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Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains

Regina Frei editor Sherwat Ibrahim editor Temidayo Akenroye editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Published:8th Feb '22

Should be back in stock very soon

This hardback is available in another edition too:

Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains cover

This book contains a collection of studies on the interactions between businesses in Africa and Global Value Chains (GVCs) in terms of social, environmental and economic sustainability. This is particularly pertinent given the asymmetrical power distribution between the global buyer and the African supplier, their governance relationships and the ongoing competitive pressures to reduce costs and increase flexibility to meet GVC demands. Rather than focusing on the sustainability of a single organization, GVCs address the sustainability of inter-firm value chains and global industries as a whole. With little differentiation between value chain creation and social / environmental degradation extending to people and raw material extraction (upstream) and disposal or recycling (downstream), sustainability issues need to be at the forefront of African business research interests. Nowadays, sustainability is considered a competitive advantage for a firm looking to join a GVC. Whether sustainability is approached from the viewpoint of an exporting firm motivated to join a GVC in its respective industry or whether a firm’s continuing contractual or collaborative relationship with a buyer depends on its compliance with sustainability standards, both approaches focus on the ability of firms in Africa to benefit from joining sustainable GVCs.

“Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains has many merits. … it offers many distinct approaches to and perspectives on GVCs and sustainability in Africa. The inroads built by it are informative. They have the potential to inspire future research on the topic.” (Sören Scholvin, Africa Spectrum, November 4, 2022)

ISBN: 9783030787905

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

325 pages

1st ed. 2022