Yang, Y: Upgrading through Linkages?

This book re-examines the upgrading through linkages thesis which argues that participation in global production networks is critical to the development of indigenous firms and industries in developing countries. We challenge the idea that 'quasi-hierarchy' or 'modular' production networks, a typology modelled largely on the evolution of the personal computer and associated electronics components, provides the greatest openness for participation and possibility for industrial upgrading for firms in developing countries. Through a empirical study into the organisation of supply linkages in the notebook PC industry, we find that both the incentive to create linkages with external firms, as well as the motivation for firms to support the build-up of local capabilities, were not present in the recent of restructing of notebook PC production from Taiwan to Mainland China.