 percent) from 1996 to 2011, that was more than that of South Korea (26.7–23.3 percent). Taiwanese financial and business (F&B) service contributed to Taiwanese ELE production exported to China. In service sectors, the proportion of VAiT of Taiwanese F&B service embodied in ELE exports to China increased annually (9.8–11.5 percent), that was similar to that of South Korea (12.2–11.3 percent). Thus, F&B sector played an increasingly important role in service sectors. Taiwanese F&B promotes the ELE export to China with higher efficiency than South Korea does.

Over the past two decades, the development of information technology and the growth of international specialization and fragmentation of production processes have brought about a global value chains (GVCs) phenomenon in services, which has already been taking place in manufacturing for a long time. Intangible value added of services increasingly involved intermediate inputs from manufacturing and were indirectly embodied in intermediate and finished goods exported to the global market. The focus of this paper is to analyze how the service industry participates in the development of the GVC, with emphasis on the export of ELE production to China in the bilateral trade of Taiwan and Korea with China. In addition to the value-added components, the exports of F&B intermediate products to China have been increasing year by year, and Taiwanese is higher than South Korean. In the bilateral trade between Taiwan or Korea and China, for ELE production exported to China, double counted part of intermediate products is increasing year by year. In terms of the value added of the double counting of F&B exports to China, Taiwan is higher (PDC, 31.23–17.26 percent) than South Korea. (PDC, 8.7–15.12 percent). South Korea and China are not as closely related as Taiwan and China.

This study aims to examine the effect of structural transformation on poverty alleviation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries with a higher share of services as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP). The study specifically focuses on the value-added share as a percentage of GDP in the agricultural, manufacturing, industrial, and service sectors using time series data from 1988 to 2019.

The study utilizes the autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bound test framework for estimation, based on the conclusions drawn from the augmented Dickey-Fuller and Phillips–Perron unit root tests, which provide evidence of a mixed order of integration.

The result reveals that agriculture value-added (AVA), manufacturing value-added (MVA), industrial value-added (IVA), and services value-added (SVA) have a positive and significant impact on poverty alleviation in both the short and long run. However, the agriculture sector is found to be more effective in reducing poverty compared to the other sectors examined in this study. Additionally, this study challenges the notion that SSA countries have undergone an immature structural transformation. Instead, it reveals a pattern of stagnant structural transformation, as indicated by the lack of growth in the industrial and manufacturing value-added shares of GDP.

To enhance productivity and reduce poverty, SSA economies should adopt a development strategy that prioritizes heavy manufacturing and industrial sectors, leading to a transition from the agricultural to the secondary and tertiary sectors.

The study contributes to the emerging literature on structural transformation by investigating which sector is more efficient in reducing poverty in SSA countries, using the value-added share as a percentage of GDP for agricultural, manufacturing, industrial, and service sectors. The study also aims to determine if SSA countries have experienced immature structural transformation due to the growing share in the service sector.

The extent to which the ratio of inventory to value added for manufacturing industry varies between regions in the UK is examined. An analysis of regionally disaggregated inventory data obtained from the British Census of Production reveals wide regional variations in this ratio, with the three most peripheral regions being significantly overstocked relative to the national average. Stock levels in one of these regions, Scotland, are examined in detail in an effort to identify possible causes of the overstocking. Industrial structure and length of supply line appear not to be important factors. As much of the excess inventory is in the work‐in‐progress category, the overstocking is largely intrinsic to the production operation.

This paper aims to contribute to the scholarly debate on the origins and nature of industrial servitization. By resorting to contract manufacturing (CM) as an empirical case, it is posited that any product-service solution that a manufacturing firm is capable of delivering on a competitive basis mirrors its goals in value creation and capture, positioning within its value networks and the pool of assets and competences it holds.

To support this argument, a comparative case study of two CM firms that represent polar cases in the industry was conducted. The primary data were collected through participatory methodology, observations and semi-structured interviews of company representatives. The business experiences of an industry practitioner provided a distinct contribution to the content analysis and modelling.

It was concluded that servitization becomes endogenous as contract manufacturers aim for higher profitability through the insource of customer activities and hence extend their offering downstream in the supply chain. The findings suggest that the way out of the servitization trap is a shift toward original design and manufacturing business, where high value-adding modules are insourced and integrated into replicable solutions for various types of customers and market segments.

The generalization of the conclusion is constrained by the limited focus on two cases only. More industry and company data are therefore required to further validate this argument. Particularly valuable will be the data on the intermediate business models between the two polar cases.

Building on contested business practices, this paper outlines the logic of competitive strategy in CM on the basis of specific characteristics and implications of the various business concepts. In this case, the principal drivers of servitization are the acquisition of supporting capabilities and insourcing of customer activities. The case study method integrates theory with academic observation and managerial experiences.

This paper aims to provide a snapshot of various countries’ contributions to value produced along global value chains (GVCs). It focusses on manufacturing activities and their evolution over time, in the context of GVC regionalisation.

The Trade in Value Added (TiVA) and World Integrated Trade Solution databases for the period of 2005-2015 were used to explore the case of Italy and its industries’ specialisations (Made in Italy): fashion, furniture, automotive and machinery traditionally organised into clusters. Various analyses were used to show the dynamics of gross import–export and imported–exported value-added. Moreover, the revealed comparative advantage index was computed to test whether the Made in Italy sector remains a source of competitive advantage for Italy within GVCs.

The results highlight how the geography of value-added is changing over time, with growing importance placed on the countries close to Italy and with a different pace according to each considered GVC.

The paper applied new methods to compare trade and analyse value-added dynamics through a recent database released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development within the TiVA initiative that is useful for scholars and policymakers.

This paper aims to investigate if the world top manufacturing corporations' cost structures are moving from tangible to intangible activities and their impact on profitability.

The theoretical approach is interdisciplinary, combining global value chains, international manufacturing networks, cost management literatures. The empirical approach has a sample out of financial statements' data from 220 multinational corporations between 2006 and 2017, grouping them by technological intensity. It is created the “COGS-share” indicator – the ratio between the costs of goods sold and overall costs and expenses – as a proxy for the firms' expenses of tangible and intangible value chain activities. It is tested as an explanatory variable for the companies' profits through dynamic panel data econometric models.

The results show that the cost structure still is very concentrated in tangibles. Though costs of both tangible and intangible activities negatively impact profits, they affect value generation differently: the higher the share of intangible in comparison to tangible activities in overall cost and expenses, the greater the profits in most manufacturing groups, regardless of their technological intensity.

The empirical analysis simplifies the composition of value chains per activity because financial statements data are aggregates, preventing detailed analysis by markets, business units or products. Stocks' levels are assumed to be at the desired level during the time series. The dataset does not allow value curves to be drawn because direct wages' data and more precise information on cost (especially deferred assets and wages) are missing.

The presented approach, particularly the COGS-share indicator, contribute to assess value generation from activities for improving corporate strategies and public policies on operations and cost management of global value chains.

Supporting upgrading decisions that impact value production, allocation and distribution between workers, firms and countries.

Interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical assessment of the manufacturing companies' cost structures and profits based on financial statements data for the better understanding of value generation from tangible and intangible activities.

This study seeks to analyse the relation between technology, competitiveness and specialisation in OECD manufacturing.

A regression analysis is first performed explaining the disaggregate manufacturing relative value added market share performance of a series of OECD countries by their relative unit labour costs (ULC), relative own and foreign research intensity and by a catch up term. Estimates are then presented of equations relating an indicator of revealed comparative advantage of value added to similar measures of comparative performance of ULC, or of its component terms, and of R&D expenditure, and the respective results are considered in conjunction.

The results show that, although each time there is evidence of a negative impact of the ULC‐based variables, the influence of the technology variables is far more important. Re‐estimation on research‐intensive and less research‐intensive samples shows that the dominance of the technology factors is especially important in the research‐intensive industries. The influence of comparative wages on specialisation is, moreover, found to be positive here, suggesting the presence of a significant labour skill effect.

The paper confirms the Schumpeterian insights, which have emphasised the relation between technology, competitiveness and specialisation. It stresses the dominance of product qualitative aspects of competitiveness, especially in research‐intensive industries.

Fluctuations of oil price and petroleum products have had different effects on great economic variables. One of these cases would be Dutch Disease in some countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of price fluctuation on the amount of industrial and agricultural value added in GDP and the amount of non‐oil GDP in Iran by using counteraction method separately.

The effect of oil volatility and the share of agricultural value added and the share of manufacturing value added in GDPs as well as the share of agricultural and manufacturing value added in non‐oil GDP have been studied by using time‐series estimations method. In all of the cases the Eviews 5 software was used during the period 1979‐2009.

While research results support previous studies about the relationship between the agricultural sector and oil revenues in the developing and oil‐exporting countries, the results show a relationship between oil price and the share of manufacturing value added with no‐oil GDP.

The paper has considered only oil price fluctuation on industrial and agricultural products in Iran. However, Iran has several exporting goods such as gas but the study only considered oil price.

So far, several studies have been conducted in different countries regarding the subject of the study. While Iran is an important oil exporting country, the current research is the first study in Iran which gives more strength to the Iranian economy as well to other oil exporting countries.