Trading Down

by Gibbon, Peter; Ponte, Stefano

• ISBN13: 9781592133673
• ISBN10: 1592133673
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-05-30
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

The role of Africa in the global economy is changing as a result of new corporate strategies, changing international trade regulation and innovative ways of overseeing the globalized production and distribution of goods. African participants in the global economy are facing demands for higher levels of performance and quality. Their responses have generated the occasional success but also many failures. Noted researchers Peter Gibbon and Stefano Ponte describe the central processes that are at the same time integrating some into the global economy while marginalizing others. They show the effects of these processes on African countries, farms and firms through an innovative combination of Global Value Chain analysis and Convention Theory. In doing so, the authors present a timely overview of the economic challenges that lay ahead in Africa and point to ways to best address them.

Author Biography

Peter Gibbon is a Senior Researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
The Age of Global Capitalism	1	(33)
Economic Globalization	2	(9)
Corporate Financialization and Shareholder Value	11	(4)
Saturated Markets and Oligopolistic Rent Seeking	15	(5)
Buyer Power and Strategic Outsourcing	20	(5)
Supplier Adjustment in the World of Category Management	25	(6)
Conclusion	31	(3)
The New International Trade Regime	34	(40)
Trends in Africa's International Trade	36	(8)
The International Trade Regime Prior to WTO	44	(8)
The New International Trade Regime	52	(20)
Conclusion	72	(2)
Global Value Chain (GVC) Analysis	74	(21)
Main Features	74	(4)
Governance	78	(9)
Upgrading	87	(6)
Conclusion	93	(2)
The Rise of Buyer-Driven Global Value Chains in Africa	95	(30)
The Rise of Buyer-Driven Chains	96	(3)
Main Actors in, and Configurations of, Selected Global Value Chains	99	(9)
Formal Regulatory Frameworks and Historical Changes in GVC Governance	108	(5)
Strategies of Lead Firms	113	(6)
Chain Driving?	119	(3)
Conclusion	122	(3)
Entry Barriers, Marginalization, and Upgrading	125	(36)
Entry Barriers for First- and Second-Tier Suppliers	127	(11)
Marginalization and Exclusion	138	(13)
Upgrading	151	(8)
Conclusion	159	(2)
Quality Standards, Conventions, and the Governance of Global Value Chains	161	(36)
Quality in Economic Analysis	164	(2)
Convention Theory	166	(12)
Quality, Entry Barriers, and Governance in GVCs: Empirical Evidence from Africa	178	(4)
Conventions and the Governance of Global Value Chains	182	(12)
Conclusion	194	(3)
Trading Down?	197	(10)
Africa, Value Chains, and the Global Economy	197	(4)
Trading Down?	201	(2)
GVC Analysis and Future Research Directions	203	(4)
Notes	207	(18)
References	225	(18)
Index	243