The Role of Institutions in the Economic Sustainability of Global Value Chains: A Transcendental Phenomenological Analysis of Pakistani Apparel Industry

The geographical spread of the global value chains (GVC) not only makes them complex structures but also raises the challenges of governance for them. Gereffi and Lee (2014) argued that such governance issues may arise from either the vertical (within the structure of the GVC) or the horizontal (from outside) governance of a GVC; and at times, bring the sustainability of GVCs at stake. This study explores the phenomenon in the domain of the horizontal governance, outlining the role of the local institutions and the effects they cast upon the sustainability of the GVCs. This study incorporates the findings derived from transcendental phenomenological analysis (TPA) of the in-depth interviews of twenty-three export managers, working in the apparel firms producing for the GVCs on a long-term basis. The study delivers an explanation of the phenomenon and highlights the role played by the government institutions in it. The essence of this study elaborates the mechanisms of cooperation and coordination between the government institutions and the industry, and the difference in the expected and actual performance of the institutions. It highlights that the government institutions in Pakistan, having rigid culture, are currently not fulfilling the requirements of the apparel production units linked with GVCs; and the behavior of government employees adds to it. The implications emerging from this study, directions for future research and limitations have also been discussed. Besides, the application of NVIVO software to perform the qualitative data analysis (QDA) while performing the TPA adds to the methodological innovation of this study.