"Fragmentation" is a term used in this volume to describe cross-border component specialization and production-sharing. Examination of recent trade data suggests that offshore sourcing of parts and components, as well as offshore assembly, are assuming an increasing role in the world economy. The theoretical implications of this type of specialization are examined in several chapters with the aid of both Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin trade models. Production is first decomposed ("fragmented") into its constituent parts and activities, and then it is at this level that factor-intensities and technologies are calibrated. The implications of intra-product specialization and component trade are investigated under conditions of free, restricted, and preferential trade. The role of multinationals is explored and the importance of cross-border service-links among component activities is examined. Overall, extension of the principle of comparative advantage beyond products to the realm of parts and components is welfare-enhancing. Industries take advantage of offshore sourcing in order to reduce costs and increase competitiveness. Component specialization offers new and additional opportunities for the exploitation of scale economies. Across a broad range of conditions, it raises output and employment. Its effects on wages are spelled out. Trade between advanced, high-wage and developing low-wage countries is an obvious candidate for the two-way application of component specialization. The empirical part of the volume presents an evaluation of new data which allow the separation of trade in components and in final products. It also provides assessments of the role of component specialization in the trade of several countries and regions. In addition to their relevance for trade theorists and country specialists, the studies collected in this volume have interesting implications for the conduct of trade policy. They contradict claims that trade with low-wage countries must be welfare-reducing and they suggest new approaches to industrialization and economic development.

By analyzing vertical intra-industry trade (VIIT) within Portugal's automobile parts and components industry, this study adds new empirical evidence for the international fragmentation of the production process. For trade partner countries, we choose the EU countries, the BRICs, and the US during the period 1995 to 2005. From panel data analysis, the empirical evidence supports the notion that shorter geographical distance, dissimilar income levels, and dissimilar endowments between two economies lead to a higher VIIT of automobile components. In addition, our results also confirm the hypothesis that automobile (assembly) production in each country promotes higher VIIT of auto parts, while economic integration in the style of the European Union and similarity in culture do not magnify the VIIT of the parts and components industry. We conclude that income differences between trade partner countries are an important driver via the international fragmentation of production of a higher VIIT. However, a call for a geographically closer vertical linkage by the agglomeration effect for large domestic automobile production leads a firm to keep the entire production process within a country and may deter this income-difference effect.

The 2016 International Conference on Automotive Engineering, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (AEMEE 2016) was held December 9-11, 2016 in Hong Kong, China. AEMEE 2016 was a platform for presenting excellent results and new challenges facing the fields of automotive, mechanical and electrical engineering. Automotive, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering brings together a wide range of contributions from industry and governmental experts and academics, experienced in engineering, design and research. Papers have been categorized under the following headings: Automotive Engineering and Rail Transit Engineering. Mechanical, Manufacturing, Process Engineering. Network, Communications and Applied Information Technologies. Technologies in Energy and Power, Cell, Engines, Generators, Electric Vehicles. System Test and Diagnosis, Monitoring and Identification, Video and Image Processing. Applied and Computational Mathematics, Methods, Algorithms and Optimization. Technologies in Electrical and Electronic, Control and Automation. Industrial Production, Manufacturing, Management and Logistics.

Over 95% of today's textile and apparel products are globally sourced, making sourcing one of the most important business functions in the industry. Global Sourcing in the Textile and Apparel Industry,2nd Edition examines this crucial function in the textile and apparel industries, providing practical insight into both how and why global sourcing is pursued. Chapters include step-by-step global sourcing procedures and explore the theoretical, political, economic, social, and environmental implications of global sourcing decisions with an emphasis on sustainability. A real-world approach using current examples and hypothetical company called Amazing Jean helps students see how sourcing tasks are completed in the fashion industry. New to this Edition - New cases studies at the end of each chapter offer real-life scenarios that today's sourcers may face - Emphasis on sustainable implications of global sourcing integrated throughout - Current trade data, agreements, and examples of industry trends throughout the book - Added coverage of trend analysis and forecasting in sourcing (Chapter 5) - Significant updates to the future of global sourcing section, including technology, UN's sustainable development goals, and on- or near-shoring trends (Chapter 12) - 25% new color images - New glossary includes essential terms and definitions from the book Teaching Resources: Instructor's Guide, Test Bank, and PowerPoint presentations available.

Global Production and Trade in East Asia focuses on the profound change that the traditional paradigm of production and international trade has undergone in the last two decades or so as a result of worldwide trade and investment liberalization. This ongoing transformation has been both aided and stimulated by advances in telecommunications, transportation, and information management. The liberalization of trade and investment on the one hand and advances in communications technology on the other have further promoted global production networks in which vertical stages of final goods are fragmented across countries. International fragmentation of production, which enables international division of labor not only in final products but also in vertically related components, is more evident than ever before. The book documents the process of international production fragmentation and trade in East Asian economies, studies the mechanics of the process, explores the theory behind the phenomenon, and identifies important policy implications. It focuses on production fragmentation and trade in East Asia because this is the part of the world where the phenomenon is most visible. With contribution by well-known international economics scholars from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific, the book distinguishes itself with high global quality and rich regional content. It achieves a fine balance between theory, policy, and empirical work. This book will interest scholars of international trade, foreign investment and international business, regional specialists in East Asian economies, policymakers and advisors in international economic relations, and anyone else who follows important economic issues of globalization.

Multinational Corporations and the Emerging Network Economy in Asia and the Pacific delves into the ongoing rise of a global economy anchored in a web of inter-firm production networks and the role played by multinational corporations in the process. It considers the strategies and business models corporations have adopted lately to face today’s highly competitive global markets, especially outsourcing and offshoring, focusing on the modalities observed in Asia Pacific and the Pacific Rim at large. Since their inception, corporations have undergone a series of fundamental changes; each has corresponded to a given era of industrial development and has given rise to a particular type of government policy response. The book addresses these timely issues and other such as the transformation of global production networks into global innovation networks, the link between corporate and national innovation strategies and movement up the global production value chain, and the fragmentation of production and the resulting increase in component and sub-assembly trade in the region. It also takes up the emergence of multinational corporations from developing countries and the efforts aimed at forging basic rules of corporate social responsibility and developing sound institutions for building a working framework of corporate governance in the Pacific. Written by some of the region’s most eminent and influential economists and political scientists, this volume will appeal to students and scholars working in the field of Asia Pacific studies as well as to businesspersons and policymakers taking decisions in the region.