Validating scales for economic upgrading in global value chains and assessing the impact of upgrading on supplier firms’ performance

Economic upgrading in global value chains is critical for developing economies, as upgrading enhances supplier firms’ performance, employment and economic growth. However, to date there is no valid measure of firm-level upgrading, making it hard to systematically measure and address deficiencies within firms to enhance firms’ performance and national economic development. This paper addresses this gap by developing and validating measures of...