Overcoming enduring inequalities in Global Value Chains? Interpreting the case of Brazil’s Covid-19 vaccine supply through a chess metaphor: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Organization, Theory and Society
Organization
; 29(3):414-425, 2022.
Article
in English
| ProQuest Central | ID: covidwho-1808131
ABSTRACT
This article draws on the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain to illustrate the structural inequalities characterising Global Value Chains. We show how the highly unequal vaccine distribution between the Global North and the Global South is shaped by the concentration of high-added value activities of vaccine development and production in the Global North and their nationalistic economic policies. These policies are short-sighted, as they fail to take account of the health risks that low vaccination rates in the Global South entail, not only for the North, but for the whole world. Using the metaphor of pawns moving in a chess game, we advance two possible scenarios. In the first, regional suppliers from low- and middle-income Global South countries will remain unimportant actors in the global vaccine supply chain, leaving inequalities intact. In the second, these suppliers will upgrade their activities in the vaccine supply chain, supported by public policies fostering industrial infrastructure, systems reforms and technological standardisation, leading to a more polycentric supply chain configuration. The persisting concentration of the governance of Global Value Chains in the Global North, we argue, will not only exacerbate current inequalities, but also likely lead to worldwide health, economic and social vulnerabilities.
Business And Economics--Management; Brazil; chess metaphor; Covid-19; Global North; Global South; global supply chains; Global Value Chains; inequality; vaccines; COVID-19 vaccines; Supply; Immunization; Value; Chess; Health risks; Infrastructure; Economic policy; Value chain; Supply chains; Governance; Coronaviruses; Economic development; Suppliers; Low income groups; 42511:Business to Business Electronic Markets
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
ProQuest Central
Topics:
Vaccines
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Brazil
Language:
English
Journal:
Organization
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
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