The paper develops a simple theoretical model of inventory control in global value chains. It identifies a role for intermediaries in managing inventory, and shows that inserting an intermediary as an additional link in a value chain is profitable when demand volatility is high. It also provides...

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),...

This paper analyzes the behavior of firm(s) serving its products to two countries having different consumers in terms of their valuation of product quality. The home-market of firm(s) is a developed country with small population but high valuation of product quality, while the foreign is a...

In this paper a stylized CGE model is constructed to study the impact of liberalization of barriers for foreign providers of intermediate producer services under imperfect competition on the welfare, the downstream industry output, the prices of the factors of production and the pattern of...

This paper highlights the crucial role played by international access to intermediate inputs to explain firm-level performance, via two channels simultaneously: trade and FDI. We develop a simple theoretical model showing that trade integration of input market entails an efficiency improvement...

This paper explores the role of FDI-spillover prevention costs in the strategic choice for a MNE of a developed country such as Japan about whether it perform FDI to an emerging economy such as Russia and China and about a degree of FDI spillovers that it allows. After discussing the exogenous...

According to the World Investment Report 2004, the structure of Fmhas shifted towards services. Further, the composition of services FDI isalso changing from trade and finance to such industries as electricity, water ,telecommunications, storage and transportation. In the latter sector the...

This study analyses those country characteristics, which lead those regions to become as productive operation and innovation environments for firms and research centres. This study shows that those countries who invest wisely to develop their innovation environment will be successful in high...

This research sheds light on the role of product scope on the innovation activity of multinational multi-product firms. We use patent citation data to break down innovation into two types by measuring the degree to which innovation performed by firms is fundamental and the extent to which the...

This paper proposes a proximity-concentration tradeoff in product space as a determinant of horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI). Firms that enter a foreign market by exporting are able to capture consumer surplus from introducing a differentiated product with characteristics that the...