18 UNU-WIDER articles, publications, projects, experts...
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Journal Article
Digital Technologies and Product Upgrading in Global Value Chains: Empirical Evidence from Indian Manufacturing FirmsThis article provides empirical evidence on the impact of digitalisation on product upgrading in global value chains (GVCs)...
Technology Global value chains ManufacturingPolicy Brief

Working Paper
Labour conditions in regional versus global value chains: Insights from apparel firms in Lesotho and EswatiniWe explore how decent work varies across Southern Africa apparel firms participating in global value chains (GVCs) and regional value chains (RVCs), respectively...
Regional value chains Global value chains Decent WorkBlog
India’s manufacturing and services value-chains are shifting South: A curse or a blessing?
Much has been written on India as an outlier in Global Value Chains (GVC)...
Structural transformation Manufacturing Global value chainsWorking Paper
Pulling up or binding down: a review of upgrading trajectories in apparel and agro-processing global value chains for developing countriesThere exist a plethora of developing country value chain studies based on a variety of methodological approaches, both in the academic literature and through policy reports...
Global value chains Apparel industry Agro-processingPolicy seminar

Working Paper
Constraints on the performance and competitiveness of Tanzania’s manufacturing exportsThis study sought to examine the main constraints to manufacturing export competitiveness in Tanzania...
Competitiveness Manufacturing ExportsBlog
New research horizons: Global value chains and transaction-level customs data
Over 70% of global trade goes through global value chains (GVCs). For firms in developing countries, insertion into GVCs has been associated with economic and social benefits...
Global value chains Customs data Transaction dataSeminar

Working Paper
Exporters and global value chain participation: Firm-level evidence from South AfricaUsing the South African Revenue Service and National Treasury firm-level panel data for 2009–17, this paper investigates how global value chain-related trade affects the export performance of manufacturing firms in South Africa...
Global value chains Learning by exporting ProductivityWorking Paper
Trade, technology, and absorptive capacity: Firm-level evidence across geographical clusters in the Tanzanian textiles and apparel sectorTrade-linked technological change has potential to increase incomes in low-income countries (LICs). The most labour-intensive segments of the textiles and apparel global value chain are in LICs...
Absorptive capacity Firm productivity Global value chainsBackground Note
Do more diversified suppliers rebound faster than concentrated suppliers in times of shocks?: Insights from KenyaIn this background note, we examine how different firms and sectors rebound or prevail in crises...
Export firms Sectors ShocksWorking Paper
Linking Southern Africa into South Africa’s global value chainsThis study explores the potential for South Africa to become an engine for intra- regional trade and industrial development by linking other Southern African countries to its global value chains and, in the process, improving its global trade competi...
Regional integration Regional value chains Global value chainsWorking Paper
Moving up the copper value chain in Southern AfricaSouthern African countries—mainly Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo—account for around a seventh of global production of copper...
Copper Industrialization AgglomerationWorking Paper
Digital technologies and ‘value’ capture in global value chains: Empirical evidence from Indian manufacturing firmsThis paper examines whether digitalization can be a driver of ‘upgrading’ in global value chains and help developing countries move into higher value-added activities...
Technology Global value chains ManufacturingBlog
Rethinking African industrialization on another Africa Industrialization Day
This week I attended the 28 th Africa Industrialization Day at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Even sympathetic readers may reasonably ask, why hold another African Industrialization Day at all?...
Industrialization Structural change Industrial policy