Transformations  in
Business & Economics

THE PLACE OF CHINA IN THE GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS - CURRENT SITUATION AND FUTURE TRENDS¹⁰
Boguslawa Drelich-Skulska, Anna H. Jankowiak

ABSTRACT. International fragmentation of production is one of the fundamental trends taking place in contemporary international trade. The consequence of this process was a steady increase in trade flows, especially for intermediate goods and services. The dispersion of production stages between different countries can explain why some of them exhibit a very high level of export propensity. However, their exports are characterized by a low share of domestic value-added. Today, most goods are produced in several countries, and semi-finished products flow intensively between countries. As a result of changes observed in the global production process, it is essential to consider the positions of China in international fragmentation of production, i.e. their shares in global value chains (GVC) in the analysis of trade between countries. It is also essential to take into account the force majeure aspect in shaping GVC because the shape of these chains changes when the economic situation is shaken. Examples of force majeure on GVC include Japan earthquake and tsunami in 2011, catastrophic floods in Thailand in 2011 and 2012 or Hurricane Sandy in the USA in 2012, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic for industrial production in China and the world. In this article, searching for the answer to the question about China's participation in global value chains, theoretical concepts of GVC will be presented, which will be the basis for showing the directions and evolution of international fragmentation of production of selected Chinese industries in the 21st century. The current role of China in GVC will also be analyzed, and the last part of the article will discuss the changes in GVC caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

KEYWORDS:  global production chain, global value chain, China.

¹⁰Acknowledgment:  : The project is financed by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education in Poland under the programme "Regional Initiative of Excellence" 2019-2022 project number 015/RID/2018/19 total funding amount 10 721 040,00 PLN.