Q Step Summer Research Projects 2017
Project leader /
Supervisor
Email
Project Reference
Project Title
Jeremy Clegg & Hinrich Voss
[email protected] & [email protected]
LUBS-18-JC
Understanding the development implications of Global Value Chain
(GVC) participation on developing economies
Location of Placement
University of Leeds/Leeds University Business
School/International Business/Cromer Terrace
Brief overview of project (including whether it involves quantitative or qualitative research)
This internship position will contribute to a major project, currently underway, on
international value chains and the power of multinational corporations within these
chains. This is a topic that brings together international business theory, the theory of
economic development, and management-related research on bargaining within value
chains – a vibrant subject area.
The main part of this internship will consist of data gathering under the guidance of the
project supervisors, aided by a postgraduate doctoral researcher – Miguel Dindial – who
is managing a significant piece of research within this subject area.
Using a theoretical framework developed by the supervisors and Miguel, the intern will
interrogate and organise data drawn from the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) Global Value Chains (GVCs) and Development project. The
data from this project covers Investment and Value Added Trade in the Global Economy,
and is known as the UNCTAD-Eora GVC Database. This work is part of UNCTAD’s FDITNCs-GVC Information System, which provides new perspectives on trade links between
economies, on the distribution of value added, and on changes in income and
employment resulting from trade and investment. These data will be analysed within the
theoretical framework produced within Leeds, to generate a sophisticated description of
global value chains as they are developing today, in the context of international business
and developing economies. The research activity of the intern will therefore be
quantitative, but strongly theoretically-driven.
The theoretical framework to be applied is highly original – having been produced at
Leeds, drawing on the primary research of the postgraduate researcher. The intern will
therefore have the opportunity to work closely not only with the supervisors but also with
a researcher currently investigating a subject of great topicality and importance. The
findings of this project, are expected to be innovative in revealing not only changes in the
returns to capital and labour, but also the reasons for these changes in terms of the
impact of FDI upon global value added trade, and the location and growth of value added
in the developing economies of the world.. In other words there will be a dimension that
offers a scientific critique of the conventional wisdom that global value chains (GVCs) are
beneficial to world income and welfare. This will take the analysis beyond a mere
description of the data.
Q Step Summer Research Projects 2017
Links to external organisation/s (if relevant)
Both supervisors have strong links with UNCTAD, and the work conducted under this
internship will have direct relevance to the staff working in the Division for Industry and
Employment (DIAE), which is the division of UNCTAD that produces the annual World
Investment Report. One of the supervisors of this research internship has acted as an
expert adviser to UNCTAD on the topic of international business and global value chains,
and was one of the advisory group that assisted UNCTAD in producing the World
Investment Report dedicated to analysing GVCs, which was published in 2013. It is likely
that the outcome of this internship will be presented to UNCTAD, therefore giving a
unique link to real-world practice and international policy advice.
Nature of tasks to be pursued by the placement holder (and quantitative/qualitative research
skills to be developed)
The empirical part of the internship will collect unique information from the UNCTADEora GVC Database and data on multinational firms with globally dispersed activities.
While multinationals’ end market operations (sales) lie predominantly in mainly the
developed economies, globally fragmented value chains means that these multinational
firms become intertwined in the operations of domestic firms in developing countries. The
effects of these relationships have profound implications on economic development
within these underdeveloped nations.
From the academic point of view, the intern’s research will investigate: (1) the nature and
extent of the global fragmentation (and length) of key value chains, with a focus on the
impact of FDI upon the organisation of such value chains (2) the evolution of these value
chains over time in conjunction with FDI – in terms of domestic embeddedness, chain
length and activity scope. These aspects will be inferred from patterns in the secondary
data, and will be informed by our theoretical framework and existing empirical work.
To achieve the internship’s objectives, research in the public domain (e.g., business and
financial media), including database research, and directed reading, will be required. It is
planned that this research will be written up for dissemination (see above) and may
contribute to work to be presented at UNCTAD.
The research skills to be developed will be how to secure and conduct effective research
upon secondary data, and how to relate international business principles to the realworld existence and operation of GVCs, and to foreign investment. Critical ability will also
be developed, as the topic is one on which conflicting views are expressed in different
segments of society.
Nature of contact with / support for placement holder from staff member
The activity will be run by the supervisors and will be supplemented by regular (at least
weekly) one-to-one (or one-to-two) face-to-face instruction with the supervisors in
Q Step Summer Research Projects 2017
aspects of the empirical research and in the theory of International Business. Miguel will
act as a main point of contact throughout the duration of the internship. His intimate
knowledge of both the theoretical framework and the UNCTAD-Eora GVC dataset will
ensure that the intern is well guided throughout the entire data collection process.
References (selected):
Brewer, B. D. (2015). 'Global Commodity Chains & World Income Inequalities: The
Missing Link of Inequality and the Upgrading Paradox', Journal of World-Systems
Research, 17, pp. 308-327.
Buckley, P. J. (2009). 'The impact of the global factory on economic development',
Journal of World Business, 44, pp. 131-143.
Gereffi, G. and J. Lee (2012). 'Why the World Suddenly Cares About Global Supply
Chains', Journal of Supply Chain Management, 48, pp. 24-32.
UNCTAD (2013). “World investment report 2013: global value chains: investment and
trade for development”, United Nations, New York, World Investment Report.