Global business chain and twin advantage: Strategic opportunities for developing countries

Purpose – The paper proposes that globalization has opened up opportunities for developing countries that adopt the right type of political economy doctrine and opt to externalize their economies through contemporarily relevant global integration models and country-level strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Portraying the various phases of globalization, the experiences of developed and developing countries are reviewed to recommend a “global participation model” for developing countries to benefit from the globalization process. Findings – In profiling the global participation model, the paper introduces the concept of global business chain and shows how countries have formed strategic groups to participate in the global chain as “opportunity exploiters” and “opportunity providers.” If equipped with appropriate and efficient economic doctrine, developing countries could act both as opportunity providers and opportunity exploiters and transform themselves into “twin advantage countries” – with subst ntial enhancements in their total factor productivity and consequent gains in the quality of life of populations. Originality/value – Global business chain and twin advantage strategy, the two major propositions of this paper, are a new stream of thought in the discussions on globalization.