Polycentric Public-Private Governance of Global Production Networks: Implications for Decent Work in South African Fruit

The recent rise of South-South trade and shifting consumer end-markets has dramatically changed the geography of production (Horner and Nadvi 2017), with crucial implications for the governance of decent work. Economic growth in the global South has spurred expansion of domestic and regional production networks (RPNs) driven by Southern lead firms. In South Africa, domestic retailers apply private governance, including social standards, to coordinate their suppliers in RPNs (Pickles et al 2016; Krishnan 2017). However, we know little about the extent to which Southern lead firms, who face limited civil society pressure and increasing South-South competition, will pursue private governance of social standards. Alternatively, will the expansion of RPNs open up new channels for polycentric public-private governance capable of providing more effective regulation of decent work? This paper examines the implications of regional production networks in sub-Saharan Africa, for public-private governance and regulation of decent work. It frames an evolving research agenda by analytically advancing global production network (GPN) analysis beyond a North/South approach to governance, to a more multi-layered perspective of polycentric governance where the boundaries between private/public are inter-linked through the concept of ‘joint and several accountability’. These issues are explored in relation to South African fruit production, focusing on farms supplying a combination of domestic, regional and global supermarkets, using a GPN perspective. Our findings have important implications for analysis of how public-private linkages can be analysed to better inform promotion of decent work in the context of polycentric trade.