Empirical studies illustrate that globalisation of supply chains has changed economic patterns as well as production processes. The phenomenon has integrated trade activities and thus altered the manner in which global buyers and sellers interact with each other. It is not enough to study the extent of participation in global supply chains; one must look into how parties do so. This must be done on a regional, national and organisational level. Such knowledge will equip players with the right strategies needed to survive in the global arena. At the national level, a conceptual understanding of global supply chains assists in knowing how production and economies are affected. Traditional global supply chain theories assume that distribution networks as well as production processes are mostly confined to products that yield low returns. If one takes on this approach, then it is evident that immense control of production by global buyers tends to create oligopolies in targeted countries. Such countries may experience barriers to entry as power lies in the hands of those who manage distribution networks; that is, global buyers. In developing nations, global buyers may minimise developing country’s capabilities to nothing more than assemblers of imported material. Because of the disadvantaged power relations that such countries have in the global supply chain, many of them remain susceptible to heightened international competition as well as fluctuations in returns. Global buyers thus coordinate distribution networks in different locations and minimise developing nations’ power positions. Asymmetric power relationships between global buyers and their geographically-divergent suppliers cause the former to exercise power and control over their weaker partners. These supplies are dependent on one large multinational for business, so many of them will bend backwards to meet their needs. Global brands demonstrate this leverage by enforcing codes of conduct amongst their suppliers. They maintain a firm grip over their supply chain partners by only outsourcing non essential, labour intensive aspects of production. However, many of them still perform high value activities like research and development, marketing, and human resources. Such functions give multinationals power over their supply chain partners. A number of them even dictate the extent to which their suppliers can change production capacity or the commercial agreements that will govern their relationships. In essence, these groups have a dictatorial and uncompromising relationship with their global supply chain partners. On an organisational level, power relationships in the global supply chain may also be understood through the value chain governance concept. In this school of thought, a firm’s position of power rests on the level of detail that firms specify during the production process. A firm has the option of specifying only limited aspects of production. For instance, the buyer may simply define the problem to be designed and let the manufacturer decide on the technology as well as the design. In certain circumstances, the buyer may specify the design he or she wants while others may take it a step further and draw the details of