Global Value Chain Project

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Browsing Global Value Chain Project by Author "Mensah, Emmanuel B."

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    Global Value Chain Participation and Innovation: Firm-Level Evidence from Africa
    (2022-08) Avenyo, Elvis K.; Mensah, Emmanuel B.; Ndubuisi, Gideon; Sakyi, Daniel
    Firm-level innovation in developing countries is mostly incremental and depends on non-R&D activities. Integration into global production networks is one such activity that could help firms in developing countries to innovate. This is particularly the case since new technologies and foreign knowledge diffuse through inter-firm linkages. This paper examines the relationship between Global Value Chain (GVC) participation and firm innovative capabilities in Africa, utilizing data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey (WBES). Addressing endogeneity arising from reverse causality, our results show that firms in Africa that engage in GVC activities have a higher likelihood of introducing innovative products onto markets. The results are robust to alternative definition of GVC and innovation variables and identification strategy. Our findings shed light on the mechanisms that make innovation possible within GVC firms, and the implications it has for trade, regional integration, and innovation in Africa.
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    Integration of African Countries in Regional and Global Value Chains: Static and Dynamic Patterns
    (African Economic Research Consortium, 2022-07) Mensah, Emmanuel B.; Biesebroeck, Johannes Van
    We study the geographic concentration of trade flows of African countries using information on the global input-output structure from the Eora database. Most countries show a similar concentration between close-by vs. long-distance trade in their foreign input sourcing as in their export sales. However, changes over the last two decades indicate that many countries increasingly focus their long-distance trade on only one of these two dimensions. This trend is most pronounced in manufacturing industries with stronger global value chains. In line with the learning-by-exporting hypothesis, export success on distant markets is a leading predictor (Granger causes) of regional export success. Only in light manufacturing do we find some evidence of a reverse pattern, i.e., regional exports preceding global exports.