Unpacking state-led upgrading: empirical evidencefrom Uzbek horticulture value chain governance

Lombardozzi, Lorena

Abstract

This paper brings together the Global Value Chain/Global Production Network (GVC/GPNs) and the Developmental State (DS) literature to analyze state-led upgrading. By triangulating primary and secondary data on Uzbekistan’s horticulture value chain, it provides a micro-meso analysis of how the state, by creating vertical and horizontal linkages, shaped the pace and direction of agro-industrial upgrading. It discusses how targeted macroeconomic policies enabled upgrading and argues that the state should be seen not only as a regulator, facilitator, buyer and producer within GVC/GPNs, but also as a coordinator of strategic developmental objectives beyond and across the GVCs. Drawing on a strategic-relational approach and using the concept of organisational upgrading, it shows how the state articulates the institutional context of GVC/GPNs through the establishment of financial and political partnerships with international actors to avoid predatory competition; the coordination of inter-sectorial spillovers for short and long-term collective learning and capacity building; and the creation of linkages to enable multi-dimensional and inter-temporal developmental objectives. Coordinated state interventions and a gradual approach to market reforms were instrumental in ensuring the sustainability of the economic transformation.

Citation

Lombardozzi, L. (2021). Unpacking state-led upgrading: empirical evidencefrom Uzbek horticulture value chain governance. Review of International Political Economy, 28(4), 947-973. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1737563

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 4, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Mar 18, 2020
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2021
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2024
• Journal: Review of International Political Economy
• Print ISSN: 0969-2290
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-4526
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 947-973
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2020.1737563
• Keywords: state, upgrading, governance, industrial policy, trade, agri-business, GVC/GPN