Multinational firms, global value chains and the organization of knowledge transfer

Measuring the environmental sustainability performance of global supply chains: A multi-regional input-output analysis for carbon, sulphur oxide and water footprints

“…Indeed, literature on industrial clusters within global value chains has also highlighted the role of inter-firm co-operation which is further down the hierarchy presented in Figure 1 (Humphrey and Schmitz 2008;Pietrobelli and Rabellotti 2011;Gereffi and Lee 2016). In this paper, we seek to emphasise that the firm-based view (a bottom-up perspective) of global value chain analyses, although useful (Saliola and Zanfei 2009), is not wholly sufficient for the purpose of measuring the environmental performance of global value chains; so we argue for an industry-level (topdown) perspective as the level of analyses in an attempt to build on the theory and application of measurement of environmental sustainability.…”

The Sustainability of Global Chain Governance: Network Structures and Local Supplier Upgrading in Thailand

“…Our results suggest that the way GPNs are governed is neither purely hierarchical nor cooperative but has considerable variation that is not fully attributable to the industrial composition of firms. In a departure from previous studies that have relied upon an arbitrary grouping of buyer-supplier relationships [39], we used a recent technique of LCA to identify five latent clusters of local suppliers with qualitatively distinct patterns of relationships with their global buyers. In this way, our investigation broadens the empirical base for understanding the conditions in which developing country manufacturers operate in this era of globalization.…”

3. Quality challenges and opportunities in the pineapple supply chain in Benin

“…These companies have a strong influence on whether and what type of innovations in the chain will be adopted (Saliola and Zanfei, 2009). The food quality and safety standard GlobalGAP is often presented as an example where large (originally European) supermarket companies have set the private standards that all suppliers of fresh produce have to comply with The introduction of these standards by large supermarket companies has greatly supported the introduction of sustainable production methods.…”

“…In the literature on global value chains (GVCs), these change processes are referred to as 'upgrading' , implying changes in the activities of developing country producers to make better products, produce more efficiently or move into more rewarding activities. Stories of successful upgrading are usually explained through the potential to learn from global buyers who, to reduce the risk of supplier failure, may support their suppliers and transfer information on productionrelated issues Saliola and Zanfei, 2009). …”