Vertical Integration, Supplier Behavior, and Quality Upgrading among Exporters
利用秘鲁鱼粉制造业数据，研究企业产品质量与组织结构的关系，发现质量溢价上升时企业会整合供应商，整合后供应商更注重维护投入品质量，且整合有助于企业生产更高质量的产品。
We study the relationship between firms’ output quality and organizational structure. Using data onthe production and transaction chain that makes up Peruvian fishmeal manufacturing, we establish threeresults. First, firms integrate suppliers when the quality premium rises for exogenous reasons. Second,suppliers change their behavior to better maintain input quality when vertically integrated. Third, firmsproduce a highershareof high-quality output when weather and supplier availability shocks shift theminto using integrated suppliers. Overall, our results indicate that quality upgrading is an important motivefor integrating suppliers facing a quantity-quality trade-off, as classical theories of the firm predict.