Value chain restructuring in Europe in a global economy

Abstract

In order to understand the impact of globalisation in Europe it is necessary to understand the place occupied by European workplaces in global value chains, how the structure and governance of these value chains is changing, and what the impact is on work organisation and on workers. As well as making an important theoretical contribution to the conceptualisation of value chains, this report draws on the quantitative and qualitative research of the WORKS project to examine the impacts of value chain restructuring. Fifty-eight case studies in the food and beverage, textiles and clothing, IT and public sectors ware analysed to shed light on questions such as: - Is it really the case that value chains are getting longer and more elaborated, both contractually and spatially? - What is the relationship between codification of workers' knowledge and value chain restructuring? - To what extent, and how, do national institutional environments shape decisions to locate particular business functions on their territories? - Is there evidence that new types of value chain are emerging in business services? And, if so, do they follow the same patterns as those in manufacturing? - What power relationships are emerging, between managers and employees within the units of value chains and between the different units and how is this power exercised?

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