Event

This talk is based on Professor Nguyen's recent article: Norm Assembly in Global Value Chains (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3878596). The article examines the phenomenon of transnational suppliers in global value chains (GVCs) and explores their legal consequences. In today’s “made in the world” era of dispersed production, it is often assumed that multinational brands, usually based in developed economies, are the rulemakers in global trade, who dictate the terms of engagement to a sprawling, unruly network of foreign suppliers and contractors worldwide. This conceptualization of “buyer-driven” GVCs, characterized by highly asymmetric bargaining power, undergirds a wide range of laws and policies aimed at regulating cross-border transactions, including supplier contracts and auditing regimes, supply chain disclosure obligations, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. By contrast, this article argues that this stylized picture of globalization is no longer complete. Today, just as corporate retailers in developed economies divest and outsource, their foreign-based first-tier suppliers, in an osmosis move, have increasingly scaled up and consolidated to meet the demands of global production and competition. As a result, a group of powerful but largely hidden global economic actors—transnational suppliers and manufacturers—have emerged as a new crop of multinational enterprises.

This event will be held on-site in the CSCC conference room, but with a Zoom option.

To attend in person:

Please use this link to RSVP for this event: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/norm-assembly-in-global-value-chains-tickets-182883428257

You must be a Penn Card holder. Please indicate in the RSVP link that you plan to attend in person. Under the university’s current COVID-19 protocols, we must limit on-site attendance at our events to Penn card holders and, to comply with contact-tracing requirements, we must have a record of who attends our in-person events. Therefore, we are asking that you RSVP is you plan to attend in person. If you do not RSVP and still wish to attend, you are still welcome to show up, but will need to sign in on arrival. Although social distancing is not required under current university rules, we will be limiting the number of people in our conference room to somewhat less than our past highest turnout events.

To participate by Zoom:

We understand that some of you will be unable or uncomfortable attending in person, but wish to participate. We will send you a Zoom link if you register here: https://upenn.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwqcuyqqTsiGNdvzNg6VHsTJZAzqin15JBz