We show that intermediate goods can be sourced to firms on the quot;outsidequot; (that do not compete in the final product market), even when there are no economies of scale or cost advantages for these firms. What drives the phenomenon is that quot;insidequot; firms, by accepting such orders,...

We show that economies of scale in upstream production can lead both the disintegrated downstream firm as well as its vertically integrated rival to outsource offshore for intermediate goods, even if offshore production has a moderate cost disadvantage compared to in‐house production of the...

We show that intermediate goods can be sourced to firms on the "outside" (that do not compete in the final product market), even when there are no economies of scale or cost advantages for these firms. What drives the phenomenon is that "inside" firms, by accepting such orders, incur the...

By outsourcing key intermediate goods to a downstream competitor, a firm can credibly reveals its future quantity of the final good to its competitor, therefore force the latter to act as a Stackelberg follower in the downstream market. As a result, whether outsourcing occurs or not depends on...