Reasons for Samsung's large-scale smartphone production shift from China to Vietnam and revelations about changing industrial hierarchies in East Asia

… phone production network has … of Samsung, Apple, Foxconn, and China-based lower-tier supplier firms, we explored why and how different tiers of TNCs in the mobile phone production …

… production, and Samsung produced all of its mobile phones … the centre of mobile phone manufacturing, largely benefitting … concentration of production in China (and Vietnam lately) has …

… added in the electronics industry, while Vietnam has in recent … of China’s economic growth and the emergence of Vietnam … among Vietnam’s top exports, as demonstrated by Samsung’…

Abstract Vietnam became an important exporter of cellphones after the introduction of foreign direct investments by multinational companies. Cellphones account for around 20% of Vietnam’s total exports and contribute to its ability to overcome its trade deficit. However, the share of domestic value added in Vietnam’s electronics industry has been declining. This study suggests that this is related to the increase in cellphones as the main export item for Vietnam. Along with the upgrading of products produced in the country, the country’s electronics industry is increasingly relying on the import of parts. By decomposing Vietnam’s major export items—smartphones and printers–this study reveals that parts of the latter are more technologically accessible for domestic manufacturers to supply, while most of the former’s parts are beyond the technical capabilities of local manufacturers. This study suggests that when developing countries such as Vietnam consider targeting an industry to realize its latent comparative advantage, they should consider not only the possibility of gaining an advantage in the assembly of the product but also the possibility of creating backward linkages and developing ancillary industries.

… This reflects the offshoring of in-house production to China and Vietnam which Korean firms such as Samsung and LG have been implementing for the last ten years. Japan's share has …

… to China, India, Brazil and Vietnam did not result in a reduction of domestic jobs. On the contrary, Samsung’s … To cope with possible technological hollowing out, Samsung kept its core …

… in smartphone assembly but also in manufacturing smartphone … relocated to Vietnam to operate as vendors for Samsung, … and, more recently, China. These employers generally adhere …

Samsung has largely shifted its electronics manufacturing out of China, and mostly to Vietnam. In that process, it has, to date, avoided local labour market (LLM) difficulties faced by its subsidiaries in industrial parks in China: in particular, pervasive skill shortages among the electronics assembly workers on whom Samsung’s manufacturing depends. Labour retention problems in China had significantly challenged its commitment to invest in necessary employee training. By contrast, Samsung’s domination of foreign direct investment (FDI) within particular Vietnamese industrial parks has removed the inter-employer competition it experienced in China. A deeper explanation involves Samsung’s development – as Vietnam’s largest single source of FDI, and major producer of that country’s exports – of synergistic and symbiotic relationships with Vietnam’s national and subnational governments. These relationships have allowed Samsung to influence development strategies for industrial parks and their LLMs. Samsung has invests expansively in forms of education and training whose benefits extend beyond the areas in which its manufacturing facilities operate, to populations that the company does not employ. Providing benefits beyond typical success criteria for FDI in developing economies, Samsung has helped Vietnam’s party-state meet its own legitimacy needs with its internal constituencies, contributing to a broader practical consensus in favour of the party-state’s development policies. This article therefore widens the perspective of FDI to embed it in national and subnational business–government relations.

… of production facilities by multinational giants like Samsung, Foxconn, and Intel, Vietnam has … Additionally, global shifts like US–China trade tensions have further positioned Vietnam as …

… Toyota and Samsung have built and govern extensive production networks in and around SE Asia… economy and business literature, this is typically framed as moving up the value chain. …

… example, Samsung has invested over $17 billion in Vietnam since 2008 (Reuters, 2024a). … in value chain relocations to developing countries, particularly in Southeast and South Asian …

China’s rise as a “world factory” since the late 1970s has been attributed to the strategic coupling of local assets in the coastal regions, viz. Pearl River Delta (PRD) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in the global production networks (GPNs) driven by transnational corporations (TNCs). Since 2000, these export-led regions have encountered unprecedented challenges, particularly the rising cost of labour, which have engendered spatial relocation of labour-intensive manufacturing firms from coastal China to lower-cost locations such as inland China and neighbouring Southeast Asian countries. A rich body of literature has examined the internal relocation of TNCs from coastal to inland China, relatively little has been conducted on cross-border industrial relocation out of China to Southeast Asian countries. Drawing upon the global production networks (GPNs) perspective, this study attempts to examine the relocation of TNCs from China’s coastal regions, e.g. the Pearl River Delta (PRD) to Southeast Asian countries, e.g. Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia. Particular attention is paid to the rise of Global South and its subsequent implications for the restructuring of global manufacturing in the increasingly globalizing economy.

… global market (including South East Asian countries) through … different subsets; thus firms move certain processes to other … Figure 7 shows how supply chain configurations of Samsung …

… the mid-1980s, and the move was followed in the 1990s by … economies, notably China and Southeast Asia. The rise of … firms (eg, Samsung, LG) have expanded their supply chains and …

… Two other important Southeast Asian countries for Apple’s supply chain are Singapore and … In this sense, Samsung has taken a similar approach to Apple: moving the lowest segments …

Despite the growing protectionist policies from major developed and developing countries, multinational corporations (MNCs) tend to adjust their current efficiency-oriented global value chains (GVCs) to more resilient ones, instead of reshoring overseas businesses back home. In this respect, this chapter seeks to introduce a comprehensive framework across four directions: agile response, alternative routes, diversification, and sustainability orientation, for establishing resilient GVCs in the pandemic era. In reviewing and reorganizing the suggestions of existing studies, this chapter argues firms need to be more globalized while maintaining the key principles of GVCs. As such, countries will also need to improve their national business environment and make it more attractive for firms to locate parts of the entire GVCs in their countries. This chapter takes two countries: Vietnam and Singapore — as examples which have been widely recognized as successful countries that have opened up their economies and utilized international resources for economic development. This chapter shows that despite the potential challenges from the global pandemic, both countries tend to push forward the globalization of their economy and introduce various measures, such as strengthening the global relations with other economies and investments for digital transformations, to upgrade their positions in the GVCs.

This research examines the capital flight of foreign direct investment (FDI) from Indonesia to Vietnam against the backdrop of escalating U.S.-China tensions and restructuring global supply chains. Employing a qualitative-comparative methodology, we analyze secondary data from UNCTAD, ASEAN Investment Reports, and World Bank indicators, complemented by policy documents from both nations. Through comparative content analysis and case studies of firms such as Samsung and Foxconn, we identify key drivers of FDI diversion, including trade policy frameworks, geopolitical positioning, and industrial ecosystems. Our findings reveal that Vietnam’s strategic trade diplomacy exemplified by its participation in the CPTPP and EVFTA has bolstered its geopolitical neutrality and FDI attractiveness. In contrast, Indonesia’s resource nationalism, particularly its nickel export ban and rigid downstreaming policies, has discouraged high-tech investments, redirecting capital toward Vietnam’s integrated supply chains and special economic zones (SEZs). For instance, Samsung’s $18 billion investment in Vietnam highlights the shift of labor-intensive manufacturing away from Indonesia. This research contributes to the international political economy literature by demonstrating how policy competition and geopolitical hedging influence FDI redistribution in Southeast Asia. It underscores the trade-offs between resource sovereignty and FDI retention, offering policymakers insights into balancing industrial ambitions with global investor expectations. Future studies should explore firm-level decision-making dynamics and illicit financial flows, such as trade misinvoicing, to further elucidate capital flight mechanisms.

The global electronics industry GVC has experienced significant changes in recent years. Increased competition and restructuring amongst branded firms, technological advancements and opportunities presented in emerging economies have shaped outsourcing, upgrading and transformations in the industry. An important group of supplier firms affected by these changes are contract manufacturers. Contract manufacturers are a small group of first-tier suppliers that carry out most of the manufacturing of electronic products for branded firms in the GVC. According to estimates by the European Commission, branded firms outsourced 80 per cent of their manufacturing to only five contract manufacturers (European Commission, 2012). They are Foxconn, Flex, Jabil Circuit, Celestica and Sanmina-SCI. The majority of these contract manufacturers originated in North America (Jabil Circuit, Flex and Sanmina-SCI in the United States and Celestica in Canada. Foxconn is a Taiwanese firm). Over the past ten years, contract manufacturers have transformed into suppliers with a wide range of capabilities that include design, engineering, technological and manufacturing innovation, alongside diversification strategies that have moved them into higher value-added operations for a variety of industries. In 2015, the contract manufacturing industry was worth US$430 billion (New Venture Research, 2016).

… keys to success in the global value chain. The fourth section … An oft-raised example is Korea’s Samsung Electronics which, … most value-adding part of the value chain at home and move …

… and shifts to low-cost production geographies discussed throughout this paper. However, the crisis may have hastened the longstanding but more gradual trends of consolidation and …

The recent U.S.–China trade conflicts cast new light on the role of trade policies in global value chains (GVCs). Contrary to the expectation that trade restrictions lead to the shrinking or disruption of GVCs, our article posits that the unintended consequences of trade policies (both restrictions and trade agreements) are amplified by the prevalence and organizational complexity of GVCs. We anchor our argument in the historical evolution of three classic GVCs – apparel, automobiles, and electronics – from the 1970s to the present. Our framework highlights the dynamic interaction between GVC-oriented trade policies and firm strategies, which often has counterintuitive implications in terms of upgrading outcomes for the countries and companies involved in these GVCs. While trade policies often provide momentum for an adaptive reconfiguration of GVCs, firms’ strategic actions are crucial in modifying the geographic and organizational features of GVCs in ways that support their longevity. Firm strategies can mediate the effect of trade policies on GVC configurations in two ways: (1) firms can accommodate trade restrictions and trade agreements by altering supply and demand locations and by switching supply-chain partners; and (2) firms pursue diverse strategies to upgrade their value chain activities, leveraging the shifting geographies associated with new trade rules.

… Second, because value chain decentralization relates closely to the shifting and … While the cases of Nokia and Samsung show the geographic shift to varying degrees of employment in …

… years Samsung has been gradually shifting HHP assembly from its plants in China to its Vietnamese … 11 By 2014, the total investment of the Samsung group in Vietnam (the combined …

ABSTRACT A new regression-based revealed comparative advantage index is used to analyze Vietnam’s exports. Vietnam now has the highest comparative advantage in electronics in the world. It suggests that Vietnam may be a new follower in the “flying geese” style and reinforces the Kojima (2000) view that sufficient inward FDI can change comparative advantage. With detailed FDI and local data, we estimate that this change was brought about by a massive surge of inward FDI amounting to 6% of GDP. Lastly, we opine that while the comparative advantage in footwear may decline, that in electronics may be here to stay.

Economic cooperation has been a key pillar of the relationship between South Korea and Vietnam, with the two nations joining numerous bilateral and multilateral cooperation agreements. Theeconomic ties between the two contries have been strengthened significantly through the Korea-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (KVFTA), which hasprovided a framework for promoting economic cooperation, trade, and investment, fostering stronger and more effective mutual relations between the two nations. As of 2022, Korea's investment scale in Vietnam has reached approximately 80 billion USD, fueling Vietnam's economic growth, employment opportunities, and technology transfers. The paper examines the legal basic for promotingforeign direct investment in Vietnam and delves into the patterns of Korea's FDI in Vietnam,highlighting the expected expansion of Korean firms' investments. The research assesses the potential opportunities and challenges associated with South Korean foreign direct investment in Vietnam. Finally, the study offers several recommendations aimed at mitigating negative outcomes while maximizing the positive impacts of this bilateral relationship within the current context.

… This article compares the relatively recent foreign direct investment (FDI) experience in Vietnam with that of neighbouring China. Beijing's initial foreign investment law pre-dated …

… whether or not the electronics Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) (by LG and Samsung, but also to … Thus, Vietnam becomes (and China slowly ceases to be) an exporter to third countries as …

… of components and production equipment from Japan to East Asia have expanded rapidly. During FY 1994, Japanese exports of electronic components to Asia increased by nearly 33%…

Product cycle theory as expressed in the analogy of flying geese has become a widely accepted way of conceptualizing industrial diffusion across East Asia. As the product cycle is repeated for increasingly sophisticated products, so, it is argued, the development trajectory of Japan will be replicated in a succession of sectors and countries. This approach fails, however, to capture the complexities of the contemporary regionalization of industrial production. East Asian industrial production should not be seen as a tightly coupled process in which the rise of national economies parallels successive product cycles. Rather than Japan's development trajectory being replicated in country after country, industrial diffusion has been characterized by shifting hierarchical networks of production and partial diffusion into diverse politicoeconomic contexts at differing historical junctures. It has also resulted in a triangulation of the region's trade patterns that has generated large imbalances in trade both within the region and between the region and the United States.

… At the top of the hierarchy, TNCs from the USA, Japan and … in Southeast Asian industrial development by providing a route to entry into international production networks in electronics …

We use the “flying geese” framework to study the change in the geography of comparative advantages in the electronics sector in East Asia, China and the USA. Doubts have been …

… Several studies found that decision-making within Japanese TNCs tended to be hierarchical and centralized in the hands of headquarters. Managers of subsidiaries enjoyed little …

… production networks in East Asia … East Asian countries in electronic products since the 1980s by using an original trade database and taxonomy of trade flows in the electronics industry. …

… how Japanese electronics firms are searching for new ways to transform their East Asian production … of a radically transformed East Asian regional economy. Far from withdrawing from …

… semiconductor industry to the activities of US electronics … of production and product development in the East Asian … : Regionalitation, hierarchy, and the industrialization of East Asia', …

… the region had a distinctly hierarchical cast, often with each stage of production sited in different host … Shrinking product-cycle times in the electronics industry meant that local assembly …

… part of the regional division of labor in East Asia's electronics industry. In the 1980s, Japanese … Asia's production hierarchy - Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The Asian industrial model is …

… organization of production as a major determinant of industrial transformation in East Asia. During … and trade networks create hierarchical divisions of labour within and between regions. …

… through the development of these international and regional production networks. Japanese firms and firms from the newly … As for Vietnam, it is integrated within multinational firms as a …

… global shifts, Vietnam has emerged as a prominent destination for companies seeking alternative manufacturing … integrated Vietnam into global value chains (GVCs) and R&D networks …

… transfer within the production networks of multinational corporations, including FDI and domestic enterprises, for sustainable development of the Vietnamese electronics industry. …

ABSTRACT Existing literature on industrial relocation mainly focuses on the established transnational corporations (TNCs) while ignoring the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) as emerging TNCs While institutional embeddedness and institutional escape have been highlighted in the Global Production Networks (GPN) and International Business (IB) literature respectively, the interrelationship between the two perspectives have been overlooked in the literature. By connecting them inan institutional interplay framework, this article explores the relocation of Chinese electronics SMEs to Vietnam since the late 2000s. It argues thatthe inherited home legacy has been an important factor in driving the SMEs to escape from the institutional constraints in home regions in China and embedding in the conducive institutional environment in southern Vietnam.

… the recently developed analytical framework of global production networks (GPNs) to … TNC strategies, networks, and regional institutions expressed in Multinational Enterprises. Finally, I …

… production expansion of established and emerging TNCS from China to these countries, such as Vietnam. … to understanding the restructuring of regional production networks in Asia, so …

Shifting Production to Southeast Asia: Electronics Transnational Corporations Moving to Vietnam since the 2000s explores how a labor-intensive industry has been expanded from the ‘World Factory’ - China to developing Southeast Asia under the changing dynamics in the global and regional production networks, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tension, by using the case study of the production relocations of the consumer electronics manufacturing industry to Vietnam. David Yuen Tung Chan and Chun Yang explore the changing trade and investment patterns as well as the transformations of the electronics production networks and the changing roles and functions of China, Vietnam and other Asian countries, the relocations of firms and the strategic coupling with Vietnam, as well as the impacts of the post-pandemic dynamics. The shifting electronics production from China to Vietnam, which increased since the mid-2000s, is not a simple expansion led by the conventional lead firms from the 'North' solely to cut costs, but it is a rather complicated and multiscale process that has been simultaneously driven by various tiers of firms and levels of governments from different origins out of various dynamics at different spatial scales.

… This article presents further opportunities to develop the Global Production Network (GPN) approach by reopening the ‘black box’ of the multinational enterprise (MNE) through a …

ABSTRACT This study examines the transplantation of clusters through ‘follow sourcing’ of Korean electronics industry transnational corporations (TNCs), their suppliers and individual actors in northern Vietnam, and the ways in which geographical and organizational proximity generate spillovers to local enterprises. Advanced manufacturing facilities, relationships with suppliers and training programmes give rise to direct and indirect learning and improvements in skills and technological capabilities. Transplanted clusters via follow sourcing and localization can serve as an intermediate stage between an externally controlled satellite cluster and an advanced cluster and they afford another latecomer development path to the Chinese model of ‘obligated embeddedness’.

Asian trans-national garment manufacturers are transforming the structure of global value chains in the apparel industry. Recent studies show such first tier suppliers undertaking a greater range of functional activities. In many cases, these firms originate from the so-called ‘Rising Power’ economies, particularly ‘Greater China’ and South Asia. We argue that such, transnational, Asian firms can play a pivotal and strategic role in shaping the geography and organisational restructuring of the global value chain. Drawing on secondary sources and primary research we illustrate how such firms manage complex international production linkages, and ensure the incorporation of Jordan into the global garment industry. The paper contributes to the understanding of the role of these firms and how their behaviour is driven by complex dynamics linked to their own business strategies, their linkages with buyers, and their ability to exploit production and trade opportunities while maintaining high levels of global locational flexibility.

Abstract This paper studies the heterogeneous responses of Chinese light manufacturing firms to rising labor costs from the perspective of New Structural Economics. Using the first-hand pilot survey data, we find that rising labor costs have been the number one challenge facing firms, and that despite the dominant strategy of technological upgrading, there is a substantial difference in responses across different firms. In addition, we discover that industrial and firm-specific labor intensity are key determinants of the heterogeneous strategies across firms in response to rising labor costs. We conclude that intrinsically more labor-intensive industries and firms are more likely to choose relocation instead of upgrading as a strategy to cope with the rising labor costs.

… In the Vietnam Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics style of the industrial hub, … Samsung’s contribution to Vietnam’s exports increased significantly and reached a fifth of Vietnamese …

Abstract This paper examines the impact of economic policies on the development of Vietnam's electronics industry. We identified, reviewed, evaluated and interviewed various stakeholders in the industry about the policies implemented by the Vietnamese government during the period 1986–2017. We argue that while the policy aiming at learning through technological spillover from foreign direct investment led to the specific level of the technological development, problems during its implementation, coupled with institutional failures brought about unintended consequences. We conclude that trade liberalisation alone did not deliver the desired technological upgrading for domestic firms in Vietnam. Our paper provides policy implications for technological development in developing countries.

… development and economic growth. The article explores this link through the case of TNCs in the electronics industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam… of factories located in Vietnam and the …

Today, more and more Vietnamese firms consider continuous improvement as the best way to increase their manufacturing capability. This paper aims to illustrate the effectiveness of manufacturing processes management from the Samsung production system (SPS) approach when it was implemented to improve capability of existing production process in Vietnamese firms. The paper is a combination of descriptive and field research to demonstrate how SPS principles are appropriate for five real industry cases in particular and all Vietnamese manufacturing companies in general. In five cases, the usage of SPS-based tools has turned out to be fruitful. They solved problems of continuous improvement management in Vietnamese firms and created significant achievements in quality improvement and productivity increase. The paper investigates the core value of Samsung’s continuous process improvement. The way that Samsung has used to improve quality and profitability simultanously can be adapted by manufacturing companies.

… of Vietnam’s electronics … Samsung is one of the largest foreign investors in Vietnam with $9 billion invested to date, and an additional $3 billion smartphone factory under development. …

The evolution of mobile technology from rudimentary voice-only devices to advanced 5G-enabled smartphones, has profoundly transformed global communication, commerce, and digital economies. This paper traces the technological progression of mobile communication, highlighting parallel developments in smartphone manufacturing ecosystems across India and leading global hubs such as China, South Korea, and Vietnam. It explores how successive generations of mobile technology have increased device complexity, thereby reshaping manufacturing strategies and supply chains. The study emphasizes India’s strategic policy interventions, including the “Make in India” initiative and the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, which have catalyzed domestic production, expanded exports, and reduced import dependency. Through comparative analysis, the paper identifies best practices from other countries related to industrial policy, infrastructure development, and workforce skill enhancement. The findings reveal that while India has made significant strides in assembly and exports, it must further invest in upstream component manufacturing, R&D, and supply chain resilience to consolidate its position. The study concludes with actionable recommendations for policymakers and industry stakeholders to leverage emerging technologies such as 5G and AI for sustained growth and global competitiveness in smartphone manufacturing.

The escalating technological rivalry between the United States and China has profoundly reshaped the global geopolitical and economic landscape, presenting both opportunities and challenges for smaller nations like Vietnam. Positioned strategically in Southeast Asia and deeply integrated into global value chains, Vietnam is uniquely placed to navigate this rivalry. This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating middle power theory and geo-economic analysis to examine Vietnam's strategic responses. By leveraging its geographic location, fostering foreign direct investment (FDI), and promoting regional cooperation, Vietnam has capitalized on opportunities for technological advancement and economic growth. However, the country also faces significant challenges, including dependency on foreign technologies, cybersecurity vulnerabilities, and geopolitical pressures from the polarized global environment. This paper highlights Vietnam’s strategies to strengthen its technological capabilities, diversify supply chains, and enhance its influence within multilateral frameworks such as ASEAN and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The findings provide valuable insights into how Vietnam balances economic interests and national security while adapting to shifting global power dynamics. As the competition between the US and China continues to evolve, Vietnam’s experience offers broader lessons for smaller nations navigating great power rivalries in the 21st century.

… , to alleviate supply disruption, the customer can move the order … The Southeast Asian region is the production base for … and Samsung Electronics are not only representatives of Asian …

Southeast Asia's 620m people are experiencing a remarkable transition from widespread poverty to comparative wealth. The region's long-run GDP growth rate is second only to that of East Asia, far ahead of average rates for other developing regions. This rate of economic expansion has been sustained in spite of internal shocks and global market volatility. Tens of millions have been lifted out of poverty as a result. This impressive record contradicts pessimistic predictions from many global growth models. Is Southeast Asia different, and if so in what ways? In the early 21st century the region is undergoing broad and deep regional and global integration with relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Nevertheless, numerous old problems remain, and new issues have arisen. Sustaining growth and reducing vulnerability to shocks remains a daunting challenge for the future. This chapter provides a brief introductory survey to the main themes of the Handbook, and introduces the chapters to follow.

This paper analyzes the dynamics of supply chain diversification in a contested East Asia and their implications for India–South Korea cooperation in the post-COVID-19 era. Major powers have sought to restructure supply chain by designing a strategy to reduce their reliance on China-controlled supply chain. The United States–China trade and technological war, Asian regional powers’ escalating conflicts with a rising China, and pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions have played key roles in driving the restructuring process. India and South Korea, Asia’s two major economies, have also re-evaluated their supply chain strategies. As this paper explains, on the one hand, India has been striving to emerge as a supply chain hub for key industries by ending China’s control. On the other hand, South Korea has also been aiming to diversify its supply chain beyond China under the New Southern Policy. Against that backdrop, critical developments concerning supply chain cooperation have occurred between the two countries amid the COVID-19 crisis. The pandemic has not only facilitated the opening of high-level political exchanges on supply chain but also brought tangible outcomes, as Korean companies have become active participants in India’s quest to build an India-centric supply chain. I conclude this study by contending that the two countries are “natural partners” in reshaping the supply chain dynamics in East Asia in the post-COVID-19 era.

… into the semiconductor supply chain in Southeast Asian, … collaboration opportunities, risk management, government policies… semiconductor supply chain within Southeast Asia countries. …

… We now move on to consider how the GPN approach may profitably be applied to transnational … sition skills, planning and financial discipline skills, supply chain management skills (…

In the past decade or two, research on technology and industrial development in developing countries has revealed the role of global value chains (GVCs) in pulling their export forward and helping them climb the technology ladder – moving from assembly, to manufacturing, to engineering, to design and, increasingly, research and development (Gereffi et al., 2005; Ernst and Kim, 2002; Evans et al., 2006; Imai and Shiu, 2011; Kawakami, 2011; Oikawa, 2011; Sturgeon and Kawakami, 2011; Yeung, 2009). In particular, the rise of the Asian electronics industry has attracted a great deal of research interest, highlighting the inter-connection with lead firms (e.g. global brand buyers or transnational corporations, TNCs) via GVCs which has contributed to the fostering of export-led growth in Asia (Ernst and Kim, 2002; Gereffi, 1998; OECD, 2012).

The participation of national V4 electronic industry in global value chains is a source of additional output, in addition to, a driver of technological development and employment. The aim of the study is to analyse whether the V4 region has the expertise capacity to upgrade its position in the electronics GVC integrated into the Samsung company. The analysis is built on the theory of GVC and the methodology of surveying the V4 labour market and education related to engineering. The quantitative results are supplemented with research interviews with Samsung managers and related municipal leaders. The analysis concludes on V4 upgrading opportunities in electronics GVCs determined by expertise.

The fourth industrial revolution challenges the existing understanding of innovation and upgrading in the global economy. It blurs traditional sectoral boundaries based on distinctive products and technologies and calls into question a traditional global value chain (GVC) perspective, which, similar to the sectoral systems of innovation approach, examines innovation and upgrading from a sector-based orientation. Building upon the recent reformulation and extension of GVC governance theory, this article proposes the notion of cross-sectoral GVC governance to capture the new stage of platform-based industrial development. It specifies the conceptual dimensions of cross-sectoral GVC governance in terms of the mode of governance (i.e., driving, linking, and normalizing), the overall GVC structure in terms of polarity, and firm strategies of managing GVCs. The proposed framework is illustrated using the case of smartphones as a platform product, focusing on four lead firms—Samsung, Apple, Huawei, and Google—to showcase divergent firm strategies for governing cross-sectoral linkages related to innovation and upgrading.

… ,” has become a critical topic in the international political economy, and this study … , the global value chain (GVC) and the US-China competition in the 2010s. First, we propose a shift in …

… mobile phone sales were made by the five largest global brands – Nokia, Samsung, LG, Motorola and SonyEricsson.In the fourth quarter of 2011, just two firms, Apple and Samsung, …

… value chain model. Specifically this study seeks to answer two questions: How has the generic value chain model been applied in Samsung electronics … and outside change agents. …

… international trade data of China-based ICT companies in order to map their involvement in the ICT global value chain … ), component companies and Electronic Manufacturers (EMS)/…

… of the total Vietnamese outward foreign direct investments, with … by ethnic Chinese in outward foreign direct investments. Salim, … after 2000 has brought new Samsung investments to V4 …

In Vietnam, foreign direct investment (FDI) is an important capital flow for sustainable socio-economic growth and international economic integration, contributing to the supplementation of capital, modern technology, management and business capacity, and the ability to organize and participate in the global supply chain. In this paper, a novel hybrid model combining simple average combination of SMA (Simple Moving Average), IFTS (Improved Fuzzy Time Series), and DEA window analysis is proposed to evaluate FDI attractiveness in Vietnam. Five crucial indicators, including labor force (LF), gross regional domestic product (GDP), the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), FDI by capital, and FDI by cases, were employed to explore their impacts on the efficiency of attracting FDI into provinces, for sustainable economic growth. First, the future values of indicators for 2021–2022 were predicted based on collected historical data from 2012 to 2020. Then, the DEA window was employed to evaluate the efficiency of the provinces in terms of their FDI attractiveness during the period 2012–2022. From the results, Binh Duong, Ho Chi Minh, and Vung Tau were found to be the most efficient localities at attracting FDI, while An Giang, Tuyen Quang, and Can Tho had the lowest FDI attractiveness indexes. The proposed model was proven to be effective in identifying both the provinces which should be targeted for further improvement, and the provinces which should serve as role models for other provinces. In this direction, this paper can serve as a significant guideline for decision-makers and the Government to improve FDI attractiveness, with solutions to attract FDI in a sustainable way.

This paper develops a taxonomy of government–firm relations in the electronics industries of four countries within East Asia. The paper analyses the strategies, behaviours and …

… and seem to be sufficiently comprehensive to withstand the challenges from the rapidly upcoming electronics industry in China and rivalling Southeast Asian neighbour states. …

SUMMARY In recent years, the electronics industries in some Idcs have become a focus of attention, due to their success in creating employment and promoting exports. This article assesses the future of the Asian electronics industry, distinguishing the early entrants, such as South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, from the latecomers, such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. The former group has been able to develop a relatively independent industry, both with regard to ‘mature’ consumer goods industries and in relation to components. The new entrants, by contrast, remain heavily dependent upon MNC investment and technology. Three factors affect the future of the industry—domestic markets, protectionism and technical change. After assessing each of these factors, the article concludes on a rather pessimistic note, but points to the potential for greater intra-Third World trade. RESUMEL'electronique asiatique est tournee vers l'avenir Depuis peu, l'industrie electronique de certains PVD force l'attention, car elle a reussi a creer des emplois et a gonfler les exportations. Cet article evalue l'avenir de l'industrie asiatique, en distinguant les premiers arrives tels que la Coree du Sud, Taiwan, Hong Kong et Singapour, des derniers venus tels que la Malaisie, les Philippines, I.Indonesie et Sri Lanka Le premier groupe a su developper une industrie relativement autonome, tant pour les biens de consommation “elabores” que pour les composants. Le deuxieme reste par contre etroitement dependant des investissements et des techniques des multinatinaux. Ces facteurs jouent sur l'avenir du secteur: marche interieur, protectionnisme et progres technique. Apres avoir etudie chacun de ces facteurs, l'article conclut sur une note pessimiste, mais souligne la possibilite d'une intensification des echanges au sein du tiers monde. RESUMENLa industria electronica asiatica mira hacia el futuro En anos recientes, las industrias electronicas en algunos paises menos desarrollados ha constituido un foco de atencion, debido a su exito en la creacion de empleo y promocion de exportaciones. En este articulo se evalua el futuro de la industria electronica asiatica, distinguiendo entre los primeros participantes, tales como Corea del Sur, Taiwan, Hong Kong y Singapur y los recien llegados, tales como Malasia, las Filipinas, Indonesia y Sri Lanka. El antiguo grupo ha podido desarrollar una industria relativamente independiente, tanto respecto a las industrias “maduras” de productos de consumo como en relacion con la de componentes. Los nuevos participantes, en contraste, siguen dependiendo muchisimo de la inversion y tecnologia de las multinacionales. Hay tres factores que influyen en el futuro de la industria: el de los mercados nacionales, el proteccionismo y el cambio tecnologico. Despues de evaluar cada uno de estos factores, el articulo concluye con una nota mas bien pesimista, pero senala las posibilidades para un mayor comercio entre los paises del Tercer Mundo.

… costs, the more high volume manufacturing … production capabilities across East Asia, manufacturing plants are often in excess supply, intensifying the tendency of mass production to be …

Since its inception, the corporation has undergone a series of fundamental changes – in fact, complete metamorphoses – in its nature, legal status, institutional purpose, economic and social rationale, functional logic, and organisational structure, all as part of a dynamic and incessant process of corporate evolution that extends for more than four centuries. From the first joint-stock companies that started to emerge in the 16th century in England, beginning with the Company of the Mines Royal created in 1564 and the Company of Mineral and Battery Works constituted in 1565, corporations evolved into the more elaborate moulds of the large trading companies established in the 17th and 18th centuries, with the English East India Company, the Dutch West India Company, the Royal African Company and the Hudson Bay Company among the most important. These were the forerunners of the modern international enterprises that became a major symbol of the emerging industrial society of the 19th century, which in turn hatched what came to be the top economic icon of the 20th century, the multinational corporation. Multinational corporations (MNCs) started to take shape in 1914 and entered their maturation phase in the 1970s and 1980s (Gabel and Bruner 2003).

… , and the multinational corporations (MNCs) that have plans … , how the production networks and composition of trade of the … highlights that the restructuring of Vietnam’s economy to …

What does the new phase of SOE reforms starting around 2016 tell us about economic and institutional transformations and contradictions in Vietnam? In raising this question, we shed light on contradictions between the Vietnamese socialist ideology and the market imperative and international pressure the Vietnamese economy is subject to as a global player. In the wake of the doi moi process for economic renewal, the need of reforming the SOE sector attained a lot of attention. The Government decided to promote equitization of SOEs in 1992. This means that the enterprises should be turned into joint stock companies in which the state, workers and private investors hold shares, and that either the state or the private investors hold the majority shares. However, the process went slowly. There were considerable resistance from managers and a fear of job losses. What then characterizes the new phase of SOE reforms? What is new about the context that the reforms are implemented in? After a brief account of previous SOE reforms we delve into how the state and industry plan for, perceive and experience the new phase of reforms and how the reforms are addressed by international institutions and mass media.

We analyze how rising labor costs contribute to economic restructuring in China. In a panel of prefectural cities and industries, spanning the years 1999-2007, we employ instrumental variables to identify the effect of increasing local wage levels. We find adverse effects on performance of (low-skilled) labor intensive industries in China’s advanced regions. Consistent with cost-saving industry relocation, such industries expand in other locations, where wages are comparatively low. Comparing locations where such industries expand to those where they do not, we find that both economic complexity and subsequent per capita income increased faster in the former group.