Production and Innovation in Supply Platforms:Insights from the Innovation Systems and Value Chain Approaches

This paper introduces the term ＇supply platform＇ as a tentative and open-ended concept that captures characteristics of central importance for the study of export-oriented producers. As regional concentrations of export-oriented suppliers in China and India are maturing, many firms are now striving to build up innovation capabilities. How do we study the transition from production capabilities to innovation capabilities in supply platforms？ This paper reviews the insights from the innovation systems and global value chain literatures and discusses how we may build on these approaches for empirical studies of transition. It is found that these literatures provide important hypotheses for empirical research but more conceptual work is needed in order to address adequately the question of interest.

Market and Value Chain Analyses of Marketable Natural Products from Agroforestry Systems in Eastern Sudan

The objectives of the present study were: 1) to identify the prioritized marketable natural products (NPs) from agroforestry systems (AFS), and 2) to conduct market value chain analyses of the most important and prioritized NPs to identify markets and marketing channels;actors, functions and characteristics;constraints and opportunities to entry and growth;opportunities for value addition, and conduct analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). The study was conducted in the Refugees’ camps and their hosting communities in Eastern Sudan. Using the participatory value chain analysis (PVCA) approach, it was found that communities in the project sites obtained a multiplicity of NPs for sustenance and for increasing their incomes. Eight products were identified and ranked as the most important NPs with greatest opportunities for enterprise development at the community level. These are: gum Arabic, honey, fodder, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and tree seeds. Gum Arabic has been shown to score higher ranks in terms of a) marketability b) ecological suitability (availability), c) social suitability, and d) potential for value addition. The results show that marketing of gum Arabic in the study site is characterized by a large number of producers and relatively few traders and companies work through seven marketing channels. The results demonstrate that in the customary marketing channel there is an upward skewed benefit distribution among the value chain actors. The total relative commercialization margin was 80% indicating that “traders” accrued higher proportion, while “producers”, receive less income (20%) of the end market price. Poor land security, one-sided prices, taxes and levies, lack of finance and appropriate skills are major impediments to gum commodity growth and development. One of the most important opportunities for growth and entry of Gum Arabic are: it is natural organic product and thus well-fit for fair trade, environmentally sustainable and organic market development. Numerous opportunities exist in the site for value addition and distribution synergies and gender-specific development, including that gum Arabic has high synergy with natural resource management and other sectors for enhancing regional and national growth. The study concludes that Gum Arabic production and marketing is financially profitable for producers, traders and companies and has the potential to open new markets and bring new opportunities to smallholder farmers. However, technical, financial, and institutional support could result in an increase in local actors’ income and contribute to sustainability of the supply of the product.

Establishment of Regional Green Innovation Value Chains:A Case Study on Tackling the Impeded Diffusion of Green Products

The green innovation value chain is a key step in transforming green,innovative scientific,and technological achievements into productive forces.The establishment of green innovation value chains based on value distribution rather than technical conditions can effectively overcome the common bottleneck faced by different nations during their green innovation endeavors,namely,the substitution of conventional products with green alternatives.This study investigates the impeded diffusion of green products and their underlying causes,analyzes the internal structure and mechanism of the green innovation value chain,and explores the establishment of regional green innovation value chains and the models available for value chain upgrading.

Value chain financing and plantain production in Nigeria:an ex-ante approach

Value chain finance(VCF)represents the aligning and structuring of finance within a value chain or as a result of its existence.Given the growing need to explore innovative approaches to rural and agricultural finance in Nigeria,such financing solutions have become imperative.However,few studies on the ex-ante impact of financing innovations exist.Therefore,to ascertain the benefits derivable from VCF,this paper analyzes the potential impact of VCF on plantain production in Nigeria.The expected benefits are estimated based on the economic surplus model,using the Dynamic Research Evaluation for Management(DREAM)software.Results from a 25-year simulation period at a 15%discount rate and an innovation cost of USD 1,300,000,show that,in the least optimistic scenario,the economy is expected to have an overall net gain(economic surplus)of USD 3256,800,with a net present value of USD 3406,880,benefit-cost ratio of 3.83,and an internal rate of return or break-even discount rate of 36.80%.These results indicate the positive impact of VCF,measured in terms of net present value and net benefit,expressed as producer and consumer surplus.This suggests VCF is a viable and beneficial financing innovation for food production in Nigeria.Finally,it is recommended that a value chain financing agency be established to make finance available to farmers to boost food production in Nigeria.

Global Value Chain Embeddedness,Knowledge Spillovers,and Clustered Firms' Innovation Performance

Empirical evidence of the effects of global value chain( GVC) embeddedness on clustered firms' innovation is presented in this paper. The intermediary roles of the two types of knowledge spillover( explicit and implicit) in GVC embeddedness and clustered firms' innovation are considered, and the effects of structure embeddedness,relationship embeddedness,and acknowledgement embeddedness on clustered firms' innovation are examined. Analysis is based on the sample of 134 export-oriented firms from the Shaoxing industrial cluster in Zhejiang province of China. Results show that although GVC embeddedness is associated with high use of external knowledge sources,clustered firms' innovation is promoted indirectly through explicit knowledge spillover. Intrinsic connections exist among the different dimensions of GVC embeddedness,that is,structure embeddedness not only directly improves relationship embeddedness but also indirectly improves acknowledgement embeddedness through relationship embeddedness.

Innovation systems and global value chains:A Co-citation analysis of established linkages and possible future trends

This study draws a historical picture of conceptual linkages of innovation systems(IS)and global value chains(GVC).We used a co-citation technique to map the evolution of these two fields since 1990.We highlighted the connecting nodes over the past three decades.The first decade witnessed a connection between national innovation systems(NIS)and GVC,mediated by regional studies related to industrial clusters and district-based innovation.The tradeoff between tacit sticky local and codified transferable global knowledge and innovation and learning's importance in upgrading in GVC generated two new routes in the second decade.In the last decade,although these routes are retained,their mediating nodes have changed with the literature on technology and sustainable transition from IS and the path dependency role in the evolution of districts in global production networks.Recent trends indicate that evolutionary views on economic geography and catch-up may open new opportunities to link the two,and some lessons highlight the need for more structured interactions in the future.

Measuring the Effectiveness of the Chinese Innovation System:A Global Value Chain Approach

This paper study argues that some disruptive new trends are surfacing with the emergence of new technologies,which makes an efficient and effective R&D and innovation system even more relevant for any country to compete at a global level.Against this backdrop,the study tries to measure the effectiveness of the Chinese innovation system,using the“R&D spending as percentage of GDP”as the input variable and the“contribution of R&D and related business activities to the value‐added manufacturing exports”as the output variable.Based on a 59‐country sample in the OECD‐WTO TiVA database,the regression results show a significant and positive correlation between the two variables.The findings also complement with other existing empirical and qualitative studies in this area.The overall findings show that China has achieved significant efficiency and effectiveness in its innovation system compared with many other countries;in fact,since 2009,the efficiency has accelerated.However,it still lags behind the major global players.This means China still has some room to improve in order to transform its increasing inputs in R&D and technology innovation into commensurate outputs.This situation calls for further improvements in its innovation ecosystem.

Parameterless Pruning Algorithms for Similarity-Weight Network and Its Application in Extracting the Backbone of Global Value Chain

Purpose:With the availability and utilization of Inter-Country Input-Output(ICIO)tables,it is possible to construct quantitative indices to assess its impact on the Global Value Chain(GVC).For the sake of visualization,ICIO networks with tremendous low-weight edges are too dense to show the substantial structure.These redundant edges,inevitably make the network data full of noise and eventually exert negative effects on Social Network Analysis(SNA).In this case,we need a method to filter such edges and obtain a sparser network with only the meaningful connections.Design/methodology/approach:In this paper,we propose two parameterless pruning algorithms from the global and local perspectives respectively,then the performance of them is examined using the ICIO table from different databases.Findings:The Searching Paths(SP)method extracts the strongest association paths from the global perspective,while Filtering Edges(FE)method captures the key links according to the local weight ratio.The results show that the FE method can basically include the SP method and become the best solution for the ICIO networks.Research limitations:There are still two limitations in this research.One is that the computational complexity may increase rapidly while processing the large-scale networks,so the proposed method should be further improved.The other is that much more empirical networks should be introduced to testify the scientificity and practicability of our methodology.Practical implications:The network pruning methods we proposed will promote the analysis of the ICIO network,in terms of community detection,link prediction,and spatial econometrics,etc.Also,they can be applied to many other complex networks with similar characteristics.Originality/value:This paper improves the existing research from two aspects,namely,considering the heterogeneity of weights and avoiding the interference of parameters.Therefore,it provides a new idea for the research of network backbone extraction.

“Products-Knowledge” Two-Dimensional Increment Model of Fashion Industry Value Chain Based on Industry Analysis

Fashion industry has a complex characteristic for it spans the first, second, and third industries. In addition, the characteristic of creative industry has high value-added for its knowledge outputting, which makes the traditional value-added analysis based on supply chain not easy and good enough to interpret its industry value-added features. From the perspective of "products-knowledge" two-dimensional analysis,a fashion industry value chain increment model is built,by simulating the process of "product flow" and "information flow" value-added. The fashion industry value chain increment model provides an effective way for the enterprise strategy formulation and production strategy adjustment.

Exploring Mechanisms for Putting Agriculture Value Chain Oriented Research into Use： Empirical Cases from the Research into Use （RlU） Program

Innovation systems principles are increasingly applied for putting agricultural research into use. This paper presents and analyses three such initiatives located in South Asia, with an aim to generate empirical evidence about practical aspects of the innovation process. These cases seem to suggest that the initial stages of innovation trajectory comprise of social engineering and creation of appropriate architecture of actors, after which need for new knowledge arises and favourable conditions develop for putting such knowledge into use. The cases also present how different types of agencies assume lead roles during different stages of innovation trajectory. The paper urges authorities from policy and practice to consider status of social architecture and the fact that different types of agencies play lead role in the innovation process before planning agricultural innovation initiatives.

Analysis of the Fruit Value Chain of Two Priority Food Woody Species of Central Southern Niger, West Africa

Non-timber forest products provide important socio-economic services to different village and urban communities in West Africa. However, little is known about the links between the different actors and their contribution to the local or national economy. This study was conducted in central southern Niger and aimed to 1) identify and map the main actors in the value chain of Ziziphus mauritiana and Balanites aegyptiaca fruits;and 2) analyse the silvicultural and socio-economic aspects of fruit exploitation of these two species. Socio-economic surveys were conducted in four big villages in two main agroecological zones. Fruit exploitation of these two species affected 3044 people, with estimated 39 tonnes of Z. mauritiana and 27 tonnes of B. aegyptiaca fruit collected in 2017. The surveys revealed that the main actors were women (62.05%), constituting the primary core of the actors of the value chain. Exploitation was mainly conducted in forests (68.6%) or on farms (15.4%) with no restrictions to access. Marketing of Z. mauritiana concerned fresh fruit (68.8%) and fruit processed into biscuits (82.14%), and that of B. aegyptiaca involved fruit (38.5%) and oil extracted from seeds (38.7%);the net margin was estimated at 71.71% ± 21.59% for the first species and 50.31% ± 47.99% for the second. The income was mainly used for the needs of farmers’ households. Links have been identified where consumers and processors supply seeds, after extracting the fruit pulp, to nurserymen for the production of plants for the villages or farms. This study reveals an important potential and opportunity for job creation and improved food and nutritional status of the vulnerable strata of rural communities in Niger. Improving the links between the various actors will establish a more sustainable promotion of the fruits of these two species.

Quality Focused Apiculture Sector Value Chain Development in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is an ＂apiculture country＂ with more than 10 million honey bee colonies. Ethiopia is also a ＂honey country＂; the annual honey and beeswax production potentials are 550,000 and 50,000 metric tons, respectively, with about one tenth actually produced. Since 2008, Ethiopia is EU ＂third country＂ listed for the export of honey. However, the national research system identified serious bottlenecks, such as traditional smallholder level production with very low productivity and problematic supply chain; quality issues, including adulteration; lack of access to credit; constrained input supply chain and input quality issues. This paper illustrates how quality defects have been addressed in a quality focused value chain development （VCD） approach, with focus on： creating a favorable policy ground; implementing regional, national and continental multi-stakeholder-platforms （MSPs） for dialogue; information and knowledge sharing and sector advocacy; strengthening supportive sector organizations along the value chain; networking and market intelligence, including exposition and conference organization; expansion of research centers and activities; laboratory qualification for intematioual accreditation. Many components are implemented through the largest national apiculture sector development programme called Apiculture Scaling-Up Programme for Income and Rural Employment （ASPIRE）, which transfers innovations to more than 30,000 beekeepers. Among others, ASPIRE was instrumental in qualifying national testing facilities, which in turn led to product quality improvement. However, more action is required in the fields of business-to-business （B2B） linkages, research, education and training, as well as in making so far voluntary practices mandatory. This also calls for full traceability and routine quality testing along the value chain.

Small ruminant value chain in Al-Ruwaished District,Jordan

This study aims to assess the small ruminant value chain in Al-Ruwaished District,Jordan,to identify the potential intervention areas that could improve the production efficiency and guarantee the sustainability of the small ruminant sector in this area.Sheep breeding is the source of livelihood for most of the people in Al-Ruwaished District,which is characterized by the large number of sheep and goats.We surveyed 5.0% of the small ruminant holders in the study area and conducted individual interviews and surveys with the potential actors in the value chain to undertake a small ruminant value chain analysis.From the survey,we found that the small ruminant value chain consists of five core functions,namely,input supply,production management,marketing,processing,and consumption.Despite the stable impression given by the large number of holdings in the small ruminant sector,the surveyed results show a clear fragility in the value chain of small ruminants in this area.The small ruminant production system is negatively impacted by climate change,especially continuous drought.In addition,the high prices of feed that the farmer cannot afford with clear and real absence of the governmental and non-governmental support activities also impact the development of the value chain.The results of strengths,weaknesses,opportunities,and threats(SWOT)analysis reveal that the major constraints faced by this value chain could be divided into external and internal threats.Specifically,the most prominent external threats are the nature of the desert land and continuous drought,while the major internal threats are the absence of appropriate infrastructure,shortage of inputs,and weakness in the production management and marketing.We proposed solutions to these challenges to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of the sector,such as the formulation of emergency response plans to severe weather,qualifying farmers’skills,and establishment of agricultural cooperative societies.

Analysis of the Evolution and Influence on the Industrial Value Chain in Telecommunications

This paper discusses the evolution of telecommunication industrial value chain （TIVC）, analyzes the influence of technical innovation and customer demand on TIVC, and establishes the model. The appearance of the circuit switching technology and packet switching technology together with the diversity of the demand of customers change the structure of TIVC, causing vibration in value creation and distribution systems. With changes of the TIVC, enterprises in the chain will accordingly alter their business models, products （services） and the internal organizational structures. All these changes will lead to the reconstruction and optimization of the TIVC, and consequently, promote the development of the telecommunication industry.

Production Chain Length and PPI-CPI Divergence:Analysis Based on the Global Input-output Price Model

Productivity and international energy price shocks are reflected in PPI and CPI via industrial chains.China’s in-depth participation into the global value chains has increasingly lengthened its industrial production chains.The question is how the changing length of production chains will affect CPI and PPI,as well as CPI-PPI correlation?By constructing a global input-output price model,this paper offers a theoretical discussion on the impact of production chain length on the CPI-PPI divergence.Our findings suggest that the price shock of international bulk commodities has a greater impact on China’s PPI than that on CPI.The effects on both China’s PPI and CPI estimated by using the single-country input-output model are higher than the results estimated with the global input-output model.However,the difference between CPI and PPI variations estimated with the global input-output model is greater than the result estimated with the single-country input-output model,which supports the view that the lengthening of production chains,especially international production chains,leads to a divergence between CPI and PPI.Empirical results based on cross-national panel data also suggest that the lengthening of production chains has reduced the CPI-PPI correlation for countries,i.e.the lengthening of production chains has increased the PPI-CPI divergence.That is to say,policymakers should target not just CPI in maintaining price stability,but instead focus on the stability of both PPI and CPI.Efforts can be made to proactively adjust the price index system,and formulate the industrial chain price index.

The Innovation Mode Selection Based on Value Chain Structure and Firm＇s Resource——Study of DTC＇s Wind Power

After reviewing the value chain theory and resource view theory, it is shown that the technological innovation selection of enterprise should keep to relative value structure and technical rules, at the same time takes their own resource and capability as ref- erence. In fact, it synthesizes the viewpoints of positioning school and resource school. A model for the selection path of innovation is founded and in which the theory analysis is deepened by means of example of development of Dongfang Turbine Co., Ltd. （DTC） wind power industry.

Innovations in Value-Addition of Agricultural By-Products in Uganda

The purpose of this review was to profile the existing innovations in the value addition of agricultural by-products and suggest innovations that could yield more value-added products from the available agricultural by-products in Uganda. These by-products were from crops, livestock, fish and forestry sub-sectors. The review indicated 7.8 million tons from the crops’ subsector, 6.69 million skins and hides, 2280 million tons of cow dung and 390,550 tons of chicken dung from the livestock subsector, 36,000 tons from the fish subsector and 440,000 m3 of sawdust and offcuts from the forestry sub-sector. Current innovations in value-addition of agricultural by-products included the making of briquettes, organic fertilizers, biogas, biochar, pellets and organic pesticides from the crop subsector. Cow dung from the livestock is used for plastering walls of houses, used as fertilizer and used for the production of biogas. Chicken droppings are as well used as fertilizer and for production of biogas. Fish frames and skins are mainly consumed in smoked form whereas trimmings are usually rolled into fish balls and then fried for people to eat while the fats are used for frying the fish balls. Sawdust has been mixed with cement to make wood-cement composite bricks that reduce the overall weight of the building. It is also being used as feed in the Indigenous Micro-Organisms (IMO) technology in the production of pigs. Proposed innovations include the use of bones to produce soft tissue, buttons, knife handles and bone meal. Blood can be used in making adhesives and fertilizers while fish oil is a major dietary source of long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and so can be utilized to enrich different food products.

Human Capital Expansion and Global Value Chain Upgrading:Firm-level Evidence from China

Firms actively participate in the production of the global value chain(GVC),which is an important driving force for economic development.Using a difference-in-difference method,our research shows that industries that are relatively more human-capital intensive experienced a larger GVC position upgrading after 2003 than they had in prior years.Second,mechanism analysis shows that human capital expansion increases firms’GVC position not only through an imported intermediate input effect but also through an innovation effect.Third,this study shows that increases in the college-educated labor force have a heterogeneous effect on a firm's GVC position across firms’various characteristics.Human capital expansion has the largest positive effect on state-owned firms relative to foreign and domestic private firms.Human capital expansion has also significantly improved the GVC position of firms located in China's eastern and central regions.The findings of this study indicate that it helps upgrading the GVC position of Chinese firms.

Global Value Chains, Horizontal Intra-lndustry Trade and the Heterogeneous Firm

This paper examines global value chains at the level of the heterogeneous firm. The context is a world of horizontal intra-industry trade, characterized by imperfect competition and product differentiation at the firm level. Standard microeconomic tools are employed to assess the effects of inter-firm dissimilarities in both demand and supply on firms＇ responses to changes in trade policy. In this set-up, dissimilarities in firm characteristics play roles similar to factor endowments and technology differences in traditional trade models. When cross-border production sharing （＂fragmentation＂） is introduced into this framework, those differences in firm characteristics determine the degree to which individual firms will enter into production networks. In this context, horizontal and vertical intra-industry tradel elements interact in their effects on firm decisions. Traditional comparative advantage considerations still govern the choice of off-shored activities, while direct competition between imports and exports expands the range of possible outcomes. Finally, it is shown that cross-border production sharing reduces the sensitivity of firms to variations in exchange rates, matching a phenomenon that has been observed in traditional country-level models.

Impact of Embeddedness in Global Value Chains on the Differentiation of Technological Sophistication of Exports

This paper adopts the production decomposition developed by Wang et al.(2017)and data from the World Input-Output Database(WIOD)to estimate the degrees of forward and backward participation in global value chains(GVCs)in 2000-2014 by the world’s major economies including China,and to do an empirical examination on the impact that heterogeneous forms of participation in GVCs have on the improvement of GVCs.The results show that forward participation in GVCs helps increase the sophistication of exports,while backward participation in GVCs exerts different infl uence on the sophistication of exports.While a lower level of backward participation by a country is constrained by the country’s current position in the international division of labor and thus does not help increase the sophistication of its exports,a higher level of backward participation helps break through the bottleneck of low-end locking in GVCs and increase the sophistication of exports.