Pasquali Giovanni, Godfrey Shane
The Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, Arthur Lewis Building, Room 2.037, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL UK.
Institute of Development and Labour Law, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Eur J Dev Res. 2022;34(1):473-502. doi: 10.1057/s41287-021-00383-3. Epub 2021 Mar 10.
There is a growing literature on the impact of Covid-19 on commercial and labour conditions at suppliers in apparel global value chains (GVCs). Yet much less is known about the implications for suppliers operating in regional value chains (RVCs) in the global South. In this article, we focus on Eswatini, which has grown to become the largest African manufacturer and exporter of apparel to the region. We draw on a combination of firm-level export data and interviews with stakeholders before and after the Covid-19 lockdown to shed light on the influence of private and public governance on suppliers' economic and social upgrading and downgrading. We point to the coexistence of two separate private governance structures: the first characterised by direct contracts between South African retailers and large manufacturers (); the second operating through indirect purchasing via intermediaries from relatively smaller producers (). While direct suppliers enjoyed higher levels of economic and social upgrading than indirect suppliers before Covid-19, the pandemic reinforced this division, with severe price cuts for indirect suppliers. Furthermore, while retailers provided some direct suppliers with support throughout the crisis, this was not the case for indirect suppliers, who remain comparatively more vulnerable. In terms of public governance, the negative consequences of the lockdown on firms' income and workers' livelihoods have been compounded by the state's ineffective response. Our paper contributes to the research on RVCs in the global South, enhancing our understanding of how different governance structures and external shocks affect firms' and workers' upgrading and downgrading prospects.
关于新冠疫情对服装全球价值链（GVC）中供应商的商业和劳动条件的影响，相关文献日益增多。然而，对于全球南方地区性价值链（RVC）中运营的供应商的影响，我们所知甚少。在本文中，我们聚焦于斯威士兰，该国已发展成为非洲地区最大的服装制造商和出口国。我们结合企业层面的出口数据以及在新冠疫情封锁前后对利益相关者的访谈，以阐明私营和公共治理对供应商经济和社会升级及降级的影响。我们指出存在两种不同的私营治理结构：第一种以南非零售商与大型制造商之间的直接合同为特征（）；第二种通过中介从相对较小的生产商进行间接采购来运作（）。在新冠疫情之前，直接供应商比间接供应商享有更高水平的经济和社会升级，但疫情加剧了这种分化，间接供应商面临大幅降价。此外，虽然零售商在整个危机期间为一些直接供应商提供了支持，但间接供应商并非如此，他们仍然相对更脆弱。在公共治理方面，封锁对企业收入和工人生计的负面影响因国家的无效应对而加剧。我们的论文有助于对全球南方地区性价值链的研究，增进我们对不同治理结构和外部冲击如何影响企业和工人升级及降级前景的理解。
