Intermediaries in Transaction Networks: Location of Wholesalers' Headquarters and Other Establishments

本稿は、日本における製造業及び商業の事業所単位の情報を用いて、特に地方経済に焦点を当てつつ、輸出の要因としての情報と立地について考察し、また卸売企業の本社及び事業所の立地展開について観測事実を提示するものである。主たる観測事実は以下の2点に大別される。第一に、卸売企業事業所の輸出確率に関して：都市部に本社が立地していることが事業所の立地よりも重要であること、また同一企業内の他の事業所が輸出している場合に輸出確率が高いこと。この観測事実は、輸出のためには、本社や他の事業所が持つ輸出に関するノウハウが港や空港などインフラへの近接性よりも重要であることを示唆している。第二に、卸売企業と製造業企業の間の取引に関して：地方の製造業企業は遠く都市部に立地する卸売企業を通じて間接輸出を行っているが、同取引距離を最も近い事業所間の距離で計測すると本社間での距離よりも遥かに短く、3分の1から4分の1に縮小すること、また卸売企業一社当たりの事業所の数は製造業企業の一社当たりの事業所数よりも顕著に多く、本社と事業所間の距離も卸売企業の方が製造業企業よりも顕著に長い。この観測事実は、都市に本社を置く輸出卸売企業が地方に事業展開することによって取引相手先を探索する費用を縮減していることを示唆している。

Using establishment-level data in Japan, this paper analyzes the role of information and geographical location of establishments, and the location of wholesalers' headquarters and establishments as factors in determining export behavior, especially focusing on regional economies. There are two main findings. First, regarding export probability of wholesalers' establishments, whether headquarters are located in urban areas matters more than the location of the establishments themselves; and the export probability is higher when there are other exporting establishments within the same firm, which suggest that information (exporting know-how held by headquarters and other export establishments within the same firm) is more important than infrastructure (access to trade hubs such as ports). Second, regarding domestic transaction networks between wholesalers and manufacturers, manufacturing firms in rural areas sell to exporting wholesaler firms in distant urban areas for indirect export, but the transaction distance measured between the closest establishments is significantly shorter than the distance between headquarters, at approximately one-third to one-quarter. The number of establishments per wholesaler firm is much larger than that of manufacturers and the distance between establishment and headquarters for wholesalers is much larger than that for manufacturers, which suggests that exporting wholesaler firms in urban areas reduce search costs by setting up other establishments in various regions, from which they search for suppliers.