The outsourcing of manufacturing and the rise of giant global contractors: a Marxian approach to some recent transformations of global value chains

GUIDO STAROSTA

New Political Economy

Routledge - Taylor & Francis

Año: 2010 vol. 15 p. 543 - 563

This paper aims to show that the Marxian ‘law of value’ can provide solid foundations for the comprehension of the constitution and dynamics of GVC. More concretely, the paper offers an explanation of the social processes of ‘value creation and capture’ within a chain based on the system-wide motion of global capital accumulation. In this way, a firm connection is established between the particular dynamics internal to each industry and the general dynamics of the ‘system as a whole’, which is, precisely, where the greatest weakness of the GVC approach lies. Furthermore, the usefulness of those general theoretical insights is then shown through a more empirical discussion of recent transformations in the composition and governance structure of GVC resulting from two interrelated processes: the tendency for a growing de-linking between innovation and manufacturing and the rise of highly concentrated global contractors. Although these phenomena have been observed in a variety of industries, they have paradigmatically developed in the electronics industry, giving rise to the formation of the so-called modular or turnkey production networks. The discussion shall therefore focus on that particular industrial sector and attempts uncover the general macro-dynamics and processes that are needed to explain those changes of particular industrial trajectories on the basis of the specific nature of the social relations of global capitalism.