An increasing number of developing countries engage in contract manufacturing for a decreasing number of global buyers. This constellation characterises many labour intensive export sectors. The positioning of developing country enterprises in such buyer-driven chains is central to research concerned with identifying the winners and losers from globalisation. This study contributes to this debate by seeking answers to two questions: First, what can researchers learn from global buyers about the relative strengths and weaknesses of developing country producers; second, what can these producers learn from global buyers and what circumstances facilitate or constrain such learning.Developing Countries, Contract Manufacturing, Global Buyers, Globalisation,

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Survival and growth-oriented entrepreneurs follow qualitatively different logics. In this article we retrace the scattered previous theorization of this distinction and present a consolidated set of key characteristics of the two types of enterprises, enriched by our own observations in the field. Our main purpose is to typify the different rationalities of the two groups of entrepreneurs. Second, we argue that because most existing interventions are based on the implicit assumption that all entrepreneurs are growth-oriented, they often fail to address the specific needs of survivalists. Finally, we outline an intervention rationale more attuned to the logic of survival entrepreneurs.Les entrepreneurs axe´s sur la survie suivent des logiques qualitativement diffe´rentes de ceux dont l 0 objectif est la croissance e´conomique. Dans cet article nous revenons sur la the´orisation de´jav aguement esquisse´e de cette distinction et pre´sentons un ensemble consolide´des caracte´ristiques cle´s des deux types d 0 entreprises, en nous appuyant sur nos propres observations de terrain. Nous cherchons, en premier lieu, a`caracte´riser les logiques des deux cate´gories d 0 entrepreneurs. Puis, nous montrons que les interventions sont ge´ne´ralement fonde´es sur l 0 hypothe`se implicite que tous les entrepreneurs sont axe´s sur la croissance. De ce fait, celles-ci re´pondent mal aux besoins spe´cifiques des entreprises axe´es sur la survie. Enfin, nous de´crivons une approche d 0 intervention plus en lien avec la logique des entrepreneurs qui sont axe´s sur la survie.

Global value chain and global production network analyses have largely focused on dominance of Northern retailers over suppliers in the global South. The expansion of retailers within the global South sourcing from and supplying consumer end-markets within their own geographic regions is reconfiguring value chain dynamics. This paper draws on GVC and GPN approaches and the concepts of multi-polar governance to analyse changing dynamics of global and regional retail supply networks. Drawing on a case study of supermarket expansion within South and East Africa, it analyses how ‘waves of diffusion’ by global and regional supermarkets provide new opportunities for ‘strategic diversification’ by some horticultural producers and workers. It examines the implications for economic and social upgrading and downgrading, finding mixed outcomes. Strategic diversification provides opportunities for economic and social upgrading by more capable suppliers and skilled workers, but economic downgrading pressures persist and some are excluded from both global and regional value chains.

This paper explores the intersection between three processes associated with globalisation.