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Supplier Upgrading in the Home-furnishing Value Chain: An Empirical Study of IKEA's Sourcing in China and South East Asia

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  • Ivarsson, Inge
  • Alvstam, Claes Göran

Abstract

Summary We use detailed firm-level data from 2008 to show how the world's largest home-furnishing retailer, IKEA from Sweden, provides its suppliers in China and SE Asia with significant technological support to improve their products and processes. This demonstrates that even buyer-driven global value chains, coordinated by large retailers, have the potential to contribute to technological upgrading among many small, inexperienced producers of labor-intensive products. Theoretically, this suggests that the current value-chain theory needs to take into account the existence of a "developmental" governance structure.

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  • Ivarsson, Inge & Alvstam, Claes Göran, 2010. "Supplier Upgrading in the Home-furnishing Value Chain: An Empirical Study of IKEA's Sourcing in China and South East Asia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1575-1587, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:38:y:2010:i:11:p:1575-1587
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    Cited by:

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    11. Keping Men & Hui Sun & Minglong Kou, 2022. "Global Value Chains and Spatial Spillovers of Economic Growth—Based on the Perspective of Participation and Status Index in Global Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, November.
    12. Valentina De Marchi & Eleonora Di Maria, 2014. "Sostenibilit? ambientale, reti locali e catene globali," ECONOMIA E SOCIET? REGIONALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(2), pages 78-87.
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    14. Magnus Boström, 2015. "Between Monitoring and Trust: Commitment to Extended Upstream Responsibility," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 131(1), pages 239-255, September.
    15. Vandeplas, Anneleen, 2011. "Multinationals or Cooperatives: Does it Matter to Farmers? - A Study of the Dairy Sector in Punjab (India)," 2011 International Congress, August 30-September 2, 2011, Zurich, Switzerland 115545, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    16. Navas-Alemán, Lizbeth, 2011. "The Impact of Operating in Multiple Value Chains for Upgrading: The Case of the Brazilian Furniture and Footwear Industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(8), pages 1386-1397, August.
    17. Jan Fransen & A.H.J. (Bert) Helmsing, 2017. "Absorptive Capacity as a Mediator: Innovation of Handicraft Exporters in Yogyakarta, Indonesia," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(6), pages 737-752, December.
    18. Rousseau, Karen & Gautier, Denis & Wardell, D. Andrew, 2015. "Coping with the Upheavals of Globalization in the Shea Value Chain: The Maintenance and Relevance of Upstream Shea Nut Supply Chain Organization in Western Burkina Faso," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 413-427.
    19. Dallas, Mark P., 2014. "Manufacturing Paradoxes: Foreign Ownership, Governance, and Value Chains in China’s Light Industries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 47-62.
    20. Yuanhong Hu & Min Jiang & Sheng Sun & Yixin Dai, 2022. "Does Trade Facilitation Promote Export Technological Sophistication? Evidence From the European Transition Countries," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, June.
    21. Sungchul Cho & Up Lim, 2016. "The Sustainability of Global Chain Governance: Network Structures and Local Supplier Upgrading in Thailand," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-13, September.
    22. Jordaan,Jacob Arie & Douw,Willem & Qiang,Zhenwei, 2020. "Multinational Corporation Affiliates, Backward Linkages, and Productivity Spillovers in Developing and Emerging Economies : Evidence and Policy Making," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9364, The World Bank.

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