Input—Output Economics. By Wassily Leontief. New York and London, Oxford University Press, 1966. ix, 257 p. 914″. 60s.

Input-Output Economics.

Over the last decade, the global value chain (GVC) approach, with its associated notions of chain governance and firm upgrading, has proliferated as a mode of analysis and of intervention amongst development institutions. This article examines the adoption and adaptation of GVCs at four multilateral agenciesinordertounderstandthepurchaseofvaluechainapproacheswithin thedevelopmentfield.MixingGVC perspectiveswithothertheoreticalinfluencesandappliedpractices,theseinstitutionsdeployvaluechainframeworks to signal a new generation of policies that promise both to consolidate, and to advance beyond, the market fundamentalism of the Washington Consensus. To achieve this, value chain development frameworks craft interventions directed toward various constellations of firm and non-firm actors as a ‘third way’ between state-minimalist and state-coordinated approaches. The authors identify key adaptations of the GVC framework including an emphasis on value chain governance as an instrument to correct market failure in partnership with state and development agencies, and upgrading as a de facto tool for poverty reduction. They find that efforts are ongoing to construct a ‘post’ to the Washington Consensus and that the global value chain is enabling this process by providing a new language and new object of development intervention: ‘the chain’ and the local‐global linkages that comprise it.

Linking Up to Development? Global Value Chains and the Making of a Post-Washington Consensus

This paper provides a critical analysis of the emergence of an approach within the practice of international development that adopts a ‘value chain’ discourse, and traces the conceptual underpinnings of this discourse and practice through its translation from scholarly literature. This practical application of value chain theory has involved the selective application and interpretation, by development practitioners, of key scholarly ideas on global commodity chains, development strategies and industrialization. The specific application of value chains in Indonesian development practice, however, is silent on other aspects of the global value chain framework, such as the role of the state in mediating development strategies, power asymmetries within chains, and world-historical circumstances that shape upgrading possibilities. Despite foundational roots in critical analyses of global capitalism, recent ‘value chains for development’ applications appear to be perpetuating a neoliberal development ag...

Value chains, neoliberalism and development practice: The Indonesian experience

Income growth alone cannot solve the problem of malnutrition and may in fact create problems linked to overweight and obesity. The challenge from the nutrition perspective is how to sustainably improve the quality of diets, as well as other health-nutrition related behaviours, across different populations and age groups? In nutrition debates in developing countries there is growing interest in the capacity of the private sector to contribute to improved nutrition outcomes. Discussions have incorporated thinking around value chain frameworks, which emerged in the late 1990s to help development actors design interventions that responded to the needs of the private sector and contributed to development outcomes.Value chain approaches can provide useful frameworks to examine the food system and the potential to achieve improved nutritional outcomes by leveraging market-based systems. However, understanding the links between value chains, the overall business environment in which they operate, and nutrition among targeted populations is complex, involving actors and activities working across agriculture, health and nutrition, and very little evidence exists on the potential or the trade-offs involved.In this paper we explore how a value chain framework can inform the design of interventions for achieving improved nutrition. Conceptually, there are three main channels for value chains to improve nutrition: (1) through increased consumption of nutritious foods (a demand side pathway); or (2) through increased incomes from value chain transactions (a supply side pathway) or (3) through increased nutrition value-addition in the chain transactions. These three pathways are interlinked and involve complex dynamics that are not straightforward to understand.We also highlight how these pathways are context specific, and introduce typologies based on supply and demand profile of the specific value chain. Where adequate supply and demand for a specific food exists, interventions would focus on optimising the efficiency and flow of nutrition added-value along the chain. Where demand is constrained or overconsumption is a problem, interventions would work primarily to change consumption patterns, either directly (for example, food transfers) or indirectly (such as, social marketing) shaping market demand. Where supply is constrained, interventions would focus on enhancing supply-side capacity by improving production practices, organising production and post-harvest activities to increase efficiency, and facilitating the expansion of market opportunities. We conclude with a summary of key research areas in this emerging field.

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Value Chains and Nutrition: A Framework to Support the Identification, Design, and Evaluation of Interventions

A value chain analysis of the organic cotton industry: The case of UK retailers and Indian suppliers

Developing countries face tremendous opportunities for economic growth given economic liberalization worldwide, and rapid advancement and application of information and communications technologies. However, along with the many opportunities global network trade has to offer, firms in developing countries also face strong competitive pressures for greater efficiency and productivity to maintain market share or even survive. A strong business environment based on sound institutions and policies is a necessary basis for enhanced competitiveness of private firms that produce and deliver goods and services. When business environment constraints, inefficiencies and cost disadvantages can be identified, policy makers have the opportunity to jumpstart economic reform processes that target priority areas along the product/service life cycle known as the value chain. This technical report outlines a pragmatic approach for analyzing value chain performance as the basis for identifying binding constraints to growth and competitiveness. This approach is intended to facilitate formulating a targeted reform agenda.

Uma Subramanian

Papers

Moving toward competitiveness : a value chain approach