Employment in domestic plants and foreign affiliates: A note on the elasticity of substitution

Conclusions For a high-wage country like Austria, it is commonly expected that growing employment in foreign affiliates substitutes jobs at home. This paper provides a simple framework for estimating the determinants of relative labor demand (abroad in relation to that at home) bilaterally. It is based on the relationship of (dis)economies and transportation costs under the hypothesis that goods trade is an imperfect substitute for foreign production in the case of horizontal investments, while with respect to vertical investments, goods trade is solely dependent on relative market size. The estimates are based on bilateral industry-level data on foreign affiliates and the domestic activities of Austrian manufacturing firms, covering the period 1990–1996, the 10 most important host countries and 7 industrial sectors.     

Financial constraints and foreign direct investment: firm-level evidence

Low productivity is an important barrier to the cross-border expansion of firms. But firms may also need external finance to shoulder the costs of entering foreign markets. We develop a model of multinational firms facing real and financial barriers to foreign direct investment (FDI), and we analyze their impact on the FDI decision. Theoretically, we show that financial constraints can affect highly productive firms more than firms with low productivity because the former are more likely to expand abroad. We provide empirical evidence based on a detailed dataset of German domestic and multinational firms which contains information on parent-level financial constraints as well as on the location the foreign affiliates. We find that financial factors constrain firms’ foreign investment decisions, an effect felt in particular by firms most likely to consider investing abroad. The locational information in our dataset allows exploiting cross-country differences in contract enforcement. Consistent with theory, we find that poor contract enforcement in the host country has a negative impact on FDI decisions.     

The origin of FDI and domestic firms’ productivity—Evidence from Vietnam

This study examines how the origin of foreign investors affects the degree of horizontal and vertical technological spillovers, using firm-level panel data from Vietnam in 2002–2011. The results show a positive association between the presence of Asian firms in downstream sectors and the productivity of Vietnamese firms in supply industries, but no significant relationship in the case of European and North American affiliates. Within Asia, we find that foreign direct investment from China and Taiwan generates positive vertical spillovers to local suppliers. We hypothesize that distance, preferential trade agreements, and institutional or technological differences that affect the degree of local sourcing significantly impact vertical spillovers from foreign direct investment. The horizontal spillover effects are in general negative and statistically significant. Various robustness checks are performed.     

Foreign direct investment in crisis and recovery: lessons from the 1997–1998 Asian crisis

Is foreign direct investment more resilient at the onset of an economic crisis and the subsequent economic collapse in a host country compared to other forms of foreign capital inflows? Are affiliates of multinational enterprises in a crisis‐hit country better equipped to withstand a crisis and aid the recovery process by readjusting their investment, production and sales strategies compared to local firms? This article examines these issues in the context of the 1997–1998 economic crisis in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea and the Philippines. The findings suggest that foreign direct investment was a relatively stable source of foreign capital in the crisis context and that the affiliates of multinational enterprises were instrumental in ameliorating the severity of economic collapse and facilitating the recovery process.     

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).     

Global production sharing and the FDI–trade nexus: New evidence from the Japanese automobile industry

The growing importance of global production sharing makes the nexus between outward foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade in intermediate goods ever more important. This study employs newly-constructed product-level data covering 32 products and 49 host countries over the period 1993–2008 and finds evidence that FDI by upstream firms leads to additional exports of intermediate goods from the home country. The finding of a complementary relationship between FDI and intermediate exports from Japan runs counter to the popular view that the growing overseas activity of multinational enterprises could replace intermediate exports from a home country, thereby depriving the home country of job opportunities.     

International relocation,difference in production costs,and welfare: An analysis based on a two-country model

This paper examines whether or not the globalization of Japanese companies is a problem for the Japanese economy. To examine this, using the theoretical model, the paper examines whether the globalization of home-located tradable goods firms provides a benefit to the home country from the perspective of welfare. Specifically, since globalization is thought to have begun based on the difference in production costs of the home and the foreign country, we examine how an increase of productivity in the foreign non-tradable goods sector, which is the principal factor in the difference in production costs between the two countries, affects the welfare of the home country. We show that such an increase of productivity not only induces enterprise relocation, but also improves the welfare of the home country. In particular, the latter is demonstrated by an increase in the real flow of dividends that results from holding equities in tradable goods firms located abroad, i.e., the improvement in the income account. Hence, since the prediction of the model indicates that the globalization of firms is not a problem, it can be said that the globalization of Japanese firms is not a problem for the Japanese economy.     

Anti-dumping Policies and International Portfolio Allocation: The View from the Global Funds

Anti-dumping policies, as one of the most important nontariff measures to protect a country's economic interests, can have an impact not only on a country's trade and social welfare, but also on capital flows. Anti-dumping measures can result in increased trade costs and alterations to exchange rate risk. This study investigates the impact of anti-dumping sanctions on the international portfolio allocations of global funds. Antidumping policies can decrease the proportion of a fund's investment portfolio allocated to recently-sanctioned countries. Closer trade ties between the sanctioned country and the country where a fund is domiciled exacerbate the divestiture, but stronger foreign direct investment links weaken the negative association. Some country and fund heterogeneities are also discussed. We find that more developed countries are less affected by the impact of anti-dumping measures on equity fund allocations; liberalization of the economy and stable government could also mitigate the negative impact of anti-dumping sanctions. High-risk funds, such as growth funds or funds that invest in leveraged buyouts, showed the greatest response to changes in anti-dumping regulations.     

Affiliates and parent employment through foreign direct investment: a study case of substitutability or complementarity

How does outward foreign direct investment (FDI) affect employment of multinationals in the home country? Does the impact of outward investment differ among manufacturing and service sectors? Using data on Italian MNEs, this paper examines the impact of Italian outward FDI on local employment between 1998 and 2006. In particular, we investigate the relationship existing between employment in the parent company and employment in foreign affiliates by distinguishing according to host-country location and sector of activity. The results suggest that the effects of Italian outward FDI on domestic employment differ according to the sector and the country of destination. In the manufacturing sector, a weak but significant relationship of labour substitutability is found for Italian MNEs producing low-technology products in foreign affiliates localized in high-wage countries. On the other hand, a significant North–south complementarity relationship in labour demands appears in the High and Medium-high- technology sectors. In the service sector, we find strong complementarity between employment in the parent firm and employment in foreign affiliates: in particular, this regards Italian MNEs producing knowledge-intensive services both in Western affiliates and CEEC locations. These results are robust when we control for endogeneity of output and parent wages.     

Does China Transfer Productivity Enhancing Technology to Sub‐Saharan Africa? Evidence from Manufacturing Firms*

Abstract: This paper considers whether trade between China and sub‐Saharan Africa results in productivity‐enhancing technology transfers to sub‐Saharan African manufacturing firms. As trade flows between countries potentially results in interactions that lead to technological improvements in the production of goods and services, we parameterize the level of total factor productivity for African manufacturing firms as a function of foreign direct investment flow, and for the country in which it operates, trade openness with China, and its interaction with foreign direct investment. With micro‐level data on manufacturing firms in five sub‐Saharan African countries, we estimate the parameters of firm‐level production functions between 1992 and 2004. Our parameter estimates reveal that across the firms and countries in our sample, there is no relationship between productivity‐enhancing foreign direct investment and trade with China. In addition, increasing trade openness with China has no effect on the growth rate of total factor productivity. To the extent that total factor productivity and its growth is a crucial determinant of economic growth and living standards in the long run, our results suggest that increasing trade openness with China is not a long‐run source of higher living standards for sub‐Saharan Africa.     

Investissement étranger et développement régional : le cas de l’industrie automobile au Portugal

This paper tries to conceptualise the role of inward investment to the regional development process. The stereotype of the plundering of regional resources by foreign capital seems, in many cases, to belong to the past. Major firms, such as the transnationals, tend to emulate some organisational models characteristic to SME, thus establishing strong linkages with regional firms and local institutions. The study of the automobile cluster polarised by Autoeuropa (a VW plant) and its value chain allowed stressing the technological and organisational innovation in the Autoeuropa suppliers as a result of collaboration and co-operation forms of relation in the network. Among the most stimulating conclusions, one may highlight the existence of relevant forms of trade and untraded interdependencies between Autoeuropa and a restricted group of suppliers, which contradict the “cathedral in the desert” stereotype and confirm a new type of relation between inward investment and the regional development process.     

Indonesia's missing multinationals: business groups and outward direct investment

Some countries produce more multinational enterprises (MNEs) than others. India and China, in particular, have produced a number of dynamic MNEs whose success abroad generates important economic benefits for the home economy. Motivated by this observation, we describe the internationalisation record of Indonesia's major business groups. Using an archival analysis method, we find that, with a few exceptions, Indonesia's largest business groupings focus predominantly upon the domestic market. We advance two explanations for this investment pattern. The first suggests that the apparent absence of Indonesian MNEs is an accounting error, because firms’ outward investment is under-reported in official statistics. The second suggests that Indonesian outward foreign direct investment is impeded by a combination of institutional and firm-level factors that arrest the internationalisation of all but the largest firms. We discuss the policy implications of these findings and reflect on their theoretical implications.     

Host country competition,labor skills,and technology transfer by multinationals

Host Country Competition, Labor Skills, and Technology Transfer by Multinationals. — This paper examines the impact of local competition and the availability of skilled labor on the technology imports of foreign MNC affiliates in Mexican manufacturing industries. The authors find that proxies for local competition and labor skills are positively related to the recorded technology imports of foreign owned affiliates. The effects of competition appear to be particularly strong in intermediate and consumer goods industries, while the availability of skilled labor seems to be particularly important in durable and capital goods industries. Thus, government policies aiming to create a competitive climate and improve labor quality may also promote inflows of modern technology.     

绿地投资还是跨国并购:中国企业OFDI模式选择研究

对外直接投资模式选择是企业国际化战略中的关键决策。文章运用中国工业企业数据库和商务部境外投资企业名录匹配基础上的补充数据，实证考察企业在绿地投资和跨国并购之间的对外投资模式选择。研究表明：随着企业生产率、资本密集度，以及东道国经济发展水平、关税水平和制度环境的提升，企业进行跨国并购的概率提高；随着企业规模、研发投入，以及东道国市场规模、文化距离的增大，企业选择绿地投资的概率提高；相比来看，非国有企业、资本密集型企业和具有国际化经验的企业对各类影响因素更加敏感，在OFDI模式选择中受到的影响程度更大。     

Platforms in the Pacific: the trade effects of direct investment in Thailand

Thailand, as other ASEAN countries, experienced a dramatic surge of inward foreign direct investment in the late 1980s. These investments took place in relatively advanced, export-oriented industries. This study examines the effects of these investments on Thailand's trade, using a new methodology based on international input-output analysis. This framework accounts for the direct trade of foreign-affiliated companies as well as their indirect trade effects, including the displacement of competing imports, on one hand, and the procurement of imported intermediate inputs and capital goods, on the other. The framework is implemented with data from a Japanese Chamber of Commerce (Bangkok) survey. The results show, among other things, that Japanese-affiliated firms tend to offset their large direct trade deficits in the longer run with substantial indirect trade surpluses. These firms do, however, contribute to “triangular trade”-that is, Thai trade deficits with Japan, and surpluses with other countries.     

Trade Propensities and Foreign Ownership Shares in Indonesian Manufacturing

This paper examines the relationship between trade propensities and foreign ownership shares in Indonesian manufacturing in 1992 and 1994. Foreign plants had relatively high trade propensities, and plants with high foreign ownership shares had the highest export propensities. Differences in import propensities among foreign ownership groups were relatively small. It might be argued that trade propensities determine foreign ownership shares in Indonesia, which historically waives foreign ownership restrictions for firms that export much of their output. However, this paper argues that causation runs from foreign ownership shares to trade propensities, because multinational firms have strong incentives to restrict access by uncontrolled affiliates to their international marketing networks, and because the relationship persists even when the effects of policy distortions are accounted for. Correspondingly, ownership restrictions that discriminate among foreign ownership groups are likely to reduce the exports of foreign multinational affiliates, but to have a much weaker effect on imports.     

中国企业走出去的理论解读

本文首先从国际商务和国际经济学两个角度对企业对外直接投资理论进行了概述;然后结合中国企业走出去的实际,从资源论、产业组织论、制度论的角度进行了理论探索以及实证经验的总结。文章发现现阶段中国走出去的企业没有明显的资源优势;产业环境对中国企业国际化有重要影响,能部分地解释中国企业的走出去行为;制度因素是影响中国企业走出去的关键因素。     

地区制度发展的动态变化与企业对外直接投资:来自中国上市公司的经验证据

母国制度环境对于新兴经济体企业的国际化战略与行为具有重要影响。以往的文献多关注于制度发展的水平,而忽视了制度发展的动态特征,即基于制度理论和信号理论,文章探讨和分析了中国各地区制度发展的三个特征,即速度、节奏和同步性对于企业对外直接投资的作用机制,并利用2003~2014年中国上市公司的微观数据进行了检验。研究结果显示,制度发展的速度越慢、越不规律、越不同步,企业越倾向于进行对外直接投资,开展国际化经营。同时,业绩压力和模仿同构压力调节了制度变化特征与对外直接投资之间的关系,并存在双重强化效应。进一步的分析表明,在预期面临制度约束时,非国有企业进行对外投资的意愿更强,企业也更倾向于进入制度环境相对优良的国家和地区。文章的研究深化了对制度构成及其维度的理解,进一步丰富了制度理论和新兴经济体跨国公司理论,对加强中国的制度建设具有启示意义。     

Outward investment, employment, and wages in Swedish multinationals

Examining detailed data for the home-country operations in Swedishmultinationals during the period 1986-94, this paper shows thatthere are signs of very notable structural changes in the home-countryoperations of these corporations. It also shows that the effectsvary according to economic conditions in the home country. Inthe 1980s, when the Swedish economy was characterized by hightaxes, high inflation rates, and a tight labour market, relativelyattractive jobs within the multinational corporations (MNCs)were relocated from Swedish plants to foreign affiliates. Inthe 1990s, by contrast, when the financial crisis had necessitateda host of micro- and macroeconomic reforms, the location decisionof the MNCs were more favourable for the Swedish economy. Newjobs created by the multinationals were found in activitieswith high productivity and wages. Thus, home-country effectsof foreign direct investment seem, to a large extent, to bedetermined by the home countries' economic environment.     

Should I stay or should I go? Foreign direct investment,employment protection and domestic anchorage

This paper examines theoretically and empirically how employment protection legislation affects location decisions of multinationals. We depart from the “conventional wisdom” by examining not only the effect of protection on inward foreign direct investment (FDI), but also a country’s ability to “anchor” potential outward investment. Based on our simple theoretical framework, we estimate an empirical model, using data on bilateral FDI and employment protection indices for OECD countries, and controlling for other labour market institutions and investment costs. We find that, while an “unfavourable” employment protection differential between a domestic and a foreign location is inimical to FDI, a high domestic level of employment protection tends to discourage outward FDI. The results are in line with our conjecture that strict employment protection in the firm’s home country makes firms reluctant to relocate abroad and keeps them “anchored” at home.