Supplier evolution in global value chains and the new brand game from an attention-based view
We explore the emergence of rising power firms from the peripheries of GVCs. An increasing number of major brand-holding companies from traditionally industrialized economies have been acquired by suppliers from newly industrialized economies due to some fundamental changes. First, the emergence of a market for brands makes brands more volatile. Second, continuous outsourcing and hollowing-out of the lead firm’s asset base has reduced their ability to control the GVC. Through a longitudinal case study analysis, by adopting an attention-based view, we investigate the behavior of the traditional lead firms. Lead firms were not only myopic to the activities of their suppliers, but their focus on downstream activities created increasing opportunity spaces upstream for rising power firms while weakening the defense capacity of brands.
