This technical report was written by Stacey Frederick for the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) Business Environment Working Group. It examines how the business environment can support positive integration and upgrading of formal firms in global value chains (GVCs). It addresses the role of the business environment and reform regarding attracting lead firms and supporting positive effects from investment, increasing the quality and supply of domestic firms, facilitating linkages between foreign and domestic firms, and supporting integration into new chains via regional trade agreements. These are discussed in this report as they relate to factors affecting competitiveness in GVCs.
The Asia Expert Forum interviewed Dr. Frederick regarding current issues surrounding global supply chains.
Stacey Frederick and Jack Daly look at the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism industry in developing countries and provide insights from global value chain (GVC) analysis as in this op-ed for Trade and Development News managed by the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF).
Abstract: Global value chain research has evolved over the last two decades from a theoretical framework to an applied research approach widely used in industrial organization and development studies to address a myriad of research questions. A key element of conducting such research is establishing a clear, repeatable process to identify and describe the stakeholders and concepts of the analysis across a range of industries and topics. The global value chain (GVC) research approach has two main steps: value chain mapping (identifying who and where) and value chain analysis (the what and why). This chapter focuses on value chain mapping – the process of identifying the structural elements along the value chain, including firms, workers, activities, products, and places. It includes steps and data sources to define the scope of an industry using a combination of international standardized classification systems and insights from existing research and fieldwork. The general approach is presented along with industry-specific examples of how the process has been applied in GVC studies. This chapter was written by Stacey Frederick and appears as Chapter 1 in the Handbook on Global Value Chains.
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 research assessed the distribution of value in agri-food GVCs and recommended policy areas where advocacy campaigns should focus to support inclusive growth. The research synthesized quantitative and qualitative analytical approaches. Data from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) and GVC input-output models were deployed to estimate distribution of value across the agri-food GVCs. Interpretation of the findings and an assessment of drivers of value distribution were conducted by a series of case studies. Selection of case studies were informed by various GVC governance structures linked to product characteristics and consultation with the client. Data and information for the project was collected from various databases, industry reports, journal articles, and interviews key informants. The research identified areas where policy interventions were necessary to address income inequality within the context of agri-food GVCs. The report also highlighted complexities and data challenges facing researchers to effectively measure value distribution in GVCs.
Policymakers are increasingly turning to GVCs as a means of driving development, including generating employment and raising incomes. Access to and benefits from participation in GVCs are closely related to gender issues. The opportunities associated with GVCs differ for men and women as a result of gender-based segregation and constraints that exist to different degrees in all societies. Not seeing these inequalities is problematic from a gender equality perspective and can hinder the broader effectiveness of trade and development policies.
This report for Oxfam presents the asymmetric power relations in global value chains. It examines the limits of private governance and its development implications for local firms and producers in developing countries by drawing on the cases of apparel, cocoa-chocolate, and sugar-‘soft drink’ global value chains.
This report uses global value chains (GVC) analysis to understand how the changing dynamics of the global tobacco industry are affecting producers in low-income countries that are heavily reliant on the tobacco industry. Growing evidence of the negative health effects of smoking has led to increased adoption of tobacco control measures around the world. Although the overall goal of tobacco control is to protect public health, there are also concerns about whether decreases in demand as a result of tobacco control policies negatively impact small producers and increase poverty in developing countries that highly depend on tobacco exports. The report provides an introduction to the global tobacco industry, and three countries cases: Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia. It was prepared on behalf of the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Secretariat and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
