The Global Value Chain Initiative seeks to build upon on a wealth of research on how the global organization of industries is changing. Studies from a range of disciplines show that many firms and industries now have organizational structures that extend across national and regional borders. This has led to the formation of truly global-scale economic systems, some of which are tightly integrated and managed on a day-to-day basis. Today, the process of economic development cannot be isolated from these global systems. The research has also shown that GVCs exhibit a variety of characteristics and impact particular localities in a variety of ways. This calls for a better understanding of the function, evolution, and impact that global value chains have in today’s world.

The Global Value Chains framework provides an industry-centric view of economic globalization that highlights the linkages between economic actors and across geographic space. It is a multi-year effort to test and develop the GVC framework with the aims of creating greater analytical precision, intellectual impact and policy relevance. Our efforts include a research agenda, a publishing thrust, the development and dissemination of industrial upgrading handbooks for practitioners, and a series of intensive workshops convened to test and broaden the framework through interactions with our network partners and with the broader academic, policy-making and activist communities.