The global economy is changing rapidly, and China, India, and Mexico represent particularly interesting cases because of their divergent development models. Global consolidation is increasing in the past decade because of the rapid growth of China in manufacturing export industries, and India's surge in the offshoring of information technology services. The apparel industry also illustrates the consolidation trend because of a shift in international regulation with the phase out in 2005 of the quotas associated with the Multi-Fiber Arrangement. Industrial upgrading trajectories in China and Mexico are compared, using international trade data to look closely at export profiles in key industries and products destined for the U.S. market. China's "supply chain cities" are examined as a new form of economic organization that seeks to geographically integrate export production with other high-value segments of global value chains.
Industrial upgrading; China; Mexico; Apparel industry; Supply chain cities