Promoting Global Value Chains: The Role of Governance


EADI working group on industrial development organizes an expert seminar in Maastricht on November 26 and 27, 2009 in cooperation with Maastricht School of Management (MSM).

Introduction

The European Association of Development and Training Institutes (EADI) has organized since 1983 a number of workshops covering such topics as:  globalization and labor, enterprise clusters, and innovation adoption and diffusion. Global value chains have been chosen as the topic for the for 2009 conference.

Maastricht November 26 & 27, 2009

The Working group invites researchers to submit an abstract on the topic of: Promoting Sustainable Global Value Chains: the role of governance. Due to changes in production systems, distribution channels, financial markets and information technologies, horizontal aspects such as local clusters are increasingly being integrated into vertical aspects of global value chains. This suggests that organization of producers is crucial to accessing global value chains; certain types of GVC governance promote and require it.

But the process of producer organization is by nature exclusionary as well as inclusionary.

The workshop will explore the role of external and internal governance in promoting sustainable global value chains and other related topics. Among these we suggest the following:

  • Role of external governance structures shaping global value chains, including mandatory and voluntary environmental and social standards;  
  • Role of internal governance  in creating, monitoring and enforcing commodity specifications and of international standards;
  • Role of donors, governmental organizations, and civil society in influencing value chains;
  • Partnerships as mechanisms for value chain upgrading;
  • Role of knowledge acquisition and management in the upgrading strategies of firms and clusters;
  • Importance of local and global subcontracting cultures;
  • Impact of ICTs on the global value chain organization;

Procedure

Researchers interested to present a paper that addresses theoretical, empirical and policy issues related to this theme should send an outline by May 15, 2009. The acceptance of some 35 papers will be communicated by May 31, 2009 with final submissions required by October 31, 2009. A selection of papers will be published in 2010.

Abstracts have to be sent to m.vandijk(AT)unesco-ihe.org

Seminar program

Thursday, November 26

Time

Activity

From 10.00

Registration

10.00 - 10.30

Coffee & tea

10.30 - 11.00

Welcome

11.00 - 12.30

Sessions 1&2

12.30 - 14.00

Lunch

14.00 - 15.30

Sessions 3&4

15.30 - 16.00

Coffee & tea

16.00 - 17.30

Sessions 5&6

18.30

Dinner

Friday, November 27, 2009

08.30 - 09.00

Coffee & tea

09.00 - 10.30

Sessions 7&8

10.30 - 11.00

Coffee & tea

11.00 - 12.00

Sessions

12.00 - 13.30

Lunch

13.30 - 15.00

Key note speaker

Output of sessions

15.00 - 15.30

Coffee & tea

15.30 - 17.00

Key note speaker

Discussion & Closure

17.00

Reception

  


Conveners


Meine Pieter van Dijk

Economic Faculty

Erasmus University

P.O. Box 1738

3000 DR Rotterdam

The Netherlands

Tel.: (31) 10-408 18 70

Fax: (31) 10-408 91 53

m.vandijk(AT)unesco-ihe.org


Arni Sverrisson

Department of Sociology

University of Stockholm

10691 Stockholm

Sweden

Tel.: (46) 816-39 17

Fax: (46) 816-353 80

arni.sverrisson(AT)sociology.su.se

Workshop Information


For more information please send an e-mail to

m.vandijk(AT)unesco-ihe.org regarding the content of the seminar and to sdc(AT)msm.nl

regarding organizational issues.