Rethinking Value Chains

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Today, production processes have become fragmented with a range of activities divided among firms and workers across borders. These global value chains are being strongly promoted by international organizations, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, but social and political backlash is mounting in a growing variety of forms. This original volume brings together academics and activists from Europe to think creatively about the social and environmental imbalances of global production and how to reform the current economic system.

Florence Palpacuer is Professor in Management Studies at the University of Montpellier.

Introduction ~ Palpacuer & Smith; PART ONE: CURRENT TRENDS IN GVCS AND THEIR IMPACTS ON SOCIETY AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT; The global inequality chain: who gets what, where and how? ~ Campling & Quentin; Global production networks: The state, power and politics ~ Hess; Green capital accumulation: Business, power and sustainability in a world of GVCs ~ Ponte; Trade policy for fairer and more equitable GVCs ~ Curran & Eckhardt; PART TWO: RETHINKING AND REBUILDING VALUE CHAINS: STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF NATURE, PEOPLE AND DEMOCRACY; Assessing the social and environmental costs of GVCs as a tool for change ~ Alliot; Civil society action towards judiciary changes in the regulation of GVCs ~ Croser; Worker-led strategies for embarking lead firms into new sourcing practices ~ Smith; Empowering local communities in their struggle for land and rights: The role of ReAcT in the Bolloré/Socfin campaign ~ Benchehboune; Conclusion