The role of the global value chain in new competitive environments: the case of mature industries

Abstract

[EN] As a result of the growth of emergent economies and globalization, the traditional industry models based on competition relying on costs and quality are not sufficient for traditional industry competitiveness. These classical paradigms considered that clustered industries based their competitiveness on technology innovation and the use of cluster internal and external resources. However, from the point of view of global value chains, knowledge management combined with an adequate relationship marketing strategy brings an innovative way of considering sustainability of clustered firms. The objective of this article is presenting a research which will analyze the governance structure of the value chain in the territorial of tile ceramic Spanish cluster, and the past and present roles of the most relevant stakeholders in the value creation system. The research methodology will follow both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The paper will conclude that there is a paradigm change where traditional chain agents are losing their control and leadership in their contribution to the creation of value, and new agents appear with a more stable and relevant contribution and role.