Global value chains and policy practice: The making of linkages in the Ivorian cashew industry

Abstract

The global value chain framework has gained increasing prominence as a policy tool for resource-based industrialization. Focusing on synergies between the commodity-producing and related manufacturing and service sectors, value chain interventions assume that buyer-supplier linkages facilitate the upgrading of local industries. This study investigates these synergistic assumptions in the context of the Ivorian cashew industry. The Ivorian case exemplifies how the value chain concept, with its associated focus on local-global linkages, has placed collaboration with foreign lead firms at the heart of the industrial policy agenda. While these collective arrangements are crucial for negotiating inter-firm relationships along global value chains, this study finds little evidence that they have initiated upgrading for local industries. Instead, the emergence of foreign buyers as strategic partners for policy-makers has created opportunities for these lead actors to reinforce their dominant position, stemming from access to finance and technology.

State policies and upgrading in global value chains: A systematic literature review

“…Other important and (potentially) conflicting interests to be acknowledged are those among global lead firms and national policymakers (Abdulsamad & Manson, 2019;Pavlínek, 2016;Pietrobelli & Staritz, 2018), which might prevent policy effectiveness. In the Ivorian Cashew Industry, the resistance of lead firms to pay a premium price for quality products supported by local government initiatives prevented local farmers from capturing more value added, despite strong policy efforts put in place (Tessmann, 2020). Similar resistance can be found in the implementation of (labor) standards (Alford, 2016;Schouten & Hospes, 2018).…”

“…As reflected in Table 2, in line with Horner (2017), the analysis indicates that the facilitator role has been by far the most addressed in GVCs/GPNs studies. This is further demonstrated by the fact that major IOs, including the WTO (2019; Elms & Low, 2013), UNCTAD (2013UNCTAD ( , 2017UNCTAD ( , 2020 and the World Bank , 2020Cattaneo et al, 2013) all contain trade policy and economic development recommendations emphasizing the state's facilitator role.…”

“…Such investments are often aimed at enhancing local skill development, value capture, and promoting broader GVC participation. Such policies involve the development of vocational projects, providing hands-on training to workers and potential entrepreneurs (e. g., Athukorala, 2017;Kergroach, 2019;Tessmann, 2020), or creating stronger links with education institutions, including universities and specialized research centers (e.g., Gao et al, 2019;Rasiah et al, 2016).…”

“…Indeed, the state is often engaged in designing and implementing regulation that affect product price and quality (e.g., Gao et al, 2019;Tessmann, 2020), labor and environmental standards (e.g., Alford, 2016;Hossain, 2019;Yoshida, 2017). Such regulations are primarily aimed at supporting value capture and alternative value appropriation structures in GVCs.…”

Multinationals, Capital Export, and the Inclusive Development Debate in Developing Countries: The Nigerian Insight

“…Linking local businesses to the GVCs is central in the ID debate essentially because it allows for the redistribution of economic benefits along some multiple levels and multi-dimensional lines (Reinders et al 2019;Dekker et al 2018;Hollander et al 2018). It also helps in building a complementary (rather than competitive) relationship between MNCs and local businesses, while at the same time facilitating the latter's access to international markets (Feyaerts et al 2020;and Tessmann, 2020), as well as to ensure deeper inclusion of the members of the base/ bottom of the pyramid (Kolk et al 2014). Using the case of Ivorian Cashew industry, for example, Tessmann (2020) illustrated how local-global linkages could constitute 'collective arrangements [that] are crucial for negotiating inter-firm relationships along global value chains'.…”