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Business services outsourcing by manufacturing firms

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  • Fernando Merino
  • Diego Rodríguez Rodríguez

Abstract

Outsourcing of services is one of the most important phenomena that are reshaping firms’ boundaries in the last decades. This article assesses the reasons leading manufacturing firms to contract out some service activities instead of providing them internally. The theoretical framework, inspired in transaction cost economics, emphasizes the effects that firm heterogeneity and service-specific decisions have on the decision to outsource. Our empirical analysis, using Spanish firm data, suggests the relevance of nonlineal effects related to firm size, wage differentials and location, among other factors, with clear differences among groups of services. Copyright 2007 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernando Merino & Diego Rodríguez Rodríguez, 2007. "Business services outsourcing by manufacturing firms," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 16(6), pages 1147-1173, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:16:y:2007:i:6:p:1147-1173
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Holl, Adelheid, 2008. "Production subcontracting and location," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 299-309, May.
    2. Wennekers, Sander & van Stel, André & Carree, Martin & Thurik, Roy, 2010. "The Relationship between Entrepreneurship and Economic Development: Is It U-Shaped?," Foundations and Trends(R) in Entrepreneurship, now publishers, vol. 6(3), pages 167-237, July.
    3. Tobias Brändle & Andreas Koch, 2013. "Outsourcing Potentials and International Tradability of Jobs - Evidence from German Micro-Level Data," IAW Discussion Papers 93, Institut für Angewandte Wirtschaftsforschung (IAW).
    4. Enderwick, Peter & Buckley, Peter J., 2019. "Beyond supply and assembly relations: Collaborative innovation in global factory systems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 547-556.
    5. Davide Antonioli & Massimiliano Mazzanti & Sandro Montresor & Paolo Pini, 2015. "Outsourcing and Firm Productivity in a Specific Local Production System: Evidence from Reggio Emilia (Italy)," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(2), pages 292-320, June.
    6. Angels Pelegrín & José García-Quevedo, 2012. "Which firms are involved in foreign vertical integration?," Working Papers 2012/38, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    7. Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique & Gil, Ricard & Bayo-Moriones, Alberto, 2015. "Outsourcing of peripheral services: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing plant-level data," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 328-344.
    8. Seeck, Hannele & Kantola, Anu, 2022. "The role of professional elites in shaping management practice: how the old mentalities condition the adoption of new management ideas," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118461, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    9. Tregenna, F., 2009. "Contracting Out of Service Activities and the Effects on Sectoral Employment Patterns in South Africa," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0906, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    10. Maryam Ghorbankhani & Federica Rossi, 2023. "Intrinsic and strategic complementarity of research and knowledge transfer activities as determinants of knowledge transfer management: evidence from public research organisations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 48(4), pages 1386-1412, August.
    11. Jos頃. Fari & Alberto L󰥺 & Ana Mart󻑍arcos, 2014. "Assessing the impact of domestic outsourcing and offshoring on productivity at the firm level," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(15), pages 1814-1828, May.
    12. Bürker, Matthias & Mammi, Irene & Minerva, G. Alfredo, 2021. "Civic capital and service outsourcing: Evidence from Italy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    13. Miroslava MILECOVÁ & Miroslav GRZNÁR & Ľuboslav SZABO, 2010. "Outsourcing: Decision making in case of outsourcing the company activity and management of outsourcing project," Agricultural Economics, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 56(8), pages 387-396.
    14. Bhimani, Alnoor & Lopes, Alexsandro & De Aquino, Andre Carlos Busanelli, 2017. "Measurement costs and control in outsourcing relationships," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68615, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Cristiano Antonelli & Francesco Crespi & Giuseppe Scellato, 2018. "Productivity growth persistence: firm strategies, size and system properties," Chapters, in: The Evolutionary Complexity of Endogenous Innovation, chapter 8, pages 176-202, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Roger Bandick, 2016. "Offshoring, Plant Survival and Employment Growth," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 597-620, May.
    17. Matthias Buerker & Gaetano Alfredo Minerva, 2013. "Civic Capital and the Vertical Integration of Service Provision: Evidence from Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1209, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Peter Daniels, 2010. "Services Innovation in a Globalized Economy," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), The Handbook of Innovation and Services, chapter 19, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Fu, Tong, 2020. "The dilemma of government intervention in a firm's financing: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Bayo-Moriones, Alberto & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique & Gil, Ricard, 2013. "'Make-or-Buy' of Peripheral Services in Manufacturing: Evidence from Spanish Plant-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7138, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Angels Pelegrín & José García-Quevedo, 2012. "Which firms are involved in foreign vertical integration?," Working Papers 2012/38, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    22. 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.
    23. Ohnemus, Jörg, 2009. "Productivity effects of business process outsourcing: a firm-level investigation based on panel data," ZEW Discussion Papers 09-088, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    24. Roger Bandick, 2020. "Global sourcing, productivity and export intensity," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 615-643, March.
    25. Bandick Roger & Karpaty Patrik & Tingvall Patrik, 2024. "Import, Productivity, and Export Performances," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 1-17.

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