Exporting behavior of foreign affiliates: Theory and evidence

Firms have increasingly conducted different stages of production in different countries. In particular, they may set up operations in low-cost countries (those operations are referred to as foreign affiliates in those countries) either as platforms for export or serving the growing markets there. What is the exporting behavior of foreign affiliates? In this paper, using data from China, we find that among foreign affiliates exporters are less productive than non-exporters. We then offer a theoretical explanation by incorporating into the standard firm heterogeneity model the possibility that firms could have different stages of production in different countries.     

Networks of foreign affiliates: Evidence from Japanese micro-data

The paper provides evidence of the investment patterns of Japanese multinational enterprises (MNEs) across countries and industries and analyses the main drivers of their location strategies, using detailed micro-data on Japanese parents and their affiliates including the final destination of affiliate sales. The breakdown of affiliate sales by destination market reveals that Japanese MNEs establish services affiliates primarily to maximise proximity to local customers, while foreign affiliates in manufacturing sectors tend to engage more widely with third countries. Yet, some economies emerge as strategic gateways to other destinations in their region. The empirical analysis delves into the drivers of host country attractiveness for FDI seeking new markets, production efficiency and to act as regional or global platforms. Important factors shaping Japanese FDI decisions include trade and investment policies in goods and services, deep FTAs, as well as streamlined customs procedures. Furthermore, well-calibrated rules for digital commerce and investments in digital infrastructure and innovation contribute to attracting MNEs. Overall, the paper stresses the factors behind better integration into global production networks and the policy priorities to attract various types of FDI inflows.     

Sourcing patterns of export‐platform foreign affiliates: The case of Japanese affiliates in Mexico

This study investigates the sourcing patterns of Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico, which mainly export to the United States and Canada. We propose a novel approach to estimate intermediate input elasticities of exports by sourcing country. We find that, on average, Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico source intermediate inputs from third countries, including the United States and Canada, rather than from Japan and Mexico, suggesting that Japanese export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico are mainly integrated into the vertical production networks back and forth between Mexico, the United States and Canada. In turn, Japanese foreign affiliates selling domestically in Mexico source intermediate inputs not only within the North American Free Trade Agreement countries but also from Japan. In addition, we find that export‐platform foreign affiliates in Mexico use more labour‐intensive production than do foreign affiliates selling domestically in Mexico. This suggests that saving labour costs is one of the motives for export‐platform foreign direct investment in Mexico.     

A closer look at the productivity advantage of foreign affiliates

In analyzing firm productivity in Belgium, this article shows empirically that both scale and efficiency contribute positively to the typical productivity advantage of foreign affiliates. Stochastic production frontier estimation using the translog functional form indicates that foreign subsidiaries exploit economies of scale more fully and benefit from better (transferred) technological capabilities than Belgian national firms (i.e., Belgian owned firms without subsidiaries abroad). Belgian multinational enterprises (MNEs), i.e., Belgian owned firms with at least one subsidiary abroad, resemble foreign‐based MNEs in possessing specific technological advantages. While the increasing globalization has facilitated the realization of scale effects across borders, this article shows that the development of technological capabilities/advantages is still a prerequisite for MNEs to compete successfully abroad.     

Ownership control of foreign affiliates: A property rights theory perspective

This paper applies property rights theory to explain changes in foreign affiliates’ ownership. Post-entry ownership change is driven by both firm-level characteristics and by the differences in the institutional environments in host countries. We distinguish between financial market development and the level of corruption as two different institutional dimensions, such that changes along these dimensions impact upon ownership change in different ways. Furthermore, we argue that changes in ownership are affected by the foreign affiliate’s relatedness with its parent’s sector, as well as by the affiliate’s maturity. We use firm level data across 125 host countries to test our hypotheses.     

试论如何运用外汇期货套期保值规避外汇风险

在全球经济环境下,我国的企业如何面临日益不断加剧的外汇风险,以及我国的外汇期货套期保值一旦出现了风险要如何规避,这都是我们需要运用完善、丰富的相关外汇期货套期保值时所要思考规避外汇风险的具体问题.针对于企业的实际经营,利用合理的外汇期货来规避、防范外汇期货交易及汇率等风险套期保值策略,能够在一定程度上规避其所面临的外汇风险,通过掌握外汇汇率的变动给予外货期货一定的安全性,从而降低由于外汇所带来的一系列风险问题.     

Testing the rate forecasting consistency of major foreign currency futures

This paper examines the forecasting accuracy of currency futures markets in Canadian Dollars, British Pounds, Japanese Yen, German Marks, and Swiss Francs in predicting the actual spot rates that will exist in the spot market for these currencies. A second objective is to determine if the accuracy of the forecast is related to the time to maturity of the currency futures contract relative to the actual spot rate for that currency. The results indicate that the currency futures market appears to be a reasonably good forecaster of future currency spot rates.     

Corporate foreign currency borrowing and investment: The case of Hungary

The paper investigates the impact of foreign currency lending on investment. Using Hungarian firm level data, we test whether foreign currency lending contributed to larger investment before the crisis and whether the depreciation during the Great Recession resulted in lower investment rate for firms with foreign currency loans. Results of OLS and matching estimations show that before the crisis FX lending increased investment rates and during the crisis the investment rate of firms with FX loans declined more because of the balance sheet effects triggered by the depreciation. These effects were found to be more pronounced for liquidity constrained firms.     

"创牌"跨越"创汇"的困惑

一味"创汇",中国企业与世界名牌无缘 长期以来,中国缺的是资本,外汇更为稀罕.因而,开放之初,政府制定了出口创汇的外向型经济战略.在短缺经济环境下,这一战略功不可没,十多年后,我国外汇储备总量已位居世界前列.然而,新历史时期,中国企业渴望挤身世界名牌和<财富>500强,不再只满足于"创汇",而是要"创牌",创世界名牌.     

Empirical performance of alternative pricing models of currency options

This article examines the out‐of‐sample pricing performance and biases of the Heston’s stochastic volatility and modified Black‐Scholes option pricing models in valuing European currency call options written on British pound. The modified Black‐Scholes model with daily‐revised implied volatilities performs as well as the stochastic volatility model in the aggregate sample. Both models provide close and similar correspondence to actual prices for options trading near‐ or at‐the‐money. The prices generated from the stochastic volatility model are subject to fewer and weaker aggregate pricing biases than are the prices from the modified Black‐Scholes model. Thus, the stochastic volatility model may provide improved estimates of the measures of option price sensitivities to key option parameters that may lead to more effective hedging and speculative strategies using currency options. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 20:265–291, 2000