The Contest for Value in Global Value Chains: Correcting for Distorted Distribution in the Global Apparel Industry

Abstract

Who captures the value created in global supply chains? How should gaps in value capture among participants be amended and by whom? Focusing on the global apparel supply chain and employing value creation as a yardstick for evaluation of value capture, we study the contests for value among global brands, manufacturers, labor, and consumers of the final output. We find misalignments between value creation and value capture at each of these contests, and posit that the failure of both markets and governments to distribute GVC value adequately calls for different mechanisms to distribute value. We suggest that the interdependencies germane to the co-specialized nature of GVCs give participants power to create markets for social justice. In this ‘market’ behavior that drives outcomes towards adequate value distribution is economically rewarded. These dynamics turn GVCs into their own de-facto ‘regulators’ with the power to self-correct for distributional distortions.