Unravelling the Role of Data in Industrial Value Chains

Abstract

This article explores the growing importance of data in global value chains (GVC) and its impact on power relations. We ask (1) how data becomes valuable in GVC, (2) how different types of data are used and (3) how this affects power relations among actors in GVC. We conceptualise data as increasingly important for the development of intangible assets, combining the literatures on intangible assets in GVC and the political economy of data. Based on 88 interviews with practitioners and experts involved in digital business models in Germany, we propose a data typology as an instrument to analyse the effects of data use in GVC based on the origin of data: transactions, product use and processes. We then apply the typology to three case studies of data use in GVC, analysing what kind of intangibles data contribute to and how this leads to upgrading and changes in value chain governance. We argue that data use in industrial value chains does not lead to the concentration of power in the hands of data monopolies. Instead, the creation of value from data rests on a division of labour, with various actors competing for shares of the captured value.