Effects of presidents’ characteristics on internationalization of small and medium firms in Japan

Recent heterogeneous-firm models of international trade suggest that productivity determines whether firms engage in export activity and foreign direct investment. In practice, however, many productive firms are not internationalized, whereas many unproductive firms are, which suggests that there are factors other than productivity that influence firms’ internationalization. This study uses a unique panel data set for Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to examine whether the personal characteristics of a firm’s president are factors in firm internationalization. We find that SMEs with a risk-tolerant, forward-looking president are more likely to be internationalized. These effects are large in magnitude, as is the productivity effect, which provides a partial explanation as to why many productive firms are not internationalized. In addition, we find that productivity has an insignificant effect on firms exiting export markets, whereas presidential myopia increases the probability of exit. The evidence further suggests that a firm’s initial export costs become sunk following its entry into export markets, which explains why many unproductive firms are internationalized.     

Product and destination mix in export markets

This article studies the joint destination and product strategies of exporters, using the universe of export transactions for firms located in Portugal in the period 1995–2005. The article breaks down the annual growth rate of total exports along different margins and details choices made by multi-product, multi-destination firms regarding their export portfolio. In addition, the article looks at similar features for the subsample of new exporters. We find that both the firm-level extensive and intensive margins are important in driving the year-to-year variation in aggregate exports. However, variation over time in the sales of continuing exporters is mainly driven by their sales in continuing destinations. In addition, a product’s export tenure within a firm varies largely across currently exported products in the context of an intense activity of product and destination switching. Moreover, the higher the importance of a product, the more its sales are concentrated in the firm’s top destination. Finally, the article finds that, while continuing exporters enter new markets mainly by selling old products, new exporters access new destinations mainly by exporting new products.     

Trade policy uncertainty,development strategy,and export behavior: Evidence from listed industrial companies in China

On the basis of new structural economics theory and heterogeneity of firm viability, this study analyzes the effect of trade policy uncertainty on firm export behavior using panel data of Chinese listed companies in the industrial sector. Empirical results show that the high uncertainty of trade policy significantly inhibits the extensive and intensive margins of firm export, while heterogeneity effect occurs across firms with different levels of viability. The development strategy that violates comparative advantage strengthens the negative impact of trade policy uncertainty on firm export. Despite their correlation with viability, the type of ownership, total factor productivity, and long-term loan are not suitable proxies for firm viability. Under high uncertainty of trade policy, export market diversification can alleviate the restraining effect of development strategy on firm export, whereas firms in regions with high industrial-oriented development tend to be vulnerable to cost shocks, thus reducing export market diversification. Findings present important implications for emerging market countries to enact better international trade and economic policies.     

Do domestic and foreign exporters differ in learning by exporting? Evidence from China

In view of the importance of intra-firm trade and export-platform FDI conducted by multinationals, we investigate how domestic firms and foreign affiliates exhibited differential impacts of export entry and exit on productivity changes. Using a comprehensive dataset from China's manufacturing industries, we employ the Olley–Pakes method to estimate firm-level TFP and the matching techniques to isolate the impacts of export participation on firm productivity. Robust evidence is obtained that domestic firms displayed significant productivity gains (losses) upon export entry (exit), whereas foreign affiliates showed no evident TFP changes. Moreover, the productivity gains for domestic export starters were more pronounced in high- and medium-technology industries than in low-technology ones. We explain our findings from the perspective of the technology gap theory after considering processing trade and the fragmentation of production stages in the era of globalization.     

Export spillovers and export performance in China

This paper examines the local export spillover effect on the individual decisions to start exporting (the extensive margin) and export volume (the intensive margin), using a unique dataset of Chinese export firms, at the product-level and by destination country. Based on a gravity-type equation estimated at firm-level, we find that export spillovers positively influence not only the decision of a nearby firm to start exporting, but also the volume of the exporting. Several methods are used to verify the robustness of these results. In addition, we find that the effect of export spillovers is stronger when it is product-destination-specific than that when it is either product or destination-specific alone, and also stronger than that is in general. Geographically, local export spillovers exhibit spatial decay in China: the effect is stronger for firms located in the same city than it is for firms outside the city. Small and multi-product firms are more likely to be influenced by the local export spillovers, and their impact is stronger for firms exporting complex goods and exporting to easy-entry countries. Moreover, the export spillovers from private firms are the strongest, followed by foreign-invested firms with the effect generated by state-owned firms ranking last.     

Innovation and exporting: evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

This paper investigates the relationship between innovation and the export behavior of firms using data from a representative panel of Spanish firms over 1991–2002. It presents a simple theoretical model of the firm decision to export and innovate that guides the econometric analysis. Consistent with the predictions of the theoretical model, the econometric results suggest a positive effect of firm innovation on the probability of participation in export markets. The results further reveal the heterogeneous effects of different types of innovations on the firm export participation. In particular, product upgrading appears to have a larger effect on the firm export participation than the introduction of cost-saving innovations. These findings are robust to firm unobserved heterogeneity, dynamic specifications, and to the use of instrumental variables to control for the potential endogeneity between innovation and exporting.     

Marginal Distance: Does Export Experience Reduce Firm Trade Costs?

Are the costs of exporting to a market reduced if a firm has experience of exporting to a neighbouring market? If so, does this effect operate through reducing entry barriers or by increasing sales once the firm is operating in the market? This paper examines linkages between current export destinations and entry, sales and exit for new markets. We find that measures of exporting experience in geographically nearby markets increase the probability of entry into a market and reduce the probability of exit. However, these same measures have very limited effect on the firm’s export sales in the market. The effect of related experience on sales tends to be negative for recently entered firms. We interpret this result in the context of the Melitz heterogeneous-firm model of trade by showing that lower fixed costs reduce the entry threshold, but this lower threshold has the effect of allowing lower-sales marginal firms to be present in the market.     

The impact of tariff reductions on firm dynamics and productivity in China: Does market-oriented transition matter?

This paper investigates the impact of trade liberalization on firm dynamics and productivity in the context of dramatic tariff reductions after China's accession to the WTO, and how this impact varies across regions with different marketization levels. Our results show that (a) on average, output tariff reductions tend to reduce firm entry rate and increase firm exit rate, while input tariff reductions help to increase both firm entry rate and exit rate, furthermore, regional marketization strengthens the impact of trade liberalization on firm dynamics; (b) trade liberalization exerts greater impact on the likelihood of exit for the least productive firms while it tends to reduce the probability of exit for the more productive firms, with regional marketization strengthening such a reallocation process of trade liberalization; (c) firm dynamics effect contributes approximately 43% of the growth of productivity, and it (especially the firm exit effect) is an important channel through which trade liberalization fosters productivity growth, and domestic market reform is found to strengthen such an impact.     

Markups and export-pricing strategies

We analyze empirically export-price strategies across export destinations using detailed firm-product data. Most recent studies using disaggregated data to investigate why firms charge different prices for the same product on different markets focus on the cost component of prices and neglect the markup component. In this paper, we concentrate on the markup component and examine how variations in firms’ export prices may reflect price discrimination by comparing the markup of firms with different pricing strategies. We make use of detailed firm-level data for exporting firms in the Swedish food sector consisting of both manufacturing and intermediary trading firms. The paper documents the export-price variations within the two sub-sectors and explores how different price strategies correlate with markups. The results offer new information beyond the fact that exporters tend to have a higher markup. In particular, we find that firms in the food-processing sector with a greater ability to discriminate across markets mark their products up even more. This result points to the importance of underlying firm decisions in order to explain differences in export premiums across firms. In addition, the results reveal that markups are a complex function of firm and destination characteristics, and that the relationship between markups and pricing strategies in the manufacturing sector is not necessarily observed in other sectors of the supply chain.     

Does immigrant employment matter for export sales? Evidence from Denmark

Immigration impacts on the economy in ample ways: it affects growth, wages and total factor productivity. This study deals with the effects of immigration on firm exports. Can firms benefit from hiring immigrants to expand their export sales? Or do immigrants who live in the firm’s region affect trade? In contrast to the existing literature, we are able to distinguish these two distinct channels. Using matched employer-employee data from Denmark for the years 1995–2005, we provide novel insights in the nexus between exports and immigration. We further contribute to the literature by providing first evidence on the adjustment of firms’ product portfolio in response to immigration. Our empirical results are consistent with the claim that immigration lowers barriers to trade. Both, regional immigration and foreign employment matter for the composition of firm-level exports. As a novel insight, our findings suggest that firms benefit from immigration in terms of expanded export sales, when they hire foreign employees. We only find weak evidence for the local presence of foreigners to increase export sales, which we ascribe to the conjecture that at least some trade-cost reducing forces of immigration like for example intercultural knowledge or personal and business networks abroad, can only be accessed or exploited via foreign employment.     

Heterogeneous Popularity and Exporting Uncertainty

Empirical work shows that a considerable fraction of firms quit the export market soon after entrance. A natural interpretation to this quick exit from the export market is that firms did not predict the profitability of their variety correctly before entry. In this paper a firm heterogeneity model is put forward to account for this type of exporting uncertainty due to lack of information. Firms are heterogeneous with respect to the popularity of their good, technically the CES weight, and the popularity of a good varies across markets. Therefore, firms are uncertain about the profitability of their good in the export market. Upon payment of sunk export costs the popularity of the good is revealed and some firms stay in the export market while others leave. Comparative statics show that lower sunk export costs lead to higher probability that firms start to export, but to lower probability of export success. Lower fixed export costs instead lead to both a higher probability to start exporting and to be successful in exporting.     

R&D and the Export Decision of New Firms

Recent literature on the firm‐level decision to export has focused on identifying factors that influence the export decision by firms regardless of the number of years they have been in operation. This article, alternatively, examines the factors that influence new firms to export within the first four years of operation. The results support two key findings that have commonly emerged from entrepreneurial case studies: (1) There is a positive link between research and development (R&D) and early internationalization, and (2) international ties of managers, as is evidenced by the effect of foreign‐born owners, positively impact the firm's decision to export. The former result is the emphasis of this article. In addition, we find that innovation spillovers from neighboring firms impact the export decision of new firms that engage in R&D.     

Export Activity,Firm Size and Wage Structure: Evidence from Taiwanese Manufacturing Firms*

This study adopts a semiparametric smooth coefficient model to evaluate the export–wage premiums, firm size–wage premiums, and the wage gap between skilled and unskilled labor. Particular focus is placed upon widespread evidence indicating that pay levels in ‘large’ and ‘export‐oriented’ firms are higher than in their ‘small’ and ‘domestic‐oriented’ counterparts. Applying the firm‐level data for Taiwanese manufacturing firms, we find a positive export–wage premium for skilled workers and a negative export–wage premium for unskilled workers. The hypothesis of a constant export premium across firm size is rejected. While most of the export–wage premiums for skilled labor can be attributed to the small and medium firms, the large exporting firms have a significant adverse effect on wages for unskilled labor. Moreover, our results suggest that the firm size–wage premiums for skilled workers are larger than those for unskilled workers. The wage gap between the two skill groups is also sensitive to size categories.     

How the Internet Promotes China's Exports: A Firm‐level Perspective

The development of information and communications technology (ICT), particularly the Internet, has reduced trade costs. However, it remains unclear whether these reduced costs are reflected in the “extensive margins” of firms’ exports (which refer to the probability of firms exporting) or the “intensive margins” (which refer to the value of firms’ export). To test this, we used the concepts of information cost and binary margins, an augmented trade model of firm heterogeneity, a two‐stage Heckman estimation, and data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey of Chinese firms in 2012. The results revealed that reduced trade costs from the use of ICT were positively related to extensive margins but that the connection with intensive margins was not significant. The results lead to the conclusion that reduced information costs related to a firm's exporting behavior were primarily reflected in variable trade costs. This study offers theoretical and empirical evidence for China's policies towards the Internet, which are relevant for the export of manufactured goods. The government should encourage the use of ICT to enhance firms’ export opportunities while facing current trade policy uncertainty.     

Fixed Export Costs and Export Behavior

This article provides a direct assessment of how fixed export costs (FECs) and productivity jointly determine firm‐level export behavior. Using Chilean data, we construct indices of FECs for each industry‐region‐year triplet and match them to domestic firms. Our empirical results show that firms facing higher estimated FECs are less likely to export, while those with higher productivity export more. These outcomes are the foundation of the widely‐used sorting mechanism in trade models with firm heterogeneity. We also find that the substitution between FECs and productivity in determining export decisions is weaker for firms with higher productivity. Finally, among firms that export, both larger FECs and greater within‐triplet productivity dispersion are associated with a greater export volume of the average exporter.     

Microeconomic mechanisms behind export spillovers from FDI: evidence from Bulgaria

This paper studies how the presence of multinational enterprises affects the export performance of Bulgarian manufacturing firms—export spillovers from FDI. Using export data at the firm/product/destination level for the period 2004–2006, it finds positive forward spillover on export value and quantity, related to quality upgrading. Conversely, it finds negative (or insignificant) backward and horizontal spillover on export flows, related to quality downgrading. When aggregating data at the firm level and considering that a firm can operate in several sectors, the paper shows that the presence of foreign input suppliers allows domestic firms to export additional varieties of lower quality and upgrade the average quality of existing varieties, whereas the presence of foreign customers generates the opposite effect.     

How do firms combine different internationalisation modes? A multivariate probit approach

Most of the literature on the relationship between firm’s participation in international markets and firm heterogeneity focuses on export and foreign direct investment. This paper considers a wider range of forms of internationalisation that firms could combine into different patterns. With the purpose of analysing the selection of heterogeneous firms into different internationalisation patterns, we jointly model the decisions on the forms of internationalisation through a multivariate probit. This model allows us to avoid any a priori assumption about the firm’s behaviour. In this context we study the complementarity/substitutability relationships between forms of internationalisation. The results obtained show that: (i) neglecting some forms could lead to an incomplete representation about the firm’s internationalisation strategy, (ii) different firm’s characteristics influence the choice of internationalisation pattern, i.e. some types of firm are more prone to choosing one type of process over another, (iii) complementarity between forms of internationalisation seems to be preferred over substitution, but some heterogeneity also arises in this context.     

Export survival pattern and its determinants: an empirical study of Chinese manufacturing firms

While empirical studies of export entry have proliferated, less attention has been devoted to the study of export survival in foreign markets. This paper explores the patterns and determinants of export survival using data on Chinese manufacturing firms for the period 1998–2007. The analytical methods used include non‐parametric techniques and the estimation of a discrete‐time duration model. Our results show the high probability of exit of exporters at the start of the period. We also find that large, highly productive and more export‐oriented firms are more likely to export for a longer period. In addition, foreign ownership is found to be an important determinant of export survival, while state ownership increases the risk of export failure.     

The effect of exchange rates on firm exports and the role of FDI

This paper studies how exchange rate movements affect the export market entry and intensity decision of firms and the export behaviour of multinationals in the UK. Using data on British manufacturing firms we find that exchange rate movements have little effect on firm export participation but have a significant impact on export shares. Multinationals have at their disposal a greater array of instruments to deal with exchange rates changes, although their use may vary according to the motives behind FDI. We also find important differences according to the country of origin of multinational firms. Multinationals firms originating from outside of the EU are less affected by changes in the exchange rate compared to those inside, who appear similarly affected as domestic firms.     

Firm Heterogeneity and Export Pricing in India

We examine export pricing by Indian manufacturing firms in the early 2000s using a unique data set that matches firm characteristics with product and destination‐level trade data. We find that, in contrast to China and other countries, firm productivity is negatively associated with export prices, and export prices are negatively associated with distance while positively associated with remoteness. Our conjecture is that Indian innovation costs, which are higher than China's, drive down the scope for quality differentiation causing a negative association between productivity and prices. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first empirical evidence consistent with heterogenous goods and short quality ladders, a theoretical possibility noted in the study by Antoniades (2012), an outcome that arises here because of domestic Indian economic and regulatory features.