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Manufacturing Paradoxes: Foreign Ownership, Governance, and Value Chains in China’s Light Industries

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  • Dallas, Mark P.

Abstract

Utilizing Chinese industrial data and detailed transactional trade data, this paper finds two paradoxes. First, the distribution of FDI across value chains in light industries is the opposite of many extant explanations. Second, China’s dominance as an exporter is belied by the weaknesses of its domestic firms within the governance of value chains, with important implications for firm upgrading. By analyzing millions of US Customs Bureau trade transactions, the paradoxes are resolved by examining intermediary contractors in East Asian value chains. Even 30 years after reforms began and in the technologically simplest industries, Chinese firms continue to struggle to break through substantial ‘contractual’ barriers to entry.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:57:y:2014:i:c:p:47-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.11.015
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    2. Chen, Ling, 2017. "Grounded Globalization: Foreign Capital and Local Bureaucrats in China’s Economic Transformation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 381-399.
    3. Mark P. Dallas, 2015. "'Governed' trade: global value chains, firms, and the heterogeneity of trade in an era of fragmented production," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 875-909, October.
    4. Dallas, Mark P. & Horner, Rory & Li, Lantian, 2021. "The mutual constraints of states and global value chains during COVID-19: The case of personal protective equipment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Shen, Chunmiao & Zheng, Jianghuai, 2020. "Does global value chains participation really promote skill-biased technological change? Theory and evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 10-18.

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