Search results

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the agri-food sector are continuously transforming their global value chains (GVCs) to address sustainable development challenges of food security (SDG2) and climate change (SDG13). However, the central role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in (re)creating GVCs across multilevel stakeholders through innovative approaches to solve sustainability challenges remains under investigated. This explorative study investigates how international NGOs influence the transformation of large-scale industrial animal agriculture to a more sustainable (cell-based) agri-food GVC. The authors conducted a case study on the Good Food Institute (GFI), an international NGO, that has been an active player in the transition to alternative sources of protein to solve animal-based agriculture sustainability issues. The results show that an international NGO can contribute to the transition to a more sustainable GVC and can enhance the GVC’s innovation capabilities.

In developing countries like Tanzania, gems and jewellery industry mainly consists of disintegrated and unstable micro and small workshops which operate in a way that misalign value addition processes. This study is aimed to bridge gap by focussing on exploitation of industrial clusters in social normalisation and economic resilience to developing countries. The world economic shocks has been not only individually experienced but also globally shared while disrupted lives across all countries and communities and negatively affected global socio-economic growth.

Furthermore, the explorative design was adopted in this study in order to explore needs of respondents, and with the aim to direct the study towards a descriptive design. The sample frame consists of participants in gems and jewellery activities in Tanzania whereby sample was drawn from Dar es Salaam and Arusha. Semi-structured interview was used to collect quantitative data to establish evidence of Tanzanians’ SSJs linked to global value chains (GVCs).

Results revealed the benefits of exploitation of artisanal industrial clusters to Tanzanians’ SSJs when linked to global value chains (GVCs). Findings of the study demonstrate the importance of artisanal industrial clusters in facilitating Tanzanians’ SSJs to access GVCs. Further, insufficient education, trust and social protection directly affects inclusive GVCs, inferring that the impact of artisanal industrial clusters on inclusive GVCs in social normalisation and economic resilience.

Study findings reveals shortcomings in existing regulatory framework of linking Tanzanians’ SSJs to artisanal industrial clusters, for improvements to better support the inclusiveness in GVCs. Findings of this research invite interventions on institutional capabilities and entrepreneurial competencies to enhance the capabilities of small-scale jewellers (SSJs). Like other studies, this study involved cross-sectional data, limit targeted study population as representative of SSJs in industrial clusters and GVCs in economic crises at limited time.

The study findings makes important practical contributions to the Tanzania’s SSJs by examining mediating role of artisanal industrial clusters hence informing policymakers of mining sector how to improve accessibility on GVCs by focus on offering great institutional capabilities and entrepreneurial competencies. These findings will help SSJs and policy makers to get better understanding of the relationships in exploitation of artisanal industrial clusters when accessing GVCs. Therefore, they can make better decisions on implementing artisanal industrial clusters as well as management accessing GVCs, so that SSJs will attain the best possible performance.

This emphasises the importance of community empowerment in the GVCs process through artisanal industrial clusters. Study findings indicate the influence of industrial relations to social dynamics which are previously inadequately addressed and scantly researched. In actual fact study propose initiatives that ensure local communities benefit socially from the integration of SSJs into GVCs through artisanal industrial clusters. Findings suggest local communities that take into account inter-sectionality of artisanal industrial clusters and inclusive GVCs, by considering how factors like education, trust and social protection status intersect to influence the social inclusiveness of SSJs.

There is limited evidence of linking Tanzanians’ SSJs to GVCs in social normalisation and economic resilience and few researchers have explored this topic. This article leverages exploitation of industrial clusters in normalisation and economic resilience to developing countries such as Tanzania as way of improving shared prosperity, sustainability, inclusive growth, cohesion, value chain upgrading and financial inclusion to SSJs.

International trade and production have been increasingly organized around the configuration and evolution of global value chains (GVCs), even as the sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been established in an era of deepening globalization. The connection between these two processes raises some concerns around how economies, firms, and individuals can benefit from participation in the global economy. This chapter looks at the relationship between the relative positions of countries in high-tech GVCs and the impact on potential fulfillment of the SDGs. In this chapter, the authors make a first approach (descriptive analysis) to the relationship between the relative positions of countries in high-tech GVCs, possibilities for upgrading, and corresponding levels of inequality. The authors focus particularly on a set of indicators corresponding to Goal 1 (no poverty), Goal 5 (gender equality), Goal 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), and Goal 10 (reduced inequalities). The findings reveal that the relationship between the position of a country in terms of forward and backward participations and the relative distance to fulfillment of the SDGs differs among distinct GVCs. While some patterns of income inequality reduction are observed in high-tech-related industries, gender inequality is not similarly affected. This confirms the relevance of building a two-dimensional framework that looks simultaneously at GVCs (i.e., the type of GVC and type of participation) as well as the distance from SDG achievement.

One of the most important economic processes in the world economy over the recent decades has been increasing fragmentation of international production that resulted in expansion of global value chains (GVCs). National economies started to get involved in GVCs in order to get value-added gains from this participation; Russia is not an exception. To analyze Russia’s GVCs participation, we need to adopt new statistical methodology based on input–output approach that allows estimating trade flows in terms of value added, including foreign and domestic value added as parts of gross exports. The author comes to the conclusion that Russia’s participation in GVCs was growing during the last decades mostly by forward participation connected with supply of oil and gas along GVC; moreover, Russia had net gains from this participation. Future trends in Russia’ involvement in GVCs can be described by two scenarios. The first one is based on expanding forward manufacturing participation in order to increase and diversify nonoil exports. This scenario is strongly supported by Russian Federation Ministry for Economic Development. The second scenario covers the continuation of mineral participation in GVCs that Russia implements till now. Both scenarios have their pro and contra. The author argues that the first scenario is better correlated with long-term economic interests and possibilities for sustainable development in Russia.

Modern slavery in global value chains is an emerging topic of interest across various fields, including in international business, but is often fragmented in its approach. This study aims to provide a practical framework for studying relationships between participants in global value chains by exploring the nexus of three concepts – vulnerability, resilience and empowerment (VRE) – in the context of modern slavery.

This article offers a deductive thematic analysis of 51 empirical and conceptual business research studies on modern slavery in global value chains published until mid-2021 according to the three categories of interest at the micro (within individuals and organisations), meso (between individuals and organisations) and macro (structural) levels.

The findings have informed the development of three themes, each of which is an opportunity for future research with clear policy implications: a reductionist approach to vulnerability obscures its complexity; externalising the empowerment process and locating it outside of the agency of workers serves to further disempower them; and focusing exclusively on organisational resilience conceals the essentiality of resilience within individuals, communities and societies.

This article is among the first to extend the focus of business literature on modern slavery in global value chains beyond its current largely facile engagement with VRE, offering an original descriptive VRE typology to engage with the nexus between these three concepts.

In recent years, both academics and institutions have acknowledged the crucial role multinational enterprises (MNEs) can play in addressing the sustainability challenges, as formalized by the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Nevertheless, because of their extensiveness and their design as country-level targets, SDGs have proven challenging to operationalize at a firm level. This problem opens new and relevant avenues for research in international business (IB). This chapter attempts to frame the topic of extended value chain sustainability in the IB literature. In particular, it addresses a specific topic, that is, how sustainability and resilience-building practices interact in global value chains (GVCs). To do so, the present study develops the case of STMicroelectronics (ST), one of the biggest semiconductor companies worldwide.

This study aims to investigate two issues: (1) a nexus between climate-related financial policies (CRFP) and global value chains (GVC) and (2) the government’s policies to help countries enhance the efficient use of CRFP in improving a country’s likelihood to participate in GVC.

To investigate the connection between GVC and CRFP, the authors incorporate that backward participation is measured using foreign value-added, while domestic value-added is used to measure forward participation, quantified as proportions of gross exports. The study analyses yield significant insights across a span of 20 developing countries and 26 developed countries over the period from 2010 to 2020.

Regarding the first issue, the authors affirm the presence of a linear link between GVC and CRFP, implying that involvement in CRFP is advantageous for both backward and forward participation. Furthermore, the authors identify long-term GVC and CRFP cointegration and confirm its long-term effects. Notably, the expression of a linear relationship between GVC and CRFP appears to be stronger in developing countries.

The study findings, together with previous research, highlight the importance of financial policies relating to climate change (CRFP) in the context of economic growth. Climate change’s consequences for financial stability and GVC highlight the importance of expanded policymakers and industry participation in tackling environmental concerns.

Regarding the second issue, the study findings suggest critical policy implications for authorities by highlighting the importance of financial stability and expanded policymakers in promoting countries' participation in GVC.

This paper investigates the link between GVC performance and CRFP, offering three significant advances to previous research. Moreover, as a rigorous analytical method, this study adopts a typical error model with panel correction that accounts for cross-sectional dependency and stationarity.