Working Paper
Upgrading Trajectories in South Africa: Exploring the Roles of Customer and Supplier Link Types in Manufacturers’ Economic, Social and Environmental Upgrading
Rachel Alexander and Aarti Krishnan
2023
#Manufacturing
#Sub-saharan Africa
#Environment and climate change
#Social and working conditions
#Sustainability standards
Part of SARChI Industrial Development Working Paper Series
Download publicationThis study explores determinants of firms’ economic, social and environmental upgrading and downgrading trajectories in South Africa, with a focus on the manufacturing sector. Specifically, it considers connections between firms’ buyer and supplier relationships and their upgrading outcomes. Data is drawn from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys of 2007 and 2020 and analysed using social network and econometric analysis.