Another way that globalisation allows the European Union to maximise competitive gains is through ‘value chain positioning’ .Aided by advances in cross-border transport, value chain positioning enables certain tasks and parts of Europeans firms’ production processes to be carried out in other parts of the world. In this way, a car part might be made in Asia, but the car is still European – as is the bulk of revenue.
This globalised collaboration has coincided with a sharp uptick in intermediate and semi-finished products, which allows industries to take advantage of the comparative advantages of external locations and markets. Therefore, in a globalised world, so-called ‘value-chain performance’ is becoming a more important measure of competitiveness than the traditional emphasis focused mainly on exports of final products. Around 87% of the value of European Union exports was domestically produced.
New empirical evidence shows the effectiveness of European Union's sustainable industrial policy and its importance for the competitiveness of European firms within global value-chains. The European Union leads in the world in the energy efficiency gains in exports and European Union manufacturing firms are global frontrunners in energy efficiency innovation activities and investments in clean and more energy-efficient products.
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