Rethinking Global Supply Chains: measurement, impact and policy

The changing nature of global supply chains requires a rethinking of GSCs in the design of appropriate policy responses and in taking into account their employment and social impacts. The overall goal of RETHINK-GSC is to enhance our understanding of the impact of GSCs using new measures that can quantify the role knowledge flows, and more generally services inputs, and thus acknowledge the increasing importance of intangibles in global production. The project provides new and innovative methodologies for assessing the development of global supply chains, which generates new knowledge on ongoing and expected changes in GSCs due to shocks. The research, both theoretical and empirical, will be conducted mainly at the level of the firm – the unit that ultimately decides on the organisation of international production. Using the RETHINK-GSC innovative measures allows the projects’ researchers and future scholars (i) to investigate the interaction between tangible and intangible GSCs to evaluate the changing nature of global supply chains, (ii) to provide novel ways of analysing the impact of GSCs on social, economic and environmental outcomes in European countries and (iii) to evaluate the resilience of GSCs to exogenous shocks. Furthermore, the project elaborates policy scenarios for expected future GSC developments. This new evidence contributes to enhancing policy developments related to ensuring level playing fields in trade relations and ensuring security of strategic supplies. Throughout the project stages, researchers will collaborate closely with an Advisory Board consisting of a group of stakeholder experts from national governments, business associations, social partners and international organizations. Finally, and important to the project's continuing impact, the newly constructed measures of knowledge and service flows along GSCs will be made available to the wider community for research and policy analysis after completion of RETHINK-GSC.