ABSTRACT

Recent theoretical contributions provide predictions about the effects of core product competence on firms’ productivity. However, we know little about the influence of foreign ownership on core product competence that might also lead to productivity gains across firms. This paper uses firm-level data for 137 countries to investigate how foreign ownership affects firms’ decision to become specialised at core products and the subsequently firm productivity gains. To tackle the possible endogeneity of foreign ownership, the instrumental variable approach and the propensity score matching technique are employed. The results show that foreign ownership has a positive and significant effect on firms’ core product competence and this positive effect leads to productivity gains, especially for the most productive firms. We further reveal that foreign competition within an industry encourages firms to become specialised at core products, which could further lead to productivity gains across firms.

摘要

最近的理论贡献提供了关于核心产品能力对企业生产力影响的预测。然而，我们对外资所有权对核心产品能力的影响知之甚少，而核心产品能力也可能导致企业生产率的提高。本文使用 137 个国家的企业级数据来调查外国所有权如何影响企业专业化核心产品的决策以及随后的企业生产率提高。为了解决外资所有权可能存在的内生性，采用了工具变量方法和倾向得分匹配技术。结果表明，外资所有权对企业的核心产品能力具有积极且显着的影响，这种积极影响会导致生产率的提高，特别是对于生产率最高的企业而言。