The Duke GVC Center embarked on a series of studies for the Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX) in Costa Rica to understand the participation of Costa Rica in four global value chains: medical devices, electronics, aerospace, and offshore services. The goal was to provide a set of recommendations to the Costa Rican government to enhance participation in the industries selected, as the following story details. Each of the four individual industry reports, and an introductory chapter providing background on Costa Rica’s economy, the methodology for the study, and an overview of the four industry reports are provided below.
Stacey Frederick gave a presentation on “GVC Modules and Applications” at the Seminar on Accounting for Global Value Chains in Luxembourg on June 7, 2017. The meeting was organized by the United Nations Expert Group on International Trade and Economic Globalization Statistics (ITEGS).
This report begins with an overview of the medical devices value chain, discussion of key segments, governance structure, upgrading and workforce development. Understanding the manner in which the industry operates at a global level is essential to be able to determine how Costa Rica may be able to grow in the future. The next section examines the upgrading experience of Baja California and Ireland in the GVC for lessons to inform Costa Rican policy development and to identify potential upgrading trajectories for the country. Section four provides an analysis of Costa Rica’s current contributions to the global medical devices sectors and the country’s position in the GVC, highlighting significant trends in the evolution of the industry in the country. Finally, challenges that could undermine attempts to upgrade and grow are discussed.
Gereffi gave a presentation at the Life Sciences Forum in San Jose, Costa Rica (March 18-20, 2013) based on results of this 2013 report on Costa Rica in the Medical Devices Global Value Chain: Opportunities for Upgrading. More than 400 leading company representatives from the medical industry and international experts gathered from the United States, Puerto Rico, Italy and Latin America at the event to discuss topics of interest for the life sciences sector.
A World FZO Bulletin article “Global value chains and upgrading: Export promotion in FTZs” highlights Costa Rica’s medical devices sector based on the GVC Center’s 2013 report for Costa Rica. The issue was distributed to all participants at the World FZO conference held in Dubai, May 9-11, 2016.
This report has six main sections. First, is an overview of the electronics and electrical (E&E) components GVC including a discussion of the key segments of the chain, the governance structure, upgrading trajectories, and workforce development. Understanding the manner in which the industry operates at a global level is essential to be able to determine how Costa Rica may be able to grow in the future. This is followed by an overview of relevant experiences from Malaysia, Israel, and Singapore to provide potential lessons for Costa Rica. The next section is an analysis of Costa Rica’s position in the E&E value chain including key challenges. The final section provides upgrading and policy recommendations.
This report was prepared for COMEX as part of a series of GVC industries on Costa Rica. The report has four main sections. First, there is an overview of the aerospace GVC and a discussion of the key segments of the chain. This section presents the governance structure, upgrading and workforce development aspects of this industry. While a global overview of the GVC is required to fully appreciate the mechanisms that drive the industry, emphasis is placed on those parts of the value chain that are most relevant for a small developing country in general, and Costa Rica in particular. This is followed by an analysis of the experiences of Querétaro, Mexico and Singapore as they established aerospace clusters in order to identify potential lessons for Costa Rica. Section 4 provides an analysis of Costa Rica’s actual contributions to the global aerospace sector and the country’s position in the GVC. Finally, section five discusses the potential upgrading trajectories available to allow Costa Rica to improve its participation in the industry, taking into account the country’s unique economic and institutional context.
The goal of this study is to provide a set of recommendations to the Costa Rican Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX), which commissioned this work, to provide guidance on moving up in the four value chains included in the full report. These include medical devices, electronics & electrical, aerospace, and offshore services. This introductory chapter explains the global value chain analytical framework and the methodology. Next, Costa Rica’s institutional context is examined focusing on specific areas: trade policy, free trade zones (FTZs), business environment, human capital and key stakeholders. Finally, the organization of the overall report is outlined.
