Multilevel analysis of firms’ performance in Emerging Economies: The role of transport infrastructures and logistics as contextual factors

Firms as part of an ecosystem are constrained by many context facets, having different dimensions and effects on their performance. In this work, we explore differences in firm performance in emerging economies by introducing contextual factors at country-level along with firm-level factors into the analysis. Especially, our focus is on a country's transport infrastructure endowment and logistics services as a source of heterogeneity in firm performance. We perform a multilevel analysis that allows us to define a two-level hierarchical structure, where firms are nested in countries. The empirical framework adopted allows us not to neglect other contextual bases by relying on their multidimensionality and global diversity. Our results confirm that part of the country-level variability in firm performance is explained by transport infrastructure and logistics services. The impact is, however, heterogeneous across infrastructures: network-type infrastructures, such as roads, railways, and logistics services, have a larger effect on firm-level performance, while transport nodes, such as airports and ports, show little or no effect. This research provides useful implications for both theory and practice, especially for policymakers and organizations.