Working Paper #2021-017
The influence of value-chain governance on innovation performance: A study of Italian suppliers
This paper explores how value-chain governance affects the innovation
performance of suppliers of intermediate products. We take advantage of
a unique dataset of Italian firms to identify governance regimes along
suppliers' technological capabilities and the level of explicit
coordination in the value chain. Our results indicate that 'modular'
value-chain governance is more conducive to innovation for suppliers,
especially when these firms have medium capability levels. Conversely,
market-based governance modes appear to strongly reduce the
innovativeness of suppliers with low capability. These patterns are also
reflected in export performances and sales of innovative products. Our
results go partially against other findings in the GVC literature,
whereby relational value chains are seen to provide the most favourable
environment to learn and innovate. Interestingly, the highest levels of
technological capabilities consistently reduce the correlation between
supplying intermediates and innovation performance, which indicates that
technology-gap is an important mediator of learning within value chains.
- Keywords
-
- global value chains
- export
- suppliers
- innovation
- technological capabilities
- JEL codes
-
- F14
- O30
Cite this as
APA 7th ed.Brancati, E., Pietrobelli, C., & Torres Mazzi, C. (2021). The influence of value-chain governance on innovation performance: A study of Italian suppliers (UNU-MERIT Working Paper No. 2021-017). UNU-MERIT. https://unu-merit.nl/publications/working-papers/abstract/?id=8755