Upgrading strategies in global furniture value chains

Abstract not available

The global wood furniture value chain: what prospects for upgrading by developing countries? The case of South Africa

Because of its resource and labour intensity, the wood furniture sector presents an opportunity for developing countries and their firms to participate effectively in the global economy. This paper begins with a brief description of the global wood furniture industry and highlights the importance of exports wood furniture products for developing countries and emerging and transitional economies. The paper then maps the wood furniture value chain and opens-up the nature of the buying function, since this function represents the key form of control over global production networks in this sector (that is, the wood furniture chain is what is increasingly referred to as a "buyer-driven chain"). The paper then asks what producers need to do in order to upgrade their activities, particularly in developing countries. In order to address these issues the authors describe the evolution of an initiative designed to promote the upgrading of one segment of the wood furniture industry in a middle-income country, South Africa. This experience is then used to generate a series of generic policy challenges, which might be transferred to other countries and to other sectors

Globalization and upgrading: what can (and cannot) be learnt from international trade statistics in the wood furniture sector?

The measurement of innovation is a complex and ambiguous challenge. Two broad families of measures have been used: those focusing on inputs and those focusing on outputs. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, but neither is able to capture the growing importance of product innovation adequately. In this paper we attempt to throw more light on the measurement of product innovation through the complementary use of data on unit-price and market-share. The analysis is distinctive through its exclusive use of trade data. These measures are applied to the global furniture industry through an analysis of imports into the EU between 1989 and 2001

Integrating SMEs in Global Value Chains: Towards Partnership for Development

This report was produced in an effort to establish a sound conceptual basis for UNIDO’s partnership programme with the business community. It surveys the changing role of the private sector in economic and industrial development, reviews how the formation of TNC-SME linkages and the insertion of SMEs into global value chains can contribute to SME development, and assesses the measures that national and multinational bodies such as UNIDO can take to promote such development in partnership with the business community. It therefore provides a valuable insight into the purposes and benefits of entering into such development-oriented partnerships with the business community. This is of relevance not only to UNIDO but to all researchers and practitioners of development-related activities

The globalization of product markets and immiserizing gowth: 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

Shopping for Buyers of Product Development Expertise:: How Video Games Developers Stay Ahead

This paper draws upon the strategy literature to provide a number of insights into what constitute the critical external drivers influencing strategy and the nature of the internal resources firms require to sustain their competitive advantage. The paper reviews the market- and resource-based views of the firm and argues that the activities of buyers directly and indirectly contribute to the innovation process of a firm as 'signallers', 'revealers' and 'collaborators'. Examples are drawn from the video games industry which has particular constraints coupled with buyer and innovation demands arising out of fast-changing technologies, markets and resources that have ever-shortening shelf lives; namely, characters, title franchises and gaming/technology platforms. We suggest that, for the video game industry, buyers particularly value firms' dynamic capabilities, specifically those capabilities that contribute to product creation and product development capabilities of 'super developers' over other considerations.

Transforming research-technology organisations: Insights from the UK

The paper offer insights from case studies of intermediaries, more specifically research-technology organisations in the UK. These organisations, many of which are incorporated as not-for-profit companies, can be seen as hybrid research environments between basic science and applied, industrial research. This contribution will illustrate how once public research institutes have undergone a process of transformation which has proven quite radical become at times