Determinants of Foreign Production by United States Food Processing Firms: A Firm-Level Analysis

146 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1997.The findings, which are consistent with a transaction cost explanation, indicate that the intangible assets associated with foreign production vary with specific product and location factors. Among the findings are that the incidence of foreign production was much higher for SIC 203 products (preserved fruit and vegetable and specialty products) than for SIC 2013 products (prepared meat products), and firm-level media spending was generally not a significant determinant of foreign production. Also, there is evidence that production and process control skills were more critical for production in lower income regions, while marketing strength and access to distribution channels were key in higher income regions. Several methodological challenges are addressed, and the thesis identifies potentially fruitful areas for further research on determinants on foreign production.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD