Global Value Chains in Africa and Development of Opportunities by Poor Landholders

Abstract

In an effort to help address severe levels of poverty, multinational firms are increasingly seeking to include African smallholders in their global value chains (GVCs). Despite efforts of multinationals to provide such opportunities, the number of successful inclusions remains limited. We draw from the entrepreneurship domain to approach this important issue from an opportunity perspective. At the heart of our effort to develop a greater theoretical understanding is the insight that opportunities can both be discovered and created by smallholders. The key implication of this insight is that multinationals will gain more from their efforts to include small landholders in their GVCs if they adapt their value chain systems in ways that also accommodate joint creation of opportunities with smallholders rather than expect that all smallholders adapt to the systems developed by the large global firms for their large suppliers.