GLODEM is pleased to announce the second talk of Fall 2022’s GLODEM Book Club, with Dr. Merve Sancak on her latest book “Global Production, National Institutions, and Skill Formation”

GLODEM’s new virtual book talk series, GLODEM Book Club, features leading scholars from around the globe discussing timely issues related to globalization, political economy, peace and conflict resolution, democratic governance and administration.

GLODEM invites you to the GLODEM Book Club.

Date: Monday, December 5, 2022

Time: 17:30 (GMT+3:00)

Speaker: Dr Merve Sancak, Lecturer at the Institute for International Management, Loughborough University London

Moderator: Merih Angin, Koç University

Zoom registration link: (advance registration required)

https://kocun.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_k1zn-vIwRau8S_svkXWtyQ

Title: Global Production, National Institutions, and Skill Formation

About the Book:

Many middle-income countries (MICs) that saw rapid growth in the 1990s and 2000s have been facing the danger of remaining in the ‘middle-income trap’ unless they shift from labour-intensive, low value-added production to higher value-added activities that require more advanced skills. Intermediate skills and vocational education and training (VET) systems that generate these skills are critical for addressing the challenges for MICs in achieving high-road development. This book examines the skill systems in Mexico and Turkey, with a focus on auto parts producers, and the implications of these systems for these countries’ development. It adopts a multi-layered understanding of the term ‘skill system’, which comprises firm-level hiring and training practices as well as the national and global dynamics that influence these practices. Drawing on discussions around globalization and the convergence of economic activity vs. national institutions and divergence, as well as interviews with auto parts producers and stakeholders of the skill systems, the book examines how the participation of local firms in global supply chains and these firms’ institutional environment affect the firm-level skilling practices. It highlights key differences in the role of the state in the skills systems of Mexico and Turkey and investigates the implications of skilling practices for the high/low-road development prospects of both nations.

About the Author: Dr Merve Sancak is Lecturer at the Institute for International Management, Loughborough University London. Her research sits between international political economy, comparative political economy, and economic sociology. She is interested in studying the intersections between global political and economic dynamics and national institutional structures, and the implications of these interactions for inclusive development. Her work so far has focused on the political economy of skill formation systems in late industrialising countries. Her recent book Global Production, National Institutions, and Skill Formation (OUP, 2022) studies the skill systems in the auto industries of Mexico and Turkey, and the determinants of firms’ skill formation practices. Her current work investigates the international linkages of labour markets in late industrialising countries, and the implications of this for employment relations. She has published in Review of International Political Economyö Competition & Change and Global Networks. She holds a PhD in Economic Sociology from the University of Cambridge and previously worked in De Montfort University and Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI), University of Sheffield.

The event will be held in English via Zoom.