10th September 2010
This workshop will look into the debates on the changing international organisation and location of production, and their consequences for the parties to the employment relationship and their impact on the debates on innovation, skill formation and the changing nature of work.
This one day event will compare research experiences/ideas from the perspective of different stakeholder groups, across a number of industries and value chains, including food, garments, the creative industry and pharmaceuticals, focussing on a number of substantive issues. Growing competition in domestic and international markets is forcing businesses to be more efficient and to lower costs -in a consumer market with low tolerance of poor labour conditions.
The GVC Group at Birmingham Business School is tackling some of the issues presented by Global Value Chains. Speakers included Professor Chris Tilly (Director of University of California’s (UCLA), Institute for Research on Labor and Employment), Professor Raphael Kaplinsky (Open University), Professor Doug Miller (University of Northumbria), Dr Jean Jenkins (Cardiff University), Professor Christel Lane (University of Cambridge), Dr Jocelyn Probert (University of Cambridge), Dr Stephanie Barrientos (University of Manchester), Anne Terheggen (Open University) and Julia Tijaja (Open University).
As Hazel Westwood reports it comes at a crucial time for workers, suppliers, business development and ultimately our own consumer choices.