Resumen
The book ?The dynamics of the local learning in global value chains: Experiences from East Asia, by Momoko Kawakami and Timothy Sturgeon describes the process of capability accumulation by several firms and sectors of East Asia. It extends and modifies the existing perspectives of global value chain (GVC) and presents its own frame of reference to explain how the process of accumulation in late industrializing countries occur. It challenges the idea established in the literature on GVC that the possibility of accumulation of capabilities and functional upgrading is determined by the governance of the value chain. It argues that the process of accumulation can occur even in highly coordinated GVCs, if the supplier pursues entrepreneurially a learning strategy that is accompanied by the outsourcing strategy of the leading companies of the GVC. This review introduces the reader to the basic concepts of GVC and summarizes the chapters of the book, emphasizing the theoretical and practical contribution of each one of them. It closes highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the book and the issues it suggests to researchers interested in the subject. Readers of the review will understand the process that the sectors analyzed in chapters went through and the implications of these experiences for firms in countries like Brazil, which aims to insert themselves more competitively in GVCs.