Suchergebnisse

Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Overview -- Part I -- Chapter 1 Foreign Direct Investment and Global Value Chains -- Key findings -- Global value chains: Definition, measurement, and archetypes -- Foreign direct investment and global value chains are mutually reinforcing -- International production networks -- Hyperspecialization -- Leveraging foreign direct investment to upgrade into new global value chain archetypes -- Chapter 2 Multinational Corporations Shape Global Value Chain Development -- Key findings -- Multinational corporations are the drivers of global value chains -- The significant contributions of multinational corporations to global output and trade -- Positive correlation between the importance of multinational corporations and trade value across sectors and countries -- Multinational corporations' objectives and strategies in global value chains -- Bringing it together: Global value chain archetypes and multinational corporations' business strategies -- Superstar firms and the impacts on growth and distribution -- Chapter 3 The Internationalization of Domestic Firms -- Key findings -- Domestic firm participation in global value chains: Pathways -- Prerequisites to firm internationalization and global value chain participation -- Global value chain upgrading: A learning process to improve competitiveness -- Chapter 4 Using Investment Policies to Stimulate Global Value Chain Participation -- Key findings -- How investment policies can help global value chain participation -- Foreign direct investment policy and promotion -- Domestic firm internationalization policy -- Strategy and approaches for global value chain integration -- Chapter 5 Global Value Chains in the Time of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) -- Key findings.

Recent research on productivity spillovers from affiliates of multinational corporations in developing and emerging economies finds that backward linkages from affiliates of foreign-owned firms to local suppliers constitute the main channel transmitting productivity spillovers. This finding has important policy implications, given that host economy governments often spend considerable resources on attracting multinational corporation investments and promoting their impact on technological development and economic growth. This paper conducts a new and comprehensive survey of recent empirical studies that focus on the drivers and impacts of backward linkages between multinational corporation affiliates and their local suppliers. The literature survey reveals that several characteristics of multinational corporation affiliates and domestic firms, host economy conditions, and various mediating factors influence the level of use of local suppliers, the nature and degree of technology dissemination, and the materialization of productivity spillovers among domestic firms. These findings are used to identify the main areas where policy making can be effective. The paper discusses various types of soft or light-handed industrial policies that host economy governments can design and implement to foster the extent of linkages between multinational corporations and local suppliers, facilitate technology dissemination, and enhance productivity spillovers among domestic firms.

Evidence shows that foreign direct investment can provide many benefits to host countries, including productivity improvements, better jobs, and knowledge transfer. Further, it can serve as a vehicle for transformation of domestic production and better integration with global value chains. Nonetheless, these benefits are not automatic. Investment policies are required to maximize the potential gains of foreign direct investment. One challenge is that there are different kinds of foreign direct investment, and each may have different economic, social, and environmental impacts. However, the literature analyzing foreign direct investment often tends to swing from an extremely case-specific focus — analyzing experiences in one particular country in a single sector during a given period — to lumping together the analysis as if it was a homogenous phenomenon. Investment policy formulation requires a framework sophisticated enough to differentiate between the various kinds of foreign direct investment, as well as potential challenges and benefits for development. It must also be simple enough to enable governments to organize and prioritize the multiple and complex variables affecting the maximization of investment benefits. This paper presents an overview of the literature on the impact of foreign direct investment. The paper argues that a logical framework is needed to organize existing evidence from research to fill gaps in the literature and make existing evidence more useful in targeting policy making.

The dynamic growth of mobile communications technology is creating opportunities for economic growth, social empowerment, and grassroots innovation in developing countries. One of the areas with the greatest potential impact is in the contribution that mobile applications can make to agricultural and rural development (ARD), by providing access to information, markets, and services to millions of rural inhabitants. For both agricultural supply and demand, mobile phones can reduce waste, make delivery more efficient, and forge closer links between farmers and consumers. This report provides policymakers and development practitioners with a guide that facilitates the development and deployment of mobile applications for ARD. It also informs their understanding of the key drivers for promoting such applications and services in their countries. Using James Moore's (1996) revised definition of ecosystems: economic communities based on interacting organizations and individuals the report identifies a wide range of players in the ecosystem for m-ARD apps, such as mobile network operators, m-app (mobile applications) providers, content providers, and various types of users. M-apps are software designed to take advantage of mobile technology and can be developed for technology besides mobile phones. But mobile phones have many key advantages: affordability, wide ownership, voice communications, and instant and convenient service delivery. As a result, there has been a global explosion in the number of m-apps, facilitated by the rapid evolution of mobile networks and by the increasing functions and falling prices of mobile handsets. M-apps are markedly different in developing countries because they typically run on second-generation (2G) phones rather than smartphones, which are far more common in developed countries. The report reviews country examples and extracts policy lessons and good practices. It also presents detailed studies of cases from Kenya, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, as well as summarizes 92 case studies from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the development impact, ecosystem, and business models for mobile applications in ARD. The report is intended to complement the recent ICT in Agriculture eSourcebook. One of the main findings is that an enabling platform (or platforms) is probably the most important factor for the development of m-ARD apps. Platforms can facilitate interactions among ecosystem players, increase access to users, provide technical standards, and incorporate payment mechanisms.