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.     

Impediments to Promoting Backward Linkages from the Garment Industry in Sri Lanka

The slow growth of backward linkages from the garment industries (export-oriented) in developing countries and the policy merits of promoting these linkages have considerable contemporary relevance. Backward linkages are useful particularly for a garment industry to reduce the lead time and remain competitive in the international market. Local suppliers to the garment industry cannot function however unless conditions exist which allow them to be competitive. Furthermore, in a world where multinational garment-buying firms are dominant, a large import dependence in the garment industry does not necessarily imply that there are many opportunities to create local supplies and thereby create backward linkages. These factors are shown from the Sri Lankan attempts to promote backward linkages from the garment industry. It is argued that formation of backward linkages in the garment industry that operate in an open economy such as Sri Lanka is a natural outcome of industrial deepening and therefore will be time dependent. It is noted that even with less backward linkages, the garment industry in Sri Lanka has contributed significantly to foreign exchange earnings and employment creation in the country.     

Death of linkages in host countries? A firm‐level study on the channels of productivity spillovers in the Malaysian manufacturing sector

Productivity spillovers from multinational corporations (MNCs) to local firms have been an area of keen research interest in developing economics. Claims of positive spillovers in the form of technology transfers have been questionable, in part because of the many ambiguous conclusions obtained. The paper argues that the lack of focus in the mechanisms underpinning spillovers may be one of the reasons for the ambiguity. Using local input–output linkages as the mechanism for technology transfer, this study examines the presence and the enabling conditions for spillovers. Accounting for the variations in firms' characteristics, the findings show that skills‐oriented MNCs participating in international production networks transmit horizontal spillovers to local establishments. Vertical spillovers from MNCs are mostly relevant only to lower‐skilled establishments. For skilled and export‐oriented local establishments, technologies learned from producing for international production networks are more significant than forming linkages with MNCs in the domestic market.     

Testing for horizontal and vertical foreign investment spillovers in China, 1998–2007

As with many developing countries, the Chinese government hopes that knowledge brought by multinationals will spill over to domestic industries and increase their productivity. In this paper, we show that foreign investment originating outside of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan has positive effects on individual firm level productivity, while foreign investment from HKMT firms does not. We also test for both horizontal (within the same industry) and vertical (upstream or downstream) linkages from foreign investment. Using a manufacturing firm-level panel for 1998 through 2007, we find zero or weak positive horizontal externalities. However, our results show that foreign direct investment (FDI) has generated positive productivity spillovers to domestic firms via backward linkages (the contacts between foreign affiliates and their local suppliers in downstream sectors) as well as forward linkages (between foreign suppliers and their local buyers in the upstream sectors).     

跨国公司垂直技术转移、后向关联与东道国产业的发展

跨国公司进入东道国通过两种重要途径影响东道国产业发展:一是技术转移;二是产生后向关联效应。而现有文献很少将二者放在一起研究,本文则试图通过建立东道国上下游产业的古诺竞争均衡模型,分析垂直技术转移与后向关联效应之间的关系、并讨论跨国公司垂直技术转移方式的决定条件及其对东道国上下游产业发展的不同影响。     

FDI的前后向关联和中国制造业企业生产率的提升——基于地理距离的研究

本文采用微观企业面板数据,运用投入产出表构建前后向关联指标,引入基于地理距离的空间权重矩阵,探讨FDI是否通过前后向的关联提升了中国制造业企业的生产率.研究发现,就全国范围看,FDI通过前向关联,提高了我国企业的生产率,但没有通过后向关联对企业生产率有所影响.纳入地理距离因素后,外资的前向关联技术外溢效应仍存在,但数值...     

Comparisons of Foreign Multinationals and Local Firms in Asian Manufacturing over Time

This paper first shows that shares of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) in the manufacturing sectors of five Asian host economies (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan) were generally large in terms of exports, small in terms of employment and moderate in terms of production. Correspondingly, the average product of labour and export propensities were often significantly higher in foreign MNCs than in local firms. In addition, foreign MNCs tended to be relatively large and to have relatively high average capital productivity, capital intensity, skilled-labour intensity, R&D intensity, profit rates and import propensities, but relatively low shares of labour compensation in value added, and these differences were also statistically significant in many cases. Differences between wholly- or heavily-foreign plants and foreign plants with lower foreign ownership shares were also significant in many cases and generally in the same direction as the differences between MNCs and local plants noted above. Differences among MNCs by foreign source were generally small and insignificant in Hong Kong. In Singapore, European and US firms tended to be larger and characterized by relatively high average labour productivity, capital intensity, profitability and export propensities, but relatively low shares of labour compensation in value added compared to Japanese and other Asian firms.     

Foreign Investment,Divestment and Relocation by Japanese Electronics Firms in East Asia*

Although foreign divestment and international relocation by multinational firms carry important economic implications for the industrialization of East Asian countries, there has been little empirical research on these issues. In this paper we analyze the magnitude and pattern of foreign divestment and relocation by Japanese electronics firms in nine East Asian countries during 1995–2003. The average annual divestment rate of electronics manufacturing affiliates is 3 percent, but divestment patterns diverge strongly across countries. Divestments are much more frequent in higher labor cost countries and in approximately one‐third of cases are accompanied by relocations to lower wage countries, particularly to China. Evidence is found for rivalry between China and ASEAN countries in attracting foreign direct investment, but the growing attractiveness of China has not been accompanied by a reduction in employment in Japanese affiliates in ASEAN countries (with the exception of Singapore). Divestments and relocations are related to Japanese firms’ strategy to reconfigure their Asian production networks in response to changing competitiveness, regional integration, and changes in local investment environments.     

Business groups,foreign direct investment,and capital goods trade: The import behavior of Japanese affiliates

We examine the impact of buyer–supplier relationships within business groups on capital goods trade by taking into account potential simultaneous effects of business group ties on foreign direct investment. We posit that (1) foreign affiliates of business group firms have a greater propensity to import capital goods from the home country, increasing home country exports; (2) if the establishment of overseas affiliates by business group firms attracts foreign direct investment by their capital goods suppliers, business group ties are localized and the ‘trade creating’ impact of business group ties may disappear or even be reversed. Empirical analysis of capital goods imports by 1790 manufacturing affiliates operated abroad by Japanese multinational firms, combined with information on linkages with machinery suppliers within horizontal and vertical business groups, provides broad support for these predictions. Our findings suggest that it may be incorrect to infer from the absence of a simple relationship between business group ties and trade that such ties are unimportant; instead, intra-group ties may be replicated abroad through foreign direct investment.     

The Impact of Multinational Presence on Domestic Investment: Firm‐Level Evidence from South Korea

In order to analyze the effects of foreign multinationals' presence on domestic firms' investment, we use a detailed firm level data set from South Korea for the 2006–2014 period. We combine it with the input‐output tables provided by the Bank of Korea to construct industry level measures of multinational presence in sectors that are horizontally and vertically linked, and estimate dynamic investment equations that are augmented with these foreign presence measures. We find a positive and significant effect of foreign presence in both horizontally and vertically linked industries on domestic firm's investment rate, with larger effects arising from multinational presence in the supplying sectors. Quantitatively, a 2 percentage point increase in the presence of multinational suppliers increases the domestic firm's investment rate by 3.24 percentage points. We also find that this effect is larger for small and medium firms, private firms, nonexporters, firms that are not part of a chaebol, and for firms in external finance dependent industries. A similar 2 percentage point increase in the foreign presence in downstream sectors increases the investment rate of domestic suppliers by 0.55 percentage points. This effect is larger if the domestic firm is part of a chaebol, or is in a less external finance dependent industry. Investment increase by 0.53 percentage points following a 2 percentage point increase in horizontal linkages.     

Financial and profit performance of MNCs in developing countries: Some evidence from an Indian and Columbian sample

This paper presents detailed information on the financing patterns and profit performance of a sample of multinational and other manufacturing firms in India and Columbia. It finds that local borrowing patterns of MNCs do not differ significantly from those of other firms, that MNC affiliates tend to pay lower interest rates abroad, that multinationality as such does not exercise a significant influence on profitability, and that local advertising and borrowing patterns have some effects on profitability.     

Agglomeration effects of inter-firm backward and forward linkages: Evidence from Japanese manufacturing investment in China

This paper examines the agglomeration effects of multinational firms on the location decisions of first-time Japanese manufacturing investors in China for the period 1995–2007. This is accomplished by exploiting newly constructed measures of inter-firm backward and forward linkages formed in a home country. The conditional and mixed logit estimates reveal that agglomeration by first-tier suppliers and customers draws subsequent investment into a location. However, such agglomeration effects are not pervasive and do not extend to the second and third tiers. Instead, we find that agglomeration by third-tier suppliers generates a countervailing force, making a location relatively unattractive.     

Vertical Spillover Effects of Multinationals on Chinese Domestic Firms via Supplier-Customer Relationships

Foreign direct investment （FDI） can benefit domestic firms in the host country. Using firm- level data for China, we find statistically positive vertical spillover effects of multinational enterprises on the performance of domestic firms through backward and forward supplier- customer relationships. The spillover effects are mainly from large multinational enterprises and are greater for state-owned firms and in poor regions. Our results are robust for both parametric regression and nonparametric matching techniques. Our findings have strong policy implications： while regulations relating to building business relationships with domestic firms when seeking foreign direct investment should be established, such policies should be aimed at private firms, big multinationals and less developed regions.     

跨国公司对东道国企业技术创新的影响

在下游企业顺序进入市场条件下,本文分析了跨国公司对于上游企业创新动机的影响。我们的研究表明:上游企业的创新投入既取决于其国有股的比重又取决于下游企业的国别属性以及市场势力。具体而言,如果上游企业是一个私营企业,那么下游企业的国别属性不影响其研发投入。相反,倘若上游企业是一个纯粹的国有企业,那么只有当下游企业均为国外企业时,其研发投入不足,在其他情况下,上游企业的研发投入相同。假如上游企业是一个部分国有企业,那么下游跨国公司的市场势力越大,其研发动力越低。     

Innovation, competition and the structure of local production networks: Initial findings from the Hertfordshire project

This paper reports the initial findings of an ESRC-funded study in Hertfordshire into how award-winning innovative firms organise their production arrangements. The study is a pilot project which was based on three initial operational assumptions: first, that innovation is not entirely an aspatial phenomenon; second, that modern production structures are taking new forms — variously described as post-Fordist, or flexible specialisation (flex-spec) — particularly in areas which are rich in commercial research and development (R&D) activities; and, finally, that as a consequence innovative firms in these areas commonly form production linkages with each other to create local production networks (LPNs).

The research was carried out in the county of Hertfordshire just to the north of Greater London. Hertfordshire was selected because, according to a number of measures, it is one of the key areas for R&D in the UK. On the basis of our initial, limited empirical sample of firms in Hertfordshire, a key finding of the research was that a significant majority of the innovative firms sampled — both large and small — were not actually organised in LPNs in any recognisable way and that local post-Fordist production was either extremely limited in its operation or, more commonly for most firms, was non-existent — instead, these firms normally acted as local, relatively free-standing entities which were much more likely to be in competition with other local firms, than form production linkages with them.     

Multinational banking and economic development: a case study

Evidence of inward foreign direct investment by commercial banks into two regions of China is used to examine the effect or relaxation of controls over inward investment on investment by nonfinancial firms. The existence of sophisticated intermediaries with experience in the international financial system creates conditions for a verifiable, sharp increase in the rate of inward investment by multinational corporations. Two explanations are advanced: the newly available expertise in the international financial system allows multinational firms to invest with the assurance that they will have sophisticated capability to hedge risks and, because the financial sector is a sensitive sector, permission for multinational banks to enter is a sign of a commitment to a policy of open industrialization.     

FDI研发溢出效应对内资企业劳动生产率影响研究——以广东机动车和电子业为例

本研究比较了FDI研发活动对广东本地机动车和电子企业劳动生产率的影响.在机动车业,FDI和本地组装企业对本地零件供应企业都具有垂直溢出效应;对于水平溢出效应,以销售额为权重的水平溢出效应使得本地内资企业劳动生产率提高,而零件供应业的FDI按照人力资本为权重的水平溢出效应并没有提高本地零件供应企业的劳动生产率,竞争者之间的水平溢出效应与存在互补关系双方的垂直溢出效应相比,相对较弱.对于电子业,垂直溢出效应较小,而无论是以销售额为权重还是以就业人员为权重,电子业的水平溢出效应都不显著.     

汇率不确定性与FDI

关于汇率波动如何影响FDI的问题，一直以来都是学者们争论不休的话题。基于以往对FDI的局部均衡分析中将汇率看作外生因子的局限性。本论文借鉴最优货币区理论中的一般均衡分析框架，将汇率设定为由经济基本因素所决定的内生因子，其中重点分析货币因素的变化对汇率，进而对FDI产生影响的机制；从而调和了过去局部均衡分析所得出的矛盾观点，指出，汇率是促进还是抑制FDI主要取决于影响汇率波动的具体因素。     

Foreign Investment and the Global Geography of Production: Why the Mexican Consumer Electronics Industry Failed

Explanations of industrial development in late-developing countries have become narrowly focused on the capability of governments to promote, pressure, or punish nationally-owned firms. Often overlooked is the contribution of firms, both national and multinational, in propelling, coordinating, and determining the path and location of such development. This paper examines the conditions that led to the decline of Mexico's consumer electronics industry and presents new evidence to support a more complex account of the role of both industrial and state actors within this process.In contrast to the traditional market- or state-based theories, we argue that the decline of Mexico's consumer electronics industry largely resulted from its foreign investment regime, particularly the timing of investment and the geographical locations of local and foreign manufacturers, and the subsequent depth and quality of the relationships between these firms. The differences between Mexico's regime and that of Taiwan during the same period provide further evidence of the important role that foreign firms play in inserting local suppliers into the global production chain. We argue that Mexico's foreign investment regime and the resulting weak local-foreign ties, rather than inadequate state policy, sealed the fate of Mexico's once thriving domestic electronics industry.     

知识产权保护、东道国特征与外商直接投资:一个跨国的经验研究

经济理论表明,加强知识产权保护强化了区位优势,使得跨国公司的所有权优势和内部化优势更加巩固,从而促使跨国公司以FDI方式代替出口贸易。但过强的知识产权保护又会降低跨国公司内部化的必要性,从而导致跨国公司以技术许可方式代替FDI。因此理论上,知识产权保护对FDI的影响是不确定的。为此,本文利用1976～2000年60个发展中国家的面板数据考察了知识产权保护对发展中国家FDI的影响。研究结果显示:加强知识产权保护对发展中国家FDI的影响受到经济发展水平、市场规模、吸收能力、开放政策、关税政策和制度质量等东道国特征的制约。知识产权保护对FDI的影响存在显著的行业特征:对于那些技术含量低或不易模仿的行业如劳动密集型和资本密集型行业,东道国知识产权保护强度对FDI的影响不显著;而对于那些技术含量高或较易模仿的行业如技术密集型行业,知识产权保护强度对FDI的影响非常显著。