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Global Sourcing of Heterogeneous Firms: Theory and Evidence

Author

Listed:
  • Smolka, Marcel
  • Kohler, Wilhelm
Abstract
This paper investigates the role of firm productivity in drawing firm boundaries in global sourcing. Our analysis focuses on how productivity affects the allocation of ownership rights between the headquarter of a firm and its intermediate input supplier (vertical integration vs. outsourcing), as well as the location of intermediate input production (offshore vs. domestic). Unlike previous work, we allow for a fully flexible productivity effect with varying magnitude and sign across different industries. Our estimation strategy is motivated by the canonical economic model of sourcing due to Antr s & Helpman (2004). This model invokes the property rights theory of the firm in order to pin down firm boundaries as the outcome of an interaction between firm heterogeneity and the industry's sourcing intensity (i.e. the importance of inputs sourced from suppliers relative to headquarter inputs). We demonstrate that, at the level of the firm, the model implies a productivity effect that varies not just in magnitude (and potentially non-monotonically), but also in sign with the sourcing intensity of the industry. To estimate the effects empirically, we use Spanish firm-level data from the Encuesta sobre Estrategias Empresariales (ESEE). We find a pattern of effects whereby productivity stimulates vertical integration in industries of low sourcing intensity, but favors outsourcing in industries of high sourcing intensity. Moreover, we find that productivity boosts offshoring throughout all industries, with the effect increasing monotonically in the sourcing intensity. Our results lend strong empirical support to the property rights view of the firm in the global economy.

Suggested Citation

  • Smolka, Marcel & Kohler, Wilhelm, 2015. "Global Sourcing of Heterogeneous Firms: Theory and Evidence," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113012, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc15:113012
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

    1. Verena Nowak & Christian Schwarz & Jens Suedekum, 2016. "Asymmetric spiders: Supplier heterogeneity and the organization of firms," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 49(2), pages 663-684, May.
    2. Bin Ni & Hayato Kato, 2020. "Do vertical spillovers differ by investors’ productivity? Theory and evidence from Vietnam," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 1046-1072, August.
    3. Tobias Brändle & Andreas Koch, 2017. "Offshoring and Outsourcing Potentials: Evidence from German Micro-Level Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(9), pages 1775-1806, September.
    4. Eppinger, Peter S. & Kukharskyy, Bohdan, 2017. "Contracting institutions and firm boundaries," University of Tübingen Working Papers in Business and Economics 100, University of Tuebingen, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, School of Business and Economics.
    5. Kukharskyy, Bohdan, 2020. "A tale of two property rights: Knowledge, physical assets, and multinational firm boundaries," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies; Fragmentation
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

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