Featured Publications

Clusters in the Caribbean: Understanding their Characteristics, Defining Policies for their Development

Clusters in the Caribbean: Understanding their Characteristics, Defining Policies for their Development

Clusters in the Caribbean: Understanding their Characteristics, Defining Policies for their Development

With Elisa Giuliani, I have published a IADB Discussion Paper discussing clusters in the Caribbean. A desk review of 32 clusters distributed across the Caribbean identifying three groups of clusters are identified: rising, innovative, and sluggish.

The working paper is available here

Gradual catch up and enduring leadership in the global wine industry

Gradual catch up and enduring leadership in the global wine industry

Gradual catch up and enduring leadership in the global wine industry

In this article co-authored with Andrea Morrison, we investigate the different catch-up cycles in the global wine sector between 1960 and 2010. Changes in demand opened the first window of opportunity for latecomers, who gradually caught up via path-creating strategies. Incumbents maintained their leadership by aligning their wines to current demand patterns. The entry of China in the wine market can open up a new catch-up cycle.

Here you can download the paper

Do Chinese State-Owned and private Enterprises Differ in their Internationalization Strategies?

Do Chinese State-Owned and private Enterprises Differ in their Internationalization Strategies?

5 most highly cited in China Economic Review, 27: 312-325

The article is co-authored with Alessia Amighini and Marco Sanfilippo.

We empirically analyse the host country determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investments (FDI) for the years 2003 to 2011, using disaggregated data by country and industry. Our aim is to assess the relevance of market seeking, resource seeking and strategic asset-seeking motivations as suggested by the theory on host country determinants of FDI.

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Global Value Chains Meet Innovation Systems: Are There Learning Opportunities for Developing Countries?

Global Value Chains Meet Innovation Systems: Are There Learning Opportunities for Developing Countries?

Top Cited in World Development 9(7): 1261-1269

The article is written with Carlo Pietrobelli.

The Innovation Systems (IS) literature tends not to emphasize the crucial impact of international knowledge and innovation exchange and collaboration through, for example, inter-firm and intra-firm networks and Global Value Chains (GVC). In developing countries this aspect is crucial, with integration in GVC playing a growing and very important role in accessing knowledge and enhancing learning and innovation.

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Credit Access in Latin American Enterprises

Credit Access in Latin American Enterprises

A chapter co-authored with Andrea Presbitero on firm access to bank credit in Latin America was published in Firm Innovation and Productivity in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Engine of Economic Development edited by Matteo Grazzi and Carlo Pietrobelli. The paper is also published in Economic Notes.

The complete book can be downloaded here and our chapter is here

Regional strategic assets and the location strategies of emerging countries’ multinationals in Europe

Regional strategic assets and the location strategies of emerging countries’ multinationals in Europe

European Planning Studies, 24(4): 645-667

This article is co-authored with Riccardo Crescenzi and Carlo Pietrobelli

This paper explores the location strategies of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging countries (EMNEs) in search for regional strategic assets.The empirical results suggest that EMNEs are attracted by the availability of technological competences only when their subsidiaries pursue more sophisticated and technology-intensive activities.

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Chinese and Indian Multinationals: A Firm-level Analysis of their Investments in Europe

Chinese and Indian Multinationals: A Firm-level Analysis of their Investments in Europe

Global Economic Review, 44, 4: 452-469

This article is co-authored with Vito Amendolagine and Claudio Cozza

We study Chinese and Indian multinationals investing in Europe investigating their identity, their characteristics and the association between their features and their international strategies. In relation to the mode of entry, we find that greenfield investments are a more likely option for large-sized companies. Moreover a high propensity for innovation is associated with a high probability to enter with an acquisition and with technological asset-seeking investments.

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Is Co-Invention Expediting Technological Catch Up? A Study of Collaboration between Emerging Country Firms and EU Inventors

Is Co-Invention Expediting Technological Catch Up? A Study of Collaboration between Emerging Country Firms and EU Inventors

World Development 77, 16: 192-205

The article is co-authored with Elisa Giuliani and Arianna Martinelli

Growing internationalization constitutes an opportunity for technological catch up. In this paper we analyze Brazilian, Indian, and Chinese cross-border inventions with EU-27 inventors. Our results suggest that these inventions represent an opportunity for emerging country firms to accumulate technological capabilities, access frontier knowledge, and appropriate the property rights of co-inventions.

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The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese Firms

The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese Firms

China Economic Review 36, December, 42-57

The article is co-authored with Claudio Cozza and Marco Sanfilippo

This paper investigates the effects on Chinese firms of Outward FDI into advanced European countries. The results provide robust evidence supporting the view that China‟s OFDI so far have had a positive impact on domestic activities in enhancing firms‟ productivity and scales of operation, measured by sales and employment. Featured in The Economist, September 12th 2015.

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Local innovation and global value chains in developing countries

Local innovation and global value chains in developing countries

UNU-MERIT Working Papers #2015-022

with Valentina De Marchi and Elisa Giuliani

This working paper is part of a collaborative research effort of UNIDO and UNU‐MERIT. It has been commissioned as a background paper for the UNIDO Industrial Development Report 2016. In this study we undertake a systematic review of the literature on GVCs in developing countries to investigate if and how innovation has been undertaken at the local level.

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Multinational enterprises from emerging economies: what theories suggest, what evidence shows. A literature review

Multinational enterprises from emerging economies: what theories suggest, what evidence shows. A literature review

Economia e Politica Industriale 42:3, 343-370

The article is co-authored with Alessia Amighini, Claudio Cozza, Elisa Giuliani and Vittoria Scalera

The phenomenon of Emerging Economy Multinational Enterprises (EMNEs) and their internationalization process have sparked the debate over the appropriateness of International Business theories to study EMNEs’ internationalization processes. The literature has extensively investigated what distinguishes EMNEs from Advanced Country Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs). This review summarizes and discusses some of the issues that have mostly attracted scholarly debate in this research area.

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The Location Strategies of Multinationals from Emerging Countries in the EU Regions

The Location Strategies of Multinationals from Emerging Countries in the EU Regions

UNU-MERIT Working Papers #2015-009

with Riccardo Crescenzi and Carlo Pietrobelli

This paper looks at the location choices of MNEs in the European Union (EU-25) regions and unveils that EMNEs follow distinctive location strategies. Their attraction into large regional markets is similar to AMNEs as well as their irresponsiveness to efficiency seeking motives. Conversely, the most knowledge-intensive investments respond mainly to  strategic assets and the agglomeration of foreign investments in the same business functions.

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