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Multinationals' Productivity Advantage: Scale or Technology

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Author Info
Girma, Sourafel
Görg, Holger

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Abstract

The first aim of this paper is to decompose the productivity advantage of foreign multinationals into two components: the technology and scale effect. The second aim is to analyse the causal relationship between foreign ownership and these two components of productivity growth. We do so by analyzing the effects of an acquisition of a domestic establishment by a foreign multinational enterprise, using a combined propensity score matching and difference-in-differences estimation. Our empirical analysis is based on plant level data for the UK. From our econometric investigation four broad patterns emerge: (i) any positive impact of ownership change is predominantly due to change in technical efficiency, not scale effects (ii) the pre-acquisition TFP level of the erstwhile domestic plants play a role - positive or negative - in mediating the rate of technology transfer from the MNE parent companies, (iii) the productivity growth effects are not confined to the year of acquisition, and tend to persist through time.

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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number 5841.

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Date of creation: Sep 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:5841

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Related research
Keywords: acquisitions; multinational enterprises; productivity; scale; technical efficiency;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure

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References listed on IDEAS
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    Other versions:
  3. Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 2003. "Does Matching Overcome Lalonde's Critique of Nonexperimental Estimators?," University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project Working Papers 20035, University of Western Ontario, CIBC Human Capital and Productivity Project. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Girma, Sourafel & Görg, Holger, 2006. "Evaluating the Foreign Ownership Wage Premium Using a Difference-in-Differences Matching Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 5788, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Poldahl, Andreas, 2004. "Domestic vs. International Spillovers: Evidence from Swedish Firm Level Data," Working Paper Series 200, Trade Union Institute for Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
  2. Modén, Karl-Markus & Norbäck, Pehr-Johan & Persson, Lars, 2007. "Efficiency and Ownership Structure – The Case of Poland," Working Paper Series 703, Research Institute of Industrial Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Karpaty, Patrik, 2004. "Are foreign owned firms more productive? Evidence from Swedish firm data," Working Papers 2004:6, Örebro University, Swedish Business School. [Downloadable!]
  4. Hartmut Egger & Peter Egger, 2008. "The Trade and Welfare Effects of Mergers in Space," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
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