Book Review: Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains by Frei, Regina, Sherwat Ibrahim, and Temidayo Akenroye

Abstract

Africa has, for centuries, been an essential supplier of resources that are integral to a wide range of global industries. Understanding Africa depends on understanding the role of the continent in global value chains (GVCs). Academic and policy-oriented debates tend to focus on industrial upgrading in GVCs, neglecting environmental and social aspects, although Africa’s integration into GVCs has come along with worsening environmental and social conditions in many cases. Infamous examples are labour rights in Ethiopia’s textile sector and oil spills in the Niger Delta. This does not mean that there is no literature on such problems. Especially critical scholars have produced numerous articles and books that uncover the severe side effects of the continent’s participation in the world economy. Much less has been written on how GVCs in Africa can be made more sustainable. The volume Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains provides corresponding insights. It consists of four sections. Section 1 presents background information and explains how corporations from overseas engage with Africa. It includes philosophical considerations (chapter 1), a literature-based overview of how large firms can push sustainability (chapter 2), a bibliometric analysis of the literature on GVCs and sustainability (chapter 3), and a calculation of what African countries gain and lose because of GVCs (chapter 4). Section 2 begins with a study on Nigeria that uncovers conditions essential to sustainable practices in agriculture (chapter 5). Challenges are shown with regard to smallholder coffee farming in Kenya (chapter 6) and the Zambian mining sector (chapter 7). A key message is that local suppliers need more support to implement sustainable practices. Section 3 comprises case studies on Nigeria’s trade policy and yam exports (chapter 8), the benefits and pitfalls of foreign investment in Ethiopia’s textile sector (chapter 9), as well as GVC participation of small businesses in handicraft in Egypt and Ghana (chapters 10 and 11). Section 4 shows what overseas corporations can do to promote sustainability, presenting insights from West Africa (chapter 12), Egypt (chapter 13) and Nigeria (chapter 14). Africa and Sustainable Global Value Chains has many merits. The authorship is diverse, consisting of colleagues from various African countries, as well as China, Europe and North America. It indicates cross-continental cooperation by several