China and Global Value Chains

Based on a theoretical framework of the global distribution of value chains, this book investigates China’s evolving role in global value chains (GVCs) at the macro, meso and micro level. This book is a useful reference for those who are interested in acquiring insights into the development of China as the world’s fastest-growing economy.

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President Trump has raised the intriguing question of bringing the manufacturing of companies like Apple back from China to the U.S. This book, however, argues that in this age of the knowledge-based economy and increased globalization, that value creation and distribution based on knowledge and innovation activities are at the core of economic development. The double-edged sword of globalization has transformed China’s economic development in the past few decades. Although China has benefitted from globalization and is now the second largest economy in the world, having become a global manufacturing power and the biggest exporter of high-tech products, it continues to be highly dependent on foreign sources of capital and technology.

This book will explore the core of the Chinese economy from the perspective of the Global Value Chain (GVC), combining analysis of inward investment, international trade, Science and Technology and Innovation (S&TI) and economic development. Specifically, it investigates China’s evolving role in GVCs with some innovative Chinese companies emerging in the global market and China’s ongoing efforts to become an innovation-driven economy. China’s impressive economic record and experience provides an impressive role model for other developing countries.