Received: 15 February 2018 Revised: 28 February 2020 Accepted: 10 March 2020 DOI: 10.1002/gsj.1381 SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE Supplier evolution in global value chains and the new brand game from an attention- based view Christian Lechner1 | Gianni Lorenzoni2,3 | Simone Guercini4 | Gaël Gueguen5 1School of Economics and Management, Free University of Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy 2Department of Management, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy 3Cass Business School, City University London, London, UK 4Department of Economics and Management (DIESEI), University of Florence, Florence, Italy 5Management Research Centre, Entrepreneurship and Strategy, Toulouse Business School, Toulouse Cedex 7, France Correspondence Christian Lechner, School of Economics Abstract and Management, Free University of Research Summary: Suppliers from emerging econo- Bolzano, Piazza Università 1, 39100 mies have been particularly active in acquiring brands Bolzano, Italy. from advanced economies. We analyze changes in the Email:
[email protected] global value chain (GVC) of the sports shoe industry Funding information and show how hollowing out the asset bases of brand- University of Bologna (Alma Idea Funding); Open Access Publishing Fund holding firms through increasing outsourcing has of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano enabled the emergence of rising power firms, as well as a new brand game and a market for brands. These developments in the GVC might be a future challenge for traditional brand-holding lead firms. We show that managers focused on branding