The Institutionalization Process of the GVC Approach: From the Academic Field to the International Organizations

Abstract

The Global Value Chain (GVC) approach -considered a relevant tool in the analysis of globalization- has gained acceptance worldwide in the development field over the last two decades. While there is a substantial and growing literature regarding different aspects of GVC, little has been written about the process of consolidation and legitimization of this approach in the academic field and how their ideas began to be adopted within International Organizations. In this sense, this chapter examines the process of institutionalization of its main theoretical foundations since its conception in the academic field and, subsequently, in the IOs. To achieve this, the study conducts a theoretical critique of the GVC literature, not only at the academic level but at the agency level as well, based on the formulation of development strategies promoted by governments and IOs for the countries of the Global South. Considering the evolution of the concept from a comparative perspective in relation to the world-system theory from which it stemmed, this research acknowledges the theoretical shortcomings of GVC in the post-Washington Consensus context.