Upward coupling: cross-scale assets integration in peripheral area—empirical study of Yongfu Taiwanese High-Mountain Tea, China

Research on strategic coupling has assumed that peripheral regions engage with global production networks (GPNs) through local government facilitation and preexisting assets. Taking this assumption as our point of departure, we examine how resource-constrained localities transcend structural constraints by jumping between scales to mobilize state assets, a process termed “upward coupling.” Drawing on the case of Yongfu Township, a peripheral area in Fujian Province, China, we trace how non-state actors transcended structural constraints by mobilizing state assets across administrative tiers through local institutional mediation, thereby reconfiguring regional assets. Three interlocking mechanisms facilitated this process: cross-scale asset integration, vertical coordination, and coupling evolution. Large enterprises pursued proactive scale-jumping, while small firms relied on collective action. Based on these findings, we conceptualize a distinct form of strategic coupling. This process is inherently multi-scalar and dynamic, involving the restructuring of multi-scalar state structures. The article advances knowledge on GPNs while cautioning that over-reliance on vertical policy support may constrain long-term adaptive capacity.