IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/apacel/v29y2015i1p142-160.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

FDI productivity spillovers and the technology gap in Malaysia's electrical and electronic industries

Author

Listed:
  • Noor Aini Khalifah
  • Salmah Mohd Salleh
  • Radziah Adam

Abstract

type="main"> This study measures the impact of indirect technology transfer through spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI) on Malaysia's development of a ‘high-tech’ sector, namely the electrical and electronic (E&E) industries. We estimate the total factor productivity (TFP) of establishments as a function of foreign presence within and across industries. Both the fixed assets and wages share of foreign establishments in a five-digit ISIC (International Standard Industrial Classification) industry are used as measures of foreign presence. The estimations provide evidence of significantly negative (or insignificant) FDI vertical spillover effects and insignificant horizontal spillover effects on the TFP of domestic establishments. The positive (negative) coefficient of the interaction term between the forward (horizontal) spillover variable and the technology gap supports the ‘catching-up’ (technology accumulation) hypothesis. The negative impact, even absence, of FDI spillover effects on TFP and the mixed evidence on the effects of interactions between FDI spillovers and the technology gap suggest that fine-tuning of fiscal incentive schemes for FDI to arrive at positive net benefits may prove to be a daunting task in the Malaysian E&E industries.

Suggested Citation

  • Noor Aini Khalifah & Salmah Mohd Salleh & Radziah Adam, 2015. "FDI productivity spillovers and the technology gap in Malaysia's electrical and electronic industries," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 29(1), pages 142-160, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:apacel:v:29:y:2015:i:1:p:142-160
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/apel.12094
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Suyanto & Harry Bloch & Ruhul A. Salim, 2012. "Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers and Productivity Growth in Indonesian Garment and Electronics Manufacturing," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 1397-1411, October.
    2. Brian J. Aitken & Ann E. Harrison, 2022. "Do Domestic Firms Benefit from Direct Foreign Investment? Evidence from Venezuela," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 6, pages 139-152, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Sourafel Girma & Holger Görg & Mauro Pisu, 2016. "Exporting, linkages and productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 10, pages 191-211, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Marjolein C.J. Caniëls, 2000. "Knowledge Spillovers and Economic Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1936.
    5. Caves, Richard E, 1974. "Multinational Firms, Competition, and Productivity in Host-Country Markets," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 41(162), pages 176-193, May.
    6. Takii, Sadayuki, 2005. "Productivity spillovers and characteristics of foreign multinational plants in Indonesian manufacturing 1990-1995," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 521-542, April.
    7. Lapan, Harvey & Bardhan, Pranab, 1973. "Localized technical progress and transfer of technology and economic development," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 6(6), pages 585-595, December.
    8. Ronald Findlay, 1978. "Relative Backwardness, Direct Foreign Investment, and the Transfer of Technology: A Simple Dynamic Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(1), pages 1-16.
    9. Bitzer, Jürgen & Geishecker, Ingo & Görg, Holger, 2008. "Productivity spillovers through vertical linkages: Evidence from 17 OECD countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 328-331, May.
    10. Blalock, Garrick & Gertler, Paul J., 2008. "Welfare gains from Foreign Direct Investment through technology transfer to local suppliers," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 402-421, March.
    11. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    12. Clark Don P. & Highfill Jannett & de Oliveira Campino Jonas & Rehman Scheherazade S., 2011. "FDI, Technology Spillovers, Growth, and Income Inequality: A Selective Survey," Global Economy Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-44, July.
    13. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2016. "Multinational Companies And Productivity Spillovers: A Meta-Analysis," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 8, pages 145-161, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Alexander Vogel & Joachim Wagner, 2021. "Robust Estimates of Exporter Productivity Premia in German Business Services Enterprises," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Joachim Wagner (ed.), MICROECONOMETRIC STUDIES OF FIRMS’ IMPORTS AND EXPORTS Advanced Methods of Analysis and Evidence from German Enterprises, chapter 14, pages 239-263, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Kugler, Maurice, 2006. "Spillovers from foreign direct investment: Within or between industries?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 444-477, August.
    16. Adam Blake & Ziliang Deng & Rod Falvey, 2009. "How does the productivity of foreign direct investment spill over to local firms in Chinese manufacturing?," Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 183-197.
    17. Xiaming Liu & Pamela Siler & Chengqi Wang & Yingqi Wei, 2000. "Productivity Spillovers From Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From UK Industry Level Panel Data," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(3), pages 407-425, September.
    18. Jonathan E. Haskel & Sonia C. Pereira & Matthew J. Slaughter, 2007. "Does Inward Foreign Direct Investment Boost the Productivity of Domestic Firms?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 482-496, August.
    19. Havranek, Tomas & Irsova, Zuzana, 2011. "Estimating vertical spillovers from FDI: Why results vary and what the true effect is," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(2), pages 234-244.
    20. Noor Aini Khalifah & Radziah Adam, 2009. "Productivity Spillovers from FDI in Malaysian Manufacturing: Evidence from Micro‐panel Data," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 23(2), pages 143-167, June.
    21. Markusen, James R. & Trofimenko, Natalia, 2009. "Teaching locals new tricks: Foreign experts as a channel of knowledge transfers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 120-131, January.
    22. Egger, Peter, 2000. "A note on the proper econometric specification of the gravity equation," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 25-31, January.
    23. Blomstrom, Magnus & Kokko, Ari, 1998. "Multinational Corporations and Spillovers," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 247-277, July.
    24. Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2008. "To share or not to share: Does local participation matter for spillovers from foreign direct investment?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 194-217, February.
    25. Suyanto, & Salim, Ruhul & Bloch, Harry, 2014. "Which firms benefit from foreign direct investment? Empirical evidence from Indonesian manufacturing," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 16-29.
    26. Sourafel Girma & Yundan Gong, 2008. "FDI, Linkages and the Efficiency of State-Owned Enterprises in China," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 728-749.
    27. Daniel Chudnovsky & Andres Lopez & Gaston Rossi, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers and the Absorptive Capabilities of Domestic Firms in the Argentine Manufacturing Sector (1992-2001)," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(5), pages 645-677.
    28. Davide Castellani & Antonello Zanfei, 2003. "Technology gaps, absorptive capacity and the impact of inward investments on productivity of European firms ," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(6), pages 555-576.
    29. Amil Petrin & Brian P. Poi & James Levinsohn, 2004. "Production function estimation in Stata using inputs to control for unobservables," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 113-123, June.
    30. Wang, Jian-Ye & Blomstrom, Magnus, 1992. "Foreign investment and technology transfer : A simple model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 137-155, January.
    31. Sinani, Evis & Meyer, Klaus E., 2004. "Spillovers of technology transfer from FDI: the case of Estonia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 445-466, September.
    32. Glass, Amy Jocelyn & Saggi, Kamal, 1998. "International technology transfer and the technology gap," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 369-398, April.
    33. Jojo Jacob & Christoph Meister, 2005. "Productivity gains, technology spillovers and trade: Indonesian manufacturing, 1980-96," Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 37-56.
    34. Haddad, Mona & Harrison, Ann, 1993. "Are there positive spillovers from direct foreign investment? : Evidence from panel data for Morocco," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 51-74, October.
    35. Intarakumnerd, Patarapong & Chairatana, Pun-arj & Tangchitpiboon, Tipawan, 2002. "National innovation system in less successful developing countries: the case of Thailand," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1445-1457, December.
    36. Graham, Paul & Thorpe, Sally & Hogan, Lindsay, 1999. "Non-competitive market behaviour in the international coking coal market," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 195-212, June.
    37. Hoi Le & Richard Pomfret, 2011. "Technology spillovers from foreign direct investment in Vietnam: horizontal or vertical spillovers?," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 183-201.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Naijela Janaina Costa Silveira & Diogo Ferraz & Eduardo Polloni‐Silva & Diego Scarpa de Mello & Fernanda Pereira Sartori Falguera & Herick Fernando Moralles, 2022. "Modeling the building blocks of country‐level absorptive capacity: Comparing developed and emergent economies," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(3), pages 783-824, July.
    2. Sultana, Nasrin & Turkina, Ekaterina, 2020. "Foreign direct investment, technological advancement, and absorptive capacity: A network analysis," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    3. Andrew Jia Yi Kam, 2016. "Death of linkages in host countries? A firm-level study on the channels of productivity spillovers in the Malaysian manufacturing sector," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 30(1), pages 65-79, May.
    4. Ergun Dogan & Koi Nyen Wong & Michael M. C. Yap, 2017. "Vertical and Horizontal Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence from Malaysian Manufacturing," Asian Economic Papers, MIT Press, vol. 16(3), pages 158-183, Fall.
    5. khalifah, noor & Jaafar, Zakiah, 2017. "Technical Efficiency of Establishments in Malaysia’s Electrical and Electronics Industries: Exporting or Vertical Trade?," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 51(1), pages 157-130.
    6. Choong, Pai Wei & khalifah, noor & Mohd Nor, Abu Hassan Shaari & Ismail, Mohd Adib, 2018. "Free Trade Agreements and Production Sharing in Malaysian Manufacturing Industries," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 52(3), pages 91-106.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    2. Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova, 2012. "Survey Article: Publication Bias in the Literature on Foreign Direct Investment Spillovers," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(10), pages 1375-1396, October.
    3. Binyam A. Demena & Peter A. G. van Bergeijk, 2017. "A Meta-Analysis Of Fdi And Productivity Spillovers In Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(2), pages 546-571, April.
    4. Ben Hamida, Lamia & Gugler, Philippe, 2009. "Are there demonstration-related spillovers from FDI?: Evidence from Switzerland," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 494-508, October.
    5. Suyanto, & Salim, Ruhul & Bloch, Harry, 2014. "Which firms benefit from foreign direct investment? Empirical evidence from Indonesian manufacturing," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 16-29.
    6. Seda Köymen Özer & Selin Sayek Böke, 2017. "The Characteristics of Domestic Firms: Materializing Productivity Spillovers from FDI," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(11), pages 2562-2584, November.
    7. Sarker, Bibhuti & Serieux, John, 2022. "Foreign-invested and domestic firm attributes and spillover effects: Evidence from Brazil," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Tomáš Havránek & Zuzana Iršová, 2010. "Meta-Analysis of Intra-Industry FDI Spillovers: Updated Evidence," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 60(2), pages 151-174, May.
    9. Orlic, Edvard & Hashi, Iraj & Hisarciklilar, Mehtap, 2018. "Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 777-796.
    10. Anna Maria Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta & Erol Taymaz & Kamil Yilmaz, 2013. "The Impact Of Fdi On Firm Survival And Employment: A Comparative Analysis For Turkey And Italy," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1211, European Regional Science Association.
    11. Anna Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2014. "FDI spillovers on firm survival in Italy: absorptive capacity matters!," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 859-897, December.
    12. Crespo, Nuno & Fontoura, Maria Paula, 2007. "Determinant Factors of FDI Spillovers - What Do We Really Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 410-425, March.
    13. Suyanto & Salim, Ruhul A. & Bloch, Harry, 2009. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Lead to Productivity Spillovers? Firm Level Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 1861-1876, December.
    14. Yoshimichi Murakami & Keijiro Otsuka, 2017. "A Review of the Literature on Productivity Impacts of Global Value Chains and Foreign Direct Investment: Towards an Integrated Approach," Discussion Paper Series DP2017-19, Research Institute for Economics & Business Administration, Kobe University, revised Aug 2019.
    15. Jitao Tang & Rosanne Altshuler, 2015. "The Spillover Effects Of Outward Foreign Direct Investment On Home Countries: Evidence From The United States," Departmental Working Papers 201501, Rutgers University, Department of Economics.
    16. Perri, Alessandra & Andersson, Ulf & Nell, Phillip C. & Santangelo, Grazia D., 2013. "Balancing the trade-off between learning prospects and spillover risks: MNC subsidiaries’ vertical linkage patterns in developed countries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 48(4), pages 503-514.
    17. Damijan, Jože P. & Rojec, Matija & Majcen, Boris & Knell, Mark, 2013. "Impact of firm heterogeneity on direct and spillover effects of FDI: Micro-evidence from ten transition countries," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 895-922.
    18. Elisa Giuliani & Chiara Macchi, 2014. "Multinational corporations’ economic and human rights impacts on developing countries: a review and research agenda," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 38(2), pages 479-517.
    19. Syeda Tamkeen Fatima, 2016. "Productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment: evidence from Turkish micro-level data," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 291-324, June.
    20. Holger Görg & David Greenaway, 2016. "Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 9, pages 163-189, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:apacel:v:29:y:2015:i:1:p:142-160. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14678411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.