Global Value Chains Initiative

The Global Value Chains (GVC) Initiative is a loose network of researchers, activists, and policymakers that seeks to consolidate and foster the GVC perspective, an industry-centric view of economic globalization that highlights the linkages between economic actors and across geographic space. It is an ongoing effort to test and develop the GVC perspective with the aims of creating greater analytical precision, intellectual impact and policy relevance.

The goals of the GVC Initiative are twofold. The first is to advance the GVC perspective in the realm of academia. We seek to clarify and consolidate the theoretical underpinnings of the approach. What accounts for the observable differences in GVCs? The second is to develop more effective tools for policymakers and activists seeking to alleviate poverty through sustainable industrial upgrading and employment creation.

The Initiative began working together in 2000.  The co-organizers of the Initiative are Gary Gereffi of the Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness (CGGC) at Duke University; John Humphrey of the Institute for Development Studies at the University of Sussex; and Timothy Sturgeon, of the Industrial Performance Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since then, it has received support from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

The network's efforts include a research agenda, a publishing thrust, the development and dissemination of industrial upgrading handbooks for practitioners, and workshops convened to test and broaden the framework through interactions with our network partners and with the broader academic, policy-making and activist communities. The GVC Initiative seeks to build upon on a wealth of research on how the global organization of industries is changing. The content of the Web site provides indications of our progress and our success.

www.globalvaluechains.org