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Strategic decoupling, recoupling and global production networks: India’s pharmaceutical industry

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  • Rory Horner

Abstract

Contemporary debates on economic globalization have emphasized the development opportunities for the Global South through local firms becoming integrated into the global commodity chains (GCCs), value chains (GVCs) and production networks (GPNs) governed by leading multinational corporations. With increasing attention to the negative sides of integration, an emergent issue is the role of disengagement from, and operation outside of, the GPNs of lead firms. Through the case of the Indian pharmaceutical industry, where a selective and short-term strategic decoupling and subsequent recoupling has played a crucial role in the development of what is now the largest such industry in the Global South, this article explores how decoupling from GPNs may lead to positive development outcomes. The experience of India and the pharmaceutical industry shows that a sequence of decoupling and recoupling can be an alternative to strategic coupling as a route to economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Rory Horner, 2014. "Strategic decoupling, recoupling and global production networks: India’s pharmaceutical industry," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 14(6), pages 1117-1140.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:jecgeo:v:14:y:2014:i:6:p:1117-1140.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeg/lbt022
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    Cited by:

    1. Mann, Laura & Kleibert, Jana Maria, 2020. "Capturing value amidst constant global restructuring? Information technology enabled services in India, the Philippines and Kenya," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103356, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Manning, Stephan, 2022. "From mainstream to niche: How value regimes shift in emerging economy upgrading," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(6).
    3. Johanna Gammelgaard & Stine Haakonsson & Sine Nørholm Just, 2021. "Linking Malawi’s agricultural sector to global value chains: The case for community governance," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(4), pages 523-540, December.
    4. Chun Yang & Canfei He, 2017. "Transformation of China's ‘World Factory’: Production Relocation and Export Evolution of the Electronics Firms," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(5), pages 571-591, October.
    5. Jana M. Kleibert & Laura Mann, 2020. "Capturing Value amidst Constant Global Restructuring? Information-Technology-Enabled Services in India, the Philippines and Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 32(4), pages 1057-1079, September.
    6. Carolin Hulke & Linus Kalvelage & Jim Kairu & Javier Revilla Diez & Lucas Rutina, 2022. "Navigating through the storm: conservancies as local institutions for regional resilience in Zambezi, Namibia [From domestic to regional to global: Factory Africa and factory Latin America?: Chapte," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(2), pages 305-322.
    7. Chun Yang, 2020. "The transformation of foreign investment-induced ‘exo(genous)-urbanisation’ amidst industrial restructuring in the Pearl River Delta, China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(3), pages 618-635, February.
    8. Bjerke, Lise, 2022. "Antibiotic geographies and access to medicines: Tracing the role of India's pharmaceutical industry in global trade," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    9. Gavin Bridge & Alexander Dodge, 2022. "Regional assets and network switching: shifting geographies of ownership, control and capital in UK offshore oil [Temporality and the evolution of GPNs: remaking BHP’s Pilbara iron ore network]," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(2), pages 367-388.
    10. Kleibert, Jana M. & Mann, Laura, 2020. "Capturing Value amidst Constant Global Restructuring? Information-Technology-Enabled Services in India, the Philippines and Kenya," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 1057-1079.
    11. Rory Horner, 2022. "Global value chains, import orientation, and the state: South Africa’s pharmaceutical industry," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 68-87, March.
    12. Huiwen Gong & Robert Hassink & Cassandra C Wang, 2022. "Strategic coupling and institutional innovation in times of upheavals: the industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China [Institutional change in economic geography]," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 15(2), pages 279-303.
    13. Kirsten Martinus & Thomas Sigler & Iacopo Iacopini & Ben Derudder, 2019. "The role of tax havens and offshore financial centers in Asia-Pacific networks: evidence from firm-subsidiary connections," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 389-411, November.
    14. Jana M. Kleibert & Laura Mann, 0. "Capturing Value amidst Constant Global Restructuring? Information-Technology-Enabled Services in India, the Philippines and Kenya," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    15. Thomas SJ Smith, 2023. "Mapping complexity in deglobalisation: A typology of economic localisms from ‘hyper-localism’ to ‘strategic autonomy’," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 38(3), pages 242-263, May.
    16. Crispian Fuller & Nicholas A Phelps, 2018. "Revisiting the multinational enterprise in global production networks," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 139-161.
    17. Nunez-Picado, Adriana & Martinus, Kirsten & Sigler, Thomas, 2022. "Junior Miner internationalisation in the globalising mining industry," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    18. Huiwen Gong & Robert Hassink & Cassandra Wang, 2021. "Strategic coupling and regional resilience in times of uncertainty: the industrial chain chief model in Zhejiang, China," PEGIS geo-disc-2021_06, Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Department of Socioeconomics, Vienna University of Economics and Business.
    19. Rasmus Lema & Roberta Rabellotti & Padmashree Gehl Sampath, 2018. "Innovation Trajectories in Developing Countries: Co-evolution of Global Value Chains and Innovation Systems," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 30(3), pages 345-363, July.
    20. Henry Wai-chung Yeung, 2015. "Regional development in the global economy: A dynamic perspective of strategic coupling in global production networks," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, March.

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