Global Value Chains as a Tool for Globalization Studies

There is a continuous interest in the study of globalization within the theory of organization and management. In Poland, there has been a relatively modest attention paid so far to the global value chains as tools for globalization studies. This paper sets out to address this lacuna by critically reviewing the dominant works on the global value chains and their use in research on globalization process. Firstly, it discusses the development of global value chain concept with attention paid to the motivations for supplementing the “buyer-driven” and “producer-driven” modes of global commodity chains and their relative concepts with an industry-neutral, non-empirical framework. Secondly, it overviews the typology of global value chains organizational forms and their dynamics. Thirdly, it focuses on power and governance in global value chains. Fourthly, innovation of global value chains and its variations have been discussed. Finally, some conclusions on further research with the use of global value chains have been drawn up with reference to Poland.