Outsourcing of peripheral services: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing plant-level data

In this paper we empirically explore outsourcing decisions of peripheral services using information from a data set of 926 Spanish manufacturing plants. We find that increases in outsourcing of peripheral services are positively correlated with increases in the plant׳s market share as well as increases in product market competition and product prices. These findings are robust to controlling for whether plants belong to single-plant or multi-plant firms. These patterns are consistent with a strategic shift in the allocation of attention to core manufacturing activities, and are at odds with traditional TCE and PRT theories of vertical integration.