Purpose

When is manufacturing in high-cost environments and more profitable for multinational manufacturers and when in low-cost environments? While the literature offers many cues to answer this question, too little empirical research directly addresses this. In this study, we quantitatively and empirically investigate the financial effect of companies' production footprint in low-cost and high-cost environments for different types of production networks.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the data of 770 multinational manufacturing companies, we analyze the relationship between production footprints and profitability during four calendar semesters in 2018 and 2019 (N = 2,940), investigating the moderating role of companies' production network type.

Findings

We find that companies with networks distinguished by both high levels of product complexity and process sophistication profit the most from producing to a greater extent in high-cost countries. For these companies, shifting production to low-cost countries would be associated with negative performance implications.

Practical implications

Our findings suggest that the production geography of companies should be attuned to their network type, as defined by the companies' process sophistication and product complexity. Manufacturing in low-cost countries is not always the best choice, as doing so can adversely affect profits if the products are highly innovative and the production processes are complex.

Originality/value

We contribute to the scarce empirical literature on managing global production networks and provide a data-driven analysis that contributes to answering some of the enduring questions in this critical area.

中文翻译：

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将生产地理和财务绩效联系起来

目的

什么时候在高成本环境下制造对于跨国制造商来说更有利可图，什么时候在低成本环境下制造？尽管文献提供了许多线索来回答这个问题，但直接解决这个问题的实证研究却太少。在本研究中，我们定量和实证研究了不同类型生产网络的低成本和高成本环境中公司生产足迹的财务影响。

设计/方法论/途径

我们利用 770 家跨国制造企业的数据，分析了 2018 年和 2019 年四个日历学期（ N = 2,940）的生产足迹与盈利能力之间的关系 ，调查了企业生产网络类型的调节作用。

发现

我们发现，拥有以高水平产品复杂性和流程复杂性为特点的网络的公司，可以从在高成本国家进行更大程度的生产中获得最大利润。对于这些公司来说，将生产转移到低成本国家可能会对业绩产生负面影响。

实际影响

我们的研究结果表明，公司的生产地理应与其网络类型相适应，网络类型由公司的流程复杂性和产品复杂性所定义。在低成本国家制造并不总是最佳选择，因为如果产品高度创新且生产过程复杂，这样做可能会对利润产生不利影响。

原创性/价值

我们为管理全球生产网络的稀缺实证文献做出贡献，并提供数据驱动的分析，有助于回答这一关键领域的一些持久问题。