gary gereffi

Vivek Wadhwa

Gary Gereffi is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center on Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness at Duke University (http://www.cggc.duke.edu/), where he teaches courses in economic sociology, globalization and comparative development, and international competitiveness. He received his B.A. degree from the University of Notre Dame and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Yale University. Gereffi has published extensively on economic development and business-government relations in various parts of the world. His books include: Manufacturing Miracles: Paths of Industrialization in Latin America and East Asia (Princeton University Press, 1990); Commodity Chains and Global Capitalism (Praeger Publishers, 1994); Free Trade and Uneven Development: The North American Apparel Industry after NAFTA (Temple University Press, 2002); and The New Offshoring of Jobs and Global Development (International Institute of Labor Studies, 2006).

Gereffi's research interests deal with the competitive strategies of global firms, the governance of global value chains, industrial upgrading in East Asia and Latin America, and the emerging global knowledge economy. His major ongoing research projects are: (1) industrial upgrading, global production networks, and decent work in East Asia, North America, and Eastern Europe; (2) analyzing the competitiveness of North Carolina industries in the global economy, utilizing a value chain perspective {see http://www.soc.duke.edu/NC_GlobalEconomy/}; (3) engineering outsourcing in the United States, China, and India; (4) innovation and commercialization in the global nanotechnology industry; and (5) a global value chain perspective on the emerging childhood obesity pandemic.