Economic Modernisation of the Visegrad Group Countries Within Global Value Chains

The article is dedicated to identifying the trajectories of economic modernization of the Visegrad countries in global value chains (GVCs) on the example of the manufacturing industry. It was found that the Visegrad countries are characterised by generally similar trajectories in terms of technological, product, process and structural (in terms of an increase in the exported domestic value added) modernisation. Structural degradation (in terms of a decrease in the share of domestic value added in exports) was also common for all countries. Different directions manifested themselves only within the framework of functional modernisation, since Slovakia, unlike other countries in the group, not only failed to successfully integrate into the value chains in their most profitable functions but also lost its previous positions. As a result, the following trajectories were identified: pronounced development due to foreign capital and technology based on the exploitation of comparative advantages in Slovakia; the longest trajectory (market liberalisation earlier than in all the countries) focused on external capital and technology in Hungary and focus on internal sources of development (industrial heritage) with external financing in Poland and Czechia. It was determined that the main factor that influenced the modernisation of the manufacturing industry was the nature of inclusion in the all-European division of labor, which depended on industry specialisation (and, accordingly, the type of management in value chains), the competitiveness of the industrial heritage of the group of countries, the size of the internal market.

global value chains, modernisation trajectories, Visegrad Group, manufacturing industry