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2019 | Buch

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Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Challenges of Integration into the Global Economy

herausgegeben von: Sören Scholvin, Anthony Black, Javier Revilla Diez, Ivan Turok

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

Development largely depends on how given places participate in global economic processes.The contributions to this book address various features of the integration of sub-Saharan Africa into the world economy via value chains, so as to explain corresponding challenges and opportunities. The book deals with five issues that have not been covered adequately in scientific debates: first, policies are essential to promote value chains and increase their impact on development; second, value chains are diverse, and the variance between them has major economic and political implications; third, regional value chains appear to constitute a viable alternative to global ones (or, at least, are complementary to them), promising better developmental outcomes for the Global South; fourth, political and socio-economic factors are important considerations for a complete assessment of value chains; fifth, cities and city regions are also crucial objects of study in seeking to achieve a comprehensive assessment of value chains.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction

Abstract

The introductory chapter illustrates the relevance of (research on) global value chains (GVCs) in sub-Saharan Africa. It provides an overview of the state of the art, and outlines the structure of the edited volume. Five key features of GVCs are identified, and the respective chapter contributions summarised: first, governance institutions and their policies are critical for the dynamics of GVCs and their impact on economic development. Second, GVCs are diverse, which has far-reaching implications for both economics and politics. Third, regional value chains have recently gained considerable political relevance, arguably being an alternative to value chains of a global scope. Fourth, the political and socio-economic effects of GVC participation merit more attention too. Fifth, there is a need to consider the sub-national dimension of GVCs, particularly the roles of cities and city regions.

Sören Scholvin, Anthony Black, Javier Revilla Diez, Ivan Turok

Prospects of Regional Value Chains

Frontmatter

Global Value Chain Participation and Trade Barriers in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The economic gap between sub-Saharan Africa and the Global North is widening, even though the subcontinent is increasingly being integrated into global value chains (GVCs). Based on regression analyses, this chapter assesses GVC participation and its relationship with national regulatory governance structures for sub-Saharan Africa at a macro level. By analysing the relationship between domestic and foreign value-added production inputs to sub-Saharan African exports, the author concludes that GVC participation is unfavourable for many regional countries, as they largely export non-upgraded production inputs. The chapter also aims to analyse the relationship between GVC chain participation and various trade barriers, showing that these are of limited significance with the current state of value chain participation.

Herman S. Geyer

The Prospects for Regional Value Chains in the Automotive Sector in Southern Africa

Abstract

This chapter assesses the prospects of regional value chains (RVCs) in car manufacturing in Africa, focussing specifically on Southern Africa (because of relatively advanced regional integration there). After examining the state of the automotive industry across the continent and in particular in the Southern African Development Community, the authors refer to international examples—the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the country of India and the South American Mercado Común del Sur—so as to derive the prospects for and necessary steps towards RVCs in Africa—or, at least, on parts of the continent. The key idea here is that such value chains depend on a viable ‘automotive space’, meaning a sufficiently large market, on competitiveness in manufacturing and on supportive policy arrangements. The chapter outlines the challenges and opportunities concerning these three conditions. It concludes with policy recommendations regarding what can realistically be achieved in the region.

Chelsea Markowitz, Anthony Black

Expansion of Regional Supermarkets in Zambia: Finding Common Ground with Local Suppliers

Abstract

Supermarkets, which have become a key feature of Zambia’s retail sector, provide formal-market value chains that can trigger local development and even hold the potential of agro-processing for export. This chapter investigates how Zambian suppliers integrate into supermarket value chains. As a first step, the potential related to these value chains is discussed. Based on structured interviews with three major foreign supermarkets and 99 local firms, the authors then show that (potential) local suppliers overestimate their participatory preparedness. They rate their own capacities much more favourably than supermarkets do, and also somewhat misunderstand the latter’s procurement criteria. Other key challenges are the delayed payments by supermarkets, the low output of many local firms and the lack of financing to upgrade production processes. Supermarkets promoting their own brands causes additional competition for local suppliers. Based on this assessment, the authors provide policy recommendations to help Zambia benefit from clear opportunities in the retail sector.

Mwanda Phiri, Francis Ziba

Prospects of Global Value Chains

Frontmatter

Economic Growth Corridors Through a Value-Chain Lens: The Case of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor in Tanzania

Abstract

Tanzania’s Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor (SAGCOT) is a role-model economic growth corridor (EGC). It aims at easing the incorporation of smallholder farmers into global and regional value chains through partnerships with larger agricultural companies. EGCs in general and SAGCOT in particular are not only about upgrading infrastructure. They in fact address numerous challenges to local producers, including the lack of finance and knowledge relating to markets and production as well as their low bargaining power in global value chains (GVCs). This chapter starts with a summary of the conceptual literature on GVCs, of global production networks as well as of Kaplinsky’s understanding of power dynamics within GVCs. The authors then assess SAGCOT, showing how the initiative seeks to address existing inequalities and unfavourable power dynamics in GVC development. Potential challenges that SAGCOT faces are discussed, and corresponding policy recommendations given.

Asmita Parshotam, Javier Revilla Diez

A Different Path of Industrial Development? Ethiopia’s Apparel Export Sector

Abstract

This chapter provides an analysis of Ethiopia’s apparel export sector, based on intensive field research carried out in recent years. The chapter begins with an overview of the sector, focussing on firms, products and trade relations. Afterwards, the integration of Ethiopia’s textile and apparel production into global value chains is assessed with regard to diverse types of ownership and a proactive industrial policy, which comprises a wide range of means such as access to bank loans and foreign exchange, strategic investment promotion, industrial parks, sector-specific institutes and backward and forward linkages. This also reveals significant differences from other, less successful apparel exporters in sub-Saharan Africa, and leads to a discussion of achievements and obstacles in (functional, process and product) upgrading and localisation processes. The authors conclude by summarising what Ethiopia has achieved, and which challenges and shortcomings the country’s apparel export sector still faces.

Cornelia Staritz, Leonhard Plank, Mike Morris

Mozambique’s Megaproject-Based Economic Model: Still Struggling with Uneven Development?

Abstract

Megaprojects in aluminium production, coal and natural gas extraction, and hydropower generation play a key role in the Mozambican economy. Based on the concepts of global value chains and linkages, this chapter shows that remarkable transformations are taking place in these sectors, including the expansion of production, the attraction of FDI and the emergence of new players from the Global South who now compete with transnational companies from traditional economic partner countries of Mozambique. The authors highlight potentials (in terms of economic transformation, especially positive side effects through the provision of electricity and rehabilitation of transport infrastructure) as well as drawbacks and limits to Mozambique’s megaprojects. The latter go beyond the low participation of domestic small and medium enterprises, comprising as well a variety of economic, political and social challenges. The chapter concludes with recommendations for improving the megaproject-based economic model.

Eduardo Bidaurratzaga Aurre, Artur Colom Jaén

Electronic-Waste Circuitry and Value Creation in Accra, Ghana

Abstract

Based on extensive field research, this chapter assesses electronic-waste processing in Ghana by examining the respective roles of formal and informal enterprises therein. Against this background, recent government efforts to manage e-waste and regularise related industries are reviewed. The authors conclude that government policies are not suitable for the development of this sector and for upgrading e-waste activities, because they largely neglect informals and their critical contribution to the sector. Given the low state of technology available in Ghana and the key role that informal labourers play in e-waste collection and processing, the authors call for a refocus on the informal activities so that informals can operate in better, greener, healthier and safer working conditions that would ultimately produce better outcomes in terms of sustainable development.

Richard Grant, Martin Oteng-Ababio

The Impact of the United States Energy Revolution and Decarbonisation on Energy Markets in Africa

Abstract

Two recent developments are influencing energy markets and related value chains in Africa to a dramatic extent: the exploitation of unconventional hydrocarbon resources—the so-called shale revolution—in the United States and the striving for global decarbonisation. Together with the 2014 oil price crash, the shale revolution resulted initially in a precipitous drop in export revenues across Africa’s producer countries—and constitutes a key exogenous effect on the continent’s energy markets. The global transition away from fossil fuels, while ultimately necessary for mitigating climate change, threatens to leave Africa with stranded—meaning worthless—assets. After providing overviews of the shale revolution, decarbonisation and their respective impacts on Africa, this chapter compares how an established and an emerging producer, Nigeria and Uganda respectively, are attempting to deal with these new challenges. It suggests that switching to renewable energies may be wiser than trying to increase value capture in hydrocarbon value chains.

Stefan Andreasson

Political and Socio-economic Challenges

Frontmatter

Will Tanzania’s Natural Gas Endowment Generate Sustainable Development?

Abstract

Considerable natural gas deposits have recently been discovered in Tanzania. After providing information on these discoveries in terms of magnitude, potential value and their role within Tanzania’s economic reality, the author reviews the literature on the relationship between resource abundance and underdevelopment. He introduces a game theory model that helps to visualise the set of incentives facing ruling elites in resource-abundant, institutionally weak states. Against this background, the strength of Tanzania’s governance institutions—including those specific to the oil and gas sector—is assessed. The authors concludes by suggesting practical policy steps to strengthen Tanzania’s institutions, as these must be designed in a way that guarantees that neither citizens nor the government prefer violence over taxation and work respectively to access profits generated in the resource sector.

Ross Harvey

Preparing the Ground for Unrest: Private and Public Regulation of Labour in the Fresh-Fruit Global Value Chain

Abstract

This chapter combines the approaches of global production networks and global value chains, so as to explain recent protests by farmworkers in the Western Cape. It is highlighted how private and public governance by lead firms from the fresh-fruit sector and the South Africa government contributed to social tension in the indigent community of De Doorns. The author shows how economic upgrading in De Doorns has been accompanied by social downgrading. She explains that the ability of the state to increase the minimum wage for farmworkers is constrained by the unequal distribution of bargaining power between domestic fresh-fruit producers and retailers from overseas: the former cannot increase their value capture, but this would be necessary to compensate for substantially higher wages, as demanded by farmworkers. From a conceptual perspective, this chapter demonstrates that it is critical to include labour as a unit of analysis when assessing upgrading in value chains.

Margareet Visser

Agriculture, Value Chains and the Rural Non-Farm Economy in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe

Abstract

This chapter compares rural development in Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe, concentrating on agricultural value chains and their implications for the rural non-farm economy (RNFE). Based on detailed qualitative exploration, it is shown that value chains in Mchinji (Malawi) are predominantly local, with few impulses being generated for the RNFE. The commercialised farms that characterise Weenen (South Africa) are locally disembedded, thus not triggering local development. In Mazowe and Mazvingo (Zimbabwe), agriculture is linked to a thriving RNFE and to distant corporate players. This creates down- and upstream markets that are significantly more complex and diverse than in the Malawian and South African cases. Against this background, the author suggests that dense, locally embedded and externally connected networks that do not suffer from an overly unequal distribution of power are most conducive to rural development.

Andries du Toit

Cities and City Regions in Value Chains

Frontmatter

Rebalancing Research on World Cities: Mauritius as a Gateway to Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

This chapter seeks to rebalance research on world cities, which suffers from a bias towards the Global North in theory building. For this purpose, the author advances the concept of ‘gateway cities’. In contrast to the world city approach, the gateway one addresses the global and regional interlinking of cities along five dimensions: transport and logistics, industrial processing, corporate control, service provision and knowledge generation. It allows us to incorporate what can be learnt from cases in the Global South into our understanding of cities in economic processes—or, more narrowly, global value chains. The author applies the gateway concept to Mauritius, showing that the island state serves as a gateway to sub-Saharan Africa in the oil and gas sector, in particular for logistics, corporate control and service provision.

Sören Scholvin

Gateway Cities, Under-Connected Cities and Largely Disconnected Cities in Global Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In this chapter, key factors that define sub-Saharan African urban centres as gateway cities, under-connected cities or largely disconnected cities in global value chains (GVCs) are examined. Cities with significantly higher positive trade coefficients than those of the other cases are considered as being gateways, reaching higher levels of international trade. A generally low level of city connectedness across the subcontinent is shown and explained by the typical role of sub-Saharan African countries in GVCs: only the initial stages thereof are found there, whereas value-addition happens beyond the region. Moreover, probable explanations for the spatial distribution of gateway cities as well as under-connected and largely disconnected cities are given.

Herman S. Geyer

A Hub for Africa? The Information and Communications Technology Sector in Cape Town

Abstract

The larger metropolitan area of Cape Town is a hub for services in information and communications technology (ICT). Considering the development opportunities related to this sector, this chapter explores the nature and dimensions of the South African ICT sector and within it, the one in Cape Town. Based on desk studies, including a detailed assessment of statistical information and an in-depth analysis of four firms, the author analyses how the South African ICT sector integrates into value chains on various geographical scales. He also sheds light on the challenges that Cape Townian ICT firms face in expanding their operations—access to finance and markets, for example—and suggests that there is much potential for these firms in expanding into Africa at large.

John Stuart

Tradable Services, Value Chains and the Gauteng Economy

Abstract

Tradable services hold a considerable yet untapped potential to contribute to economic development in Africa. This chapter assesses the importance of tradable services to the province of Gauteng, which is South Africa’s economic heartland. Refering to secondary data sources, the authors show which services are most significant and to what extent they are engaged in international markets and cross-border value chains. Their analysis reveals that Gauteng possesses a sizeable concentration of skills crucial for tradable services. However growth over the last decade has been in relatively routine tasks and generic skills (both largely dependent on domestic demand), rather than in the sought-after category of professional and technical workers—who would support advanced service industries and other high-productivity tasks. Gauteng’s services sub-sectors also appear to be largely unconnected, instead of focussed on a particular cluster or small group of clusters of closely related activities.

Ivan Turok, Justin Visagie

Conclusion

Abstract

The concluding chapter returns to the five critical research issues identified in the introduction to the edited volume. It summarises how the book’s chapters have advanced our knowledge on these issues, puts the findings into a broader context and then suggests topics for follow-up research. Particular attention is drawn to four ideas. First, policies towards global value chains (GVCs) generally create losers and winners, a factor that sometimes gets blurred in policy-oriented research. Second, the diversity of GVCs means that much can be learnt from comparative, cross-regional research. Third, regional value chains (RVCs) should not be seen as an alternative to GVCs. Global and regional value chains are tied to one another, and industrial policy on RVCs should make use of global linkages. Fourth, there is potential for further examining the role of cities/city regions in GVCs, especially regarding the impact on development in peripheral countries.

Sören Scholvin, Anthony Black, Javier Revilla Diez, Ivan Turok

Titel: Value Chains in Sub-Saharan Africa
herausgegeben von: Sören Scholvin
Anthony Black
Javier Revilla Diez
Ivan Turok
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-06206-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-06205-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-06206-4