GEP Research Paper 08/02
“Slicing the Value Chain” Internationally: Empirical Evidence on the Offshoring Strategy by French Firms
Liza Jabbour
Summary
This paper analyzes the offshoring strategy from an empirical view on a dataset from French manufacturing firms. The choice of offshoring modes is investigated through the estimation of a multinomial logit model and associated to a set of explanatory variables at the firm, industry and country levels. Our results emphasize the role of firm heterogeneity, input specificity and of market thickness.
Abstract
This paper analyzes the offshoring strategy from an empirical view. It focuses on a set of models, extracts a set of testable hypothesises and creates a suitable set of variable to test their validity. This analysis is based on a data set from French manufacturing firms that provides detailed information on the offshoring strategy. The choice of offshoring modes is investigated through the estimation of a multinomial logit model and associated to a set of explanatory variables at the firm, industry and country levels. Our results emphasize the role of firm heterogeneity, input specificity and of market thickness.
Issued in January 2008
This paper is available in PDF format