Research measures countries' export performance in 'global value chains'

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A country's exports are generally measured in aggregate terms... rather than for its value.
But rising complexity in producing a good that transcends borders so-called "global value chains"... has called for new measures to evaluate export performance.
To this, a local research team released findings that show key factors for determining such activities in qualitative terms.
Kim Ji-yeon reports.
The landscape of global trade has been reshaped over the past couple of decades... as countries and companies transcend international borders... to engage in different stages to produce a single good.
Participation in such global value chains is largely seen as beneficial... given that capturing a bigger slice of the GVC pie is associated with productivity gains and higher per capita growth, but the pie may not be sliced equally.
A team of researchers spearheaded by Professor Kim Chong-sup at Seoul National University's Graduate School of International Studies, Ph.D. Candidate Lee Seung-ho and Eum Ji-hyun, an economist at the Bank of Korea, released a research on Tuesday... titled "Taking a Bigger Slice of the GVC Pie: An Industry-level Analysis".
The paper examines how countries are linked to GVCs through their export performance in value added terms, a measure indicating the real contribution made by each trading partner when exporting goods.
The team found that countries that position themselves toward higher-value stages of production, namely acquiring core advanced technologies and branding... usually have the upper hand in the GVC pie... compared to those engaged in downstream activities, which includes post-sales customer services and assembling.
The research shows that Korea, an export powerhouse... has room for improvement when positioning itself in the GVC.
Asia's fourth largest economy ranks 8th among 61 countries in value added terms of exports.
But in terms of gross amount of exports, it ranked 6th among some 130 countries in 2017... meaning Korea needs to engage in more higher-value stages in the GVC production process.
Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News.