Raphael Kaplinsky

Globalisation and Unequalisation: What Can Be Learned from Value Chain Analysis?

Although many have gained from the process of globalisation, there remains a stubbornly large number of people living in absolute poverty and a rise in inequality within and between countries. The issue is thus not whether to participate in the global economy but how to do so in a manner which provides for sustainable and equitable income growth. This study shows how value chain analysis can be used to chart the growing disjuncture between global economic activity and global income distribution and to provide causal explanations for this outcome. In so doing, value chain analysis provides valuable insights into policy formulation and implementation.

Putting supply chain learning into practice

As firms struggle to cope with an increasingly turbulent and uncertain economic environment there is widespread recognition of the importance of organisational learning. One option is to look at the potential of shared learning between firms, where common interests and interdependence provide motivation for experience sharing and other forms of synergy in learning. A particular version of inter-firm learning is the use of supply chains as a mechanism for upgrading and transferring “appropriate practice” and this article reports on exploratory research on this theme. It draws on a literature survey and a detailed study of six UK supply chains at various stages of implementing supply chain learning.

Export Processing Zones in the Dominican Republic: Transforming manufactures into commodities

This paper examines the performance of Export Processing Zones in the Dominican Republic. It shows that in specializing in unskilled labor-intensive export processing in the context of competitive devaluations between Central American countries, the Dominican Republic has experienced immiserizing employment growth. In these circumstances the export of labor-intensive manufactures is akin to that of primary commodities. Exporting countries which rely on unskilled labor and which fail to make the transition to higher value-added production exports are thus likely to experience declining terms of trade. The conclusions of this case study are considered to have wider relevance to World Bank and International Monetary Fund inspired structural adjustment programs in the Region.

The Globalization of Product Markets and Immiserizing Growth: Lessons From the South African Furniture Industry

The central issue addressed in this paper is whether some developing countries will find it difficult to compete effectively in global product markets and will therefore be locked into processes of immiserizing growth. It focuses on the role of South African producers in the global furniture value chain, analyzing the factors affecting firm upgrading, particularly the role of global buyers. The paper observes a global industry characterized by increased competition and falling unit prices, with local firms dependent on a falling exchange rate. It concludes with implications for policy and future research, including generalizing the findings to other sectors and countries.

Technology and globalisation: who gains when commodities are de-commodified?

Like many primary products, coffee has long been characterised as a commodity with falling terms of trade and volatile prices. Yet, in recent years, there has been growing product differentiation in final markets, with premium prices being earned and high and sustainable incomes being provided. So far, these product rents have been almost entirely appropriated by residents of high-income economies. However, to the extent that growers can learn to improve their product through the systematic application of knowledge throughout the value chain, and consumers are taught to recognise that product variety and quality are determined in the growing rather than the roasting stage of the chain, an alternative outcome is possible. This paper outlines the necessary knowledge flows and concludes with an assessment of who needs to do what if this more favourable outcome for growers is to be realised.

Technique and system: The spread of Japanese management techniques to developing countries

In this paper a distinction is drawn between the isolated use of individual Japanese management techniques and their adoption in an integrated package as part of a production system. Although the use of individual techniques does confer significant benefits to innovating firms, it is clear from international experience that the major gains arise from systemic application. The central objective of this paper is to explore whether there are obstacles specific to less-developed countries (LDCs) in the systemic application of Japanese management techniques. The major forces driving the adoption of these new management techniques are reviewed, based upon research in Latin America, India and Zimbabwe. Then three major LDC-specific factors affecting systemic adoption are considered—human resources, interfirm cooperation and management.

The use of a lean production index in explaining the transition to global competitiveness: the auto components sector in South Africa

Globalisation means enhanced competition. This is a problem both for firms in rich countries, and for those in developing countries. In particular producers in high-income countries are increasingly being threatened by imports from low wage economies. Lean production techniques are therefore an urgent prerequisite for producers everywhere. But how can the degree of progress in the adoption of lean production be measured? And what factors determine the rate of adoption of lean production? This paper addresses both methodological issues (the construction of a lean production index) and the analysis of factors determining its adoption through an investigation of the South African auto components sector.

Electronics-based automation technologies and the onset of systemofacture: Implications for Third World industrialization

This paper considers the implications of emergent best-practice techniques for Third World industrial strategies. These new techniques are described in historical context, and are considered to consist of two major developments. These are the adoption of systemic, electronics-based automation technologies, and the adoption of Japanese-style just-in-time production techniques. The implications for Third World industrialization are considered in four major areas, namely: policies concerning technological diffusion; networking and infrastructure; skill acquisition; and the role of design in comparative advantage.

Inclusive innovation: an architecture for policy development

The past two decades have been characterized by an increasing uncoupling of economic growth and social and economic development. Outside of China, the numbers living in absolute poverty have remained stubbornly large; in Africa, they have increased substantially. Although this uncoupling has multiple sources, the trajectory of innovation (large in scale, capital intensive in nature and destructive of the environment) has contributed to these outcomes. Reorienting towards a more ‘inclusive innovation’ path has an important role to play in overcoming exclusion. However, we have only a weak understanding of the definition, nature and dynamics of inclusive innovation, and this paper seeks to fill this conceptual gap. It argues that inclusive innovation needs to be understood and developed in the context of a holistic conception of the innovation cycle, the distinction between process and product innovation and the roles played by the poor as both producers and consumer. It further charts the growing interest of private sector actors in inclusive innovation (including, but not confined to transnational corporations seeking the ‘fortune at the bottom of the pyramid’) and large global funds working in tandem with the private sector and governments. Consideration is also given to the role which growth trajectories play in determining the direction of innovation and in promoting linkages between the globally absolute poor (incomes below

What are the Implications for Global Value Chains When the Market Shifts from the North to the South

1pd) and those with discretionary cash incomes living in the margins above