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...

Utilizing 4-digit Chinese industrial data and detailed transactional trade data, this paper finds two paradoxes. First, the distribution of FDI across value chains in light industries is the opposite of many extant explanations. Second, China's dominance as an exporter is belied by the...

Shortages of critical medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic have turned global value chains (GVCs) in personal protective equipment (PPE) into a political lightning rod. Some blame excessive outsourcing and foreign dependency for causing shortages, thus urging greater state intervention;...

Over the past several decades, firms have de-verticalized and internationalized increasingly complex manufacturing and service functions, a phenomenon studied across the social sciences. However, the disciplines disagree over whether the fragmentation of production is substantively novel,...