Multi-Product Firms and Flexible Manufacturing in the Global Economy
构建了一个多产品企业与柔性制造的新模型，分析全球化如何通过竞争效应和需求效应影响企业的规模与范围，并揭示贸易可能带来生产率提升但产品种类减少的双重效应。
We present a new model of multi-product firms (MPFs) and flexible manufacturing, and explore its implications in partial and general oligopolistic equilibrium. Globalization affects the scale and scope (or intensive margin and <it>intra-firm</it> extensive margin) of MPFs through a competition effect and a demand effect. The model highlights a new source of gains from trade: productivity increases as firms become “leaner and meaner”, concentrating on their core competence; but also a new source of losses from trade: product variety may fall. Our results also hold under free entry, which allows in addition for adjustment along the traditional <it>inter-firm</it> extensive margin.