Technological Change and the Boundaries of the Firm
研究企业决定自己生产关键投入品还是外包给分包商，以及行业技术变革如何影响这一决策。技术变革通常促使企业自产，但分包商技能是否可转移会影响结果。
The authors examine a firm's decision either to produce an essential input itself or to hire a subcontractor to produce the input. The authors focus on how this decision is affected by technological change in the industry. In general, cost-reducing technological change leads the firm to produce the input itself more often. The firm's calculus is shown to depend on whether the subcontractor's skills are idiosyncratic or transferable. In the latter case, technological progress can even be detrimental to the firm and to society as a whole. Copyright 1991 by American Economic Association.