Imports and retailers in Canada: does size matter?

This project investigates empirically whether retailer size influences their direct importing activities.Twenty three Canadian retail sectors are analyzed,classified by types of commodities for the year 2002. Two aspects of retailer size are considered, average size and size dispersion of retail establishments in a retail sector. Other explanatory factors include: the share of purchases of imports by wholesalers selling the same product category of each retailer type; Canadian production of the commodities sold in each retail sector, as a fraction of total Canadian production of the year; and three importing sources (the US and Mexico, EU and Japan and Low Cost Asian countries). Only non-highly correlated independent variables are included in each estimation. The best estimation suggests that there is significant negative correlation between average size of retail establishments and their direct import activities; and there is negative link between size dispersion of retail establishments and their direct import activities.