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Optimal Integration Strategies for the Multinational Firm

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Author Info
Gene M. Grossman (Princeton University)
Elhanan Helpman (Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, and CIAR)
Adam Szeidl (Harvard University)

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Abstract

We examine integration strategies of multinational firms that face a rich array of choices of international organization. Each firm in an industry must provide headquarter services from its home country, produce intermediate inputs, and assemble the intermediate goods into final products. Both production of intermediate goods and assembly can be performed at home, in another “Northern” country, in the low-wage “South,” or in several of these locations. We study the equilibrium choices of firms that differ in productivity (and thus size), focusing on the role of industry characteristics such as the fixed costs of foreign subsidiaries, the cost of transporting intermediate and final goods, and the share of the consumer market that resides in the South in determining optimal integration strategies.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics. in its series Working Papers with number 142.

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Date of creation: Nov 2003
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Handle: RePEc:pri:wwseco:142

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Related research
Keywords: direct foreign investment multinational corporations intra-firm trade vertical integration

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
F12 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Models of Trade with Imperfect Competition and Scale Economies
L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Brainard, S Lael, 1997. "An Empirical Assessment of the Proximity-Concentration Trade-off between Multinational Sales and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 520-44, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Markusen, James R. & Venables, Anthony J., 1996. "The Theory of Endowment, Intra-Industry and Multinational Trade," CEPR Discussion Papers 1341, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Markusen, James R., 1984. "Multinationals, multi-plant economies, and the gains from trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3-4), pages 205-226, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002. "Outsourcing versus FDI in Industry Equilibrium," NBER Working Papers 9300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Helpman, Elhanan & Melitz, Marc J & Yeaple, Stephen R, 2003. "Export versus FDI," CEPR Discussion Papers 3741, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Markusen, James R., 2002. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MPRA Paper 8380, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Yeaple, Stephen Ross, 2003. "The complex integration strategies of multinationals and cross country dependencies in the structure of foreign direct investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 293-314, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Grossman, Gene & Helpman, Elhanan, 2003. "Managerial Incentives and the International Organization of Production," CEPR Discussion Papers 3737, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Karolina Ekholm & Rikard Forslid & James Markusen, 2003. "Export-Platform Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Working Papers 9517, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Markusen, James R. & Venables, Anthony J., 1998. "Multinational firms and the new trade theory," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 183-203, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Helpman, Elhanan, 1984. "A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 451-71, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Neary, J Peter, 2006. "Trade Costs and Foreign Direct Investment," CEPR Discussion Papers 5933, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Fabrice Defever, 2006. "Functional fragmentation and the location of multinational firms in the enlarged Europe," Post-Print halshs-00118808_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Tekin-Koru, Ayca & Waldkirch, Andreas, 2007. "North American Integration and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment," MPRA Paper 5212, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Gilad Aharonovitz, 2006. "Migration of Firms, Home Bias and the Geographical Distribution of Growth," DEGIT Conference Papers c011_038, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade. [Downloadable!]
  5. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen, 2006. "Firm Structure, Multinationals, and Manufacturing Plant Deaths," Peterson Institute Working Paper Series WP06-7, Peterson Institute for International Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Badi H. Baltagi & Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2005. "Estimating Models of Complex FDI: Are There Third-Country Effects?," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 73, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2005. "The Determinants of Intrafirm Trade: In Search for Export-Import Magnification Effects," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 141(4), pages 648-669, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Tekin-Koru, Ayca & Waldkirch, Andreas, 2008. "North-South Integration and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment," MPRA Paper 6912, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  9. Christian Keuschnigg, . "Exports, Foreign Direct Investment and the Costs of Corporate Taxation," FIW Working Paper series 005, FIW. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Badi H. Baltagi & Peter Egger & Michael Pfaffermayr, 2007. "Estimating Regional Trade Agreement Effects on FDI in an Interdependent World," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 100, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
  11. Stephen G. Hall & Pavlos Petroulas, 2008. "Spatial Interdependencies of FDI Locations: A Lessening of the Tyranny of Distance?," Working Papers 67, Bank of Greece. [Downloadable!]
  12. Peter Egger & Simon Loretz & Michael Pfaffermayr & Hannes Winner, 2006. "Corporate Taxation and Multinational Activity," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo GmbH. [Downloadable!]
  13. Ebersberger, Bernd & Lööf, Hans, 2004. "Multinational Enterprises, Spillovers, Innovation and Productivity," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 22, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies. [Downloadable!]
  14. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Peter K. Schott, 2005. "Importers, Exporters, and Multinationals: A Portrait of Firms in the U.S. that Trade Goods," NBER Working Papers 11404, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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