Deepening or delinking? Innovative capacity and global value chain participation in the IT industry

Abstract

Innovation trajectories in global value chains (GVCs) can take differentiated pathways. In this article, we address the question: do stylized trajectories emerge from the analysis of countries’ relative innovative capacity (IC) and GVC participation? We draw explorative insights from a cluster analysis of 45 countries on the two subsectors of the information technology industry: hardware and software. Our analysis uncovers remarkable differences between hardware and software and across countries. We identify different trajectories and discuss the sectoral specificities that contribute explaining their existence. The association between the strengthening of IC and a deeper insertion in GVCs applies only to a handful of countries and only in the software subsector. The specificity of this association raises questions for future research on innovation trajectories in GVCs.

Co-evolutionary patterns of GVC-trade and knowledge flows in the mining industry: evidence from Latin America

“…Recent contributions show that the study of the relationship between GVCs and innovation activities can be fertile and enrich the understanding of the dynamics at stake. Extant literature investigates the impact of the involvement in GVCs on innovation dynamics and the development of technological capabilities (Pietrobelli and Rabellotti, 2011;Lema et al, 2021). The international trade literature has shown how the international fragmentation of production and the rise of GVCs can alter the domestic organization of production also within industries (Feenstra and Hanson, 1996;Deardorff, 2001;Grossman and Rossi-Hansberg, 2008).…”

“…Previous literature has emphasized the importance of gaining access to internationally dispersed technological capabilities to integrate them in recombinant dynamics, leveraging knowledge repositories in geographically dispersed units (Zander, 1999 and2002). So far, less attention has been given to the interplay between international innovation networks and trade flows, while only recently has some literature emerged addressing the nexus between innovation and international trade by looking at the impact of countries' integration into Global Value Chains (GVCs) on innovation performances (Pietrobelli and Rabellotti, 2011;Lema et al, 2021). This paper aims to fill these gaps by delving into the co-evolutionary patterns of knowledge and trade flows in the mining industry, with a particular focus on three significant Latin American countries: Brazil, Chile, and Peru.…”