Pervasive but Neglected: Conceptualising Services and Global Production Networks

Abstract

Services account for a very large share of employment and economic growth across the globe. In recent years, a global shift in service delivery has occurred through the relocation, or offshoring, of ICT-enabled service employment to countries in the Global South. Despite the pervasiveness of services in the global economy, empirical research employing the global production network (GPN) framework has not fully engaged with services and continues to be characterised by a 'productionist bias' (Coe and Yeung 2015, p. 24). This article addresses the neglected function of services in GPNs and global value chain research and interrogates the potential of the globalisation of service delivery for regional economic development. Services in GPNs are conceptualised using three lenses: a services-within-manufacturing networks lens (seeing services as intermediaries), a dedicated services networks lens (seeing services as independent service production networks), and a local support services networks lens ( focusing on the rise of local service networks in regions). This conceptualisation is explored empirically drawing on research on the information technology and business process outsourcing sector in the Philippines and India. Employing a local support services networks lens makes visible otherwise hidden territorial processes and reveals a rising local service-sector nexus, which is relevant for understanding regional economic development implications.

Beyond facilitator? State roles in global value chains and global production networks

“…By incorporating a wider variety of actors than the more firm‐centred chain approach and so producing a broader understanding of governance (Coe, Dicken, & Hess, , 272; Yang & Coe, ), the GPN approach with its relational perspective seeks to account for firm actors both vertically in the chain and with reference to key horizontal relationships that shape the transnational production of goods and services (Coe et al, ; Coe & Yeung, ; Henderson et al, ; for services, see Kleibert, ). The GPN approach has scope to recognise collective power (e.g., trade unions, employers' associations, NGOs, etc.)…”

Transnational labour migration and the offshoring of knowledge-intensive business services within global production networks: The case of a German automotive company in Turkey

“…In GPN research, services have received only limited attention until now. One reason for this is that services are ‘ difficult to conceptualise in GPNs, because they perform a double function – they can constitute dedicated service networks in their own right, or can be intermediate inputs in other GPNs’ (Kleibert, 2016: 333f). In this article we focus on services as intermediate inputs within a global manufacturing network.…”