IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/not/notgep/07-43.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

International Services Outsourcing and Innovation: An Empirical Investigation

Author

Listed:
  • Holger Görg
  • Aoife Hanley

Abstract

We provide a comprehensive empirical analysis of the links between international services outsourcing, wages and innovation using plant level data covering the period 2000 to 2004. Somewhat consistent with the predictions of recent theory, we observe a positive relationship between international outsourcing of services and innovative activity, measured in terms of R&D, at the plant level. However, we only find evidence for such positive effects for plants in manufacturing, not in services sectors. Furthermore, this positive effect of international services outsourcing on innovation does not appear to be mediated through wages as proposed by theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley, 2007. "International Services Outsourcing and Innovation: An Empirical Investigation," Discussion Papers 07/43, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notgep:07/43
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/gep/documents/papers/2007/07-43.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley & Eric Strobl, 2008. "Productivity effects of international outsourcing: evidence from plant‐level data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 41(2), pages 670-688, May.
    2. Robert C. Feenstra & Gordon H. Hanson, 1999. "The Impact of Outsourcing and High-Technology Capital on Wages: Estimates For the United States, 1979–1990," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(3), pages 907-940.
    3. Criscuolo, Chiara & Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2010. "Global engagement and the innovation activities of firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 191-202, March.
    4. Pol Antras & Elhanan Helpman, 2004. "Global Sourcing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 552-580, June.
    5. Redding, Stephen, 1996. "The Low-Skill, Low-Quality Trap: Strategic Complementarities between Human Capital and R&D," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 106(435), pages 458-470, March.
    6. Davidson, Carl & Matusz, Steven J, 2000. "Globalization and Labour-Market Adjustment: How Fast and at What Cost?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 16(3), pages 42-56, Autumn.
    7. Hans‐Werner Sinn, 2006. "The Pathological Export Boom and the Bazaar Effect: How to Solve the German Puzzle," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(9), pages 1157-1175, September.
    8. Kohn, Meir & Scott, John T, 1982. "Scale Economies in Research and Development: The Schumpeterian Hypothesis," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 239-249, March.
    9. Mark Cassidy & Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2005. "Knowledge Accumulation, And Productivity: Evidence From Plant‐Level Data For Ireland," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 52(3), pages 344-358, July.
    10. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2007. "Foreign outsourcing, exporting, and FDI: A productivity comparison at the firm level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 113-127, May.
    11. Frances Ruane & Julie Sutherland, 2005. "Export Performance and Destination Characteristics of Irish Manufacturing Industry," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(3), pages 442-459, October.
    12. Glass, Amy Jocelyn & Saggi, Kamal, 2001. "Innovation and wage effects of international outsourcing," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 67-86, January.
    13. Jonathan Eaton & Samuel Kortum, 2006. "Innovation, Diffusion, and Trade," NBER Working Papers 12385, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Sugata Marjit & Arijit Mukherjee, 2008. "Profit reducing international outsourcing," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 21-35.
    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. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Pahnke, André & Teixeira, Paulino, 2011. "A research note on the determinants and consequences of outsourcing using German data," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 44(3), pages 231-244.
    2. Addison, John T. & Bellmann, Lutz & Pahnke, André & Teixeira, Paulino, 2011. "A research note on the determinants and consequences of outsourcing using German data," Zeitschrift für ArbeitsmarktForschung - Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 44(3), pages 231-244.

    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. Holger Görg & Aoife Hanley, 2011. "Services Outsourcing And Innovation: An Empirical Investigation," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(2), pages 321-333, April.
    2. Spyros Arvanitis & Thomas Bolli & Tobias Stucki, 2017. "In or Out: How Insourcing Foreign Input Production Affects Domestic Production," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 57(6), pages 879-907, December.
    3. Fabienne Rasel, 2017. "ICT and global sourcing – evidence for German manufacturing and service firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(7), pages 634-660, October.
    4. Amador, João & Cabral, Sónia, 2014. "Global value chains: surveying drivers and measures," Working Paper Series 1739, European Central Bank.
    5. Stefano Federico, 2010. "Outsourcing versus integration at home or abroad and firm heterogeneity," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 37(1), pages 47-63, February.
    6. Schwörer, Tillmann, 2012. "Offshoring, domestic outsourcing, and productivity: Evidence for a number of European countries," Kiel Working Papers 1786, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    7. Tillmann Schwörer, 2013. "Offshoring, domestic outsourcing and productivity: evidence for a number of European countries," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(1), pages 131-149, March.
    8. Spiros Bougheas & Holger Görg, 2008. "Organizational Forms for Global Engagement of Firms," Discussion Papers 08/33, University of Nottingham, GEP.
    9. Lommerud, Kjell Erik & Meland, Frode & Straume, Odd Rune, 2009. "Can deunionization lead to international outsourcing?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 109-119, February.
    10. Beretta, Silvio & Targetti Lenti, Renata, 2011. "“India in the Outsourcing/Offshoring Process: A Western Perspective” - L’India nel processo di outsourcing/offshoring: un punto di vista occidentale," Economia Internazionale / International Economics, Camera di Commercio Industria Artigianato Agricoltura di Genova, vol. 64(3), pages 269-296.
    11. Chen, Xiaoping & Lu, Yi & Zhu, Lianming, 2017. "Product cycle, contractibility, and global sourcing," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 283-296.
    12. Bartel, Ann & Lach, Saul & Sicherman, Nachum, 2008. "Outsourcing and Technological Innovations: A Firm-Level Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 6731, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Hea-Jung Hyun & Jung Hur, 2014. "Trade Openness and Vertical Structure: Evidence From Korean Firm-Level Data," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 701-720, September.
    14. ITO Banri & WAKASUGI Ryuhei & TOMIURA Eiichi, 2008. "Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from Japanese Firm-level Data," Discussion papers 08028, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    15. Mary Amiti & Shang‐Jin Wei, 2009. "Service Offshoring and Productivity: Evidence from the US," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 203-220, February.
    16. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2009. "Foreign versus domestic outsourcing: Firm-level evidence on the role of technology," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 219-226, March.
    17. Arijit Mukherjee & Yingyi Tsai, 2010. "International Outsourcing And Welfare Reduction: An Entry‐Deterrence Story," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 78(6), pages 647-659, December.
    18. Angels Pelegrín & Catalina Bolancé, 2011. "Offshoring and company characteristics: some evidence from the analysis of Spanish firm data," Working Papers 2011/16, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
    19. Andrés Rodríguez-Clare, 2010. "Offshoring in a Ricardian World," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 227-258, April.
    20. Alexander Hijzen & Tomohiko Inui & Yasuyuki Todo, 2010. "Does Offshoring Pay? Firm‐Level Evidence From Japan," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 48(4), pages 880-895, October.

    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:not:notgep:07/43. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 bibliographic 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.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Hilary Hughes (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cgnotuk.html .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.