Embryonic upgrading in agri-food value chains: an analysis of small-scale environmental initiatives in the Mexican beef sector

In this paper, I investigate a series of recently introduced initiatives that aim to promote environmental sustainability governance in the Mexican beef industry. Drawing on the Global Value Chain (GVC) scholarship, I characterise these initiatives as environmental upgrading processes. The analysis begins by mapping the GVC to identify the Mexican beef chain's governance dynamics. This map is then used to investigate the extent to which chain actors are responding to a discernible external governance driver—specifically, a 'lead firm' or 'big buyer'—or if they are engaging with sustainability governance initiatives independently through bottom up or ‘horizontal’ governance processes. Based on a novel set of 30 key-informant interviews and triangulation with secondary data, I highlight the drivers for chain actors' engagement and leadership, as well as the role of non-firm actors in the environmental upgrading processes for Mexican beef. My findings show the extent to which environmental upgrading processes can and do occur in the absence of external pressure from downstream firms, while noting that in the specific case of Mexico these initiatives remain embryonic, their scalability uncertain and their environmental benefits are yet to be documented.