In this paper, we study the value chain of a Finnish designed bicycle and how the value added of the product is spread through the value chain in three distinct cases. In the first case the bicycle is manufactured in Finland by the researched company. In the two other cases the manufacturing of...

The organization of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) events has become a major export product in the Netherlands. In order to respond quickly to the new trends and needs, innovative forms of cooperation between producers are to be set up for the organization of exciting new events. A case study on...

This paper analyses the reasons behind India lagging behind East and South East Asian economies in participating in international production networks, on which growth in manufacturing has become increasingly dependent in the contemporary world. Since multinational firms are the main coordinating...

To comply with laws, regulations and social demands, polluting firms increasingly purchase the needed means from specialized suppliers. This paper analyzes this relatively recent phenomenon. We show how environmental regulation, the size of the output market, the elasticity of demand for...

We study ex post outsourcing of production in an imperfectly discriminating contest, interpreted here as a research tournament or a procurement contest for being awarded some production contract. We find that the possibility of outsourcing increases competition between the contestants, leading...

We develop a model in which multinational investors decide about the modes of organization, the locations of production, and the markets to be served. Foreign investments are driven by market-seeking and cost-reducing motives. We further assume that investors face costs of control that vary...

This paper analyzes a sequential game where firms decide about outsourcing the production of a non-specific input good to an imperfectly competitive input market. We apply the taxonomy of business strategies introduced by Fudenberg and Tirole (1984) to characterize the different equilibria. We...

Since even before Copperweld Corp. v. Independence Tube Corp., 467 U.S. 752 (1984), it has been thought that antitrust needs some "theory of the firm" to inform its application of a "single-entity" defense in Sherman Act section 1 litigation. Not only is that sense mistaken, it is emblematic of...

This paper examines the determinants of intra-firm trade in US imports using detailed country-product data. We create a new measure of product contractibility based on the degree of intermediation in international trade for the product. We find important roles for the interaction of country and...

This paper analyzes the characteristics of Italian firms involved in global value chains (“intermediate” firms) by using the Bank of Italy survey on industrial companies. Intermediate firms show, on average, worse features than “final” firms: smaller size, lower share of white collars,...