ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a theoretical framework for the global value chain distribution. It explains the theoretical background of the Global Value Chain (GVC). It proposes an analytical framework of a country’s role in the GVC at the Macro-, Meso- and Micro-scale. In 2000, the International Monetary Fund identified the following four basic aspects of globalization: trade and transactions, capital and investment movements, migration and movement of people and the dissemination of knowledge. The principle of comparative advantage is historically tied to the framework of the Ricardian trade model. Comparative advantage is only one interpretation of competitiveness. G. Hamel and C. K. Prahalad emphasized the importance of “competing for the future” as a neglected dimension of competitive advantage. Using the concept of ‘the national innovation system’, C. Freeman first analyzes how technological infrastructure differs between countries and how such differences are reflected in international competitiveness and value-added in exports.