Based on a case study of a Portuguese packaging firm, this paper examines how vertical integration of the supplier serves as a vehicle for the full outsourcing of the client firms' needs in a solution that reduces transaction costs, favors specialization, and permits small and medium-sized firms...

With a globalized economy, traditional boundaries are becoming both unclear and uncertain, and it is necessary to analytically measure business globalization to estimate the results of the production activity of resident producer units. The value chains that have bound the world economy are now...

Recent empirical studies of the determinants of multinational activity across countries have found overwhelming support for a horizontal rather than a vertical model of foreign direct investment (FDI). They all use U.S. or other developed country data. This paper, in contrast, uses a previously...

Using data collected by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), this study attempts to measure the intensity of vertically integrated multinational enterprises (VMNEs) for US foreign direct investment (FDI). By comparing the primary industry of US parents and their foreign affiliates, it is found...