Browsing by Author "Bair, J"

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Open Access
Bahrain’s Position in the Global Apparel Value Chain: How the U.S.-Bahrain FTA and PTLs Shape Future Development Options
(2016-01-11) Gereffi, G; Frederick, S; Bair, J
This report analyzes the situation of Bahrain’s industry and its prospects in light of the looming TPL expiration. The Bahraini industry oriented to the U.S. market contains two distinct segments: textile manufacturers, which own spinning, weaving and finishing mills in Bahrain, and rely on TPL for a relatively small portion (just over a third) of the final products they exports to the United States; and apparel companies, which currently rely on TPL for 100% of their garment exports to the United States, since these contain fabrics and yarn from third party countries, such as China. The apparel companies currently exporting to the U.S. from Bahrain are owned by foreign firms, they employ predominantly migrant workers from South Asia, and they have other production locations in the Gulf region, including Jordan and Egypt. Consequently, if garment manufacturers are unable to receive duty-free access to the U.S. market once TPLs expire in 2016, they are unlikely to stay in the country, in contrast to the textile companies, whose investments in Bahrain are far more significant. The report contains a series of recommendations regarding different ways in which Bahrain might continue to receive limited exemptions from the yarn-forward rules of origin after 2016. These proposals include, but are not limited to, an extension of the current benefit.
Open Access
Global Commodity Chains, Market Makers, and the Rise of Demand- Responsive Economies
(Frontiers of Commodity Chain Research, 2009) Hamilton, Gary G; Gereffi, Gary
Open Access
Introduction: The apparel industry and North American economic integration
(2009-12-01) Spener, D; Gereffi, G; Bair, J
The economic and social consequences of international trade agreements have become a major area of inquiry in development studies in recent years. As evidenced by the energetic protests surrounding the Seattle meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 1999 and the controversy about China's admission to the WTO, such agreements have also become a focus of political conflict in both the developed and developing countries. At issue are questions of job gains and job losses in different regions, prices paid by consumers, acceptable standards for wages and working conditions in transnational manufacturing industries, and the quality of the environment. All these concerns have arisen with regard to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and can be addressed through an examination of changes in the dynamics of the apparel industry in the post-NAFTA period.1 In this book, we examine the evolution of the apparel industry in North America in order to address some of these questions as they pertain to North America, with an eye toward the broader implications of our findings. We also consider the countries of the Caribbean Basin and Central America, whose textile and apparel goods are now allowed to enter the U.S. market on the same basis as those from Canada and Mexico (Odessey 2000). © 2009 by Temple University Press. All rights reserved.
Open Access
NAFTA and the apparel commodity chain: Corporate strategies, interfirm networks, and industrial upgrading
(Free Trade & Uneven Development: North American Apparel Industry After Nafta, 2009-12-01) Bair, J; Gereffi, G
The apparel industry is one of the oldest and largest export industries in the world, with global trade and production networks that connect firms and workers in countries at all levels of economic development. This chapter examines the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as one of the most recent and significant developments to affect patterns of international trade and production in the apparel and textile industries. Tr ade policies are changing the institutional environment in which firms in this industry operate, and companies are responding to these changes with new strategies designed to increase their profitability and strengthen their control over the apparel commodity chain. Our hypothesis is that lead firms are establishing qualitatively different kinds of regional production networks in North America from those that existed prior to NAFTA, and that these networks have important consequences for industrial upgrading in the Mexican textile and apparel industries. Post-NAFTA crossborder production arrangements include full-package networks that link lead firms in the United States with apparel and textile manufacturers, contractors, and suppliers in Mexico. Full-package production is increasing the local value added provided by the apparel commodity chain in Mexico and creating new opportunities for Mexican firms and workers. The chapter is divided into four main sections. The first section uses trade and production data to analyze shifts in global apparel flows, highlighting the emergence and consolidation of a regional trade bloc in North America. The second section discusses the process of industrial upgrading in the apparel industry and introduces a distinction between assembly and full-package production networks. The third section includes case studies based on published industry sources and strategic interviews with several lead companies whose strategies are largely responsible for the shifting trade patterns and NAFTA-inspired cross-border production networks discussed in the previous section. The fourth section considers the implications of these changes for employment in the North American apparel industry. © 2009 by Temple University Press. All rights reserved.
Open Access
NAFTA and uneven development in the North American apparel industry
(Free Trade & Uneven Development: North American Apparel Industry After Nafta, 2009-12-01) Bair, J; Spener, DA; Gereffi, G
The various contributions to this book have documented how NAFTA-inspired firm strategies are changing the geography of apparel production in North America. The authors show in myriad ways how companies at different positions along the apparel commodity chain are responding to the new institutional and regulatory environment that NAFTA creates. By making it easier for U.S. companies to take advantage of Mexico as a nearby low-cost site for export-oriented apparel production, NAFTA is deepening the regional division of labor within North America, and this process has consequences for firms and workers in each of the signatory countries. In the introduction to this book we alluded to the obvious implications of shifting investment and trade patterns in the North American apparel industry for employment in the different countries. In this concluding chapter we focus on Mexico in the NAFTA era, specifically the extent to which Mexico's role in the North American economy facilitates or inhibits its economic development. W e begin with a discussion of the contemporary debate about Mexico's development, which turns on the question of how to assess the implications of Mexico's rapid and pro-found process of economic reform. Second, we focus on the textile and apparel industries as sectors that have been significantly affected by changes in regulatory environments at both the global and regional levels. Third, we examine the evidence regarding Mexico's NAFTA-era export dynamism, and in particular we emphasize the importance of interfirm networks, both for making sense of Mexico's meteoric rise among apparel exporters and for evaluating the implications of this dynamism for development. Fourth, we turn to a consideration of the national political-economic environment that shapes developmental outcomes for all Mexicans. Although regional disparities within Mexico are profound, aspects of government policy, such as management of the national currency, and characteristics of the institutional environment, such as industrial relations, have nationwide effects, and critics of NAFTA charge that these factors are contributing to a process of economic and social polarization that is ever more evident (Morales 1999; Dussel Peters 2000). Finally, we suggest that the mixed consequences of Mexico's NAFTA-era growth can be taken as emblematic of the contradictions that the process of globalization poses for economic and social development. The anti-sweatshop campaign in North America is one example of transnational or crossborder movements that are emerging to address the negative consequences of this process. In bringing attention to the problem of sweatshop production in North America, activists are developing strategies that rely on a network logic that is not dissimilar to the approaches reflected in the various chapters of this book. © 2009 by Temple University Press. All rights reserved.
Open Access
Regional trade agreements and export competitiveness: The uncertain path of Nicaragua's apparel exports under CAFTA
(Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 2015-01-01) Frederick, S; Bair, J; Gereffi, G
© 2015 The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Cambridge Political Economy Society. All rights reserved.The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been a mixed blessing for economic development. While exports to the US economy have increased, dependency may hinder economic growth if countries do not diversify or upgrade before temporary provisions expire. This article evaluates the impact of the temporary Tariff Preference Levels (TPLs) granted to Nicaragua under CAFTA and the consequences of TPL expiration. Using trade statistics, country- and firm-level data from Nicaragua's National Free Zones Commission (CNZF) and data from field research, we estimate Nicaragua's apparel sector will contract as much as 30-40% after TPLs expire. Our analysis underscores how rules of origin and firm nationality affect where and how companies do business, and in so doing, often constrain sustainable export growth.
Open Access
Tor reón: The new blue jeans capital of the world
(Free Trade & Uneven Development: North American Apparel Industry After Nafta, 2009-12-01) Gereffi, G; Martínez, MA; Bair, J
Open Access
Towards Better Work in Central America: Nicaragua and the CAFTA Context
(Towards Better Work: Understanding Labour in Apparel Global Value Chains, 2014-01-01) Bair, J; Gereffi, G