Africa in Manufacturing Global Value Chains : Cross-Country Patterns in the Dynamics of Linkages

Africa's linkages in manufacturing global value chains are reasonably highcompared with other developing regions. Still, linkage rates have declined steeply in recent years in non-resource richcountries in the region although they have increased sharply in countries that are rich in natural resources. Moreover,the level and dynamics of linkages to manufacturing global value chains vary significantly between countries withineach group of natural resource endowments. The current levels, activity structure, and geographic configuration oflinkage rates evolved over the past 20 years. In addition, these linkages cut across broad activity categories,including manufacturing textiles and apparel, metal products, transport equipment, and electrical goods. Thispaper analyzes the sources of the variation in linkage rates in the framework of an estimated gravity and linearprobability model. It is shown that the domestic actors in these linkages are typically relatively large establishments(100 or more employees) and have been in operation for five years or longer. These manufacturers are also more likely tohave foreign equity holders or foreign technology licenses. These findings should be seen in the light of policies thatpromote industrialization by facilitating integration into manufacturing global value chains at links that maximize joband productivity gains.