‘Sets of inter-organizational networks clustered around one commodity or product, linking households, enterprises and states to one another in the world-economy’ (Gereffi et al. in G. Gereffi and M. Korzeniewicz, eds 1994). They can be considered as the specific industrial, geographical, social, and institutional environment within which firm-level production networks operate (Palpacuer and Parisotto (2003) Glob. Networks 3, 2), or the entire process of bringing a product from its beginnings to its end use: the extraction of raw materials, design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, warehousing, delivery, retailing, and customer support. The value chain perspective stresses the importance of activities other than production itself, notably design, logistics, and marketing; see Kaplinsky et al. (2002) World Dev. 30. See also Knorringa and Pegler (2006) Tijdschrift 97, 5 and Sturgeon (2005) Rev. Int. Polit. Econ. 12, 1 on the governance of global value chains. Gereffi and Lee (2012) J. Supply Chain Managt is wonderfully clear.

https://globalvaluechains.org/ Global value chains.