Transnational corporations and local capital: Comparative conduct and performance in the Turkish pharmaceutical industry

The comparative conduct and performance of TNCs and domestic enterprises in LCDs has been an issue of continuing debate and research. Further empirical evidence is still greatly needed. In the particular case of the pharmaceutical industry, however, relatively little attention has been devoted to the evaluation of the relative conduct and performance of domestic firms. The existence of a large locally-owned sector in the Turkish pharmaceutical industry renders such an evaluation possible. The paper examines the comparative behavior of TNCs and local firms over five distinct areas, namely, technology choice, export performances, “appropriate” marketing, products, and prices. It concludes that in the majority of these areas behavioral similarities predominate over possible differences.     

TNC takeovers in Brazil: The uneven distribution of benefits in the market for firms

Control of the future stream of earnings is perhaps the most valuable component of returns to a transnational investment. As with other components, controlis subject to bargaining between TNCs and host governments. This paper argues that by leaving acquisitions (that is, the ‘market for firms’) unregulated, Brazil has inadvertantly surrendered some of its bargaining power to TNCs. The paper's first section uses cases to show how the market for firms in the electrical industry favours TNCs, particularly because of their market power in technology and finance markets. A second section analyses the overall effects of TNCs' acquisitions on market structure and ownership changes, and finds that takeovers by TNCs raise both the level of industrial concentration and denotionalization. Foreign control of the electrical industry rose from 66% in 1960 to 77% in 1974, almost all attribute to TNCs' acquisition policies. It is argued that Brazil could substantially raise its gains from TNC investments by instituting a merger review and prohibiting non-socially beneficial takeovers.     

Why Do Chinese Private Enterprises Seek Outward Foreign Direct Investment?

China is currently in a period of economic transformation and the reform of the factor market still lags behind that of the product market. This study explores the reasons causing China's private enterprise to expand abroad from the perspective of domestic factor market imperfection. Using data for Chinese listed firms between 2002 and 2020, it examines whether outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has been undertaken by private enterprises as a response to domestic factor market imperfection. It finds that private enterprises located in regions with greater factor market imperfection have had a greater tendency to engage in OFDI. This effect has been more pronounced among firms with high productivity or high innovation capability, and among medium and small private enterprises.     

Competition in the Chinese market: Foreign firms and markups

This study addresses the issues of whether foreign firms outperform domestic firms in markups and whether the presence of foreign firms dampens the markup of their local counterparts in the Chinese market. Analysis of a firm-level panel dataset, we find foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs), particularly those not from Hong Kong–Macau–Taiwan, charging a higher markup. Estimations on the determinants of markups highlight the important roles played by technological capability and intangible assets. The potential channels and mechanisms are also discussed. Entering the Chinese market through joint ventures helps FIEs raise markups, and this effect is notable for HMT–FIEs, which might have a relative advantage of cultural proximity than other FIEs. Sharing equality with national capital to construct political connection (guanxi) also helps facilitate markups. Crucially, foreign presence is positively related to local firms’ markups, suggesting that the spillover and linkage effects dominate the competition pressure brought about by foreign direct investment.     

外资进入和我国企业的生产率：“溢出”抑或“挤出”效应

我国改革和开放是同时推进的,引进了众多外资企业来推动我国经济发展。那么,外资企业的进入是否有助于我国内资企业的成长？我们分析我国工业企业超大样本数据,探讨外资进入的影响,研究我国内资企业的生产率能否向效率前沿收敛。我们发现,我国不同类型的内资企业均存在效率前沿的收敛趋势,内外资企业生产率差距不断缩小。外资进入对我国内资企业的短期影响主要表现为溢出效应,但是对于同行业的其他外资企业呈现挤出效应,特别是其他独资外企。我们进一步发现外资进入的长期影响是挤出效应,但是对于国有企业和民营企业的影响却不尽相同。     

Export Spillovers to Chinese Firms: Evidence from Provincial Data

Multinational firms are important conduits of managerial skills, foreign market linkages, and technology. Foreign export spillovers associated with multinational firms have the potential to reduce entry costs for local exporting firms. This paper examines whether exports by multinational firms increase the probability of exporting by domestic Chinese firms. The findings from the Probit estimation highlight the varying relationships between multinational exports and local foreign entry based on the type of ownership. The results from separating foreign-invested enterprises into overseas Chinese companies and OECD-based multinational firms suggest that the export activity of the former does not increase the probability of exporting by local firms, whereas the latter positively influence the export decision of local firms, particularly under processing trade.     

外资进入和我国企业的生产率：“溢出”抑或“挤出”效应

我国改革和开放是同时推进的，引进了众多外资企业来推动我国经济发展。那么，外资企业的进入是否有助于我国内资企业的成长？本文分析我国工业企业超大样本数据，探讨外资进入的影响，研究我国内资企业的生产率能否向效率前沿收敛。结果发现，我国不同类型的内资企业均存在效率前沿的收敛趋势，内外资企业生产率差距不断缩小。外资进入对我国内资企业的短期影响主要表现为溢出效应，但是对于同行业的其他外资企业呈现挤出效应，特别是其他独资外企。我们进一步发现外资进入的长期影响是挤出效应，但是对于国有企业和民营企业的影响却不尽相同。     

Quantifying the vulnerabilities of China’s corporate sector with contingent claims

This paper measures and analyzes the default risk and debt sustainability of China’s non-financial corporate sector both on an aggregate level and within a sector by employing the contingent claims approach (CCA). Our results suggest that the vulnerabilities of Chinese firms are heterogenous in terms of investment source, ownership group, corporate form, industry type, and geographic unit etc. First, foreign capital enterprises have a lower default risk than domestic capital enterprises. Within domestic capital enterprises, state-owned firms have the lowest default risk, whereas private and collective firms are most unsustainable despite that they have the highest returns on assets. Second, state-controlled firms, private stock limited firms, and Chinese foreign cooperative firms are least vulnerable in the state-owned corporate sub-sector, the private corporate sub-sector and the foreign corporate sub-sector, respectively. Third, all industries except the coal industry are sustainable by industry type. Fourth, the vulnerabilities of local state-owned sub-sectors are diverse across China’s administrative regions. Moreover, we provide robustness tests which support our findings. In Sum, our study shed key light on ensuring the soundness of China’s non-financial corporate sector and thereby maintaining the stability and sustainability of the Chinese economy.     

海外子公司网络嵌入理论及其启示

20世纪90年代兴起的海外子公司网络嵌入理论对跨国公司投资区位选址和子公司自治行为产生重要的影响。对于引资落后地区,政府在战略规划和优化投资环境的相关政策、措施中,需要高度重视跨国公司对当地商业网络的需求,而当地企业也应创造条件主动进入海外子公司网络,增强向跨国     

Role of Transnational Corporations in the Evolution of a High-Tech Industry: The Case of India's Software Industry

India's software industry presents the case of an internationally competitive high-tech industry from a developing economy. This paper takes the evolution of the industry in terms of human capital accumulation. The initial stock of human capital leads to entry of transnational corporations (TNC), which triggers a cumulative process of further human capital accumulation through a process of externalities (spillovers) governed by firm-level and market structure dynamics. Spillovers from TNC operations are more effective when TNCs operate at higher end of technology and build backward linkages with local firms and institutions in a developing economy. The empirical exercises, based on the analysis of qualitative information collected through field interviews and econometric analysis of firm-level panel data, provide evidence of the positive contribution of TNCs for the evolution of the industry.     

Does Foreign Direct Investment Affect the Growth of Local Firms？ The Case of China＇s Electrical and Electronics Industry

Does foreign direct investment(FDI) into developing countries affect the growth of local firms in host countries? Using a dataset of 38 sectors in China’s electrical and electronics industry,in this paper,we analyze whether FDI has a positive effect on local firms,with technology spillovers,added value and increasing total factor productivity,or a negative, market stealing,effect.Estimating the relationship between growth of local firms and investment of foreign firms,our results show that FDI is likely to have a negative impact on the growth of local firms in sectors with large disparities in technology and less experience in business.Therefore,local firms lacking in technology need to find markets with no competition from foreign firms or determine strategies to compensate technology disparities.     

Toward an institutional ecology of establishment of foreign firms in the Chinese construction industry

In the current study, an integration of insights from institutional theory and organization ecology is used to explain the relationship between industry-level ownership structure and the establishment of foreign invested firms in the Chinese construction industry. It is argued that in a stated-owned enterprises dominated environment, where the market forces are weak, legitimation is the major driving force harming the proliferation of foreign firms, whereas in a private-enterprise dominated environment, where the market forces are strong, competition is the major driving force inhibiting the viability of foreign firms. Thus, concentration of either state ownership, implying lower legitimation of the foreign firm form, or concentration of private ownership, triggering tough competition from domestic private firms, is hypothesized to have a negative impact on the number of foreign firms. Using a regional data set from 1994 to 2007, estimation of a cross-section–time series model largely confirms our theoretical claims.     

我国第三方物流企业战略联盟研究

随着我国加入WTO后对服务业的开放,国外第三方物流企业的大量涌入,对于我国物流企业形成了巨大的冲击,激烈竞争的格局已经形成。建立战略联盟成为了我国第三方物流企业适应市场竞争,促进企业发展的必然选择。建立第三方物流企业战略联盟需要注意以下问题：树立明确的联盟目标;慎重选择合作伙伴;处理好联盟各方的企业文化差异;加强风险防范和提高联盟管理水平。     

Capital or knowhow: The role of foreign multinationals in Sino-foreign joint ventures

China's success in attracting foreign direct investment has been cast in doubt as mainly a transfer of capital, not knowhow, because its financial system is incapable of allocating domestic savings and hard-earned foreign reserves to domestic enterprises. To shed light on this debate, we examine the determinants of equity sharing in Sino-foreign joint ventures with the premise that the roles of foreign direct investment (in transferring capital or knowhow) should be reflected in equity sharing between multinational firms and local firms. Our empirical analysis offers strong evidence for foreign direct investment as a transfer of knowhow, but limited support for foreign direct investment as a transfer of capital, which points to the need for further reform in China's financial system.     

以沃尔玛为例探寻我国零售业的发展之路

近几年,我国零售业异军突起,发展迅速。然而随着我国加入WTO以及对商业领域的进一步扩大开放,许多国外的零售巨头都把自己发展的方向瞄准了我国。已进入和尚未进入中国的国外零售巨头必然采取各种各样的举措来抢占我国的零售市场。作为中国本土的零售业,在面临机遇的同时也将面临来自国外零售企业的竞争压力。随着外资像沃尔玛、家乐福等国际零售业巨头的进入,我国零售业的现有竞争力还不能和他们这些外资巨头相抗衡。因此,加快提升我国零售业的企业竞争力已经迫在眉睫。我们在与外资竞争的同时,也要根据我国的特殊国情,充分借鉴外资零售业成功经营的理念来发展自身企业。     

中国本土企业国际代工中技术转移程度的测算

本文首先阐述了我国本土企业国际代工中技术转移的主要途径,并通过比较FDI与垂直专业化,得出了反映本土企业参与国际代工的数据;然后通过两步计算,测算出了我国本土企业代工和这一过程中的技术转移程度。计算结果表明:1994～2008年以来中国本土企业国际代工所占份额与外资代工相比减少了,外资经济对本土企业有较大的挤出效应;本土企业国际代工中的技术转移程度总体是在上升的。但与外资相比,我国本土企业的国际代工份额和技术转移程度的差距不是在缩小,而是在扩大。     

Foreign Multinationals and Local Firms in Vietnam's Economic Transition*

This paper compares the economic performance of foreign multinational corporations (MNC) and local firms in Vietnam, distinguishing between two distinct types of local firms: state‐owned enterprises (SOE) and non‐SOE. Between the mid‐1990s and 2000, foreign MNC in Vietnam's economy grew very rapidly, but their growth has been much slower thereafter. Consistent with the theoretical suggestion that MNC possess relatively large amounts of firm‐specific assets related to production technology, marketing networks and management know‐how, these comparisons suggest that foreign MNC were generally larger and had higher labor productivity, capital intensity, wage levels, investment propensities and trade propensities than non‐MNC. On the other hand, foreign MNC tended to have relatively low capital productivity and wage shares of value added, while results regarding profitability were mixed. In general, these differentials tended to be relatively small between foreign MNC and SOE, and SOE tended to be larger than foreign MNC in terms of employment. Correspondingly, comparisons of foreign MNC with non‐MNC generally revealed more consistent differences, largely because the local private sector is still very underdeveloped in Vietnam.     

Multinationals and plant survival

The aim of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate how different ownership structures affect plant survival, and second, to analyze how the presence of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) affects domestic plants’ survival. Using a unique and detailed data set on the Swedish manufacturing sector, I am able to separate plants into those owned by foreign MNEs, domestic MNEs, exporting non-MNEs, and purely domestic firms. In line with previous findings, the result, when conditioned on other factors affecting survival, shows that foreign MNE plants have lower survival rates than non-MNE plants. However, separating the non-MNEs into exporters and non-exporters, the result shows that foreign MNE plants have higher survival rates than non-exporting non-MNEs, while the survival rates of foreign MNE plants and exporting non-MNE plants do not seem to differ. Moreover, the simple non-parametric estimates show that domestic MNE plants are more likely to exit the market than other plants, also when controlling for plant-specific differences. Finally, foreign presence in the market seems to have had a negative impact on the survival rate of plants in non-exporting non-MNEs, but not to have affected plants in exporting non-MNEs or plants in domestic MNEs.     

How Chinese firms learn technology from transnational corporations: A comparison of the telecommunication and automobile industries

China has been utilizing foreign direct investment (FDI) based on the strategy of “trading market access for technology” since 1978. However, there are differences in opinion regarding the performance of China's strategy. This paper examines the growth of technological capability of Chinese indigenous firms under a revised model of technological learning and catch-up based on research by Kim (1997) and Lee and Lim (2001). The paper investigates the process of industrial growth in China by developing the two cases of the telecommunication equipment industry and the automobile industry, and analyzes the aforementioned strategy from the viewpoint of technological learning and industrial catch-up. This study finds that knowledge was gained by leveraging China's huge market to “trade market access for technology”, and that indigenous firms must enhance the intensity of their efforts to assimilate acquired technologies so as to improve their technological capabilities. Through comparison of the two industries, we find that industrial policy regulating private firms’ market access directly affects the performance of the industrial catch-up.     

Firm Efficiency in Cambodia's Garment Industry on the Eve of the Multi‐Fiber Arrangement Termination

Applying a frontier analysis to 2004 firm‐level data, the present paper investigates firm efficiency and its determinants for Cambodia's garment industry. The study finds that firm experience and remuneration are crucial for improving scale efficiency and overall technical efficiency, while effective use of capital and adequate labor‐skill development are important for enhancing a firm's technical capabilities. Foreign‐owned enterprises with a relatively larger share of foreign labor outperform local firms. However, the present study does not reveal evidence of any advantages of a cluster‐type concentration in Phnom Penh and export markets, nor of any positive impacts of product specialization. The findings imply a need to support skill development for workers and local managers at the middle management level, and to streamline foreign direct investment measures to attract greater numbers of efficient foreign enterprises, so as to promote the development of the garment industry as a whole.