Business Services Outsourcing by Manufacturing Firms

Posted: 22 Jun 2008 Last revised: 31 Mar 2012

See all articles by Fernando Merino

Fernando Merino

University of Murcia - Department of Applied Economics

Diego Rodríguez

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: December 1, 2007

Abstract

Outsourcing of services is one of the most important phenomena that are reshaping firms boundaries in the last decades. This article assesses the reasons leading manufacturing firms to contract out some service activities instead of providing them internally. The theoretical framework, inspired in transaction cost economics, emphasizes the effects that firm heterogeneity and service-specific decisions have on the decision to outsource. Our empirical analysis, using Spanish firm data, suggests the relevance of nonlineal effects related to firm size, wage differentials and location, among other factors, with clear differences among groups of services.

Suggested Citation

Merino, Fernando and Rodríguez, Diego Rodríguez, Business Services Outsourcing by Manufacturing Firms (December 1, 2007). Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 16, Issue 6, pp. 1147-1173, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1149232 or http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/icc/dtm034

Fernando Merino (Contact Author)

University of Murcia - Department of Applied Economics ( email )

Campus Espinardo
30100 Murcia
Spain

Diego Rodríguez Rodríguez

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

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