Indirect Exporters

Indirect exporters are defined as firms exporting through a trade intermediary. These firms have received rapidly expanding empirical and theoretical attention recently. I show that in Eastern Europe and Central Asia these firms do, as predicted by the theoretical literature, lie between domestic firms and direct exporters for a range of performance measures. Multi-product firms, despite their generally higher productivity, are shown to be more likely to use intermediaries than single-product firms, suggesting that “mixed exporting strategies” that use intermediaries are important for these firms. Analysis using a small panel subsample of the data suggests the sunk costs of indirect exporting are significantly lower than those for direct exporting, pointing to a role for intermediaries in “greasing the wheel” of entry to export markets.     

Who Uses Intermediaries in International Trade? Evidence from Firm‐level Survey Data

The present paper uses data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted in Turkey in 2005 to shed light on the firms that use intermediaries in international trade. It lends robust empirical support to recent theories which suggest that indirect exporters are mostly small firms that are not profitable enough to cover the high fixed costs of building an own distribution network abroad. Manufacturers who develop new products are more likely to use trade intermediaries, as are firms that produce low‐quality goods. In contrast, neither foreign ownership nor credit constraints are correlated with the choice of export mode. Moreover, firms that rely on trade intermediaries to sell their goods abroad also do so to source their foreign inputs, implying that the role of intermediaries in facilitating trade may be larger than previous studies suggest.     

贸易中间商在出口中相对盛行的影响因素研究——基于2010 年鞋产品企业层面出口数据的实证分析

本文利用2010年中国海关鞋产品企业层面的出口数据,考察了贸易中间商在出口中相 对盛行的影响因素。结果表明：从国家层面看,贸易中间商的经手份额与出口目标 国的市场规模、制度环境呈反比,与出口目标国的关税水平以及中国到出口目标国 之间的距离呈正比;从省市区层面看,贸易中间商的经手份额与中国各省市区的市 场规模呈反比,与各省市区的中介市场发育度呈正比。     

The role of independent intermediaries: The case of small and medium-sized exporters

The article examines how small and medium-sized exporters collaborate with intermediaries in foreign markets by studying the level of control, i.e. the delegation of decisions rights and task solution. It goes one step further than previous research, since it examines degrees of control and participation rather than just discrete types of intermediary modes (agents, importers, dealers, etc.). Associations with performance as well as the role of product and distributor characteristics are analyzed.Empirical data based on a sample of product-market ventures in 227 small and medium-sized Norwegian export firms are analyzed by a structural equation modelling approach. The article provides empirical evidence that managers keep control of decision making to an extent that may have a negative impact on export performance. The empirical study indicates that firms should participate more in task solution but less in decision making in their collaboration with foreign intermediaries.     

Intermediaries,Firm Heterogeneity and Exporting Behaviour

In this paper, we present one of the first work on the relation between firm productivity and exporting behaviour in the presence of intermediaries. Using a standard trade framework à la Melitz (2003, Econometrica, 71 , 6, 1695) and Chaney (2009, American Economic Review, 98, 4 , 1707), we find that the most productive firms have sales in the home country and also exporting directly to foreign countries, followed by firms with sales in the home country and exporting both directly and through intermediaries, by firms with sales in the home country and exporting through intermediaries, and finally by firms with sales in the home country only. These theoretical predictions are borne out in a data set of 12,679 firms in 29 developing economies during the 2002–06 period.     

International trade intermediaries and the transfer of marketing knowledge in transition economies

The process of market reform that characterizes the move away from regimes of central planning in transition economies creates a need for managers to acquire the techniques and skills of marketing. In contrast with an extant emphasis on inward direct investment, this study examines the role played by international trade intermediaries in the transfer of marketing knowledge across borders. Data collected from manufacturers in central China reveal that the value of marketing knowledge transferred is contingent upon intermediary performance of export marketing services and the likelihood of intermediary replacement.     

贸易网络与企业出口动态

本文探讨国际贸易网络对企业出口动态的影响及其作用机制。首先以2000—2016年跨国双边贸易数据为基础构建国别贸易网络指标体系,衡量一国在全球贸易体系中的相对位置,并由此对接中国企业层面出口数据构建企业出口网络指标,再进一步在引力模型中研究企业贸易网络对出口动态的影响。研究发现:将企业贸易网络指标引入到引力模型后,模型对于企业出口动态的解释力更强。企业当期的一阶、二阶和高阶贸易网络指标提高一个单位,会使得企业—市场下期成功出口的概率分别提升4.86%、4.70%和8.93%,出口额分别增加68.55%、65.25%和128.86%,成功存活的概率分别提升5.97%、5.76%和10.90%。在基准回归中加入扩展地理距离项与控制不同层面固定效应后,结果依然稳健。异质性分析表明,中国企业的出口会根据不同层面的目的地网络信息进行调整,网络信息对企业出口动态的影响存在产品异质性。动态分析表明,相较于地理距离,企业贸易网络指标对企业出口动态有着更强的解释力。本文提出了将网络分析方法与计量经济学相结合的新思路,具有一定的学术价值。     

Barriers to Exporting: What are They and Who do They Matter to?

The international trade literatures on gravity modelling and firm‐level export behaviour have established that nontariff barriers are important impediments to international trade flows. In this paper, we provide fresh evidence on the actual barriers to exports firms face and how they vary with firm‐level characteristics. Our results indicate that the higher the export experience of firms the lower are the trade costs they face. These barriers are not related to other firm‐level characteristics, such as productivity and size, found by the literature to be associated with export market entry. Overall, these results suggest the existence of a process of learning to export whereby firms learn how to cope with export barriers through direct experience in export markets.     

The effect of the Internet on international trade

We find that the Internet stimulates trade. Evidence from time-series and cross-section regressions shows a significant effect of the Internet on trade in recent years. Our results suggest that a 10 percentage point increase in the growth of web hosts in a country leads to about a 0.2 percentage point increase in export growth. For the average country in our sample, the Internet contributed to about a 1 percentage point increase in annual export growth from 1997 to 1999. We also find evidence of proximity-biased trade growth, i.e. that trade growth is lower for more distant countries, but we do not find evidence that the Internet has directly affected this bias. The evidence is consistent with a model in which the Internet reduces market-specific fixed costs of trade. In particular, we show that an Internet-related reduction in fixed costs is likely to enhance export growth. The model also shows that the Internet does not directly affect the relationship between distance and trade; however, to the extent that competition is enhanced as a result of its development, the Internet will increase the overall effect of distance on trade.     

Participation in export and Chinese firms’ capacity utilization

This paper first sets up a firm heterogeneity trade model and shows that given capital stock and productivity, export firms will have higher rates of capacity utilization. In addition, given capital stock and fixed export costs, firms with higher productivity are more likely to export. I then use the 2012 Chinese enterprise survey from the World Bank to empirically investigate the impact of participation in export on Chinese firms’ capacity utilization rate. The results show that on average, export firms have capacity utilization rate 1.55–2.01 percent higher than non-export firms, which amounts to 14.6–18.9 percent of the standard deviation of capacity utilization rate in the sample. I also find that firms with a larger part of shares owned by the government have lower capacity utilization. Stronger market competition leads to over-investment and therefore lower capacity utilization rate. Faced with more rigorous labor market regulation, firms will substitute capital for the use of labor, resulting in higher capacity utilization rate.     

Behind make or buy decisions in export strategy: A replication and extension of Trabold

Given the centrality of make or buy decisions in transaction cost theory, it is important to understand the factors that influence managers’ choices. The empirical evidence to date is unclear as to what conditions influence export managers’ choices to “make” (the direct mode of establishing in-house export channels) versus “buy” (the indirect mode of outsourcing certain services to intermediaries). Peng and Ilinitch [Peng, M. W., & Ilinitch, A. Y. (1998). Export intermediary firms: A note on export development research. Journal of International Business Studies, 29(3): 609–620] propose a transaction cost-based theory of export intermediation. They suggest that market distance and product complexity are the two primary driving forces behind exporters’ decision to “buy” by engaging export intermediary firms. Their hypotheses have been tested and partially supported by Trabold [Trabold, H. (2002). Export intermediation: An empirical test of Peng and Ilinitch. Journal of International Business Studies, 33(2): 327–344] based on French data. Using a new archival database covering 185,731 export transactions over a two-year period, we replicated Trabold's work using U.S. firm data. Our findings are similar. This strengthens the reliability and validity of Peng and Ilinitch's theory as well as the generalizability of Trabold's findings to a more global context. Overall, given both the importance and paucity of replication work in the strategy literature, this study serves as an example of how export strategy research can advance through cumulative empirical efforts.     

ECFA对两岸经济的影响效果评估——基于GTAP模型的模拟分析

本文采用GTAP全球贸易分析模型,深入分析了两岸签署ECFA的背景框架,并基于GTAP模型从宏观经济和产业层面模拟预测了ECFA的建立对于两岸经济贸易等方面所可能造成的影响。GTAP模型的模拟结果显示,ECFA的签订推动了两岸贸易的成长,提高了两岸实际GDP的增长速度与福利水平。从产业层面看,ECFA的签订一方面对台湾的农产品出口与生产较为有利,另一方面有助于大陆更好地发挥在石油及煤炭制品、化学橡胶制品等工业品的生产与出口方面的潜力。此外,ECFA的签订通过构建自由贸易区所产生的贸易创造效应还将有效地调整与优化大陆的产业结构。大陆的工业品生产会得到拉动,而农产品生产则会受到一定程度的冲击。     

Exclusive dealing and common agency in international markets

This paper investigates the contractual choice between exclusive dealing and common agency in a simple international oligopoly model where products are sold through intermediaries. We find that when trade barriers are high, domestic firms tend to adopt exclusive dealing contracts whereas trade liberalization may lead firms to choose common agency. Social welfare can be raised be prohibiting exclusive dealing (common agency) when trade barriers are high (low) and products are close substitutes.     

Export Involvement and Channel Conflict in a Manufacturer-Intermediary Relationship

Numerous articles have been published regarding the strained relationships between highly involved export manufacturers and their international intermediaries. While channel conflict is frequently cited as a major reason for such strained trade relationships, few research studies examine the relationship between a manufacturer's export involvement and channel conflict. In this paper, we develop hypotheses linking the three major domains of export involvement to the initial stages of channel conflict. The results indicate that a manufacturer's conflict with its principal international intermediary decreases with greater manufacturer dependence on the principal intermediary, increases as resources are committed to exporting, and decreases with the manufacturer's foreign market knowledge.     

Where Do Firms Export,How Much and Why?

The empirical finding that exporting firms are more productive on average than non‐exporters has provoked a large theoretical literature based on models such as Melitz ( 2003 ), where more productive firms are more likely to overcome costs associated with trade. This paper investigates how closely the productivity heterogeneity framework fits the data from a firm‐level survey that includes information on export destinations and firm characteristics such as productivity. We find a high degree of unpredictable idiosyncratic participation in export markets by firms and a relatively weak positive correlation between the extent of a firm's export market participation and its export sales. We find that a small number of standard gravity variables provide a close fit to the country‐level determinants of trade but that greater variation results in more difficulty in explaining firm‐specific factors driving exporting behaviour. We also illustrate some elements of the dynamics over time in firm exporting patterns by destination. We show that lagged exporting activity has a significant effect on a firm's current exporting profile.     

Becoming a Global SME: Determinants of SMEs' Decision to Use E‐Intermediaries in Export Marketing

Technological advances have made it feasible for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) to become active in global markets through information technology (IT)‐mediated electronic intermediaries (e‐intermediaries) instead of relying only on traditional export channels. E‐intermediaries may offer SMEs a level playing field for competing with their larger competitors. Based on transaction cost economics (TCE), this study develops a model that can address the question of which transaction costs and characteristics are closely related to e‐intermediary use by SMEs. In addition to providing a better understanding of e‐intermediaries, the study explores the relationships between e‐intermediary use, transaction costs, and transaction characteristics in the context of Korean SMEs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

出口退税政策对出口贸易的效应分析

本文通过实证分析认为,出口退税政策对出口规模和出口结构具有明显的影响效果,在短期内可将出口退税政策作为我国调节出口贸易的重要手段,但从长期看我国应通过转变出口增长方式和出口结构,以提高出口企业的核心竞争力,保持出口贸易稳定持续发展。     

International standards certification,institutional voids and exports from developing country firms

This paper analyses the impact of International Standards Certification (ISC) on the export participation and the scale of exports of firms based in 89 developing or transition countries. We conceptualise ISC as an endogenous institutional advantage, which bridges institutional voids in the country and helps firms to export. The empirical results show that certified firms are more likely to export, and to export on a larger scale. The impact of ISC runs through two channels: productivity and transaction cost economies. We show that certification plays an important role in bringing down transaction costs in international markets, while also maintaining and raising efficiency. This finding is reinforced by additional evidence, suggesting that ISC matters more for the export participation of domestic firms than for foreign firms and is of greater importance for firms based in countries characterised by severe institutional voids.     

Banking is essential,banks are not. The future of financial intermediation in the age of the Internet

This paper examines the question how the future of financial intermediaries and banks as special financial intermediaries may look like in the age of the Internet. The reduction of transaction costs caused by the Internet will reduce the barriers to enter the market for financial products, because there may be no longer a need to run a large system of cost-intensive branches. But as closer examination of the functions of financial intermediaries shows, not everybody can sell and distribute financial products. This is true because of asymmetric information problems in financial business which require an intermediary with a good reputation and because of the need to keep large funds of capital to transform the risk of assets. Both requirements represent an important barrier to enter the market for financial intermediation. Not every financial product will be exposed to more competition due to the rise of the Internet but only products which are standardized and have a low risk. Moreover, large firms with high amounts of capital and a good reputation can be considered as new competitors for banks.     

新新贸易理论及其进展

21世纪初诞生的新新贸易理论突破了新古典贸易理论和新贸易理论以产业为对象的研究范畴,将分析变量进一步细化到企业,以异质企业的贸易投资作为研究重点.企业异质性有两种形式,由于产业内部不同企业生产率的差异而产生的异质性以及企业组织形式差异而产生的异质性,这两种异质性紧密相连.新新贸易理论通过异质企业贸易模型的建立,阐明了现实中只有部分企业选择出口和对外直接投资的原因;通过企业内生边界模型的建立和拓展,将产业组织理论和契约理论的概念融入贸易模型,很好地解释了公司内贸易模式,并在企业全球化生产研究领域进行了理论创新.