Spreading the Gains of Globalization: What Can Be Learned from Value Chain Analysis

Abstract

In recent years globalisation has been associated with growing inequality both among countries and inside their borders as well as with increasing number of people living in poverty. Among those participating in globalisational processes losers can also be found. The article discusses ways to provide under such conditions stable income growth of poor people and poor countries. It is essential to determine means of design and production of goods including internal company structure and relations among companies as well as possibilities of interaction of poor producers and poor countries with producers and consumers in the world economy. Value chain analysis covering the complete cycle of economic activity – from producing the product to its consuming and recycling – is an adequate instrument for assessing the effectiveness of private and public enterprises. Moreover, it helps to deeper understand the political tasks which arise before private and public sectors. Basic theories of value chain concept are considered in the article and specific examples of its implementation are given.

From pond to plate: Towards a twin-driven commodity chain in Bangladesh shrimp aquaculture

“…Kaplinsky (2000), in particular, suggests that the ability to govern often rests in intangible competences (R&D, design, branding, and marketing) which are characterized by high barriers of entry and command high returns -usually reaped by developed-country firms. In contrast, developing country farms tend to be locked into the tangible (production) activities, producing to the parameters set by the ''governors", suffering from low barriers of entry and reaping low-returns.…”

Entrepreneurship in value chains of non-timber forest products

“…A value chain describes the full range of activities required to bring a product or service from conception, through the intermediary phases of production (transformation and producer services inputs), delivery to final consumers and final disposal after use (Kaplinsky, 2000). A value chain can be called global when it involves different stakeholders at different stages in different countries.…”

Valuation of non-timber forest products value chains

“…No other study on commercial NTFPs provides this estimate. Data for canned deciduous fruit from Kenya, with a comparable figure of 12% (Kaplinsky, 2000), show that this proportion is large. A qualitative analysis of the costs involved for harvesters, mainly imputed labour and transportation costs, indicates that harvesters have less expenditures than do any other groups of actors, and can make considerable returns.…”

“…By focusing on the whole range of activities and relations associated with production, exchange, transport and distribution of a particular commodity (Kaplinsky, 2001;Ribot, 1998), the value chain approach is simultaneously a descriptive tool and an analytic instrument (Kaplinsky, 2001). Because value chain analysis often includes additional elements beyond the coverage of sub-sector analysis and market analysis, such as inter-firm cooperation, governance, entry barriers, rents and geographic coverage that extends to global markets, it has been applied to different sectors and in studies of gains and losses resulting from globalisation (Kaplinsky, 2000). In a first attempt to address governance issues in NTFP value chains, te Velde et al (2006) studied 19 cases from Mexico and Bolivia.…”