In development policy and practice, support to or interventions in value chains are considered to be instrumental for achieving outcomes such as poverty alleviation. This paper reviews methodological discussions on how to show the effects and workings of value chain support in a context of...

The paper opens by mapping the changes in the global auto industry in the 1990s, showing how the rapid growth in sales and production between 1990 and 1997 came largely from the emerging markets rather than the Triad regions (North America, the European Union and Japan). However, for some of...

Because of its resource and labour intensity, the wood furniture sector presents an opportunity for developing countries and their firms to participate effectively in the global economy. This paper begins with a brief description of the global wood furniture industry and highlights the...

The paper uses the global value chain framework to explain the transformations in production, trade and corporate strategies that altered the apparel industry over the past decades and changed the conditions for innovation and learning in the industry. The apparel industry is identified as a...

Despite an improved analytical knowledge of poverty, a complex multilateral transfer system of official development assistance (ODA), and a list of clearly defined objectives (Millennium Development Goals), poverty reduction in low-income countries remains a great challenge for researchers and...

The COVID-19 crisis is unique in many respects and, as the IMF (2021, p. 43) puts it: "a crisis like no other". A global economic contraction occurred that was unprecedented in its speed and depth. Support packages were put together in some parts of the world that also dwarfed anything seen up...

Value chain development (VCD) has become a popular policy instrument to help farmers in developing countries access markets. While VCD initiated by the private sector has received much attention in the literature, there is yet little research on public-led VCD. This paper pro-vides a...

This book assesses the prospects of official development assistance (ODA) for poverty reduction. It analyzes the entire value chain of ODA, including provision, allocation and utilization. Within each of these components, coverage examines scope and limits of aid. The horizontal interactions...