African Firms in Global Value Chains: What Can We Learn from Firm-Level Data in Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire?
Date
2022-07
Authors
Coulibaly, Romaric
Moreno, Heddie
Akiko, Suwa-Eisenmann
Traore, Nouhoum
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
This scoping paper exploits information from a unique data set constructed by merging
firm census and custom data sets from Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire to analyse the
characteristics of firms that participate in global value chains (GVCs) in sub-Saharan
Africa. These “GVC firms” are defined as firms that both export and import, with
positive production and labour. The paper provides a detailed review of the state of
firms' participation in GVCs in Africa and its consequences on trade, employment,
and growth. The evidence in Cameroon and Côte d'Ivoire suggests that, in line with
literature on firm heterogeneity and trade, firms engaged in GVCs are larger, more
productive, and live longer than one-way-traders or domestic firms. Surprisingly,
however, there are more GVC firms than pure exporters, a sign of the challenges faced
by firms in those countries if they want to sell abroad. The probability of moving into
a GVC is higher for exporters than for importers, showing that exporting is a stepping stone for firms to join a GVC.
Description
Keywords
Global value chains; Firms and trade.