Determinants of International R&D Outsourcing: The Role of Trade

This paper investigates the determinants of international R&D outsourcing, in particular the role of trade. We sketch a monopolistic competition model with heterogeneous firms where outsourcing increases a firm's fixed transaction costs as well as its productivity. Financial constraints affect the decision to outsource R&D more to nonexporters than to exporters. In contrast, exporters are more sensitive to a lack of information because they have higher losses when there is technology leakage. We test these predictions using a panel database of Spanish companies. The results highlight the relevance of information in competitive markets, and the role of trade to induce companies to engage in other globalization strategies.     

Transaction costs,industry experience and make-or-buy decisions in the population of early U.S. auto firms

We study the determinants of make-or-buy decisions for engines made by every recorded U.S. auto firm during 1917–1933. Most make-or-buy studies testing predictions of transaction cost economics exclude smaller firms, even though their make-or-buy behavior might be different from large firms’ due to capital constraints or other factors. We find that transaction cost effects on make-or-buy choices were nevertheless important at the population level. We also find that firm experience in the industry, as well as pre-entry experience, significantly affected make-buy choices. These experience effects may reflect the interaction of mechanisms emphasized in evolutionary and transaction cost theories.     

基于交易成本经济学的节能服务外包决策研究

本文基于交易成本经济学对用能企业的节能服务外包决策进行研究,认为只有当用能企业预期节能服务外包后生产成本的降低大于由此而带来的交易成本时,才会选择外包这种方式。用能企业的节能服务外包决策受资产专用性、不确定性、交易频率、机会主义、业务复杂性和市场竞争性等六个因素的影响。通过对在单一外包商策略和多个外包商策略下用能企业所面临的交易成本的分析,本文提出了这两种策略的适用条件,并指出用能企业对外包商数量的选择取决于外包商的反应和双方博弈的结果。为了促进我国节能服务产业的发展,我国政府应该采取措施降低节能服务外包的交易成本。     

Intellectual property rights,product complexity and the organization of multinational firms

This paper studies how the intellectual property right (IPR) regime in destination countries influences the decision of firms between procurement from related parties and from independent suppliers while the latter may involve technology sharing or not. Using firm‐level data on the mode choice for each transaction and a new product complexity measure, results confirm that firms are generally reluctant to source complex goods from outside firm boundaries. However, when technology is shared, IPRs promote outsourcing of more complex goods whereas without technology sharing, IPRs promote outsourcing of less complex products that are prone to reverse engineering and simpler to imitate.     

外包造成了经济波动吗?-来自中国省级面板的实证研究

外包作为一种组织和治理的方式,已经成为经济波动的重要来源。本文提供了一个关于外包与经济波动关系的分析框架和理论假说,利用中国2000—2009年的省级面板数据,在采用带有Driscoll-Kraay标准误的固定效应估计方法等稳健性回归之后,发现外包对经济波动的效应显著为正,并且可以通过出口和进口两种渠道造成经济波动。进一步,本文发现小企业、外资企业和低技术行业的比重越高,外包造成的经济波动就越大。此外,本文还发现外包冲击造成经济波动的机制表现为,主要是通过增加既有企业生产和就业的波动性——密度边际波动——实现的;而不是通过增加企业数的波动性——扩展边际波动——实现的。     

Fundamental Uncertainty and the Firm in the Long Run

Oliver Williamson claims that bounded rationality and 'behavioural uncertainty' are principal factors influencing market-based transaction costs. Post Keynesian economists typically distinguish between ergodic and non-ergodic processes with the latter providing a technical definition of 'fundamental uncertainty'. Often, the salience of this fundamental uncertainty has been ignored or conflated with bounded rationality and behavioural uncertainty. Consequently, the richness and distinctness of such concepts is much diminished. This paper shows that while bounded rationality is a key behavioural assumption that may account for the existence of high market-based transaction costs in an ergodic world, and thus for the emergence of firms as distinct modes of economic organisation, it may do so only in the short run. I demonstrate, however, that non-ergodicity can be used to explain the existence of transaction costs and thus firms in the long run.     

Firm size and capital structure: evidence using dynamic panel data

This article suggests that the validity of the Trade-Off Theory (TOT) and Pecking-Order Theory (POT) to explain financing decisions varies among small, medium-sized and large firms. Using dynamic panel data tests on a sample of 3439 Spanish firms over the period 1995–2003, results are partially consistent with both explanations but suggest a greater validity of pecking-order predictions for small firms. In small firms, the negative influence of profitability and the positive influence of investment opportunities and of intangible assets on firm debt predicted by the POT are heightened. However, no differences are observed between small and large firms in their speed of adjustment to the target leverage as suggested by the TOT.     

Outsourcing and firm productivity: a production function approach

This paper is aimed at analyzing the relationship between outsourcing and productivity. Specifically, this paper deals with outsourcing at the firm level and focuses on the role of contracting out of manufacturing activities. I obtain new insights on this topic, mainly using a precise measure for outsourcing and analyzing differences across industries. Using an unbalanced panel of Spanish manufacturing firms, I estimate a production function depending on traditional inputs (labor, capital, and materials) and an index of production subcontracting. I find that for manufacturing as a whole, outsourcing intensity has a positive effect on productivity, showing an elasticity of output with respect to outsourcing around 0.15. When analyzing industry level results, I find that outsourcing intensity has a positive effect on productivity, mainly for firms belonging to light industries.     

民主还是集权-创业者治理结构的选择

外包作为一种组织和治理的方式,已经成为经济波动的重要来源.本文提供了一个关于外包与经济波动关系的分析框架和理论假说,利用中国2000--2009年的省级面板数据,在采用带有Driscoll-Kraay标准误的固定效应估计方法等稳健性回归之后,发现外包对经济波动的效应显著为正,并且可以通过出口和进口两种渠道造成经济波动.进一步,本文发现小企业、外资企业和低技术行业的比重越高,外包造成的经济波动就越大.此外,本文还发现外包冲击造成经济波动的机制表现为,主要是通过增加既有企业生产和就业的波动性-密度边际波动-实现的;而不是通过增加企业数的波动性-扩展边际波动-实现的.     

论制度环境对物流交易组织方式演化的影响

物流交易可以通过企业来组织,也可以通过市场来组织。建立物流外包企业群体和物流企业群体的演化博弈模型,根据博弈的演化路径,可以看出博弈可能收敛于两个均衡。其中一个均衡相对于另一个具有帕累托效率。博弈最终收敛于哪一个均衡取决于博弈的初始状态,但博弈双方所处的制度环境影响了博弈收敛于不同均衡的概率。完善制度环境有利于博弈收敛于效率较高的均衡,促进物流外包企业效率的提高和物流业的发展。     

The transaction costs perspective on international supply chain management; evidence from case studies in the manufacturing industry in the Netherlands

Transaction costs are barriers for internationalisation processes. This paper investigates the practical relevance of transaction costs economics (TCE) for international supply chain management (SCM) in this era of globalisation, which is characterised by splitting up the supply chain in more and more parts. The analysis is based on data from in-depth interviews with seven manufacturing companies in the Netherlands which are actually engaged in this modern way of organising production. It is shown that the balance between transaction costs and sheer production costs (transformation costs) plays a prominent role in the strategic decisions on how and where to organise production. Especially intangible (or ‘soft’) transaction costs are important in this respect. The analysis provides insight in practical experience in the manufacturing industry in the Netherlands with transaction costs and shows how transaction costs affect decisions on transaction management, personnel policy and internationalisation of R&D. This study is to our knowledge the first to confront the theory of TCE with practice of manufacturing firms in their internationalisation decisions using in-depth interviews instead of survey data.     

Technology Adoption,Export Status,and Skill Upgrading: Theory and Evidence

This paper develops a model of trade that features heterogeneous firms, technology choice and different types of skilled labor in a general equilibrium framework to explain within‐industry increase in the relative demand for skilled workers. Its main contribution is to investigate the impact of firms' export and technology choice decisions on skill upgrading. Only firms in the upper range of the productivity distribution produce for the foreign market using high‐technology. Since this technology is skilled‐biased, exporters that resort to modern technologies are more skill intensive. Empirical evidence is also provided to support the model's main predictions using plant‐level panel data from Chile's manufacturing sector (1990–1999).     

What factors determine the outsourcing intensity? A dynamic panel data approach for manufacturing industries

The present article investigates the determinants of outsourcing production using a panel of 93 Spanish manufacturing industries for the period 1993 to 2002. Outsourcing is measured as production tasks which are contracting out to external suppliers, a more direct and suitable indicator. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and simultaneity, our results show a high persistence of the outsourcing intensity. Moreover, outsourcing of production is positively related to unit labour costs, skills requirements, national ownership and orientation to international markets. We also find evidence for a negative link between the outsourcing intensity and the share of small firms.     

Foreign versus domestic outsourcing: Firm-level evidence on the role of technology

The decision about where to outsource varies across firms and industries. General machinery heavily depends on domestic subcontractors, while outsourcing overseas is prevalent in apparel. Based on firm-level data explicitly distinguishing foreign outsourcing from domestic outsourcing in all manufacturing industries, this paper finds that firms tend to prefer domestic outsourcing to foreign outsourcing when they are R&D-intensive. This finding is consistent with incomplete contracting models, since technologically complex products are likely to require high-quality contracting environment and assembler–supplier proximity. This paper also finds that firms connected with computer networks are actively outsourcing.     

Outsourcing of peripheral services: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing plant-level data

In this paper we empirically explore outsourcing decisions of peripheral services using information from a data set of 926 Spanish manufacturing plants. We find that increases in outsourcing of peripheral services are positively correlated with increases in the plant׳s market share as well as increases in product market competition and product prices. These findings are robust to controlling for whether plants belong to single-plant or multi-plant firms. These patterns are consistent with a strategic shift in the allocation of attention to core manufacturing activities, and are at odds with traditional TCE and PRT theories of vertical integration.     

Partial outsourcing, monitoring cost, and market structure

Abstract.  We investigate firms' outsourcing decisions when production requires a large number of inputs. The novelty of our approach is that it provides a testable framework to characterize the equilibrium fraction of outsourced inputs. We demonstrate that intensified competition in a Cournot market for the final good typically enlarges the set of outsourced components relative to those produced in‐house. The proportions of outsourced inputs are found to be strategic substitutes independently of whether firms compete with respect to quantities or prices in the market for the final good. JEL classification: D20, L22     

The two ways of FDI R&D spillovers: evidence from the French manufacturing industry

Using French firm-level panel data, this study investigates R&D spillovers from inward foreign direct investment (FDI) with respect to both horizontal and vertical linkages (backward and forward). Using a Crepon, Duguet and Mairesse (CDM) model, we estimate an R&D-augmented Cobb–Douglas production function to assess the impact of R&D spillovers on firm performance. The results emphasize that international spillovers (from foreign affiliates to local firms) have a greater effect on firm performance than reverse spillovers (from local firms to foreign affiliates) and are more likely to be backward than forward. Moreover, the effect of backward spillovers depends on a firm’s absorptive capacity and is amplified in the case of outsourcing relationships.     

On modeling task,skill and technology upgrading effects of globalization with heterogeneous labor

We adapt Yeaple's (2005) heterogeneous agent framework to model firms in the North as making explicit offshore outsourcing decisions to cheap-labor economies. We highlight how firms' technology transformations due to globalization will induce skill upgrading in the North, increase aggregate productivity, average wages and therefore total welfare at the cost of increased wage inequalities. We analytically derive conditions under which all consumers – including lower-skilled workers – might nevertheless gain from the surge of offshore outsourcing. We also show that extending the model to the more realistic case of multi-product firms tends to boost the potential welfare gains.     

Using surveys of business perceptions as a guide to growth‐enhancing fiscal reforms

This paper assesses the merits of using business perceptions of growth constraints as a guide to growth‐enhancing fiscal policy reforms. Using endogenous growth models in which the government levies an income tax to provide public inputs to the production of private firms, the paper demonstrates that such perceptions of growth constraints may be misleading from a policy perspective. In particular, firms can be expected to systematically overestimate the growth‐enhancing effects of lower tax rates relative to public services and public capital, and underestimate the growth‐enhancing effects of greater provision of public capital relative to taxation and public services. In addition, we show that firms rank different public services and different types of public capital according to the actual costs they impose on firms. It is then shown that these theoretical predictions regarding how firms rank constraints correspond closely to the observed ranking of constraints by firms in the World Bank's Enterprise Surveys.     

Outsourcing under Imperfect Protection of Intellectual Property

The paper examines possible reasons behind expanded outsourcing by modeling outsourcing decisions when intellectual property rights are imperfectly protected. Firms in the North develop higher quality levels of existing products and then decide whether to shift some stages of production to the South. Production in the South lowers costs but entails risk of imitation by Southern firms. In this setting, a lower risk of imitation or larger labor supplies can cause increased outsourcing, a higher rate of innovation, and a lower Northern relative wage. Damage due to lower incomes can be offset by gains in terms of better quality products.