Firm Productivity and Mode of Foreign Expansion: Evidence from Taiwanese Manufacturing Firms

This paper builds on the recent literature on firm heterogeneity in international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI), and aims to empirically examine how firm productivity affects a firm’s foreign market entry strategy beyond the simple binary choice between exporting and FDI. Utilizing the panel data of Taiwanese manufacturing firms during 2002–2012, we further classify FDI methods by whole ownership or a joint venture to investigate a firm’s foreign expansion decision. By performing Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) tests, we find that if a firm is more productive, it is more likely to choose FDI rather than exporting. However, productivity of firms choosing whole ownership is not so different from choosing a joint venture. Furthermore, a more productive firm is more likely to conduct both whole ownership of the foreign subsidiary and a joint venture formation in the case of FDI.     

Productivity of Foreign and Domestic Firms in the Malaysian Manufacturing Industry*

The relative position of total factor productivity (TFP) of both foreign and domestic ?rms in the manufacturing industry in Malaysia is estimated for three‐ and ?ve‐digit level subsectors. It was found that the differences between foreign and domestic ?rms varied widely from sector to sector. However, for the manufacturing industry as a whole, TFP was approximately the same for foreign and domestic ?rms for the period 1994–1996.     

Exports, FDI, and Productivity: Dynamic Evidence from Japanese Firms

This paper examines the relationship between exports, foreign direct investment, and firm productivity. Using longitudinal panel data on Japanese firms, it is found that the most productive firms engage in exports and foreign direct investment, medium productive firms engage in either exports or foreign direct investment, and the least productive firms focus only on the domestic market. Moreover, exports and foreign direct investment appear to improve firm productivity once the productivity convergence effect is controlled for. Firms that retain a presence in foreign markets, either by exports or foreign direct investment, show the highest productivity growth, which contributes to improvements in national productivity. JEL no. F10, F20, D21     

制度视角的家族治理与企业绩效研究——来自中德上市家族企业的对比证据

家族集中所有权、控制权和家族涉入管理对企业绩效到底有利还是有弊？相对于发达资本主义国家的企业,处于转型经济中的中国企业面临的外部不确定性更高,上述关系在不同经济体之间是否有区别？企业的治理效果取决于内外两种机制,内部的家族治理系统是对外部制度环境的不完善的补充。我们选取处于成熟市场经济的德国上市家族企业与处于转型经济中的中国上市家族企业进行实证对比,从制度的视角来探讨上述问题。研究结果显示两国上市家族企业的家族治理与企业绩效之间的关系是不一样的。结论表明治理结构并不一定对企业绩效产生直接影响,不同的制度环境会导致不同的作用机制产生。     

市场分割与制造业企业全要素生产率

市场分割拖累了宏观经济发展,而微观层面的系统分析仍然缺乏。本文利用1998-2007年的中国工业企业数据库,系统地考察了市场分割对企业生产效率造成的影响,发现市场分割显著地降低了工业企业的全要素生产率。样本期间,市场分割程度降低了45%,贡献了约16%的企业全要素生产率的增长。我们还研究了这种负向影响产生的渠道,发现市场分割主要通过抑制规模经济效应、降低研发投入、过度保护国企和增加寻租行为等渠道对企业全要素生产率产生负面影响。     

外资企业选址与企业生产率

本文利用Grossman-Helpman-Szeidl（2006）模型研究了外资企业在发展中国家内部的选址决策,模型表明：效率高的企业偏向选址于固定成本高可变成本低的地方,效率低的企业偏向选址于固定成本低可变成本高的地方。同时各个地区的效率空间会被运输成本所压缩。由于中国东部、中西部与东南亚国家之间劳动力工资以及固定投资成本的结构差异,高效率的企业会选址于印尼、菲律宾、越南三国,效率处于中间的企业会选址于中国中西部以及中国东部,效率最低的企业会选址于马来西亚、泰国两国。随后本文用2004-2013年Bvd亚太企业母公司层面面板数据验证了企业因效率不同而导致的选址差异。最后本文分析了双边自由贸易区对企业选址的效率空间的影响,研究表明双边自由贸易区对中国中西部的影响大于对中国东部的影响。     

Technology Transfer from Acquisition FDI and the Absorptive Capacity of Domestic Firms: An Empirical Investigation

This paper seeks to establish the role of absorptive capacity in technology transfer from acquisition FDI in U.K. manufacturing. It finds that the rate of productivity change following a foreign take-over is higher the higher the pre-acquisition productivity level of the acquired firm, indicating the importance of absorptive capacity. However, beyond some critical level of initial productivity, the rate of technology transfer due to foreign acquisition starts to decline. It seems that U.K. acquisition targets that had been operating nearer the domestic technology frontier have less to gain from their association with foreign multinationals.     

Innovation and Firm‐Level Productivity: Evidence from Bangladesh

In this paper, the labor productivity impact of manufacturing firms’ innovation in Bangladesh, a region which has, to date, been understudied in this respect, is examined through World Bank Enterprise Survey data from 2003 to 2006. We apply the Cobb–Douglas production function, augmented with innovation‐related inputs (and other expected sources of productivity) in a simultaneous three‐equation system connecting R&D to its determinants, innovation output to R&D, and productivity to innovation output; and in a two‐equation system connecting innovation output to its determinants and productivity to innovation output. Our results reveal that Bangladeshi firms’ process innovation is an important factor for their labor productivity, whereas the significant effect of product innovation is not clearly established.     

Productivity Spillovers from FDI in China： Regional Differences and Threshold Effects

Economic theory posits numerous channels through which FDI might create positive spillovers for domestic firms. However, the results of empirical studies that have sought to document these spillovers have been mixed. One explanation for this variation is that the capacity of domestic firms to absorb spillovers might vary. In the present paper, we explore these issues in the case of China. ,4side from being one of the world＇s leading hosts offoreign direct investment, China makes for an interesting case study because its provinces vary greatly with respect to those factors most commonly held to influence absorptive capacity, such as the initial level of technology in domestic firms. This paper begins by empirically establishing that the spillovers from foreign direct investment do indeed vary across provinces. Threshold values for varioas factors that influence absorptive capacity factors are then estimated and it is found that conditions in many provinces presently fall short of these values. This provides an obvious focus of attention for China＇s policy-makers.     

Exports and Productivity Growth: First Evidence from a Continuous Treatment Approach

A recent survey of 54 micro-econometric studies reveals that exporting firms are more productive than non-exporters. However, previous empirical studies show that exporting does not necessarily improve productivity. One possible reason for this result is that most previous studies are restricted to analysing the relationship between a firm’s export status and the growth of its labour productivity, using the firms’ export status as a binary treatment variable and comparing the performance of exporting and non-exporting firms. In this paper, we apply the newly developed generalised propensity score (GPS) methodology that allows for continuous treatment, that is, different levels of the firms’ export activities. Using the GPS method and a large panel data set for German manufacturing firms, we estimate the relationship between a firm’s export-sales ratio and its labour productivity growth rate. We find that there is a causal effect of firms’ export activities on labour productivity growth. However, exporting improves labour productivity growth only within a sub-interval of the range of firms’ export-sales ratios. JEL no.  F14, F23, L60     

外资企业、港澳台企业与内资企业的进入偏好与产业集聚--基于进入选择的实证研究

本文对外资企业、港澳台企业及内资企业的进入选择进行了实证研究,比较了这三类企业进入选择偏好,发现GDP和制造业基础对它们进入的影响是相似的,都表现出正向关系。但工资水平和累计基础建设投资的影响却不同,本文也对造成这种差异的原因进行了分析。     

Social Capital and Total Factor Productivity: Evidence from Chinese Provinces

The impact of social capital on economic development has been broadly studied by scholars. However, research in the Chinese context is relatively rare. Drawing upon data from the China General Social Survey, our results suggest that the enhancing effect of social capital on total factor productivity is very limited in the case of China. The network dimension of social capital is significant only in pooled OLS estimations, and trust as well as the participation dimension of social capital exert no impact across all estimations. Our interpretation is that this is partly due to the fact that trust, values and norms formed in civil society are inherently difficult to transmit to the market sector. Besides, the impact of social capital on economic performance is undermined when physical capital plays a significant role in production. We therefore propose that the effect of social capital on economic performance is contingent on localized social and economic conditions.