Abstract
Introducing this Special Feature of the International Labour Review on “Decent work in global production networks” (GPNs), this article reviews the research challenges posed by GPNs, which are changing the structure of trade, production and employment in today’s globalized economy. The authors define the concepts of social and economic upgrading/downgrading that are used in the following contributions to investigate the effects of GPNs. They conclude with a discussion of the initiatives that governments and non-state actors have taken to address the “global governance deficit” and consequent decent work deficits that have emerged with the expansion of GPNs.