Global Value Chains going Green: an upgrading opportunity

The recent global financial crisis has somehow undermined the idea of the developed countries to be safe from such economical twisting. It turns out to be necessary now to rethink the basis of the global economic process in order to guarantee its sustainability, equally on the economical, the environmental and social side. For this reasons, focusing on green strategies ccould be the way to boost again the competitiveness of countries and enterprises, as it could give the opportunity to upgrade their position in the global value chains through the acquisition of higher skills and capabilities. This opportunity is tightly liked to the strategic decisions of the leading firms of the value chains that is able to drive the innovation processes of the whole sector and could lead to concrete upgrading both in developed and developing countries. The objective of this paper is to focus on the relations between firms strategies addressed to environmental sustainability and upgrading opportunities that can arise. The analysis will be based on the Global Value Chain approach adopting its concepts of chain governance models, linkages and power relations between the actors and relating them to the choice of green strategies. Keywords: Global Value Chains, upgrading, green strategies.