Upgrading in Global Value Chains: An Integrative Literature Review

Abstract

This article investigates how upgrading strategies have been addressed in studies on Global Value Chains (GVCs). For this purpose, we carried out an integrative literature review where we identified and analyzed the main upgrading modalities used in practice to increase value capture in GVCs and their main propelling mechanisms. In our integrative synthesis, we argue that the effect of value capture in GVCs is due to the implementation of some modality of upgrading which was triggered by a kind of mechanism (internal capacity, institutional structure/industrial policy, governance, and inter-organizational relationships). Furthermore, we discuss how some studies are naming certain propelling mechanisms of upgrading as the very modality of upgrading and how some 'new modalities' of upgrading proposed recently are, in reality, the classic modalities of upgrading (economic upgrading) already widely discussed in the literature. The integrative review gave rise to a conceptual framework and a research agenda that could serve as a research reference for other researchers who are interested in investigating this theme based on the gaps and inaccuracies noted in our analysis.