Sustainability in Global Supply-Chain

Globalization of production has given rise to complex cross-border flows of goods, know-how, investment, services and people – known as ‘supply-chain trade’ for short. According to policymakers, it is transformative; among economists, however, it is typically viewed as trade in goods that happens to be concentrated in parts and components. In the modern global economy, final goods are typically produced by combining domestic and foreign value added via global supply chains. Foreign value-added accounts for 20 percent of the value of final manufacturing output in many countries, and more than 50 percent in some countries and sectors. In turn, imported final goods contain substantial domestic value added, as exported intermediate inputs return home embodied in foreign-made final goods. This course offers theoretical and real-world insights into why and how such global fragmentation in supply-chain networks can be used as a conduit for sustainable development. Such global proliferation of upstream and downstream activities is associated not only with significant economic development opportunities but also with pressing environmental and social challenges. This course will also expose economic issues related to exhaustible resources (such as fossil fuels and minerals). Topics include questions such as whether resources are depleted too quickly in free markets; explanations for the observed evolution of resource prices; the sustainability of economic growth in a world with finite resources; role of environmental risk on cross-border capital flows; environmental issues related to resource extraction; energy and alternatives to fossil fuels; how integrated implementation of circular economy and industry 4.0 can promote sustainability; and others as time permits. This is your opportunity to be part of a global learning community actively exploring and sharing the implications of a globalization and sustainable development nexus. Considering the growing importance of global supply chains as conduits of trade, used by those professionals working under the DGFT, import/export administration, trade negotiations, export development, international operations management and international marketing.