Endogenous market structure and foreign market entry

Models dealing with cross-border acquisitions versus greenfield investment usually assume that the entry of a foreign firm into a market has effects on the outputs of all domestic firms in that market, but exit or entry of local firms is not considered. The purpose of this paper is to re-examine the acquisition versus greenfield versus exporting question under fixed versus free entry assumptions for local firms. Our finding is that greenfield entry and exporting options are more attractive relative to acquisition when the local market structure adjusts to foreign entry through local entry or exit than when it is fixed. With respect to welfare in the host economy, existing theory models and policy discussions maintain that the effects of greenfield versus acquisition entry differ substantially. We show that under free entry and exit, there is no difference between the two for consumer surplus, but acquisition improves welfare a little through rent extraction by the local acquired firm. Thus the existing conventional wisdom may be leading to inappropriate policy choices by host governments.     

Entry in Foreign Markets under Asymmetric Information and Demand Uncertainty

This paper examines the mode of entry of a multinational firm that has less information about the host market stochastic demand than the local firm. The foreign firm can enter the market either through direct investment or exports. Each entry mode entails different costs and has different informational implications. Entry through foreign direct investment (FDI) is favored by greater variability in demand. Interestingly enough, strategic behavior by the incumbent firm, which deviates from its first period monopoly output, might be aimed at increasing the probability of foreign entry through FDI despite having to compete against an equally informed and efficient entrant; this never happens in a symmetric information environment. Such host firm behavior is aimed at reducing the strategic uncertainty derived from the foreign firm's beliefs. Compared with the symmetric information setting, entry via direct investment may occur in more cases.     

Does Foreign Direct Investment Induce Domestic Mergers?

This paper examines the impact of foreign firm entry on the industry consolidation process in a host country that operates through mergers and exits of incumbent firms. Using a three-stage oligopolistic model, the paper shows that foreign direct investment (FDI) may trigger consolidation via a merger since the approval of a domestic merger by the antitrust authority is more likely in the case a foreign firm enters via FDI and a firm’s incentive for a domestic merger is greater and that, in turn, the possibility to merge and become more efficient modifies the outcome of the game by making FDI compared to exports less likely.     

The role of foreign direct investment in the host-country firm selection process: firm-level evidence from Slovenian manufacturing

This paper examines the role of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) in firm selection processes in the Slovenian manufacturing sector in the 1994–2003 period. It adopts the firm dynamics framework that allows testing of selection effects directly by assessing the impact of foreign firms’ activity on the probability of exiting of local firms (crowding out). The results show that intra-industry productivity spillover effects offset only a minor part of the competition pressure which results from foreign firm entry, hence incumbent firms experience a drop in their survival probability upon a foreign firm’s entry within a particular industry. This result is driven by foreign firm entry of the greenfield type, as entry through the acquisition of existing firms has no significant effect. The strength of the crowding-out effect decreases with the incumbent firm’s export propensity. There is no significant evidence that inward FDI would stimulate the selection process through backward linkages in the upstream supplying industries, whereas foreign firms’ activity reduces the exit probability of downstream local customers (through forward linkages).     

Trade Policy Versus Competition Policy: Substitutes or Complements?

This paper deals with the difference between trade policy and competition policy for domestic prices, wages, and employment when product and labour markets are imperfectly competitive. We show that in the presence of country-specific institutions like trade unions, trade policy and competition policy are no longer substitutes in disciplining product and labour market distortions. While both domestic entry and foreign imports affect domestic price-cost margins, they differ in their effectiveness and their impact on the domestic labour market. The results in this paper suggest that enforcement of competition policy without a sufficient degree of openness to imports is typically not a first-best outcome. While domestic entry increases union welfare, foreign imports reduce it. Competition policy in the presence of labour unions is insufficient to reduce labour market distortions, while international competition reduces both labour and product distortions.     

Optimal commercial policy with imperfect foreign supply

Conclusion Maximizing social welfare when there is one foreign firm requires the imposition of fixed domestic price, which results in increased imports from the foreign firm until it engages in marginal cost pricing. A license fee captures (replaces) the foreign firm's economic profit (loss). Extension to the case where foreign supply consists of more than one firm differs from the one-firm analysis in that, while optimale policy consists of the setting of both a license fee and price level for the import, this may entail levying a tariff on imports from the foreign firms. The fee or tariff, but not both, may be negative.     

垂直产品差异、外国企业纵向控制与研发政策

在Spencer和Brander(1983)模型的基础上,本文引入产品纵向控制因素,考虑生产高质量产品的非一体化企业与另一国生产低质量产品的一体化企业进行市场竞争时,政府的最优研发政策。在企业进行Cournot竞争的情形下,若产品质量差异较大(小),非一体化企业所在国政府的最优研发政策为征税(补贴),而在企业进行Bertrand竞争的情形下,非一体化企业所在国政府的最优研发策略则是征税。     

Do Market Pressures Induce Economic Efficiency? The Case of Slovenian Manufacturing, 1994–2001

Using a unique longitudinal data set on all manufacturing firms in Slovenia from 1994 to 2001, this article analyzes how firm efficiency changed in response to changing competitive pressures associated with the transition to market. Results show that the period was one of atypically rapid growth of total factor productivity (TFP). The rise in firm efficiency occurs across almost all industries and firm types: large or small, state or private, domestic or foreign owned. Changes in firm ownership type have no direct impact on firm efficiency. However, increased market competition related to rising market share of private firms, new market entrants, foreign‐owned firms, and international trade raises TFP across all firms in an industry, whether private or state owned. In addition, competitive pressures that sort out inefficient firms of all types and retain the most efficient, coupled with the entry of new private firms that are at least as efficient as surviving firms, prove to be the major source of TFP gains. Results strongly confirm that market competition fosters efficiency.     

The effect of export tax rebates on export performance: Theory and evidence from China

This paper develops a Cournot quantity competition model to examine the effect of export tax rebate policy on export performance. The main conclusions drawn are as follows: (i) when a government raises the export rebate rate, the output of final goods for export by the domestic firm increases, while the output of the foreign competitor decreases; (ii) when a government raises the export rebate rate, the profit of the domestic firm increases, while that of the foreign competitor decreases; and (iii) the optimum export rebate rate is positive and greater than 1, indicating that the domestic government not only refunds fully the custom duties paid by the domestic firm on imported intermediate goods, but also offers export subsidies for its export of final goods.To corroborate the conclusions drawn based on the theoretical model, empirical analysis was carried out using the statistical data of China from 1985 to 2002. The test results of Spearman rank correlation coefficient show that China's export tax rebate policy has significant positive correlation with its exports, final domestic consumption, and foreign exchange reserve.     

Subsidy and entry: the role of licensing

The strategic trade literature has mainly examined the importanceof per-unit subsidies or taxes. Unlike the earlier works, afixed amount of subsidy has been considered in this paper. Thispaper shows that even if this subsidy policy does not affectthe marginal calculations of the firms, this policy can significantlyalter other incentives of the firms. A commitment to the subsidypolicy can encourage the foreign firm to license its technologyto the domestic firm which, in turn, helps to increase the welfareof the domestic country. We find that, in equilibrium, the governmentof the domestic country does not need to provide the subsidy.We have also analyzed the role of the foreign government.     

Upstream privatization and downstream licensing

This study attempts to investigate the impact of downstream foreign licensing on upstream privatization policy in a vertically related market, in which a public firm and a domestic private firm supply exclusively to downstream domestic and foreign firms, respectively. We show that downstream licensing occurs when the cost differential between downstream duopolists is small, and the optimal strategy under licensing is upstream partial privatization. In addition, downstream foreign licensing facilitates upstream privatization. We further show that downstream licensing improves (reduces) local welfare when the cost differential is large (small).     

The choice between a tariff and a quota under uncertainty

Conclusions The results concerning the choice between a tariff and a quota under the assumption of perfect competition and three kinds of uncertainty are summarized in the table. An analysis of the uncertainty, under which a government using a tariff or a quota can determine the value of imports or the quantity domestically supplied (i.e. employment), gives neither the same result for the two instruments (equivalence) nor the same result for the three situations considered. Therefore the choice between a tariff and a quota in case of uncertainty depends on the purpose, and whether the initial uncertainty concerns domestic demand, foreign or domestic supply. This conclusion corresponds to the well-known phenomenon that in case of a disturbance to an open economy the choice between a change in the rate of exchange and a change in the demand policy depends both on the goal and on the kind of disturbance.     

Pollution control and foreign firms’ exit behavior in China

China faces a common dilemma of how to maintain rapid economic growth while also reducing the pollution that has accompanied growth. Will stricter pollution controls drive away the foreign firms that have helped spur growth in China? This paper studies the effects of the Two-Control-Zone (TCZ) pollution control policy on foreign firms’ exit behavior in China. Based on firm-level data from 1998 to 2009, we find that foreign firms’ responses are not significantly different from domestic firms on average once environmental regulations impose an added cost of business. However, foreign firms’ responses to stricter pollution controls tend to differ based on various firm characteristics. Our estimation indicates that larger size, higher productivity and exporting all make foreign firms less likely to exit than similar domestic firms in regions with stricter pollution control.     

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.     

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.     

Technology spillovers from Chinese outward direct investment: The case of Ethiopia

The present study uses firm survey data of 1033 manufacturing firms operating in Ethiopia in 2011 to examine the impact of Chinese outbound direct investment on the productivity of domestic firms. Particularly, we attempt to answer two questions. Firstly, are Chinese-owned (henceforth foreign) firms more productive than local ones? Secondly, does the presence of foreign firms generate technology spillovers on domestic firms operating in the same industry? Our empirical results show that foreign firms are more productive and that their presence has different spillover effects on the productivity of domestic firms. In particular, we find that domestic firms with higher absorptive capacity experience positive spillovers, while those with low absorptive capacity witness negative spillover. We also find that small firms and non-exporting firms benefit more from spillovers than do other types of domestic firms. In this study, instrumental variables are used to address the potential endogeneity between foreign firm presence and domestic firm productivity.     

On technical efficiency of China's insurance industry after WTO accession

China joined the WTO in 2001 and has to fully open up its insurance market to foreign competitors by 2006. However, the domestic insurance market is overwhelmingly dominated by a few large state-owned or state-controlled firms. As the market is still underdeveloped and the demand for insurance is rising exponentially, there exists huge potential, opportunities as well as challenges for non-state, foreign and joint-venture insurance companies. Efficiency is a key concern of policy makers to encourage further development of the insurance industry. This paper focuses on this important issue. It uses a panel data set of 22 firms over the period 1999–2004 to evaluate their efficiency scores by applying a DEA approach and decompose the productivity growth into technical efficiency improvement and technological progress by constructing a Malmquist Index. It then employs an econometric model to identify the key determinants of efficiency. The empirical results suggest the direction of how to improve firm efficiency. It is found that firm size, ownership structure, mode of business and human capital are important factors affecting firm performance. The results shed important light on policy design and implementations on future development of the insurance industry with WTO obligations.     

Export spillover from foreign direct investment in China during pre- and post-WTO accession

This study investigates the effects of export spillover from foreign direct investment (FDI) before and after China’s World Trade Organization (WTO) accession, with particular consideration of the FDI source country and firm ownership structure. It uses a Chinese manufacturing firm-level panel dataset, for the period 1998–2007. In general, there are no spillover effects among state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This study finds negative horizontal and positive vertical spillovers associated with FDI from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan (HMT) among non-SOEs. Furthermore, non-HMT FDI, which is predominantly from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, have statistically significant positive horizontal and vertical spillover effects on the export performance of private Chinese firms. Positive forward spillovers occurred only after China joined the WTO, while positive backward spillovers existed during both the pre- and post-WTO periods. China’s entry into the WTO intensified the forward linkage of production, implying that greater availability of high-quality inputs produced by non-HMT foreign multinationals benefited the export performance of private domestic firms.     

Competitiveness and Subsidy or Tax Policy for New Technology Adoption in Duopoly

We consider a problem of subsidy or tax policy for new technology adoption by duopolistic firms. The technology is developed in and transferred by a foreign country to the domestic country. It is free but each firm must expend some fixed set-up cost for education of its staff to adopt and use it. Assuming that each firm maximizes the weighted average of absolute and relative profits, we examine the relationship between competitiveness and subsidy or tax policies for technology adoption, and show that when firm behavior is not competitive (the weight on the relative profit is small), the optimal policy of the government may be taxation; when firm behavior is competitive (the weight on the relative profit is large), the optimal policy is subsidization or inaction and not taxation. However, if firm behavior is extremely competitive (close to perfect competition), taxation case re-emerges.     

外资企业进入内销市场的障碍与对策研究——以东莞市为例

外资企业进入内销市场是中国加入WTO后中国经济政策走向的一个重要内容,但从东莞调查的情况看,外资企业的内销还处于起步阶段,其原因就在于目前内销市场还存在外部进入障碍和内部市场障碍。为此,政府应转变外销优于内销的政策倾斜;改变把国内外两个市场截然分开的政策与管理模式,统一准入标准;发挥保税区和保税物流区整合物流、强化内销的作用;加强内销市场的监管,加大知识产权保护和规范企业行为。