Part One, II.E of the syllabus brings attention to global commodity/value chains. There are lots of studies of such chains, including many sectors(e.g., apparel, electronics, automobile, food, etc.). Each student will find a reading that refers to such a chain(say, as a case study), at least one nodal position along which must be occupied by a firm from a less-developed country. Once you find a suitable reading, you should immediately register it with me by email.
With reference to the specific chain that you reading is concerned with, describe in your term-paper how it is constituted and how the production process involving it is accomplished. More importantly, I want you to critically discuss how that production process and the trade that it entails fit, or does not fit, with the major trade theories that you are learning in this course. Last but not least, from the vantage point of the less-developed country whose firm is latching onto a nodal position along the chain, what policy recommendation would you make to ‘upgrade’ its position based on what you have learned in the course?
The paper should be no less than 15 pages for a graduate student and typed double-spaced. This length stipulation includes single-spaced footnotes(which are preferred over endnotes). However, it does not count the title page, any space occupied by diagrams and tables, any appendices, and the bibliographic section. The font chosen should not be smaller than a size 11 of Times New Roman.