The research project investigates whether automotive component manufacturers located in South Africa are taking advantage of their participation in global value chains to functionally upgrade. Two factors, namely position in the value chain and global connectedness are assessed in terms of their effect on the propensity for firms to innovate and upgrade. Continuous pressure from value chain leaders to reduce costs coupled with increasing competition from other low-cost, developing economies means that South African automotive component manufacturers have to upgrade to improve their competitiveness and maintain their positions in the global value chain. This quantitative study analysed data collected through interviews from 76 companies in the National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturer‟s database of firms. The results support previous literature and demonstrate that indigenous innovation does occur under certain conditions. Whilst participation in global value chains seems to stimulate innovation, it does not necessarily guarantee that innovation will occur nor does it mean that innovation will automatically result in upgrading. Questions that require further investigation include among others the upgrading trajectory firms over time and a deeper understanding of the mechanisms used by innovation leaders to absorb and deploy the knowledge and technology obtained from global interactions. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

In the last three decades, the global economy has witnessed an ambivalent phenomenon of integration through disintegration. Whilst the amount of regional and global trade dramatically increased, vertical specialisation prompted the outsourcing of manufacturing, assembling, and other business functions regionally and globally. The slicing up of value chains and the consequent surge in trade of intermediate goods drew the attention of scholars interested in the economic, social, and environmental consequences of this phenomenon. Yet, most of the literature on value chains has concentrated on the institutional and market linkages between firms in developed economies and delocalised suppliers in the global South. Conversely, less attention has been paid to the rise in South-South trade that accompanied the development of South- South and regional value chains. The following chapters provide new evidence on the opportunities and constraints that participation in value chains across North-South, South-South, and regional trajectories entails for local suppliers in developing countries. This is achieved by means of a mixed-methods approach that combines firm-level export data with over 100 semi-structured interviews across the Kenyan leather sector. On the one hand, results show how North-South value chains are characterised by more profitable and stable relationships between buyers and local suppliers. Nonetheless, whilst defined by higher product and process standards, linkages with developed economies appear to prevent rather than encourage local value addition. On the other hand, South-South value chains are governed by instability and distrust underpinned by pressures to reduce prices and lack of upgrading opportunities. Like the global South, regional value chains are characterised by fierce competition and low profitability. Even so, they often constitute an alternative for small suppliers willing to venture into new products and functions. Particularly, the local and regional markets represent an upgrading platform for innovative firms whose low capital endowments prevent them from accessing premium North-South value chains. In this case, industrial policy and entrepreneurship play a crucial role in enabling smallholders to upgrade in a competitive environment.

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This master thesis in geography investigates how remote sens- ing can be used in Transnational Corporations (TNC) global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The study aims to delineate an accurate method in remote sensing to be used to monitor deforestation in global value chains. Research questions asked are 1) What are the current monitoring practises used by TNCs to monitor global value chains? 2) Which is the most user-friendly and accurate remote sensing technique to map deforestation? 3) How can remote sensing successfully be implemented in TNCs CSR-initiatives? The study is approached from two perspectives, building on theories of value chains, and qualitative methods to answer the first research question. While the second question is a method study, investigating how well a spectral approach versus a contextual approach can map deforest- ation in Landsat scenes. The results are compared with Global Forest Watch (GFW), and the highest accuracy were acquired from the WICS (Window Indipendent Context Segmentation) technique. Conclusions includes that remote sensing can be used in CSR initiatives, to establish a baseline level or as a fifth dimen- sion in a score sheet approach. However, inconclusive mapping of value chains are a big hinder today.

To counteract the colonial division of labour and equalise trade relations across the global North and South, Global Value Chains (GVC) analysts have advocated value chain upgrade. Such upgrade would entail a much-needed financial improvement for Southern producers. Rather than turning to governments and IGOs, GVC analysts have generally addressed their policy suggestions to firms directly. There is an idea that firms can actively disentangle and disrupt prevalent hierarchies in their own activities. This thesis looks closer at prefigurative politics as a political strategy and asks: are prefigurative upgrade projects a successful tool for equalising trade relations across colonial divides? Can individual firms disentangle colonial inequalities in trade? As marxists and decolonial theorists have argued, global trade inequalities are about more than money: economic relations are inherently political. The 'value' in Global Value Chains should be understood not only as return on investment or profit, but also as something broader, a question of what makes a good life and a balanced division of work in society. GVC analysis has hitherto paid insufficient attention to these insights. As a remedy this thesis proposes the addition of a new concept to the GVC toolbox, voice' upgrade', i.e. an improvement of the ability of all actors in the chain to speak and listen about the political questions of value. Two case studies are used to ground the discussion: firstly, the trading of coffee from the Zapatistas in Mexico to Café Libertad in Germany. Secondly, the export of spice blends and sauces from the Western Cape of South Africa via the firm Turqle. These prefigurative projects both subvert and reproduce prevailing hierarchies. Importantly, while the former is possible,it requires deliberate facilitation.

Agriculturalists in Lebanon are exposed to a wide range of vulnerability factors that have direct impacts on farmers’ livelihoods. To evaluate the effects of those factors and the livelihood challenges they breed, this research analyses how two agricultural activities shape farmer livelihood vulnerability, namely urban agriculture and fruit and vegetable value chains. First, I analyze how vulnerability factors influence urban agriculturalist livelihoods and assess if urban agriculture is an adequate solution to lower their livelihood vulnerability. Second, I analyse how various actors partaking in fruit and vegetable value chains are exposed to different vulnerability factors and how this impacts their individual livelihoods. Conceptually, the urban agriculture component of this research builds from the vulnerability framework and sustainable livelihoods approaches scholarships. The agricultural value chain section engages with literatures centered on the vulnerability framework, sustainable livelihoods approaches and value chain analysis. This thesis concludes that the main vulnerability factors associated with urban agriculture relate to physical, financial and human capitals, and that urban agriculture is not an adequate tool to reduce the livelihood vulnerability of urban agriculturalists. I also conclude that social, financial and human capital barriers significantly affect agricultural value chains actors’ livelihoods. Overall, the vulnerability of the different actors is linked to their socioeconomic status, which dictates the amount of human capital they possess, thus their ability to adapt to changing conditions and external stressors. I posit that human capital is key to both urban agriculture and agricultural value chains, as this asset dictates the vulnerability of individual livelihoods and Lebanese agriculturalists’ ability to sustain their livelihoods.

ABSTRACT After Taiwan Air Cargo Terminal ¡]TACT¡^has walked through the monopoly, deregulation, privatization process, the services which they have been providing can't match the demand of modern cargo transportation, including of high-service-quality and high-speed-pass customs. The basic theory we adopted is¡§ Value Marketing Chains¡¨¡]Porter, 1985¡^and ¡§Competitive Advantages¡¨¡]Porter, 1990¡^in this study, its goals as follows: 1. To investigate the important service value factors of air cargo warehouse and difference range of service value after the privatization, 2. Discuss the correlation between service value and competitive advantages, 3. Use TACT cases to explain have an empirical on value chains and competitive advantages. This study is designed with retrospective-prospective due. By citing secondary data and in depth interviews offered from hardware etc. four key successful factors, by identifying, value delivery six step, and three stages cargo terminal organization type change, analyzed includes its value and four competitive advantages, example first-mover advantages etc. Furthermore, to design questionnaires and send 200 pieces surveying, get through depth interviews and data analysis, it show the four services value after privatization is high-degree and statistical significance expect hard-service . This study to codify a few consequence, example extend information service, quickly construct step, promote fixable service, aggrandize alliance, adjust contract and law, etc. keywords¡GPrivatization , Value chains , Value marketing chains , Competitive advantages..

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This thesis explores the mechanics of governance within several layers of participating firms in the global value chain of the automotive industry, and how new forms of governance shape the development of the Brazilian and Chinese automotive industry. In particular, it examines how the local supply firms from Brazil and China can integrate and upgrade in the globalized automotive industry. By using the global value chain (GVC) framework, the changing inter-firm dynamics between buyer and supplier are analyzed, and their impact on the indigenous supply firms from Brazil and China examined. The results highlight the role of product architecture in defining the value chain governance approach. Through the evolution of product architecture, the lead-firms can globalize their approaches to procurement and supply chain management. Moreover, the globally harmonized products allow the lead-firm to effectively restructure the global supply base to establish a globally harmonized components supply industry by internationalizing the most capable supply firms. Oligopolies along the entire GVC are consciously created by the lead firm. The dynamics of competition between supply firms are changing, as the market for integral components with high asset-specificity are merging into one global market with oligopolistic and oligopsonistic features. While some supply firms from the emerging markets have been able to utilize their business ties with western assembly firms to upgrade within the GVC, most are under pressure to be squeezed out of the GVC through increased global competition. The thesis contributes to the field of development studies by analyzing the prospects for emerging market firms to participate and upgrade in the GVC of western lead-firms. Furthermore, it contributes to the economic theory of governance by presenting evidence of forms of influence outside the realm of supplier-buyer contracts. The thesis further extends the global value chain framework by introduction a fine-tuned approach to ‘power’ as a determinant of governance.

Increasing the social, economic, and environmental sustainability of food systems while making them productive enough to feed a future global population of 9 billion is one of the most significant challenges facing humanity. Aquaculture is touted as a food system that can make a profound contribution to this challenge, but much more research is needed to understand how it can develop sustainably. In central Bolivia, an aquaculture system is emerging that is generating opportunities for empowerment, food security, and poverty reduction. However, pathways that lead to the capture of these opportunities while avoiding challenges are not well defined. It is also unclear how the trajectory of growth can be supported so that aquaculture in the region can sustainably contribute to rural development. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to determine how rural small-scale aquaculture systems can contribute to food production while also being environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable. To do so, a new holistic value chain analysis that incorporates horizontal linkages (gender, food security, poverty analysis, and socio-political context) was developed and utilized. It included semi-structured interviews with 40 central Bolivian aquaculture producers, 40 farmers who did not produce aquaculture fish, 26 people employed in the aquaculture value chain, and 18 aquaculture system key informants. The study found that aquaculture in central Bolivia tends to have a positive effect on system participants and has a low environmental impact. It also identified improvements that the system could make to improve its productivity and sustainability. Beyond the central Bolivian aquaculture system specifically, the research makes an important and valuable contribution to knowledge by identifying and explaining the linkages between local and regional food systems in the global South, and sustainable development outcomes. This research provides insight for development researchers and practitioners looking to improve the productivity and sustainability of aquaculture systems. This research also improves our understanding of how food system development can generate empowerment, food security, and poverty reduction more broadly. / Graduate