Local Embeddedness, Upgrading and Skill Development: Global Value Chains and Foreign Direct Investment in Lesotho's Apparel Industry
Local Embeddedness, Upgrading and Skill Development: Global Value Chains and Foreign Direct Investment in Lesotho's Apparel Industry
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DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.2237488
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发表时间：
2013-02
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
C. Staritz;M. Morris
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Staritz;M. Morris
许多低收入国家通过外国直接投资融入服装全球价值链。莱索托也是如此，根据《非洲增长和机会法》（AGOA），莱索托已发展成为撒哈拉以南非洲对美国最大的服装出口国。最近，莱索托出现了一个新的服装出口市场机会，即南非的区域市场。美国和南非这两个出口市场由不同类型的外国直接投资公司供应，这些公司主要是台湾跨国生产商和南非制造商的子公司，它们被纳入不同的价值链。本文评估了莱索托升级融入这两个价值链的影响，第一个价值链的特点是台湾的投资和饲料进入美国市场的AGOA和第二个特点是南非的投资和饲料进入南非市场。这些价值链在所有权模式、终端市场、出口产品、治理结构和公司结构、投资者的动机和对主要挑战的看法方面各不相同。这些不同的特点对升级的可能性，包括功能、工艺和“当地”升级，有着至关重要的影响。因此，从升级和可持续性的角度来看，所有权模式、当地扎根和市场多样化都很重要。南非作为一个替代终端市场的出现，以及在南非零售商主导的价值链中运作的不同价值链动态，开辟了不同于《非洲增长和机会法》/台湾主导的价值链的新机会。
Many low-income countries (LICs) are integrated into apparel global value chains (GVCs) through foreign direct investment (FDI). This is also the case in Lesotho, which developed into the largest Sub-Sahara African (SSA) apparel exporter to the US under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). More recently, a new apparel export market opportunity has emerged in Lesotho, that of the regional market of South Africa. The two export markets, the US and South Africa, are supplied by different types of FDI firms, affiliates of largely Taiwanese transnational producers and of South African manufacturers that are incorporated into distinct value chains. This paper assesses the implications for upgrading integration into these two value chains in Lesotho, the first value chain characterized by Taiwanese investment and feeding into the US market under AGOA and the second characterized by South African investment and feeding into the South African market. These value chains differ with regard to ownership patterns, end markets, export products, governance structures and firm set-up, investors’ motivations and perceptions on the main challenges. These different characteristics have crucial impacts on upgrading possibilities, including functional, process and ‘local’ upgrading. Thus, from the perspective of upgrading and sustainability, ownership patterns, local embeddedness and market diversification matter. The emergence of South Africa as an alternative end market and the different value chain dynamics operating in the South African retailer-governed value chain open up new opportunities away from those of the AGOA-/Taiwanese-dominated value chain.