F13 - Trade Policy; International Trade OrganizationsReturn

Within V4 automotive Global Value Chains (GVCs), technologies absorbed by the corporate sector represent a significant impact on the level of value-added created within the economy. Sectoral and geographic targeting of our research is determined by the export of motor vehicles, trailers, and semi-trailers produced in the V4 countries. The article’s main objective was to investigate the role of services provided by V4 countries within GVCs with an emphasis on transport and storage. The authors used the method of linear regression analysis to answer two central research questions. Is there a synergic or spillover effect within the automotive clusters of the V4 countries in creating value-added originating in the logistic services? What role absorption of technology at the firm level in EU27 countries (the most important trading partners of the V4 countries) plays in creating value-added in the V4 automotive sector? Authors found differentiated results within V4 countries, confirming the hypothesis related to technology absorption.
Implications for Central European audience: Despite high V4 export performance, the research suggests how to increase the value-added through higher involvement within GVCs (particularly the automotive industry). The paper demonstrates a positive impact of importing transport services from the EU countries to some V4 countries (Slovakia, Czechia, and Poland) and its value-added content in gross exports. For any V4 country, an increase in the quality of the business environment of EU trade partners (measured as the corporate level of technology absorption) results in a lower value-added creation, quite significantly, with lower effect in the case of Czechia, but more than 15% decrease in case of Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia.

This article elaborates the export promotion framework in the Czech Republic. It reviews the current literature and introduces the basic approaches and objectives that should be followed by a properly established export promotion system and describes the historical as well as contemporary development of the export support scheme in the Czech Republic. Subsequent research was then conducted in order to obtain a basic idea how the awareness about export support is spread among Czech companies. Outcomes of the survey are then used as inputs to suggest how to increase the effectiveness of export support.