This article presents the transformation of foreign trade in 10 post-socialist countries, current members of the EU. Special focus is given to the more significant role these countries began to play in global value chains (GVCs) as a result of liberalisation processes and integration within the EU. In addition, the article evaluates their place in global vertical specialisation. To locate each country on a global value chain and to compare them with selected countries, more complex methods of measuring the level of participation of European post-socialist countries in GVCs were employed. These methods allow the position of a country downstream or upstream in GVCs to be established. We concluded that (a) post-socialist countries differ in the levels of their participation in GVCs. Countries that have stronger links with Western European countries, especially with Germany, are more integrated; (b) a large share of post-socialist countries’ exports pass through Western European GVCs; (c) most exporters in Central and Eastern Europe are positioned in downstream segments of production rather than upstream markets.

The article compares changes in tendencies of value-added flows and the places held by the Central and Eastern European economies (11 countries: Visegrad countries, Baltic States, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania; CEE) in global value chains (GVCs) in manufacturing, services, and their subgroup—information and telecommunication (ICT) services, by relying on the trade in value-added data retrieved from the OECD’s Inter-Country Input–Output Database, available over the period 2005–2015. The objective of this study is to understand the role of these economies in international production linkages applying a value-added methodology. Therefore, the study discusses the role of CEE economies in global economy in terms of forms of participation of services, especially ICT services, in GVCs, including the process of “servicification” of manufacturing. This study led to the verification of two hypotheses: (1) the position of manufacturing in GVCs has been steadily weakening and (2) services, especially ICT services, can have a positive effect on participation of CEE economies in GVCs. The first hypothesis was confirmed by most of analysed countries. The other research question turned out not to be true for all CEE countries, but most of them proved this hypothesis.

This article presents the Central and Eastern European (CCE) countries and their role in global value chains (GVCs). The analysis consists of two steps. Firstly, we evaluated the economic potential of CEE countries. Secondly, we assessed the role of CEE states in international production linkages. We tested the hypothesis that the higher economic potential expressed in a more business-friendly economy is found in a country most involved in GVC in the context of foreign trade exchange. Results confirm that the relation between economic potential and the involvement of GVCs is not obvious and depends on many factors.

This article presents the Visegrad Group member countries with special focus on the role of these countries in global value chains (GVCs). The goal of this paper is to analyse the role these states play in global production linkages and evaluation of connections between the VG states and China. We verified two hypotheses: (1) the Visegrad countries have deteriorated their positions in GVCs in relation to China recently; (2) the Visegrad states have become more dependent on Chinese value added in selected sectors. The analysis consists of two steps. Firstly, we evaluated the role of the Visegrad countries in international production linkages with China using value-added foreign trade using country-level approach. Secondly, we focused on the sectoral links between China and the Visegrad countries.

Transformations and integration processes of post-communist European states have resulted in changes in the production process across borders. The main objective of this article is to present the positions of post-communist states in terms of cross-border input–output linkages. The analysis takes advantage of both the conventional methods of comprehensive study of global value chains and the advanced methods and measures examining the role of Central and Eastern Europe in global value chains in general and in sectoral terms. Findings of the study suggest that more integrated are countries with grater connections to Western European countries, especially Germany; a large share of exported goods from the post-communist states passes through GVCs in Western Europe, and exporters from post-communist states are usually located more in downstream segments of production than in upstream markets.