Apart from ontological and epistemological challenges, the GPN framework suffers from a
relatively underdeveloped methodological foundation. Despite its apparently sophisticated
theoretical outlook, we still do not have a systematic set of methodological tools to
operationalize the framework. While a process-based methodology has been argued to ease
the “methodological shortfall” in new economic geographies (Yeung, 2003), there is no
explicitly articulated methodology for doing GPN research. Judging from empirical studies
that adopt the GPN framework reviewed in the previous section and the following five
papers, we can ascertain several methodological traits of GPN research. First, there is a
strong preference for qualitative interview-based approach to collecting empirical data on the
mechanisms and processes of GPNs. This preference for interviews with key actors in GPNs
has many scientific advantages in relation to the richness and explanatory power of
observations (see Clark, 1998). However, it falls short of delivering a rigorous analysis that
can give the “big picture” of GPNs on a global scale.