This article examines the use of online supplier portals (OSPs) in managing lead firm–supplier relations in global auto parts‐automotive value chains (AACs) from suppliers’ point of view, and the implications of OSP usage for upgrading prospects of suppliers from middle‐income countries. The research is based on interviews with representatives of 33 auto parts suppliers and stakeholders of the auto parts‐automotive industry from Turkey and Mexico. The article has three main findings. Firstly, the use of OSPs is not the same across AACs and depends on the existing governance structures in these chains. Secondly, OSPs are used more in AACs with loose governance structures while their usage decreases as supplier–buyer coordination increases, which contrasts the mainstream expectations. Thirdly, the use of OSPs is not transforming the governance structures or implications of these structures for suppliers but rather reinforces the existing dynamics in these aspects.
The literature on the political economy of development argues that many middle-income countries could not develop strong vocational education and training systems because of the lack of political coalitions that would support such systems. However, these researchers have overlooked the role of partisan politics, domain of political competition and the links of insiders and outsiders with political parties. This article addresses this gap by studying the case of Turkey in the 2000s, when the country was governed by the Justice and Development Party and experienced important changes in its vocational education and training system. It investigates the political shifts in these years and the impact of these shifts on vocational education and training policies. The article argues that the governing Justice and Development Party played a key role in the changes in the Turkish vocational education and training system. Small and medium enterprises and labour market outsiders, which were the outsiders of the political and economic system, formed Justice and Development Party’s main constituents. Different from the previous parties, Justice and Development Party focused on the economic interests of outsiders and vocational education and training became an important tool to address such interests of both groups. The Justice and Development Party governments integrated the interests of both small and medium enterprises and workers into the vocational education and training policies in the 2000s, which has led to a vocational education and training system with high state commitment, higher firm involvement and higher permeability between vocational and general education. This research is based on process-tracing of the political dynamics and vocational education and training system developments in Turkey in 2002–2011. The data comprise primary and secondary documents, as well as interviews with several stakeholders.
This chapter summarises the main arguments of the book and its contribution to the theoretical debates in different fields of study that it draws from. The main arguments in the chapter, and the book in general, relate to the discussion on the convergence versus divergence of firm behaviour due to the governance structures in global value chains versus the national institutional environment surrounding firms, the role of state involvement for national institutions and their complementarities, the idea of complementarity and capitalist systems in countries that are outside of the ideal types, and the implications of skill systems with different levels and types of state involvement for high-road development. The chapter finishes by presenting three new avenues of research to which the book may lead.
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