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

The book is part of the series “New Horizons on International Business” launched by Edward Elgar Publishing. The title is simple, clear and attractive, and goes right to the heart of the issue discussed in the book — an exploration of the struggle for appropriation of value that is created in the global value chain (GVC). The book is based on a study of Bangladesh’s apparel industry, and it offers a detailed analysis of the complex complementary and competing relations between various participants in the GVC — workers, suppliers and global buyers as well as consumers — and how their respective power relations determine the value captured at every level of the industry GVC. In doing so the book touches upon some key issues regarding organization of GVCs, the role of the state and differences between different types of GVCs. It explores interdependencies between the multiple participants in a single GVC, leading to cross-influences among different contests that shape outcomes. It goes on to propose an alternative model for fair distribution of value based on interdependent relationships that interact with culture, institutions and political systems to shape and advance social welfare in GVCs — or in other words, “correct” for distorted distribution, as the subtitle of the book notes.