ABSTRACT
The structure of world trade is changing. From the early trade of manufactured goods for raw materials, in the post-Second World War period there was an increase in intra-firm trade, as firms became transnational and set up linked production bases in numerous countries. More recently, however, there has been a globalization of production and supply chains, in general a globalization of value chains. With this inter-firm, but intra-industry trade, is the fastest growing section of international trade and its characteristic form. Rather than vertical integration there is the global cutting up of parts of a value chain.
