Global Production Arrangements in Canada – Initial Evidence from the Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy

The increased pace of globalization has brought about many changes in both the Canadian and world economies. One important change has been the increased prevalence of global value chains which sees production processes spread out around the globe, across vertically integrated multinationals or via arm’s length trade. This paper focuses on two types of global production arrangements, namely, the case of merchanting and of goods send abroad for processing, with the limiting case of factoryless goods producers. Using the results of the 2009 and 2012 Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy, this report aims to provide an indication of the degree and nature of outsourcing among Canadian firms, with respect to these global production arrangements.