Publication

The paper investigates the relationship between firms’ international cooperation strategies and export decisions. It proposes a refinement of Melitz's model of firm heterogeneity and trade according to which prospective exporters must engage in a cooperation agreement with a foreign partner in order to favor their market access and distribution activities overseas. The paper analyzes the empirical relevance of this model by means of a new survey dataset providing information on the internationalization activities of 814 Norwegian firms in the service sectors for the period 2004-2006. The econometric results point out that international cooperation, both on existing and on innovative products, is indeed an important factor to foster the firms’ decision to enter the export market.