Working Paper #1-05
Complementarities between Outsourcing and Foreign Sourcing
 
Gene M. Grossman, Elhanan Helpman and Adam Szeidl

We examine the strategies of firm that face an array of organizational choices. Each firm must acquire ntermediate inputs and assemble final products. It can perform these activities internally or externally, and at home or abroad. We study the relative prevalence of various organizational structures in industries that differ in fixed organizational costs when firms in each industry differ in their productivity levels. We identify conditions under which outsourcing and foreign sourcing are positively correlated across industries. This correlation results from two sources of complementarity between outsourcing and foreign sourcing.

   
Jel Nos.: F23, F12, L22
Keywords: outsourcing, integration, foreign direct investment, complementarity
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