The role of intermediaries in governance of global production networks: restructuring work relations in Pakistan’s apparel industry
Faculty / School
Faculty of Business Administration (FBA)
Department
Department of Management
Was this content written or created while at IBA?
Yes
Document Type
Article
Source Publication
Human Relations
ISSN
0018-7267
Keywords
Cultural political economy, Development, Employment, Gender in organizations, Global governance, Gramsci
Disciplines
Accounting | Arts and Humanities | Business | Social and Behavioral Sciences | Strategic Management Policy | Technology and Innovation
Abstract
This article locates the reorganization of work relations in the apparel sector in Pakistan, after the end of the Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) quota regime, within the context of a global production network (GPN). We examine the role of a network of corporate, state, multilateral and civil society actors who serve as intermediaries in GPN governance. These intermediaries transmit and translate competitive pressures and invoke varied, sometimes contradictory, imaginaries in their efforts to realign and stabilize the GPN. We analyse the post-MFA restructuring of Pakistan’s apparel sector, which dramatically increased price competition and precipitated a contested adjustment process among Pakistani and global actors with divergent priorities and resources. These intermediaries converged on a ‘solution’ that combined and enacted imaginaries of modernization, competitiveness, professional management and female empowerment, while also emphasizing low costs and female docility. We highlight the intersection of economic, political and cultural dynamics of GPNs, and reveal the gendered dimensions of GPN restructuring. We theorize the role of these actors as a transnational managerial elite in GPN governance, who led a restructuring process that preserved the hegemonic stability of the GPN and protected the interests of western branded apparel companies and consumers, but did not necessarily serve the interests of workers.
Indexing Information
HJRS - W Category, Scopus, Web of Science - Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
Journal Quality Ranking
Impact Factor: 5.039
Recommended Citation
Munir, K., Ayaz, M., Levy, D., & Willmott, H. (2018). The role of intermediaries in governance of global production networks: restructuring work relations in Pakistan’s apparel industry. Human Relations, 71 (4), 560-583. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/faculty-research-articles/139
Publication Status
Published
COinS
