This background paper report was prepared for Georgetown Americas Institute (GAI). It defines and describes the global digital business process–related services ecosystem, presents Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC) countries’ participation, and provides considerations for increasing participation. From a global perspective, the LAC region is viewed as an offshore destination for cost reduction and workforce availability rather than innovation. Export-oriented foreign investors are primarily shared services centers and third-party providers of contact center services. Opportunities for LAC to contribute significantly to the global digital services ecosystem are unlikely, at least in the short to medium term, given the dominance of U.S. technology firms and LAC’s limited participation in terms of supply and demand. Increasing use of digital technologies and services and supporting regional firm development are more feasible objectives. LAC firms may be able to reach a global audience in niche areas based on local expertise and partnerships with global digital firms.
This report investigates the digital transformation occurring within GVCs and describes the implications those changes carry for APEC cooperation. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to accelerate the digital transformation and bolster the digital economy as work is underway to overcome this unprecedented crisis. Under these circumstances, understanding digital transformation within GVCs is critical to surmounting the COVID-19 crisis and preparing for a post-pandemic era.
This article is related to research conducted as part of the collaboration between KIET and GVCC. The article was published in the March/April 2019 KIET Industrial Economic Review, Volume 24, Issue Number 2, p. 14-27.
This GVCC report first provides an overview of the offshore services GVC to present a clear understanding of the scope of the industry, how markets are structured and how changing distribution of demand and supply destinations alter structural dynamics in the chain. It then analyzes the industry within Pakistan, detailing the country’s position in the global market as well as the internal organization of the industry and the human capital status. After assessing the advantages and constraints observed in Pakistan, it looks to India and Uruguay for comparative case studies, detailing the lessons learned for Pakistan. The report concludes by outlining potential upgrading strategies to enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global market. Across the entire report, focus is placed on the opportunities than Pakistan can leverage in the export market, excluding the domestic market space.
This joint report by the GVC Center and KIET builds on recommendations from the first project to explore opportunities in technology-related services. This report: describes and defines the digital economy, provides a case study that illustrates how Industry 4.0 impacts the capital equipment GVC and provides analysis of the activities taking place in different countries including the US, China, India, Singapore and Korea. To identify entry and upgrading opportunities in this field, 28 company case studies of global information technology (IT) lead firms were completed to identify common strategies of existing global leaders.
Duke GVCC presented The Digital Economy & Global Value Chains: Implications for Korea in Seoul, Korea on December 4, 2018 at the KIET-Duke GVCC seminar on Upgrading Globalization for Innovation Growth: Expansion of Digital Companies in GVCs and its Implications. The presentation provides an overview of the results of our recent project KIET on the digital economy and GVCs.
Over the past decade, the offshore services industry has experienced tremendous expansion and has emerged as a dynamic global sector, growing at faster rates than exported goods. As a result, developing countries are no longer relegated to manufacturing and natural resource-intensive industries for development. As companies frequently scout new locations with the necessary human capital to provide services at a low cost, opportunities to drive sustainable growth through the expansion of the knowledge economy are abundant, especially in Latin American and the Caribbean nations. Jamaica’s offshore services industry has expanded significantly since its inception in the early 2000s, doubling employment in the last three years. As an emerging location for customer support, upgrading opportunities are beginning to emerge. This report uses the global value chain framework to map Jamaica’s current participation in the offshore services industry and identify ways to upgrade to higher value-added segments.
Companies in search of lower costs and new talent have begun unbundling their corporate activities and are sourcing them from abroad. The information technology revolution has expedited the growth of this industry facilitating the trade of these service activities. This page includes research and publications pertaining to the digital economy, information technology (IT) and business process (BP) services, and offshore services.
Karina Fernandez-Stark is an editor of this recent ECLAC book on the service industry in Latin America.
