Working Papers

The impact of outward FDI on the performance of Chinese multinationals

4 - 12 - 2014 in Featured Publications, Working Papers Tags: China, Emerging Countries, FDI

BOFIT Discussion Papers 24 • 2014

with Claudio Cozza and Marco Sanfilippo

Using a new firm-level database, EMENDATA, this paper investigates the effects on Chinese multinational enterprises of Outward FDI (OFDI) into advanced European countries. Propensity score matching is combined with a difference-in-difference estimator to reduce the problems of self-selection of treated firms in foreign markets. The results provide robust evidence in support of the view that China’s OFDI had so far a positive impact on domestic activities in enhancing firms’ productivity and scales of operation.

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

9 - 11 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Catch up, Emerging Countries, Innovation, Patents

Papers in Innovation Studies #25 CIRCLE – Lund University

with Elisa Giuliani and Arianna Martinelli

Firms from emerging countries such as Brazil, India, and China (BIC) are going global, and Europe is attracting around one-third of their direct outward investments. Growing internationalization constitutes an opportunity for technological catch up. In this paper we analyze BIC firms’ cross-border inventions with European Union (EU-27) actors, during the period 1990-2012. Our results suggest that cross-border inventions represent an opportunity for BIC firms to accumulate technological capabilities, access frontier knowledge, and appropriate the property rights of co-inventions.

Is access to credit a constraint for Latin America enterprises? An empirical analysis with firm-level data

9 - 11 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Access to credit, Credit, Latin America, Small and Medium Enterprises

MOFiR WP #101

With Andrea Presbitero

An intense process of deregulation and financial liberalization in Latin America has increased competitive pressures and led to bank restructuring and consolidation. This paper looks at firm access to credit in the region, focusing on the role of credit market structure. Using firm-level data from theWorld Bank Enterprise Survey, we find that access to bank credit is very heterogeneous. On average, smaller and less productive firms are less likely to apply for credit and more likely to be financially constrained.

Chinese and Indian M&As in Europe: The relationship between motive and ownership choice

7 - 05 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: China, FDI, India

CIRCLE WP, 3, University of Lund, Lund. Forthcoming in The Routledge Companion to Merger and Acquisition; A. Risberg, D. King and O. Meglio (Eds); Routledge, London.

With L. Piscitello and V. Scalera

The present paper is about the ownership choices by Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises (EMNEs) when they invest in Europe through M&As, and the relationship with the main motivations underlying their international expansion. Namely, we claim that EMNEs prefer to acquire less control and keep the local partner when they invest for seeking knowledge. Additionally, EMNEs choose partial acquisitions in case of high dissimilarity in terms of culture, industry and knowledge base.
Our empirical analysis relies on a dataset of M&As undertaken by Chinese and Indian MNEs in high and medium-high tech sectors, in the period 2003-2011. We use content analysis of public announcements and company reports for classifying the main motivation of the acquisitions, and econometric analysis for testing our hypotheses. Our results confirm the expectations.

An analysis of Chinese outward FDIs in Europe with firm-level data

10 - 04 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: China, FDI, MNEs

CIRCLE WP, University of Lund, Lund. Forthcoming in China and the World Economy.

With A. Amighini, C. Cozza and M. Sanfilippo

The empirical literature on China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) mainly relies on aggregate data from official statistics, whose international reliability is currently a matter of concern, not taking account some relevant features such as the industry breakdowns, ownership structures and modes of entry. A novel firm-level database – EMENDATA – compiled by matching data from several available sources, on various types of cross-border deals, and including information on group structure, enables new empirical analyses and provides new insights into the rapidly increasing presence of Chinese companies abroad. In this paper, exploring the potential of this database we offer an informative and comprehensive assessment of the geographical and specialization patterns of Chinese outward FDI into Europe and suggest new avenues for further research on this highly policy relevant issue.

Proximity and scientific collaboration: Evidence for the global wine industry

3 - 02 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Catch up, Emerging Countries, Wine industry

Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht. Forthcoming in Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie.

With L. Cassi and A. Morrison

International collaboration among researchers is a far from linear and straightforward process. Scientometric studies provide a good way of understanding why and how international research collaboration occurs and what are its costs and benefits. Our study investigates patterns of international scientific collaboration in a specific field: wine related research. We test a gravity model that accounts for geographical, cultural, commercial, technological, structural and institutional differences among a group of Old World (OW) and New World (NW) producers and consumers. Our findings confirm the problems imposed by geographical and technological distance on international research collaboration. Furthermore, it shows that similarity in trade patterns has a positive impact on international scientific collaboration. We find also that international research collaboration is more likely among peers, in other words, among wine producing countries that belong to the same group, e.g. OW producers or newcomers to the wine industry.

Gradual catch up and enduring leadership in the global wine industry

3 - 02 - 2014 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Catch up, Emerging Countries, Wine industry

Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht.

With A. Morrison

The wine industry is an extremely interesting case from a catch up point of view because the latecomers in the international market have changed how wine is produced, sold and consumed and, in doing so, they have challenged the positions of incumbents. Until the end of the 1980s, the European countries, and particularly France and Italy, dominated the international market for wine. Subsequently, significant changes in the market, namely decreases in consumption by traditional consuming countries, the entry of new inexperienced consumers, and the increasing importance of large distribution have threatened this supremacy. Initially, the USA and Australia and later emerging countries such as Chile and South Africa, gained increasing market shares in both exported volumes and value, at the expense of incumbents. However, some of these new-comers (e.g. Australia) have shown slower growth, opening opportunities for newer entrants such as Argentina and New Zealand. At the same time, some of the incumbents (especially Italy) have innovated, which is challenging the leadership of France in key markets such the USA.
In this paper we investigate the different catch up cycles in the global wine sector that have occurred between the 1960s and 2010, through a detailed analysis of export volumes, values and unit prices. We address issues related to the increasing share in the global market of latecomer countries and the relative decline of the incumbents, as well as possible changes in the market leadership within these two groups.

Definitions matter. Measuring gender gaps in firms’ access to credit

1 - 10 - 2013 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Credit, Gender, Small and Medium Enterprises

IADB discussion paper, 314, Inter American Development Bank, Washington.

With C. Piras and A. Presbitero

The literature on gender-based discrimination in credit markets is recently expanding but the results are not yet definitive and have not been generally agreed upon. This paper exploits a new dataset on Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, which provides detailed information about female ownership and management in firms for investigating the existence of a gender gap in access to finance. The evidence presented herein suggests that more precise measures of the gender composition of the firm show that women-led businesses are more likely to be financially constrained than other comparable firms.

Download the pdf, WP IADB 2013-10

Technology-Driven FDI: A Survey of the Literature

17 - 09 - 2013 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Emerging Countries, FDI

CIRCLE WP, 17, Lund University, Lund.

With A. Amighini, C. Cozza, E. Giuliani and V. Scalera

In the past century we have witnessed worldwide a growing flow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which have attracted the attention of economists, international business and development scholars. In this scenario, two trends have recently gained momentum: the increasing relevance of Technology- driven FDI (TFDI) and the upsurge of Emerging Economies’ Multinational Enterprises (EMNEs) investing in advanced countries.
In this paper, we present a survey of the relevant literature on TFDI, with a focus on both AMNEs and EMNEs. After presenting the different phases of TFDI from Advanced Economy Multinational Enterprises (AMNEs), we focus on EMNEs and discuss the usefulness and limitations of the existing theoretical frameworks to interpret this new phenomenon. Next, the paper reviews the literature on EMNEs’ sources of competitive advantages and their main motivations for investing abroad. Finally, the paper explores the peculiarities of TFDI from emerging economies.

Análisis de la cadena de valor de la industria eólica vasca: oportunidades y ámbitos de mejora

10 - 09 - 2012 in Publications, Working Papers Tags: Global Value Chain, Wind Energy

Orkestra, Universidad de Deusto, San Sebastian.

With M.D. Parrilli, E. Álvarez Pelegry, A. Elola, U. Lorenz

This paper addresses two pressing issues: first, it highlights the need to explore an industry with a broad global outlook in a world that increasingly requires alternative energies to foster local and global development in a sustained and, above all, sustainable manner; second, it seeks to identify the overall competitive positioning of agents and firms of the Basque power industry in the global value chains of the wind energy sector that seem to form a critical mass that could be heavily exploited with a view to economic and social development for the region and the country.

Download the pdf, WP Orkestra 2012

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