IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/fip/fedhep/y2005iqip2-11nv.29no.1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Outsourcing, firm size, and product complexity: evidence from credit unions

Author

Listed:
  • Yukako Ono
  • Victor Stango

Abstract

Outsourcing business services is a key concern in the modern economy. Focusing on data processing services for credit unions from 1994 to 2003, the authors find that both credit union size and the diversity of their product offerings influence the propensity to outsource. The results suggest that simple scale-economy-based explanations for outsourcing may be inadequate.

Suggested Citation

  • Yukako Ono & Victor Stango, 2005. "Outsourcing, firm size, and product complexity: evidence from credit unions," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 29(Q I), pages 2-11.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhep:y:2005:i:qi:p:2-11:n:v.29no.1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.chicagofed.org/digital_assets/publications/economic_perspectives/2005/ep_1qtr2005_part1_ono_stango.pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steven Tadelis, 2002. "Complexity, Flexibility, and the Make-or-Buy Decision," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 433-437, May.
    2. Yukako Ono, 2001. "Outsourcing Business Service and the Scope of Local Markets," Working Papers 01-15, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Hubbard, Thomas N, 2001. "Contractual Form and Market Thickness in Trucking," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 32(2), pages 369-386, Summer.
    4. Abraham, Katharine G & Taylor, Susan K, 1996. "Firms' Use of Outside Contractors: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(3), pages 394-424, July.
    5. George P. Baker & Thomas N. Hubbard, 2003. "Make Versus Buy in Trucking: Asset Ownership, Job Design, and Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(3), pages 551-572, June.
    6. Kelley, Maryellen R. & Harrison, Bennett, 1990. "The subcontracting behavior of single vs. multiplant enterprises in US manufacturing: Implications for economic development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 18(9), pages 1273-1294, September.
    7. Masten, Scott E, 1984. "The Organization of Production: Evidence from the Aerospace Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 403-417, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rose, Gus & Kingwell, Ross S., 2009. "Seasonal labour is the most profitable use of labour in broadacre crop dominant farms," 2009 Conference (53rd), February 11-13, 2009, Cairns, Australia 47947, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.
    2. Thakur-Wernz, Pooja & Bruyaka, Olga & Contractor, Farok, 2020. "Antecedents and relative performance of sourcing choices for new product development projects," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 90.
    3. Dow Jr., James P., 2007. "The adoption of web banking at credit unions," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 435-448, July.
    4. Donal G. MCKILLOP & Barry QUINN, 2015. "Web Adoption By Irish Credit Unions: Performance Implications," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 86(3), pages 421-443, September.
    5. Soichiro Takagi, 2017. "Organizational Impact of Blockchain through Decentralized Autonomous Organizations," International Journal of Economic Policy Studies, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 22-41, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael A. Kouparitsas, 2005. "Is there evidence of the new economy in U.S. GDP data?," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 29(Q I), pages 12-29.
    2. Silke Januszewski Forbes & Mara Lederman, 2009. "Adaptation and Vertical Integration in the Airline Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 1831-1849, December.
    3. Bar-Isaac, Heski & Gavazza, Alessandro, 2015. "Brokers’ contractual arrangements in the Manhattan residential rental market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 73-82.
    4. Sadao Nagaoka & Akira Takeishi & Yoshihisa Noro, 2008. "Determinants of Firm Boundaries: Empirical Analysis of the Japanese Auto Industry from 1984 to 2002," NBER Chapters, in: Organizational Innovation and Firm Performance, pages 187-206, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Ann Bartel & Saul Lach & Nachum Sicherman, 2005. "Outsourcing and Technological Change," NBER Working Papers 11158, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Bayo-Moriones, Alberto & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose Enrique & Gil, Ricard, 2013. "'Make-or-Buy' of Peripheral Services in Manufacturing: Evidence from Spanish Plant-Level Data," IZA Discussion Papers 7138, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Pierre Azoulay, 2004. "Capturing Knowledge within and across Firm Boundaries: Evidence from Clinical Development," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1591-1612, December.
    8. Thomas N. Hubbard, 2008. "Viewpoint: Empirical research on firms' boundaries," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 341-359, May.
    9. Silke J. Forbes & Mara Lederman, 2010. "Does vertical integration affect firm performance? Evidence from the airline industry," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 41(4), pages 765-790, December.
    10. Gavazza, Alessandro, 2010. "Asset liquidity and financial contracts: Evidence from aircraft leases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 62-84, January.
    11. Gibbons, Robert, 2005. "Four forma(lizable) theories of the firm?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 200-245, October.
    12. Christopher Hansman & Jonas Hjort & Gianmarco León-Ciliotta & Matthieu Teachout, 2020. "Vertical Integration, Supplier Behavior, and Quality Upgrading among Exporters," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3570-3625.
    13. Elhanan Helpman, 2006. "Trade, FDI, and the Organization of Firms," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 44(3), pages 589-630, September.
    14. Hermano, Víctor & Martín-Cruz, Natalia, 2013. "How to Deliver Foreign Aid? The Case of Projects Governed by the Spanish International Agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 298-314.
    15. Ono, Yukako, 2007. "Market thickness and outsourcing services," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 220-238, March.
    16. Bartel, Ann P & Lach, Saul & Sicherman, Nachum, 2008. "Outsourcing and Technological Innovations: A Firm-Level Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 6731, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Liza Jabbour, 2013. "Market thickness, sunk costs, productivity, and the outsourcing decision: an empirical analysis of manufacturing firms in France," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 46(1), pages 103-134, February.
    18. Benito Arruñada & Manuel González-Díaz & Alberto Fernández, 2004. "Determinants of organizational form: transaction costs and institutions in the European trucking industry," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(6), pages 867-882, December.
    19. Timothy Bresnahan & Jonathan Levin, 2012. "Vertical Integration and Market Structure," Introductory Chapters, in: Robert Gibbons & John Roberts (ed.),The Handbook of Organizational Economics, Princeton University Press.
    20. Jonathan Levin & Steven Tadelis, 2010. "Contracting For Government Services: Theory And Evidence From U.S. Cities," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 507-541, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contracting out; Credit unions;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedhep:y:2005:i:qi:p:2-11:n:v.29no.1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (). General contact details of provider: http://edirc.repec.org/data/frbchus.html .

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.