Supply Chain Digitalization, Institutional Governance, and Export Competitiveness: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and Mexico in Global Manufacturing Networks

Abstract

This article examines how supply chain digitalization influences export competitiveness, industrial upgrading, and economic resilience through a comparative institutional analysis of Vietnam and Mexico. The study argues that participation in global manufacturing networks increasingly depends not only on low-cost production advantages but also on digital logistics, institutional coordination, supplier capability development, and governance quality. Vietnam and Mexico are selected because both have become major manufacturing hubs within global value chains, yet they differ in regional integration, industrial policy, labor structures, digital infrastructure, and institutional governance. Vietnam’s export growth has been strongly shaped by Asian production networks, foreign direct investment, electronics manufacturing, and state-led industrial coordination. Mexico’s competitiveness has been shaped by North American nearshoring, trade integration under USMCA, automotive production, and proximity to the United States. Drawing on World Bank, OECD, UNCTAD, IMF, WTO, corporate supply chain reports, and peer-reviewed literature, the findings indicate that digital supply chain capabilities enhance competitiveness when combined with institutional reliability, customs efficiency, workforce upgrading, and supplier ecosystem development. The article contributes to business and economics scholarship by developing a governance-centered framework linking supply chain digitalization, institutional coordination, organizational capability, and export resilience.