Power in global value chains
Open accessAbstract
Power has been a foundational concept in global value chain (GVC) research. Yet, in most GVC scholarship, power is not explicitly defined and is applied as a unitary concept, rather than as having multiple dimensions. Clarifying the concept of power has become particularly urgent in recent years as GVC research has proliferated beyond dyads of transacting firms or firm-state linkages and incorporated other stakeholders and mechanisms such as NGOs, labor unions, standards, norms and conventions. In this article, we propose a typology for the varied meanings and usages of power in GVC governance. We delineate two principal dimensions: transmission mechanisms – direct and diffuse; and arena of actors – dyads and collectives. Combined, these two dimensions yield four ideal types of power in GVC governance: bargaining, demonstrative, institutional and constitutive. We offer brief illustrations of these four types of power and provide an agenda for further research in the field.
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Power relations among GVC actors play out very differently in different network structures.
“Finally, power relations among GVC actors play out very differently in different network structures (Dallas, Ponte, & Sturgeon, 2019;Grabs & Ponte, 2019).”
From Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature (2020) · cites this paper as Dallas, Ponte, & Sturgeon, 2019
This power view is not universally applicable.
“However, this power view is not universally applicable, as noted recently in Dallas et al. (2019).”
From Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature (2020) · cites this paper as Dallas et al. (2019)
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Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature
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- Authors
- Dallas, M. P., Ponte, S., & Sturgeon, T. J.
- Affiliations
- Union College (US)
- Copenhagen Business School (DK)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Corresponding author
- Dallas, Mark P.
- Venue
- Review of International Political Economy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-07-04
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 666-694
- ISSN
- 0969-2290 (ISSN-L)
- 1466-4526
- OpenAlex
- W2963384915
- Cited by
- 320
- References
- 74
- Citations by year
- 2026: 68 · 2025: 55 · 2024: 35 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 36 · 2020: 27 · 2019: 4
- FWCI
- 43.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- autopapers.ssrn.com
- Locations
- Review of International Political Economy (publishedVersion)
- SSRN Electronic Journal (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- CBS Research Portal (Copenhagen Business School) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Global trade, sustainability, and social impact
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Globalization and political ideologies
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › World Systems and Global Transformations
- Keywords
- power, global value chains, GVC governance, bargaining power, institutional power, constitutive power, stakeholder power, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, standards and norms
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