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Standardization

The role of innovation and standards in global value chains

Freitag, 05. Januar 2018

Contact: Knut Blind [1].

The traditional trade of goods is on the one hand more and more complemented by direct investments in the target countries for export and on the other hand further differentiated within so-called global value chains (GVCs) (http://www.oecd.org/sti/ind/global-value-chains.htm) where the production of the various components especially of complex products are located across different countries. The option of globalisation allows companies to optimise their operations through outsourcing and offshoring of activities. The recent years have witnessed a strong trend towards the international differentiation of value chains also including activities like design and marketing.

The joint OECD – WTO Trade in Value-Added (TiVA) initiative addresses the new trade patterns generated by GVCs  by considering the value added by each country in the production of goods and services (http://www.oecd.org/industry/ind/measuringtradeinvalue-addedanoecd-wtojointinitiative.htm [2]).

We are looking for students analyzing the role of innovation and standards as driver for and impact of GVCs. It is possible to conduct both conceptual and empirical works on the macro and the micro level or focusing on specific technologies and sectors.