This book is the first book that provides comprehensive economic
analysis of cross-border outsourcing by Japanese manufacturing firms
based on microdata. Previous literature on many other countries has
often been constrained by limited data availability about outsourcing,
but research contained in this book exploits unique firm-level data and
directly tests theoretical hypotheses derived from new firm
heterogeneity trade models. Productivity, capital-labor ratio and R&D
intensity are examined at the firm level. While rich empirical results
in this book convince us how powerful the orthodox economic theory is in
understanding Japanese firms, detailed firm-level findings, combined
with accessible and concise overviews of Japanese international trade,
are widely informative for international economists, experts of Japanese
society, business strategists for offshoring, and policy makers in both
developed and developing economies. This book further discusses how
boundaries of Japanese firms, traditionally sheltered by language and
cultural barriers, are affected by outsourcing decisions simultaneously
crossing national borders and firm boundaries. The interpretations of
Japanese characteristics in outsourcing have deep implications for
understanding drastically changing Japanese business amid globalization.