Abstract
This paper evaluates the adjustment of the global value chains (GVCs) after COVID-19, with a focus on resilience building within existing chains, selective reshoring, and geographic diversification. The author first discusses the pre-pandemic idea that GVC participation increases efficiency and then explains how the pandemic dual supply-demand shock revealed the vulnerabilities.
The paper argues, based on recent empirical and policy work that large-scale reshoring is neither economically viable nor widely seen. Firms and governments mainly focus on supplier’s diversification, building backups in strategic and critical sectors like semiconductors and pharmaceuticals, and improving the supply chain transparency.
The idea of “resilient globalization” describes this shift toward staying globally connected while actively reducing and managing the risks. Overall, the findings show that globalization is changing and not reversing (De-globalization), with global value chains becoming smarter and more diversified.
Bezhan Azam
Saarland University of Applied Sciences
Business School – International Management