Upgrading in Global Value Chains
The aim of this paper is to explore how small- and medium-sized Latin American
enterprises ( S MEs) may participate in global markets in a way that provides for
sustainable growth. This may be defined as the ‘‘ highroad ’’ to competitiveness,
contrasting with the ‘‘ low road, ’’ typical of firms from developing c o untries, which
often compete by squeezing wages and profit margins rather than by improving
productivity, wages, and profits. The key difference between the high and the low
road to competitiveness is often explained by the different capabilities of firms to
‘‘ upgrade . ’ In this paper, upgrading refers to the capacity of a firm to innovate to
increase the value added of its products and processes ( Humphrey & Schmitz, 2002a;
Kaplinsky&Readman, 2001; Porter, 1990 ).



企業(yè)的生產(chǎn)經(jīng)營活動，本質(zhì)上是價值創(chuàng)造的動態(tài)過程。每個企業(yè)都是在設 計 、
生產(chǎn)、銷售、發(fā)送和輔助其產(chǎn)品的過程中進行種種活動的一個集合體，而所有 這
些活動可以用一個價值鏈 (value chain) 來表明 。
隨著國際外包業(yè)務日益增多，全球價值鏈 (global value chain ， GVC) 的概
念應運而生。全球價值鏈是指全球性跨企業(yè)網(wǎng)絡組織在原料采集和運輸、產(chǎn)品 的
生產(chǎn)和分銷、直至最終消費和回收處理的過程中進行的價值創(chuàng)造活動。杰瑞菲
Gary Gereffi) 通過研究不同環(huán)節(jié)之間相互聯(lián)系的分布在世界各國的生產(chǎn)體系
后發(fā)現(xiàn)，全球價值鏈往往由一個或幾個領導者支配、協(xié)調(diào)；領導者通常占據(jù)價 值
鏈的戰(zhàn)略環(huán)節(jié)，他決定著價值鏈的基本特征。