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The outsourcing and offshoring of services to developing countries has created new opportunities for economic development for countries in the global South. This paper looks at the scope for agency of local institutional actors in the investment attraction of business process outsourcing companies. Drawing on empirical work from the Philippines, an analysis of the process of integrating lower-tier cities into global service production networks is presented. Specifically, the roles of local institutional actors in facilitating FDI attraction and strategically coupling local assets with the needs of multinational service corporations are discussed. Two contrasting cases, the cities of Baguio and Bacolod, show that considerable scope for intervention rests with local institutional actors. The findings have implications for policymaking and research concerned with the newest phase of outsourcing and offshoring in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicinal plant cultivation and gathering can play a vital role in the course of livelihood diversification for the marginalized population living in remote areas. However, this requires an integration of the respective production networks that allows the producers a fair and reliable income and does not endanger rare plant species. This paper analyses the situation within the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and identifies structures and entities hindering medical plant cultivation and its potentials. Based on the broad network understanding of the Global Production Network approach, the case study focuses on the middlemen and their hidden embeddedness. It shows how governmental organizations and in particular non-governmental organizations and farmers' institutions can help to overcome clandestine structures of illegal trade and contribute towards a redesign of the medicinal plant network in a more equitable and transparent way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]