Peculiarities of Russia's Participation in Global Value Chains in High-Tech Industries in Light of the "Smile Curve" Theory

Mikhail V. Shatunov, Natalia A. Navrotskaya

St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia

Abstract

Economic globalization creates new opportunities for countries to develop and achieve high rates of economic growth through participation in global value chains. However, many countries, especially developing ones, face economic difficulties due to weak involvement in global value chains and low prospects for moving from the least profitable to more profitable links of the chains. The relevance of the study lies in the need to assess the nature of Russia's participation in global value chains in high-tech sectors in order to understand the prospects for improving the position of Russian companies in the global production system, ensuring a technological breakthrough and sovereignty. In this study, based on the concept of the "smile curve" of global value chains and the ADB MRIO input-output tables for 2000, 2011 and 2021 for 63 countries and 35 industries, an assessment of the nature of participation of companies in high-tech sectors of the Russian economy in global value chains is given for the first time. The distribution of added value for Russian global value chains takes the form of a "smile curve". At the same time, the main beneficiaries of the added value in such chains are domestic service companies. The theoretical significance of the work is due to the original knowledge about the specifics of the involvement of high-tech sectors of Russia in global production, as well as the features of its spatial organization (by identifying key foreign partners) and the transformation of participation in global value chains over the studied period of time. The practical significance of the study primarily comes from the data obtained on the contribution of foreign partners and Russian sectors of the economy to intra- and inter-industry trade in the studied sectors. This made it possible to decompose the studied sector in terms of added value from the point of view of foreign and national final and intermediate products, as well as from the point of view of foreign and national added values.

Keywords

global value chains; the theory of the «smile curve»; GVCs forward links; GVCs backward links; value added trade; high-tech sectors

JEL classification

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About Authors

Mikhail Vyacheslavovich Shatunov

Post-Graduate Student, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia (199034, St. Petersburg, University embankment, 7/9); ORCID orcid.org/0009-0005-2572-0594 e-mail: shmihhail@yandex.ru

Natalia Anatolyevna Navrotskaya

Doctor of Economics, Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of World Economics, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia (199034, St. Petersburg, University embankment, 7/9); ORCID orcid.org/0000-0002-0213-6863 e-mail: n.navrotskaya@spbu.ru

For citation

Shatunov, M.V., Navrotskaya, N.A. (2024). Peculiarities of Russia's Participation in Global Value Chains in High-Tech Industries in Light of the "Crooked Smile" Theory. Journal of Applied Economic Research, Vol. 23, No. 4, 882-904. doi.org/10.15826/vestnik.2024.23.4.035

Article info

Received August 24, 2024; Revised September 25, 2024; Accepted October 8, 2024.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15826/vestnik.2024.23.4.035

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