Multinational Enterprises, Absorptive Capacity and Export Spillovers: Evidence from Polish Firm-level Data

An important benefit attributed to the activity of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in developing and transition countries is its effect on international market access. Through a variety of channels the presence of MNEs is expected to reduce the costs faced by indigenous firms in breaking into inter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of development economics 2014-11, Vol.18 (4), p.709-726
Main Authors: Cieślik, Andrzej, Hagemejer, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Developing countries
Economic theory
International trade
LDCs
Multinational corporations
Studies
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Summary:An important benefit attributed to the activity of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in developing and transition countries is its effect on international market access. Through a variety of channels the presence of MNEs is expected to reduce the costs faced by indigenous firms in breaking into international markets and in turn boost their export prospects. In this paper we use an extensive Polish firm‐level dataset for the period 2000–2008 to verify whether MNEs have positively contributed to the export performance of indigenous firms. We track not only sectoral and geographical spillovers stemming from the activity of MNEs but also control for firm‐specific characteristics that affect indigenous firms' decisions to export including their absorptive capacity. Our empirical results support the existence of positive spillovers (related to MNE export activity) at the sectoral level but not at the regional level. Finally, we find that individual absorptive capacity determines the size of export spillovers.
ISSN:1363-6669
1467-9361
DOI:10.1111/rode.12113