Globalization of production

Abstract

Abstract Over the past few decades, production has become massively fragmented and globally dispersed—a development that has been part and parcel of economic globalization since the 1980s. Workers, firms, and sometimes even entire countries have come to occupy segments and niches of so-called global value chains. In this chapter, I look at the winners and losers in this era of globalized production. I conclude that, overall, the winners are mainly large transnational corporations based in the global North. At worst, these corporations solidify and strengthen their power in the world economy at the expense of economic development and industrialization in the global South. This power is fortified by technological dominance, strong protection of intellectual property, favourable trade agreements, low trade barriers, and privileged access to low-cost capital and labour all over the world. This systemic problem has remained intact even after the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine rattled global value chains and global supply chains.