11
Jun
GVCs is a “hot topic” today on the international trade community’s agenda. The internationalization of activities developed by firms (especially manufacturing processes) is spreading to different industries and different regions of the world at unprecedented scale and speed.
In order to understand this phenomenon and identify challenges and opportunities for firms and countries, various research and analyses have been and continue to be conducted. They can be generally divided into two types. The first type is mostly targeted at firms with the objective of identifying the best paths to insert them into the GVCs. The second type is mainly related to opportunities and challenges arising from GVCs and their implications for policymakers and regulators in different countries.
GVCs have attracted increasing attention from developing countries in these countries’ efforts to integrate themselves more deeply and extensively into world trade and thus promote their development. In this context, this paper reviews existing literature on GVCs and attempts to present an overview of GVCs with particular emphasis on developing countries.
The issues examined relate to:
- The understanding of the concept of GVCs;
- The participation of developing countries in GVCs, using relevant available data;
- Some policy challenges for the participation of this group of countries in GVCs;
- The increasing role of services in GVCs.
Access and download the full UNCTAD study at: http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditctncd2015d1_en.pdf