| Professor Gary Gereffi 264 Sociology/Psychology Bldg. Tel. 660-5611; ggere@soc.duke.edu Office hours: M, Tu 4-5 pm (or by appointment) |
Spring 2004 |
Organizations and Global Competitiveness
Soc. 142
There is much debate about how societies can develop and become more competitive in today's global economy. A basic premise of this course is that international competitiveness requires an understanding of the organization of markets, which may be viewed as a network of buying and supplying firms organized around the provision of finished goods and services. These organizational chains are increasingly global, and have complex and shifting governance structures that specify the power relations among the organizations in the chain. This framework reveals surprising facts about who controls global industries, which firms make the most money and why, and how new business capabilities are emerging that will determine the corporate leaders of tomorrow.
Attention in the course will focus on the organizational dynamics of diverse global industries, and on the competitive strategies of their leading firms. The geographic spread of these industries encompasses North America, Europe, East Asia, South Asia, Latin America, and Africa, both as production sites and markets. This course will expose students to current theories regarding international competitiveness; it will require students to retrieve and analyze original international trade data, and learn how to present this information effectively in tables, charts and graphs; and it will provide a team project experience in designing and evaluating global industry websites.
Course Requirements
There will be a mid-term examination, a group project involving the creation of a Global Industry Website, and a paper required for this course. The paper and the mid-term exam each count for 25% of the course grade, the Global Industry Website will count for 40%, and class participation for 10%. The teaching assistants for this course are: Ryan Denniston (rdennist@soc.duke.edu), and Yunus Kaya (ykaya@soc.duke.edu), Sociology Department.
Mid-Term Exam. There will be a take-home, open-book mid-term examination that will be handed out in class on Wednesday, March 3rd, and due back in class on Friday, March 5th. Completed exams must be typed, and a page limit will be set. The drop-off procedure for exams will be explained in class.
Global Industry Websites. There is a major team project required in this course. Teams comprised of 4 or 5 students will be formed, each focusing on a different global industry. Students will be given a list of industries from which to choose a topic for their website, or they also have the option of adding a new industry to the list. A comprehensive industry list could include the following general categories, which in many instances would need to be broken down into more specific products:
Each industry website will be constructed according to a series of key dimensions outlined in a separate memo, and illustrated in class sessions covering a variety of different global industries. The student groups that create the top three Global Industry Websites, as determined by class evaluation, will present their websites in class.
Research Paper. The research paper will require you to choose a country or a global company of particular interest to you, and analyze it in terms of the perspectives and issues covered in class. If you choose a country, you should focus on its development over the past 10-15 years, and indicate the main factors that have promoted or hindered its international competitiveness. You will be expected to use World Trade Analyzer and other relevant economic statistics to document the country’s economic performance in relevant global industries. If you choose a company, you should highlight its strategy regarding international production, and the domestic or offshore distribution of jobs, revenues, and profits. Has the company been gaining or losing ground in the global economy, and why? How has the company handled pressures toward greater corporate social responsibility in the international arena? For both countries and companies, provide specific recommendations for improving their competitiveness during the next three to five years. The papers should be typed, doubled-spaced, and no more than 10 pages in length.
Blackboard and Readings
A wide range of materials related to this course will be available through Blackboard https://courses.duke.edu/. All students in Soc. 142 will be expected to log into Blackboard on a regular basis for announcements, course documents, supplementary lecture materials, and convenient communication tools such as group pages, student drop boxes, and discussion boards. E-mail will be an important form of communication in this course, so check your e-mail accounts frequently.
The following books will be read for the course. They are available at the Duke University Bookstore.
Peter Dicken. Global Shift: Reshaping the Global Economic Map in the 21st Century, 4th edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2003.
Charles H. Fine. Clockspeed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage. Reading, MA: Perseus Books, 1999.
Several of the articles assigned for the course are available through E-Reserves at Perkins Library: http://www.lib.duke.edu/access/reserves/. The remainder of the readings can be accessed via Blackboard.
| Jan. 7 | Introduction to the course. |
| The Competitiveness Debate: What Does It Take to Succeed in Global Business? | |
| Jan. 9 | U.S. Perspectives on Global Business, Pre-1990 Magaziner & Patinkin, The Silent War, Introduction and ch. 1. [e-reserves] |
| Jan. 12 | Magaziner & Patinkin, The Silent War, ch. 2; Robert B. Reich, “Who Is Us?” (Harvard Business Review, January/February 1990). [e-reserves] |
| Jan. 14 | Perspectives on Global Business, Post-1990 Paul Krugman, “Competitiveness: A Dangerous Obsession” (Foreign Affairs, March/April 1994; Dani Rodrik, “Sense and Nonsense in the Globalization Debate” (Foreign Policy, Summer 1997). [e-reserves] |
| Jan. 16 | Discussion sections: How and why has U.S. business changed its strategy and attitudes toward the global economy between 1990 and the present? |
| Jan. 19 | Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday |
| The Changing Global Economy | |
| Jan. 21 | The Organization of the
Global Economy: International Production Networks Peter Dicken, Global Shift, 4th ed. (2003), chs. 1-2. |
| Jan. 23 | Discussion sections: 1-2 page memo related to topic of Jan. 16. |
| Jan. 26 | The Shifting Global Economic Map Peter Dicken, Global Shift, ch. 3. |
| Jan. 28 | World Systems Theory Giovanni Arrighi, Beverly J. Silver, and Benjamin D. Brewer, “Industrial Convergence, Globalization, and the Persistence of the North-South Divide,” Studies in Comparative International Development 38, 1 (2003): 3-31. Alice H. Amsden, “Comment: Good-bye Dependency Theory, Hello Dependency Theory,” Studies in Comparative International Development 38, 1 (2003): 32-38. |
| Jan. 30 | Discussion sections. |
| Analyzing International Trade Data | |
| Feb. 2 | Introduction to World Trade Analyzer
– Gary Thompson, Sociology Department. An international trade database to study global supply chains. [Consult the WTA user’s guide at http://docs.lib.duke.edu/maps/guides/WTA.html.] |
| Feb. 4 | How to display and organize
trade information. [Demonstrate how we build up from raw WTA data to purposeful tables, graphs, and charts; emphasis on effective “visual display of data.”] |
| Feb. 6 | Discussion sections. [WTA “product” assignment – look at shifts in national, regional, or global export and import patterns for a single product over at least a 10-year time span.] |
| Global Industries: Where Competitiveness Battles Are Won and Lost | |
| Feb. 9 | Transnational Corporations Peter Dicken, Global Shift, ch. 7. |
| Feb. 11 | What are global value chains, and why are they important? Peter Dicken, Global Shift, ch. 8. |
| Feb. 13 | Apparel: The globalization of a designer dress. Film: Robert Reich (host), "Made in America? -- Winners and Losers." |
| Feb. 16 | Global Industry Websites Introduction to team projects (instructor) and Duke’s Library Resources for research on industries (Eric Smith, Perkins Library). |
| Feb. 18 | Introduction to Dreamweaver: Andrea Bright, Duke Office of Information
Technology. Elementary tools for designing webpages. |
| Feb. 20 | Discussion sections: work on Individual Webpage assignment (OIT support staff). |
| Industry Clockspeeds | |
| Feb. 23 | Competition in an age of temporary advantage. Charles Fine, Clockspeed, chs. 1-3. |
| Feb. 25 | The double helix model: how industries evolve. Charles Fine, Clockspeed, chs. 4-5. |
| Feb. 27 | Discussion sections. Individual Webpage assignment: submit electronically by 10 am. |
| March 1 | Automobiles: Changing
Relationships Between Assemblers and Top Suppliers Peter Dicken, Global Shift, ch. 11. |
| March 3 | Question & Answer, and review session. [Hand out take-home mid-term exam at the end of class.] |
| March 5 | Film: Robert Reich (host), "Made in America? Who’s the Enemy?" Mid-Term exam: Returned in class (or electronically prior to class). |
| SPRING RECESS | |
| Country Experiences | |
| March 15 | State Policies and National
Development Strategies Peter Dicken, Global Shift, ch. 6. |
| March 17 | The United States: Offshore
Production and the Outsourcing of Jobs Peter Engardio, Aaron Bernstein, and Manjeet Kripalani, “Is Your Job Next?” Business Week, February 3, 2003, pp. 50-60. ABC News, This Week with George Stephanopoulos – “Jobs and the current state of the U.S. economy,” Dec. 28, 2003. |
| March 19 | Discussion sections. Global Industry Websites (team outlines due). |
| March 22 | Mexico Guest lecturer: Martha Martinez, Sociology Department, Duke University. “Mexico’s Economic Transformation Under NAFTA: Industrial Upgrading and the Limits of Free Trade.” |
| March 24 | India Guest lecturer: Monica Biradavolu, Sociology Department, Duke University. “Finding a Niche: India’s Position in the Global Software Industry” |
| March 26 | Discussion sections: Present 1-2 page outline of final course paper. |
| Social Accountability in the Global Economy | |
| March 29 | Social and Environmental
Certification Gary Gereffi, Ronie Garcia-Johnson, and Erika Sasser,
“The NGO-Industrial Complex,” Foreign Policy (July-August 2001),
pp. 56-65. |
| March 31 | Guest lecturer: Edmund
Malesky, Political Science Department, Duke University. Oxfam has a webpage that lists studies that tend to be quite critical of the labor conditions at Nike supplier factories overseas < http://www.caa.org.au/campaigns/nike/other.html >. For Nike’s defense of its global business practices, including disclosure information on the factories used to make Nike products with the Duke logo, see the company’s website: http://www.nikebiz.com |
| April 2 | Discussion sections. [Review of peer and instructor evaluation criteria used for Industry Websites.] |
| April 5 | Is Wal-Mart Good or Bad for the U.S. Economy? Anthony Bianco and Wendy Zellner, “Is Wal-Mart Too Powerful?” Business Week, Oct. 6, 2003, pp. 100-110. Nancy Cleeland, Abigail Goldman, and Evelyn Iritani, “An Empire Built on Bargains Remakes the Working World,” Los Angeles Times, 3-part series, Nov. 23, 24, and 25, 2003. |
| April 7 | Is China Good or Bad for the U.S. Economy? CNN News, Lou Dobbs Tonight – “China and the U.S. Economy,” Dec. 9, 2003, interview with Thea Lee (AFL-CIO), Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), and Stephen Roach, chief global economist, Morgan Stanley. Nicholas Lardy, “United States-China Ties: Reassessing the Economic Relationship,” Testimony before the House Committee on International Relations, U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, Oct. 21, 2003. |
| Global Industry Websites: completion date. | |
| April 9 | Would Social Clauses in Trade Treaties Improve Working
Conditions Around the World? Sandra Polaski, “Trade and Labor Standards: A Strategy for Developing Countries.” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 2003. Gay Seidman and Robert Ross (eds.), PEWS (Political Economy of the World System) Newsletter, Fall 2003, special guest symposium: “Would including a social clause in trade treaties help or hinder international working conditions?” |
| April 12 | Socially Responsible Investments: How Do They Work?
Are They Effective? Peer evaluations of Global Industry Websites due. |
| April 14 | Top 3 Global Industry Websites presented in class. |
| April 16 | Discussion sections: Review of final paper and main course themes. |
| April 19 | Current debates in the global economy NAFTA, sweatshops, and global outsourcing: Where do you stand? |
| April 21 | Summing Up. Final Paper: due in class. |