Cited by 691COVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, MigrationSupply Chain Resilience and Risk ManagementGlobal trade, sustainability, and social impact

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 53 of the 53 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 56 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

What does the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about global value chains? The case of medical supplies

Open access
Gereffi, Gary·2020·Journal of International Business Policy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic shortage in the medical supplies needed to treat the virus due to a massive surge in demand as the disease circled the globe during the first half of 2020. Prior to the crisis, there was an interdependence of trade and production for medical supplies, with advanced industrial countries like the United States and Germany specializing in the relatively high-tech medical devices sector, while low-cost production hubs such as China and Malaysia were leading producers of less technologically sophisticated personal protective equipment (PPE) products such as face masks, surgical gloves, and medical gowns. After the COVID-19 outbreak, global shortages of PPE products emerged as many affected countries imposed export controls and sought ways to boost domestic output. A case study of the face mask value chain in the United States shows misalignments between the priorities of U.S. federal government officials and the strategies of leading U.S. multinational producers of face masks, which resulted in exceptionally costly policy delays in terms of health outcomes. On balance, the U.S. shortage of N95 respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic is more a policy failure than a market failure. The global value chain framework highlights strategic options that could lead to more resilient supply chains and diversified sourcing patterns.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1057/s42214-020-00062-w

Cites

53 of 53 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

54 Sources not found · 25 Own interpretation · 12 No basis given · 1 No full text of the sources · 1 Own result

Show all 43 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 39
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 14
50 of 50
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The Trump administration downplayed the outbreak's seriousness for two full months until social distancing began in mid-March 2020.

    “Although the first reported U.S. case of the new coronavirus was detected in mid-January, 2020, the Trump administration minimized the seriousness of the outbreak for a full 2 months until social distancing began to be introduced in mid-March.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    No single country can efficiently produce all goods needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “Obviously, no single country can be expected to efficiently produce all of the goods needed to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Globalization's growth in recent decades led firms to adopt lean production and just-in-time supply chains that cut inventories to reduce operating costs and tied-up cash.

    “The steady expansion of globalization in recent decades has encouraged the adoption of lean production and JIT supply chains that encourage manufacturers to reduce inventories as much as possible in order to lower operating costs and the amount of cash tied up in inventory.”
3 of 3

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

1 of 1

Citations

Cites

Show all 51 references

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Hufford, A. 2020. 3M CEO on N95 masks: ‘Demand exceeds our production capacity’. Wall Street Journal, April 2.
  2. UNCTAD. 2017. World investment report, 2017 – investment and the digital economy. Geneva: UNCTAD.

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Metadata

Authors
Gereffi, G.
Affiliations
Duke University (US)
Corresponding author
Gereffi, Gary
Venue
Journal of International Business Policy
Published
2020-07-15
Volume
3
Issue
3
Pages
287-301
ISSN
  • 2522-0691 (ISSN-L)
  • 2522-0705
OpenAlex
W3041042264
Cited by
691
References
51
Citations by year
2026: 94 · 2025: 103 · 2024: 93 · 2023: 118 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 121 · 2020: 28
FWCI
347.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of International Business Policy (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › COVID-19, Geopolitics, Technology, Migration
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Supply Chain Resilience and Risk Management
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
Keywords
COVID-19 pandemic, global value chains, medical supplies, personal protective equipment, face masks, N95 respirators, supply chain shortages, export controls, medical device manufacturing, supply chain resilience

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