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Asante‐Poku, Nana Amma (2016) The local context in global value chains: a case study of the Ghanaian pineapple export sector. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26681 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. The Local Context in Global Value Chains: A Case Study of the Ghanaian Pineapple Export Sector Nana Amma Asante-Poku Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2016 Department of Economics SOAS, University of London Abstract Significant changes in global production and trade have occurred over the last three decades because of globalisation. The GVC framework has been instrumental in advancing knowledge on how firms and nations can participate and benefit from production and trade in this era of globalisation. In accounting for the governance of value chains, the framework places a premium on lead firm strategies and requirements. However, recent studies have noted that the institutional context, especially local conditions, in which GVCs are situated play a more significant role than hitherto acknowledged. In the face of changing global value chain governance, the Ghanaian pineapple export sector has changed from one dominated by smallholder production to one where exporters dominate. Thus, governance has evolved from market governance to captive and/or hierarchy. This thesis examines the role local conditions (or the local context) actually played in this evolution. The thesis finds that governance is shaped and conditioned by the state and its policies, inter-firm relations and networks, norms of behaviour and financial incentives. Inadequate government support, lack of horizontal collaboration, widespread opportunistic behaviour and financial constraints negatively impacted the organisation and coordination of the chain in the period prior to 2005. After 2005, chain coordination and organisation have improved. Contractual relations provide safeguards for both smallholders and processors; exporters are more organised and knowledgeable, although buyers have significant power over pricing of output. However, lack of financial incentives due, in most part, to past behaviour and perceptions and lack of innovation in financial institutions, still impacts the chain negatively. 3 Acknowledgement First and foremost, I thank the Lord Almighty for granting me the privilege and ability to start and complete this work. My deepest gratitude goes to my supervisor, Prof. Machiko Nissanke, who has nurtured and given structure to my thoughts. I also thank the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) which provided the financial support to make my education possible. To my husband, Kwabena, I appreciate your love and support. I am much indebted to my sisters, Drs. Ilara Mahdi and Sophie van Huellen, for their kindness, generosity and friendship throughout the years, and especially when I had my son, Kwaku. I could not have managed to do it all on my own. Ilara, thanks so much for babysitting even after a tedious day at school: and Sophie, I will surely miss those days when we shared perspectives and insights on the value chain while we walked to school. As for my auntie, Mrs Naomi Odoi, who generously welcomed me into her home and ensured that my stay in London was just like home, I cannot thank you enough. I am also most grateful to my father-in-law, mother-in-law, husband, mother and siblings for taking excellent care of my son whenever I was away from home. I appreciate the sacrifices you made so that I could concentrate on my studies. I extend my profound gratefulness to all participants of this study in Ghana and abroad who spared time from their busy schedules to grant me interviews or scheduled interviews on my behalf. I could not have gathered the needed information without your assistance. I am also immensely grateful to Mr Kwesi Korboe and Mr Baba Adam, for putting me in touch with exporters and producers and continuously being available to answer further questions or give clarifications whenever I needed them. To Ms Patricia Adoma, I am thankful for putting me in touch with the processing firm. Thanks to my father, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, for proofreading my work: and to my husband, Abena Poku-Awuku and Sophie for reading through various draft chapters of the thesis at different stages. I also thank my two external examiners, Professors Stephanie Ware Barrientos and Peter Cornelisse, for thoroughly reading my work and providing extremely constructive and insightful feedback. To members of the Kings Cross Baptist Church, London, I am grateful for your friendship and prayers, particularly Mrs Elizabeth Akinloye for her prayers and words of 4 encouragement during the tough last months of my studies. I wish to thank everyone else whose name is not mentioned here but who has been a part of this journey. Lastly, I dedicate this work to my son, Kwaku, for providing a lot of distraction, as I was nothing more than mummy and playmate. 5 Table of Contents Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis 2 Abstract 3 Acknowledgement 4 Table of Contents 6 List of Figures 12 List of Tables 14 List of Abbreviations 15 Chapter 1 Introduction 17 1.1 Introduction and Motivation 17 1.2 Research Context: The Role of Horticulture in Ghana’s economy 19 1.3 Research Objective, Questions and Hypothesis 23 1.4 Contribution and Originality 24 1.5 Thesis Outline 25 Chapter 2 Global Value Chain Analysis 28 2.1 Introduction 28 2.2 Contemporary frameworks for analysing economic development 28 2.2.1 From the state to lead firms 28 2.2.2 Origin of the value chain concept 29 2.2.3 Global Commodity Chain (GCC) 30 2.2.4 Global Value Chain (GVC) 31 2.2.4.1 Dimensions of GVC framework 32 2.3 Governance 32 2.3.1 Introduction 32 2.3.2 Governance in Value Chain Analysis 33 2.3.3 Theoretical and empirical interpretation of governance in value chain analysis 34 6 2.3.3.1 Governance as driving 34 2.3.3.2 Governance as coordination 35 2.3.3.3 Governance as normalisation 40 2.4 Actors in Value chains 42 2.4.1 Lead Firms 42 2.4.2 Suppliers 43 2.5 Upgrading 44 2.6 Governance and Upgrading in the Horticulture/Agri-Food Value Chain 46 2.7 Levels of analysis in GVCs 47 2.8 Alternative Framework – Global Production Network (GPN) 48 2.9 The Institutional Dimension in GVCs 51 2.9.1 What are Institutions? 51 2.9.2 Levels of and types of Institutions 53 2.9.3 Institutions and Power 55 2.10 Some empirical evidence on the role of local conditions in GVC governance 58 2.11 Concluding Remarks 61 Chapter 3 Conceptual Framework 63 3.1 Introduction 63 3.2 Global - Local Linkages 64 3.3 The Analysis of Exchange: The Exchange Configuration Approach 65 3.3.1 Key Terms and Concepts in the EC approach 66 3.3.2 Characteristics of Institutions in the EC approach 67 3.3.3 Main Elements of an Exchange Configuration 68 3.3.4 Choosing Characteristics of Exchange Elements 72 3.3.5 Institutional change in Exchange configurations 73 3.4 A Conceptual Framework to link global and local governance 77 3.4.1 Linking global and local governance 77 7 3.4.2 Application to the Ghanaian pineapple value chain 82 3.5 Concluding Remarks 86 Chapter 4 Situating Ghana in the Global Context 87 4.1 Introduction: The Global Pineapple Market 87 4.2 Production and Trade 89 4.2.1 Production 89 4.2.2 Imports 91 4.2.3 Exports 95 4.2.3.1 Early 1980s to mid-1990s: The dominance of Côte d’Ivoire 97 4.2.3.2 Late 1990s to early 2000s: The rise of Costa Rica 98 4.2.3.3 Mid-2000s – 2013: The dominance of Costa Rica 103 4.2.4 Prices 108 4.3 The Global Pineapple value chain 111 4.3.1 Governance of the Global pineapple industry 112 4.3.2 The structure of the Global pineapple chain 119 4.4 Background to Ghana’s Pineapple Export Sector 124 4.5 The structure of the Ghanaian chain (mid-1980s -2004) 126 4.6 Concluding Remarks 130 Chapter 5 Research Methodology 131 5.1 Introduction 131 5.2 The Ghanaian pineapple value chain (2005-2013) 131 5.2.1 The pineapple value chain 131 5.2.2 Profiles of Some Companies 135 5.3 Research Process and design 137 5.3.1 Research Process 137 5.3.2 Research design 138 5.4 Actual Research Design 139 8 5.4.1 Sampling strategy 139 5.4.2 The sample of producers 139 5.4.3 The sample of exporters 143 5.4.4 The sample of processors 143 5.4.5 The sample of importers 144 5.4.6 Other stakeholders 144 5.5 Data Collection 144 5.5.1 Data collection methods 144 5.5.2 Language used 146 5.5.3 Characteristics of the Sample 147 5.5.4 Ethical Issues 149 5.6 Data Analysis 149 5.7 Reliability and Validity of the research 151 5.8 Challenges of the study 152 5.9 Concluding remarks 152 Chapter 6 The Smooth Cayenne Exchange Configuration 153 6.1 Introduction 153 6.2 The Smooth Cayenne configuration 154 6.2.1 Characteristics of the item exchanged 154 6.2.2 Characteristics of Actors 155 6.2.2.1 Characteristics of Smallholders 155 6.2.2.2 Characteristics of Middlemen 158 6.2.2.3 Characteristics of Exporters 159 6.2.3 Characteristics

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