Can you help shape our future priorities? Take a five minute survey now. Survey closes on 8 July.

Working Paper

IDS working papers;110

Spreading the Gains from Globalisation: What Can Be Learned From Value Chain Analysis

Published on 1 January 2000

Globalisation has been associated with increasing inequality within and between countries, and with a large share of the world’s population living in poverty. The policy challenge is daunting for those people and countries who have not yet benefited from globalisation. It is not so much a matter of whether to participate in the global process, but how to participate. How to participate in a way that provides for sustainable income growth for poor people and for poor countries.

Value chain analysis – which includes the whole cycle of the organisation, production and delivery of products from inception to use and recycling – provides a tool for mapping these domains of private and public policy and for gaining an insight into the challenges confronting both private and public actors.

This paper reviews the unequal character of recent processes of globalisation, summarises the key theoretical concepts characterising the concept of value chains and illustrates the contribution of value chains analysis through summaries of four chain case studies. It concludes with a discussion of practical ways in which value chain analysis can inform policy.

Publication details

published by
IDS
authors
Kaplinsky, Raphael
journal
IDS Working Paper, issue 110
isbn
1 85864 301 5
language
English

Share

Related content

Brief

Supporting Mutual Aid in Sudan

BASIC Research Policy Briefing 7

24 July 2025

Working Paper

Humanitarian and Social Protection Approaches to Inclusion

BASIC Research Working Paper 16

9 July 2025

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.