A Ray of Hope for Central and Eastern Europe: Has the ICT Service Sector Become a Cure for Lagging Behind the Rest of EU Countries in Global Value Chains?

The CEE economies (CEE) had relatively high positions in GVCs during the first years after EU accession. However, over time, CEE was reduced to factories assembling intermediate products. The advanced links of the value chain were dominated by Western European countries, as well as Asian countries (mainly China). However, an opportunity has arisen for CEE economies in rebuilding their position in GVCs in terms of a new sector services. In view of the adoption of Industry 4.0 by many economies, the article focuses on ICT services as a potential source for the renewed position of CEE economies in GVCs. The main objective of the study is to analyse the place held by CEE in GVCs in services, especially in ICT services. The study verifies the hypothesis that services, particularly ICT services, are becoming a new activity through which CEE countries can improve their relative position in global production linkages. The results of the study proved inconclusive. Only selected CEE economies (usually with smaller GDP) performed better in ICT service in GVCs. The largest economies generally worsened their positions in the services’ GVCs.