IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/eti/dpaper/08028.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Firm-level Data

Author

Listed:
  • ITO Banri
  • WAKASUGI Ryuhei
  • TOMIURA Eiichi

Abstract

It is noteworthy that multinational firms are beginning to offshore a wide range of operations. Theoretical studies have showed that offshoring contributes to a higher productivity. This paper aims to provide evidence of the effect of offshoring on productivity, on the basis of original 2006 survey data of offshore sourcing of Japanese firms. Our estimation shows that the offshoring of tasks for production of intermediates goods and final assembly, as well as the offshoring of tasks for R&D and information services, positively affects productivity growth, while the outsourcing of other service tasks has no significant impact on productivity. It also shows that firms outsourcing to the United States or Europe have realized high production efficiency, followed by firms outsourcing to Asia, in comparison with non-offshoring firms.

Suggested Citation

  • ITO Banri & WAKASUGI Ryuhei & TOMIURA Eiichi, 2008. "Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Firm-level Data," Discussion papers 08028, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    • Handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:08028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rieti.go.jp/jp/publications/dp/08e028.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard, Andrew B. & Bradford Jensen, J., 1999. "Exceptional exporter performance: cause, effect, or both?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 1-25, February.
    2. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Eric Strobl, 2008. "Productivity effects of international outsourcing: evidence from plant‐level data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 670-688, May.
    3. Fukao, Kyoji & Ishido, Hikari & Ito, Keiko, 2003. "Vertical intra-industry trade and foreign direct investment in East Asia," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 468-506, December.
    4. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1999. "The Impact of Outsourcing and High-Technology Capital on Wages: Estimates For the United States, 1979–1990," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 907-940.
    5. Feenstra, Robert C & Hanson, Gordon H, 1996. "Globalization, Outsourcing, and Wage Inequality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(2), pages 240-245, May.
    6. Geishecker, Ingo & Gorg, Holger, 2005. "Do unskilled workers always lose from fragmentation?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 81-92, March.
    7. Alexander Hijzen, 2007. "International Outsourcing, Technological Change, and Wage Inequality," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 188-205, February.
    8. Charles I. Jones, 2002. "Sources of U.S. Economic Growth in a World of Ideas," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(1), pages 220-239, March.
    9. Alexander Hijzen & Tomohiko Inui & Yasuyuki Todo, 2010. "Does Offshoring Pay? Firm‐Level Evidence From Japan," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 880-895, October.
    10. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2002. "Offshore production and skill upgrading by Japanese manufacturing firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 81-105, October.
    11. Rodolfo Helg & Lucia Tajoli, 2002. "Patterns of International Fragmentation of Production and Implications for the Labor Markets," Working Papers 503, Research Seminar in International Economics, University of Michigan.
    12. Ekholm, Karolina & Hakkala, Katariina, 2005. "The Effect of Offshoring on Labor Demand: Evidence from Sweden," Working Paper Series 654, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    13. Gorg, Holger & Hanley, Aoife, 2005. "International outsourcing and productivity: evidence from the Irish electronics industry," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 255-269, August.
    14. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2006. "International Outsourcing and the Productivity of Low-Skilled Labor in the EU," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(1), pages 98-108, January.
    15. Fors, Gunnar, 1996. "Utilization of R&D Results in the Home and Foreign Plants of Multinationals," Working Paper Series 459, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    16. ITO Banri & TOMIURA Eiichi & WAKASUGI Ryuhei, 2007. "Dissecting Offshore Outsourcing and R&D: A Survey of Japanese Manufacturing Firms," Discussion papers 07060, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Baltagi, Badi H. & Chang, Young-Jae, 1994. "Incomplete panels : A comparative study of alternative estimators for the unbalanced one-way error component regression model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 67-89, June.
    18. Fukunari Kimura & Kozo Kiyota, 2006. "Exports, FDI, and Productivity: Dynamic Evidence from Japanese Firms," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 142(4), pages 695-719, December.
    19. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    20. Alexander Hijzen & Holger Görg & Robert C. Hine, 2005. "International Outsourcing and the Skill Structure of Labour Demand in the United Kingdom," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(506), pages 860-878, October.
    21. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2007. "Foreign outsourcing, exporting, and FDI: A productivity comparison at the firm level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 113-127, May.
    22. Pol Antràs, 2003. "Firms, Contracts, and Trade Structure," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1375-1418.
    23. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    24. Mary Amiti & Shang-Jin Wei, 2006. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the United States," NBER Working Papers 11926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ryuhei Wakasugi & Banri Ito & Eiichi Tomiura, 2010. "Productivity Premia of Offshoring Firms in East Asia: Evidence from Japanese Firms," Millennial Asia, , vol. 1(1), pages 76-96, January.
    2. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2015. "Service Trade and Productivity: Firm-level evidence from Japan," Discussion papers 15030, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Magdolna Sass & Miklos Szanyi, 2012. "Two essays on Hungarian relocations," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1223, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
    4. KWON Hyeog Ug, 2012. "Offshoring of Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises (Japanese)," Discussion Papers (Japanese) 12004, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    5. Joachim Wagner, 2011. "Offshoring and firm performance: self-selection, effects on performance, or both?," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(2), pages 217-247, June.
    6. Martin Borowiecki & Bernhard Dachs & Doris Hanzl-Weiss & Steffen Kinkel & Johannes Pöschl & Magdolna Sass & Thomas Christian Schmall & Robert Stehrer & Andrea Szalavetz, 2012. "Global Value Chains and the EU Industry," wiiw Research Reports 383, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    7. Lin, Songhua & Ma, Alyson C., 2012. "Outsourcing and productivity: Evidence from Korean data," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 39-49.
    8. Magdolna Sass & Gábor Hunya, 2014. "Escaping to the East? Relocation of business activities to and from Hungary, 2003–2011," CERS-IE WORKING PAPERS 1407, Institute of Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alexander Hijzen & Tomohiko Inui & Yasuyuki Todo, 2010. "Does Offshoring Pay? Firm‐Level Evidence From Japan," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 880-895, October.
    2. Rosario Crinò, 2009. "Offshoring, Multinationals And Labour Market: A Review Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(2), pages 197-249, April.
    3. João Amador & Sónia Cabral, 2014. "Global Value Chains: Surveying Drivers, Measures and Impacts," Working Papers w201403, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    4. Agnese, Pablo, 2009. "Japan and her dealings with offshoring: An empirical analysis with aggregate data," MPRA Paper 16505, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. WAKASUGI Ryuhei & TODO Yasuyuki & SATO Hitoshi & NISHIOKA Shuichiro & MATSUURA Toshiyuki & ITO Banri & TANAKA Ayumu, 2008. "The Internationalization of Japanese Firms: New Findings Based on Firm-Level Data," Discussion papers 08036, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. Catherine J. Morrison Paul & Mahmut Yasar, 2009. "Outsourcing, productivity, and input composition at the plant level," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 42(2), pages 422-439, May.
    7. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia, 2014. "Global value chains: surveying drivers and measures," Working Paper Series 1739, European Central Bank.
    8. repec:wsr:wpaper:y:2016:i:165 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Luisa Gagliardi & Simona Iammarino & Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, 2015. "Offshoring and the Geography of Jobs in Great Britain," SERC Discussion Papers sercd0185, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    10. Matthew Cole & Robert Elliott & Toshihiro Okubo, 2014. "International environmental outsourcing," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(4), pages 639-664, November.
    11. David Hummels & Jakob R. Munch & Chong Xiang, 2018. "Offshoring and Labor Markets," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 56(3), pages 981-1028, September.
    12. Ronald Bachmann & Sebastian Braun, 2008. "The Impact of International Outsourcing on Labour Market Dynamics in Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0053, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Fuster García, Begoña & Martínez Mora, Carmen, 2013. "Offshoring of Services in Spain: International Fragmentation of Activities or Change in Procurement Sources?/Offshoring de Servicios en España: ¿Fragmentación internacional de actividades o cambio en ," Estudios de Economia Aplicada, Estudios de Economia Aplicada, vol. 31, pages 655-676, Septiembr.
    14. repec:zbw:rwirep:0053 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Valeria Gattai & Valentina Trovato, 2014. "Estimating sourcing premia with Italian regional data," Working Papers 276, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Jun 2014.
    16. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Eric Strobl, 2008. "Productivity effects of international outsourcing: evidence from plant-level data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 670-688, May.
    17. Ronald Bachmann & Sebastian Braun, 2011. "The Impact Of International Outsourcing On Labour Market Dynamics In Germany," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 58(1), pages 1-28, February.
    18. Elia, Stefano & Mariotti, Ilaria & Piscitello, Lucia, 2009. "The impact of outward FDI on the home country's labour demand and skill composition," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 357-372, August.
    19. KWON Hyeog Ug, 2012. "Offshoring of Japanese Small and Medium Enterprises (Japanese)," Discussion Papers (Japanese) 12004, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    20. Fergal McCann, 2011. "The heterogeneous effect of international outsourcing on firm productivity," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 147(1), pages 85-108, April.
    21. Gorg, Holger & Hanley, Aoife, 2005. "International outsourcing and productivity: evidence from the Irish electronics industry," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 255-269, August.
    22. Tillmann Schwörer, 2013. "Offshoring, domestic outsourcing and productivity: evidence for a number of European countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(1), pages 131-149, March.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eti:dpaper:08028. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: TANIMOTO, Toko (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/rietijp.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.