Trade and Production Fragmentation : Central European Economies in European Union Networks of Production and Marketing

Kaminski, Bartlomiej ; Ng, Francis

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: CAPITAL GOODS;    CENTRAL PLANNING;    COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE;    COMPETITIVE MARKETS;    CONSUMER GOODS;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-2611
RP-ID  :  WPS2611

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Developments driven by tradeliberalization and tehcnological progress mean that olddevelopment strategies, based on state intervention andtrade protection, no longer work. Global competition hasbrought a growing emphasis on product standards, rapidinnovation, adaptability, and speedy response. Technologyhas made possible the fragmentation of production. Firmsthat become part of global production and distributionnetworks do not have to be foreign-owned, as manymultinationals contract out the delivery of services andproducts. Foreign involvement facilitates the transfer ofmanagerial and technological know-how, so firms benefit frombecoming part of a network. Small producers, rather thanservicing small local markets, can supply large firmsabroad. Foreign participation--through outsourcing or directinvestments--may offer direct access to a parentcompany's global networks. Becoming part of amultinational's production and distribution network isa cheap way to market products. But the unprecedentedglobalization of the production process has brought theintegration of trade and the disintegration of production,with deep implications for the international division oflabor. Have Central European economies been able to takeadvantage of the global fragmentation and disintegration ofproduction and the division of labor? Tencountries--Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, andSlovenia--have made large strides toward readjusting theirproduction structures to international markets, mainly inthe European Union. And trade in industrial products haslost its pre-transition idiosyncratic character. All 10economies apear to be on the same track as the EuropeanUnion in changing patterns of trade with the networks theauthors discuss. Progress is advanced in furniture (most ofthe 10 economies) and automobiles (the Czech Republic,Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) and is gainingmomentum in "information revolution" networks(Estonia and Hungary). Progress in industrial integrationwith the European Union has been uneven. The first-tiereconomies (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland,Slovakia, and Slovenia) are much less so and, despiterelatively low wages, have no comparative advantage inassembly in EU markets. Among first-tier economies, threestand out: Estonia and Hungary (in integration into"information revolution" markets) and Slovakia (inrestructuring its automotive sector).