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Are exporters and multinational firms more resilient over a crisis? First evidence for manufacturing enterprises in Italy

Author

Listed:
  • Adalgiso Amendola

    (University of Salerno)

  • Anna Maria Ferragina

    (University of Salerno)

  • Rosanna Pittiglio

    (Second University of Naples)

  • Filippo Reganati

    (University of Rome Sapienza)

Abstract

The 2008 crisis has called to further investigate the impact of global engagement on firm performance. We focus on the link between Italian firms' involvement in international activities and their heterogenous performance in terms of survival in the context of the recent crisis. This topic has been investigated in the literature comparing foreign and domestic firms, neglecting the behaviour of exporters and of domestic multinationals (DMNEs). Our paper tries to fill this void checking for the impact on firm survival of three different forms of firms global engagement: exporting, investing abroad and being a foreign affiliate. We examine firm failure in Italy before the recent crisis (2002-2007) and after it (2008-2010) using an original database, obtained by matching and merging three firm level datasets: Capitalia, AIDA and Mint-Italy for the period 2002-2010. We estimate a conditional Probit of exit of firms according to their global activities, controlling for a wide range of other relevant firm and industry specific variables (size, age, productivity, financial status). In our results, multinationals appear more volatile, while exporting firms experience reduced exit probabilities. Our results do not support the hypothesis of a stabilising role of multinationals, in line with other studies (Varum and Rocha, 2011; Alvarez and Görg, 2011; Godart et al., 2011). Age, productivity, financial health are also important to understand the firm-level impact of the crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Adalgiso Amendola & Anna Maria Ferragina & Rosanna Pittiglio & Filippo Reganati, 2012. "Are exporters and multinational firms more resilient over a crisis? First evidence for manufacturing enterprises in Italy," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 32(3), pages 1914-1926.
  • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-12-00383
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    Cited by:

    1. Joachim Wagner & John P. Weche Gelübcke, 2016. "Risk or Resilience? The Role of Trade Integration and Foreign Ownership for the Survival of German Enterprises during the Crisis 2008–2010," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Microeconometrics of International Trade, chapter 11, pages 369-397, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. Anna Ferragina & Fernanda Mazzotta, 2018. "Firm Employment Resilience and FDI: Evidence from Italy," L'industria, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 4, pages 523-556.
    3. Marco Grazzi & Chiara Piccardo & Cecilia Vergari, 2022. "Turmoil over the crisis: innovation capabilities and firm exit," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 537-564, August.
    4. Jacob A. Jordaan, 2023. "Firm‐level characteristics and the impact of COVID‐19: Examining the effects of foreign ownership and international trade," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(7), pages 1967-1998, July.
    5. Michael Moritz & Bastian Stockinger & Merlind Trepesch, 2017. "Multinational Resilience or Dispensable Jobs? German FDI and Employment in the Czech Republic Around the Great Recession," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2017(3), pages 345-359.
    6. Costa, Stefano & Pappalardo, Carmine & Vicarelli, Claudio, 2014. "Financial crisis, internationalization choices and Italian firm survival," MPRA Paper 54107, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Global crisis; trade; multinational firms; firm exit.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F2 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business
    • L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior

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