This paper reviews the implications of outsourcing and offshoring for the productivity of business services in the UK. Official statistics indicate that business-service productivity has grown by over 20 per cent in the last 7 years at the same time as employment grew by 20 per cent. The paper...

Two contrasting conceptualizations of skills lead one to attribute different roles to inter-firm networks. If skills are regarded as a public good, then inter-firm networks are like clubs that police the scope for firms to benefit from skills without paying for their acquisition. By contrast, if...