TY - RPRT UR - http://eprints.imtlucca.it/3833/ Y1 - 2017/11// KW - Keywords: global value chains KW - supply networks KW - vertical integration KW - upstreamness KW - firm theory. - JEL Classification Numbers: F23 KW - L23 KW - L22 KW - D57 KW - F14. AV - public TI - The Organization of Global Supply Networks N2 - In this contribution, we introduce a network approach for the organization of global production across national borders, beyond the sequential industry-level metrics proposed in the previous literature. First, we show and argue that several characteristics of global production processes would be lost in the analysis when assuming that they could be proxied as linear sequences. Hence, we propose an index that assesses the relevance of any input for the target output, including its role as an input of inputs. Thereafter, we exploit an own-built firm-level dataset of about 20,489 U.S. parent companies integrating more than 154,000 affiliates worldwide. Results show that the technological relevance of an input in a directed supply network is also a good predictor for: i) the probability that an input industry is actually integrated within a firm boundary; ii) the number of affiliates that are controlled by the parent company and active in that input industry. M1 - imt_eic_working_paper SN - 2279-6894 PB - IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca A1 - Fattorini, Loredana A1 - Rungi, Armando A1 - Zhu, Zhen EP - 38 ID - eprints3833 ER -