Global Value Chains and Competitiveness

This book offers valuable insights into the reconfiguration of Global Value Chains (GVCs) in manufacturing industries and the diverse managerial responses at the firm level. Focusing on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from developed economies, the authors explore key intersections between firm strategies, competitiveness, and value-chain analysis, presenting new directions for both managerial practice and research. In response to the rapidly evolving global landscape, the book argues that manufacturing industries must reconfigure into shorter, more regionalized GVCs to improve resilience, balance cost efficiency with sustainability, and better withstand external shocks. The authors analyze three major trends: reshoring (bringing production back home), SMEs' upgrading within GVCs with a focus on social and environmental improvements, and the rise of governance structures rooted in trust and relational capital. By offering in-depth studies of the featured SMEs, the book provides guidelines for redesigning strategies and public policies that enhance SMEs' performance in the modern global context. José Pla-Barber is Professor and Chair of International Business at the University of Valencia. He is a European International Business Academy (EIBA) fellow and an associate member at the John Dunning Center for International Business (University of Reading, UK.) Pla Barber has a distinctive list of publications in top-level journals in the field of International Business and has supervised several research projects. Andrea Pallás-Rocafull is a PhD Candidate at the University of Valencia, hired under a PhD grant from the Valencian Government (ACIF/2021/322). She has presented her works at major conferences and has been awarded a price for her master's thesis by the Nebrija University (Madrid, 2021) and a prize for the most original new work at the doctoral colloquium in the AIB-UK&I Chapter Conference (2022). Ana Botella-Andreu is an Associate Professor at the University of Valencia (Spain). Ana develops research on Global Strategy and particularly, she is interested in analyzing the configuration of the MNC for global expansion and related internationalization strategies. Cristina Villar is a Professor of International Business and Strategy at the University of Valencia. Her research interests are at the intersection of international Business, innovation and organizational learning, focusing on the management of the international company (global strategy and inter-regional expansion, HQ-subsidiary relationships, global value chains) both in SMEs and multinational firms.