Toward a Dynamic Theory of Global Production Networks

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Global production networks (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GPN</jats:styled-content>) are organizational platforms through which actors in different regional and national economies compete and cooperate for a greater share of value creation, transformation, and capture through geographically dispersed economic activity. Existing conceptual frameworks on global value chains (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GVC</jats:styled-content>) and what we term<jats:italic><jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GPN</jats:styled-content>1.0</jats:italic>tend to under‐theorize the origins and dynamics of these organizational platforms and to overemphasize their governance typologies (e.g., modular, relational, and captive modes in<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GVC</jats:styled-content>theory) or analytical categories (e.g., power and embeddedness in<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GPN</jats:styled-content>1.0). Building on this expanding literature, our article aims to contribute toward the reframing of existing<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GPN‐GVC</jats:styled-content>debates and the development of a more dynamic theory of global production networks that can better explain the emergence of different firm‐specific activities, strategic network effects, and territorial outcomes in the global economy. It is part of a wider initiative—<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">GPN</jats:styled-content>2.0 in short—that seeks to offer novel theoretical insights into why and how the organization and coordination of global production networks varies significantly within and across different industries, sectors, and economies. Taking an actor‐centered focus toward theory development, we tackle a significant gap in existing work by systematically conceptualizing the<jats:italic>causal drivers</jats:italic>of global production networks in terms of their competitive dynamics (optimizing cost‐capability ratios, market imperatives, and financial discipline) and risk environments. These capitalist dynamics are theorized as critical independent variables that shape the four main strategies adopted by economic actors in (re)configuring their global production networks and, ultimately, the developmental outcomes in different industries, regions, and countries.</jats:p>