The IO–PS in the context of GVC-related policymaking: The case of the South African automotive industry

Wouter G. Bam (), Karolien De Bruyne () and Mare Laing ()
Additional contact information
Wouter G. Bam: Stellenbosch University
Mare Laing: Stellenbosch University

Journal of International Business Policy, 2021, vol. 4, issue 3, No 5, 410-432

Abstract: Abstract Recent years have seen renewed interest in evaluating the effectiveness of industrial policy, especially in the context of global value chains. One approach that might add a complementary view in this domain is product space analysis. To date, product space-based value chain analyses have focused on theoretical debates only, or on empirical applications for a single year. In this paper, we employ the input–output product space (IO–PS) framework combined with a time dimension. We thereby evaluate the effectiveness of industrial policies within a value chain over time. The paper focuses on the case of the South African automotive value chain for the years 1995 to 2017. We evaluate ex post the implemented industrial policies and confirm their (partial) success. We then use the framework to make ex ante recommendations to improve the current policy approach and find that it might pay off to target specific sub-sectors in the future. The results illustrate how the framework can be used to evaluate industrial policies and to identify which parts of the global value chain should be targeted to foster both short- and long-term growth. We also highlight shortcomings of the approach which might limit its application.

Keywords: global value chain analysis; product space; industrial policy; automotive industry; South Africa (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s42214-020-00081-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:joibpo:v:4:y:2021:i:3:d:10.1057_s42214-020-00081-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/42214

DOI: 10.1057/s42214-020-00081-7

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of International Business Policy is currently edited by Sarianna Lundan, Ari Van Assche and Anne Hoekman

More articles in Journal of International Business Policy from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().