Globalization and the Market for Teammates

51 Pages Posted: 1 Sep 2000 Last revised: 25 Dec 2022

See all articles by Edward P. Lazear

Edward P. Lazear

Stanford Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Date Written: May 1998

Abstract

The globalization of firms is explored at theoretical and empirical levels. The idea is that a global firm is a multi-cultural team. The existence of a global firm is somewhat puzzling. Combining workers who have different cultures, legal systems, and languages imposes costs on the firm that would not be present were all workers to conform to one standard. In order to offset the costs of cross-cultural dealing, there must be complementarities between the workers that are sufficiently important to overcome the costs. Disjoint and relevant skills create an environment where the gains from complementarities can be significant. It is also necessary that teammates be able to communicate with one another. The search for the best practice' is analyzed and empirical support from an examination of trading patterns is provided.

Suggested Citation

Lazear, Edward P., Globalization and the Market for Teammates (May 1998). NBER Working Paper No. w6579, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=226307

Edward P. Lazear (Contact Author)

Stanford Graduate School of Business ( email )

655 Knight Way
Stanford, CA 94305-5015
United States
650-723-9136 (Phone)
650-723-0498 (Fax)

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

1050 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
73
Abstract Views
1,205
Rank
580,987
PlumX Metrics