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Patterns of Industrial Upgrading in the Clothing Industry in Poland and Romania

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  • Denis Eylem Yoruk

    (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London and Science and Technology Policy Research Unit University of Sussex)

Abstract

This paper aims at understanding the impact of industrial networks with foreign and other domestic organizations on industrial upgrading of the clothing companies in Poland and Romania over the past decade. The research presented in this paper is based on interviews carried out in ten large clothing companies in Poland and Romania. The paper shows that there are differing structural influences of buyer-driven global networks on the industrial upgrading of Polish and Romanian clothing firms. Taking these global buyers as exemplars to themselves, Polish and Romanian clothing firms follow relatively different upgrading patterns, experiencing more or less the same network relationships with foreign buyers whereas differing networks with other organizations in their countries. As the level of accumulation of knowledge and skills differs among the firms, the pace and level of upgrading differs too. This paper has proposed a stylized pattern but it should not be taken as inevitable since it also tries to show that some firms might skip some sequences. As a consequence, it is not a question of the positioning of the countries on a single upgrading ladder, but more accurately it is different upgrading ladders that have been climbed in each country. There is no single pattern for all of them.

Suggested Citation

  • Denis Eylem Yoruk, 2001. "Patterns of Industrial Upgrading in the Clothing Industry in Poland and Romania," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 19, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    • Handle: RePEc:see:wpaper:19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Alina Florentina Avrigeanu & Flavia Gabriela Anghel & Elena Radu, 2010. "PLUSES AND MINUSES OF BEING IN A GLOBAL VALUE CHAIN – THE CASE OF ROMANIAN APPAREL SMEs," JOURNAL STUDIA UNIVERSITATIS BABES-BOLYAI NEGOTIA, Babes-Bolyai University, Faculty of Business.
    2. Gary Gereffi & Evgeni Evgeniev, 2008. "Textile and Apparel Firms in Turkey and Bulgaria: Exports, Local Upgrading and Dependency," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 3, pages 148-179.
    3. John Pickles & Adrian Smith & Milan Bucěk & Poli Roukova & Robert Begg, 2006. "Upgrading, Changing Competitive Pressures, and Diverse Practices in the East and Central European Apparel Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 38(12), pages 2305-2324, December.
    4. Christos Kalantaridis & Ivaylo Vassilev & Grahame Fallon, 2011. "Enterprise Strategies, Governance Structure and Performance: A Comparative Study of Global Integration," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(2), pages 153-166.
    5. Aspers, Patrik, 2006. "Designing for the Other: Using Knowledge to Upgrade Manufacturing in the Garment Industry," MPIfG Discussion Paper 06/9, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Plank, Leonhard & Staritz, Cornelia, 2014. "Global competition, institutional context, and regional production networks: Up- and downgrading experiences in Romania's apparel industry," Working Papers 50, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    7. Gerald A. McDermott, 2003. "Institutional Change and Firm Creation in East-Central Europe: An Embedded Politics Approach," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 2003-590, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    8. Leonhard Plank & Cornelia Staritz, 2015. "Global competition, institutional context and regional production networks: up- and downgrading experiences in Romania’s apparel industry," Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 8(3), pages 421-438.

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