IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/empiri/v52y2025i3d10.1007_s10663-025-09643-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Scope, scale, and locational preferences: an analysis of emerging multinationals

Author

Listed:
  • José C. Fariñas

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

  • Ana Martín-Marcos

    (UNED)

  • Lourdes Moreno

    (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the case of emerging multinationals, using a large sample of Spanish parent-subsidiary links obtained from ORBIS Bureau van Dijk. Three characteristics of multinational firms are specifically considered: their scope, scale, and location decisions. Our results confirm that more productive firms engage in greater multinational activity in terms of their scope (the number of foreign markets in which they invest) and scale (the volume of local sales by subsidiaries in foreign markets). The structure of multinational firms’ activity is also analyzed from the perspective of host country characteristics. Distance and the relative labor costs of the host country are negatively related to the scope of foreign direct investment decisions, whereas the presence of a common language, host country size, and institutional quality positively influence decisions to invest abroad. In the manufacturing sector, host country tariffs positively correlate with the scope of multinational firms' operations, whereas regulatory trade barriers in host countries negatively influence investment decisions in the services sector. These results are robust to the control of endogeneity between parent firms’ productivity and both the scope and scale of subsidiaries abroad. Graphical abstract

Suggested Citation

  • José C. Fariñas & Ana Martín-Marcos & Lourdes Moreno, 2025. "Scope, scale, and locational preferences: an analysis of emerging multinationals," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 559-589, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:52:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10663-025-09643-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-025-09643-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10663-025-09643-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10663-025-09643-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brainard, S Lael, 1997. "An Empirical Assessment of the Proximity-Concentration Trade-off between Multinational Sales and Trade," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(4), pages 520-544, September.
    2. Paula Gutiérrez‐Portilla & Adolfo Maza & José Villaverde, 2019. "Has the crisis affected Spanish investment strategy abroad? A spatial panel data approach," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(4), pages 1032-1056, April.
    3. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    4. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    5. Alvarez, Isabel & Molero, Jose, 2005. "Technology and the generation of international knowledge spillovers: An application to Spanish manufacturing firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1440-1452, November.
    6. Ghodsi, Mahdi, 2020. "How do technical barriers to trade affect foreign direct investment? Tariff jumping versus regulation haven hypotheses," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 269-278.
    7. Kiyoyasu Tanaka, 2015. "Firm Heterogeneity and FDI in Distribution Services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1295-1311, August.
    8. Aw, Bee Yan & Lee, Yi, 2008. "Firm heterogeneity and location choice of Taiwanese multinationals," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1), pages 167-179, May.
    9. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    10. Tanaka, Ayumu, 2012. "Firm productivity and the number of FDI destinations: Evidence from a non-parametric test," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 1-3.
    11. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Multinationals, Multi-Plant Economies, And The Gains From Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 1, pages 3-24, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. James Heckman, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    13. Elhanan Helpman & Marc Melitz & Yona Rubinstein, 2008. "Estimating Trade Flows: Trading Partners and Trading Volumes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(2), pages 441-487.
    14. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    15. Hiroyuki Nishiyama & Masao Yamaguchi, 2013. "Technological Constraints, Firm Heterogeneity, and Location Choice of Multinational Enterprises," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(5), pages 996-1005, November.
    16. Helpman, Elhanan, 1984. "A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 451-471, June.
    17. Mariam Camarero & Laura Montolio & Cecilio Tamarit, 2020. "Determinants of FDI for Spanish regions: evidence using stock data," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 2779-2820, December.
    18. Oscar Bajo-Rubio & Carmen Diaz-Mora & Carmen Diaz-Roldan, 2010. "Foreign Direct Investment and Regional Growth: An Analysis of the Spanish Case," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(3), pages 373-382.
    19. Nils Herger & Steve McCorriston, 2016. "Horizontal, Vertical, and Conglomerate Cross-Border Acquisitions," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 64(2), pages 319-353, June.
    20. Aw, Bee Yan & Lee, Yi, 2008. "Firm heterogeneity and location choice of Taiwanese multinationals," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 403-415, December.
    21. Ingo Geishecker & Holger Görg & Daria Taglioni, 2009. "Characterising Euro Area Multinationals," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 49-76, January.
    22. Natalia Ramondo & Andrés Rodríguez-Clare & Felix Tintelnot, 2015. "Multinational Production: Data and Stylized Facts," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 530-536, May.
    23. Yeaple, Stephen Ross, 2009. "Firm heterogeneity and the structure of U.S. multinational activity," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 206-215, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Mainer-Casado, Carolina & Fariñas, José Carlos & Moreno, Lourdes, 2018. "The Scope, Scale and Locational Preferences of Spanish Multinationals," MPRA Paper 85766, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. José C. Fariñas & Ana Martín-Marcos & Francisco J. Velázquez, 2021. "The Geographical Scope of Multinational Firms and Heterogeneity," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 761-788, September.
    3. Fariñas, José C. & Martín-Marcos, Ana & Velázquez, Francisco J., 2019. "Estimating the Scope Elasticity of Multinational Firms: An Empirical Assessment," MPRA Paper 94990, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Michael Moritz & Veronika Hecht & Patricia Noska & Johannes Schaffler, 2020. "Types of FDI and Determinants of Affiliate Size: the Classification Makes the Difference," Czech Journal of Economics and Finance (Finance a uver), Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, vol. 70(4), pages 312-331, October.
    5. Kiyoyasu Tanaka, 2015. "Firm Heterogeneity and FDI in Distribution Services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(8), pages 1295-1311, August.
    6. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    7. Shawn Arita & Kiyoyasu Tanaka, 2014. "Heterogeneous multinational firms and productivity gains from falling FDI barriers," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 150(1), pages 83-113, February.
    8. Andre Jungmittag, 2019. "Service trade restrictiveness and internationalisation of retail trade," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 293-333, April.
    9. Laura Alfaro & Maggie Xiaoyang Chen, 2018. "Transportation cost and the geography of foreign investment," Chapters, in: Bruce A. Blonigen & Wesley W. Wilson (ed.), Handbook of International Trade and Transportation, chapter 12, pages 369-406, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Alguacil, Maite & Martí, Josep & Orts, Vicente, 2017. "Firm heterogeneity and the market scope of European multinational activity," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 645-659.
    11. Antrà s, Pol & Yeaple, Stephen R., 2014. "Multinational Firms and the Structure of International Trade," Handbook of International Economics, in: Gopinath, G. & Helpman, . & Rogoff, K. (ed.), Handbook of International Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 0, pages 55-130, Elsevier.
    12. Elhanan Helpman, 2014. "Foreign Trade and Investment: Firm-level Perspectives," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(321), pages 1-14, January.
    13. Onur A. Koska & Ngo Van Long & Frank Stähler, 2018. "Foreign direct investment as a signal," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 60-83, February.
    14. Okubo, Toshihiro & Watabe, Yuta, 2023. "Networked FDI and third-country intra-firm trade," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 591-606.
    15. Marti, Josep & Alguacil, Maite & Orts, Vicente, 2015. "Firm Heterogeneity and Location Choice of European Multinationals," MPRA Paper 62596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Helen Simpson, 2012. "How do Firms’ Outward FDI Strategies Relate to their Activity at Home? Empirical Evidence for the UK," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(3), pages 243-272, March.
    17. Alfonso Irarrazabal & Andreas Moxnes & Luca David Opromolla, 2013. "The Margins of Multinational Production and the Role of Intrafirm Trade," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(1), pages 74-126.
    18. Edward Manderson & Richard Kneller, 2012. "Environmental Regulations, Outward FDI and Heterogeneous Firms: Are Countries Used as Pollution Havens?," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 317-352, March.
    19. Antoine Gervais, 2018. "Multiregional Firms And Region Switching In The U.S. Manufacturing Sector," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 955-982, April.
    20. van der Ploeg, Frederick & Poelhekke, Steven, 2010. "Do Natural Resources Attract FDI? Evidence from Non-Stationary Sector-Level Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 8079, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • R30 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - General

    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:kap:empiri:v:52:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10663-025-09643-5. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.