Local Clusters in Global Chains: The Causes and Consequences of Export Dynamism in Torreon's Blue Jeans Industry JENNIFER BAIR Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA and GARY GEREFFI * Duke University, Durham, NC, USA Summary. Ð Usingacasestudyoftheexport-orientedbluejeansindustryinTorreon,Mexico,the authors discuss the role of US buyers in promoting full-package apparel production. While the networksassociatedwiththismodelyieldbetterdevelopmentoutcomesfor®rmsandworkersthan those typical of the maquila industry, the Torreon cluster is not adequately described as a ``high road'' industrial district. The global commodity chains framework is used to assess the developmental implications of the apparel industry's growth in Torreon. By emphasizing the relationship between producers and foreign buyers, this approach provides a useful way to bridge the global±local divide in the literature on industrial clusters in developing countries. Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Key words Ð apparel and textile industries, global commodity chains, industrial districts, maquiladoras, Mexico, North America 1. INTRODUCTION The decade of the 1980s witnessed the wide- spreadadoptionofexport-ledgrowthstrategies and neoliberal policies prescribing open marketsandprivatizationprogramsinmuchof thedevelopingworld.Developmentresearchin the1990sfocusedprimarilyontheimplications of these trends for the industrializing countries that are increasingly integrated into global markets. The abandonment of import-substi- tuting strategies, which were in¯uenced by the neomarxist and dependency theories of the 1960s and 1970s, and the implementation of far-reaching reforms corresponding to a new economic model have led to a watershed in development studies. Researchers and policy- makers alike confront the challenge of how to analyze the link between the global and the local.LatinAmericaisacaseinpoint.Spirited debates have arisen about the local develop- mentoutcomesassociatedwiththeadoptionof neoliberal reforms in this region and what theories and paradigms can best explain these outcomes Dussel Peters, 2000; Reinhardt & Peres, 2000). Our paper contributes to this debate by focusing on one dynamic exporting cluster in Mexico, a country that has undergone a rapid and radical economic restructuring over the past decade. Across a wide variety of sectors, Mexico's exports have been booming since the implementation of the North American Free TradeAgreementNAFTA)in1994,increasing from $51.8 billion in 1993 to $166.4 billion in 2000 SECOFI, 2001). Aside from impressive export growth, Mexico has also managed to achievemanyoftheotherobjectivesassociated with Latin America's new economic model: a stable currency, modest in¯ation, and plentiful direct foreign investment. Perhaps most important, the presidential election of July 2000, which saw the historic victory of World Development Vol.29,No.11,pp.1885±1903,2001 Ó 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0305-750X/01/$ - see front matter PII: S0305-750X01)00075-4 www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev * Final revision accepted: 19 May 2001. 1885