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Lorenza Monaco is Research Fellow in the Economics of Innovation and Industrial Policy at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP).
Before joining IIPP, Lorenza was a Teaching Fellow at SOAS, University of London, where she taught Political Economy of Development (UG and PG, 2012-2016). In 2016, she moved to the University of Johannesburg, where she was a Post Doctoral Research Fellow (SarchI Industrial Development) and then a Senior Lecturer, teaching and convening modules on “Industrial Policy Instruments, Design & Implementation” and “Research Methodology” for the Mphil in Industrial Policy (School of Economics, UJ). While in South Africa, she also worked as a Senior Researcher for the UJ/DTI Industrial Development Think Tank (2017-2019). Between 2020 and 2022 she was a Researcher for the International Research Network on the Automobile Industry (GERPISA), based at the Ecole Normale Superieure Paris Saclay. Outside of academia, Lorenza worked as a research consultant and lead researcher for IndustriALL Global Union, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES South Africa, and Trade Union Competence Centre, TUCC) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Research summary
Lorenza’s research is applied, interdisciplinary and policy-oriented. Trained as a Political/Development Economist, her research interests often brought her close to other disciplines, like Industrial Economics, Industrial Sociology and the Sociology of Work. Her main expertise is in Industrial Development & Policy in the Global South/Emerging Economies. She conducted almost 15 years of field research, in India, South Africa, and lately in Thailand. Her primary focus is on the automotive industry, but she has also worked on other sectors, including plastics, airlines and pharmaceuticals. She conducted research for both academia and policy-makers, involving research centres, government institutions, international organisations, trade unions and development agencies.
Overall, Lorenza’s work focuses on industrial development in the global south – seen from different angles, and involving the perspective of multiple actors. In India and South Africa, she worked on industrial relations, on casualisation and outsourcing within organised manufacturing, and on the relation between casual workers movement and traditional trade unions. In India, South Africa and Thailand, she investigated the evolution of auto policies; issues related to MNCs – State bargaining and how these affect industrial policy and supply chain development, and the relation between global value chains integration and local development. As a lead researcher for IndustriALL and FES TUCC, Lorenza coordinated two large projects on “Sustainable Investment and Decent Work in the Sub-Saharan Auto Industry” (involving Ghana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa) and on “The German Due Diligence Law and the Auto Supply Chain in Africa” (Ghana, Kenya and South Africa).
At IIPP, Lorenza is currently engaged in two main projects: MOIN South Africa – a Just Energy Transition and UKRI Net-Zero Digital Research Infrastructure.
- Publications
Monaco, L. Wuttke, T. (forthcoming), The South African Auto Industry in a World of GVCs: Lead Firm Sourcing Strategies and Local Supplier Development, in the International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management;
Monaco, L. and Wuttke, T. (2023). Developing the South African Auto Industry: Lead Firm Sourcing Strategies and Local Productive Capabilities. SARChI Industrial Development Working Paper Series WP 2023-03. SARChI Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg.
Barnes, J. Black, A. Monaco, L. (2021), Government policy in multinational-dominated Global Value Chains: Structural Transformation within the South African Automotive Industry, in Andreoni, A. Mondliwa, P. Roberts, S. Tregenna, F. (2021) (eds), Structural Transformation in South Africa – Sectors, Policies, Global Challenges, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bell, J. Monaco, L. Mondliwa, P. (2021) Leveraging Plastics Linkages for Diversification – an Assessment of Backward Linkages from Polymers and Forward Linkages to the Automotive Industry, in Andreoni, A. Mondliwa, P. Roberts, S. Tregenna, F. (2021) (eds), Structural Transformation in South Africa – Sectors, Policies, Global Challenges, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Black, A. Barnes, J. Markowitz, C. Monaco, L. (2021) Regional Integration, Regional Value Chains and the Automotive Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, in Development Southern Africa, Volume 38, Number 1, 2 January 2021, pp. 57-72(16).
Bell, J. Monaco L. (2021), Power and Supply Chain Development in the South African and Thai auto industries, in the Journal of International Development, 2021, 1– 15. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3529.
Kraemer-Mbula, E., & Monaco, L. (2020). Informality and innovation: an avenue towards bottom-up industrialisation for Africa?. In Charmes, J. (Ed.). (2020). Research handbook on development and the informal economy. Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 363-386.
Monaco, L. (2019) Emerging insecurities: casual employment relations and institutional dynamics in the Indian and South African auto industries, Labour, Capital & Society, 49(1).
Monaco, L. Bell, J. Nyamwena, J. (2019) Understanding technological competitiveness and supply chain deepening in plastic auto components in Thailand: possible lessons for South Africa, Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT), CCRED working paper 1/2019;
- Monaco, L. (2017) – Where lean may shake: challenges to casualisation in the Indian auto industry, in Global Labour Journal, vol. 8, n. 2, pp.120-138;
- Policy briefs and reports
- Habiyaremye, A., Monaco, L., Perumal, S. & Tregenna, F. (2023). The South African airline industry: Surviving through smart innovation? SARChI Industrial Development Policy Brief Series PB 2023-03. SARChI Industrial Development, University of Johannesburg.
- Monaco et al. (2021), The Auto Industry in Sub Saharan Africa: Investment, Sustainability and Decent Jobs - IndustriALL/FES Report, online at http://www.industriall-union.org/automotive.
- Monaco, L. Bell, J. Nyamwena, J. (2019), Building technological competitiveness and deepening the auto supply chain through plastic auto components: what South Africa can learn from Thailand, CCRED-DTI Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT), policy brief n.16.
- Black, A., Barnes, J. & Monaco, L. (2018) The auto industry needs regional integration – can it happen?, Industrial Development Think Tank (IDTT) policy brief n.5;
- Monaco, L., Barnes, J. Black A. (2018) Localisation and Supply Chain Development in the SA Auto Industry, Industrial development Think tank (IDTT) policy brief n.6;
- Black, A., Barnes, J. Monaco, L. (2018) – Structural Transformation in the Auto Sector: Policy, State-Business Bargaining and Supply Chain Development, research report for the CCRED/DTI Industrial Development Think Thank, Year 1.