Efficiency of the Multiplant, Multiproduct Firm
为评估多工厂多产品企业的技术、成本和有效规模提供了通用框架，并应用于一家蔬菜加工合作社，发现其运营规模低于有效规模。
Abstract A general framework is provided for assessing the technology, cost, and efficient scale of a multiplant, multiproduct firm. We show sufficient conditions for the existence of a plant cost function, and necessary and sufficient conditions for using plant‐level data to draw exact firm‐level cost inferences. We also distinguish between plant and input nonjointness and show the optimal relation between plant‐level and firm‐level cost elasticity in a multiproduct setting. The framework is applied to a vegetable processing cooperative, which is found to operate below its efficient scale.