EBSLG

 

 
European Business Schools Librarian's Group
Home About Series Subject/JEL codes Advanced Search
Kiel Institute for World Economics Kiel Working Papers, Kiel Institute for World Economics

No 1591:
Greasing the Wheels of International Commerce: How Services Facilitate Firms' International Sourcing

Peter Debaere, Holger Görg and Horst Raff

Abstract: We use unique plant-level data to study the link between the local availability of services and the decision of manufacturing firms to source materials from abroad. To guide our empirical analysis we develop a monopolitic-competition model of the materials sourcing decisions of heterogeneous firms. The model generates predictions about how the intensity of international sourcing of materials depends on a firm's productivity and the availability of local services. These predictions are supported by the data. We find evidence that more productive manufacturing firms tend to have a higher ratio of imported materials to sales. In addition, we find evidence that services grease the wheels of international commerce: A greater availability of services across regions, industries and time increases a firmÄs foreign sourcing of materials relative to sales. Interestingly, this positive impact of local service availability on imports especially applies to stand-alone firms that, unlike multinationals, are less likely to rely on imported or internally provided services

Keywords: international trade, services, off-shoring, supply chain management, firm heterogeneity; (follow links to similar papers)

JEL-Codes: F12,; L23; (follow links to similar papers)

38 pages, January 2010

Before downloading any of the electronic versions below you should read our statement on copyright.
Download GhostScript for viewing Postscript files and the Acrobat Reader for viewing and printing pdf files.

Downloadable files:

greasing-the-wheels-of-in ... ms-international-sourcing    PDF-file
Download Statistics


Report other problems with accessing this service to Sune Karlsson () or Helena Lundin ().

Programing by
Design Joakim Ekebom

Handle: RePEc:kie:kieliw:1591 This page was generated on 2015-03-29 21:03:05