Governing global value chains: an introduction

TLDR

This introductory paper reviews governance as the most studied dimension of global value chains, outlining its three main interpretations—driving, coordination, and normalization—within the broader context of economic globalization. The authors question whether the diverse, eclectic GVC governance literature can be unified under a single paradigm, or whether GVC analysis should remain a flexible methodological tool adaptable to multiple theoretical perspectives. After summarizing four subsequent papers, the authors reflect on the current state of GVC analysis, noting its developmental progress and ongoing challenges.

Abstract

Abstract This introductory paper to the special issue on governing global value chains (GVCs) focuses on the concept of governance as the dimension of GVCs that has received the most theoretical and empirical attention to date. After a brief introduction of the GVC concept in relation to the literature on economic globalization, we review the three main interpretations of GVC governance that have been advanced: governance as driving, governance as coordination and governance as normalization. After summaries of the four subsequent papers (by Bair, Gibbon and Ponte, Milberg, and Palpacuer), the authors offer reflections on the current state of development of GVC analysis. The unevenness and theoretical eclecticism of the GVC literature to date, particularly but not only with regard to the understanding of governance, poses the question of whether it is possible to reconcile the different approaches within a unified paradigm. If not, then GVC analysis is better understood as a methodological approach that can be mobilized within various theoretical perspectives.