Articulated competitiveness and position in international production chains: Evidence of the growth of the Spanish textile sector (2000-2017)

The phenomena of international productive fragmentation and global value chains imply the redefinition of the notion of competitiveness from an articulated point of view. Competitive advantages are determined by the position occupied in relation to the inter-industrial structure and the specific geographical articulation. This paper analyses the growth of the textile sector, disaggregating it into two subsectors that are positioned differently in the industry as a whole: fabric manufacturing and clothing. The results show that their different behaviour derives from the different position occupied in the chain and that the specific institutional framework has conditioned their business performance.