To Share or Not to Share: Does Local Participation Matter for Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment?

28 Pages Posted: 18 Aug 2003

See all articles by Beata Smarzynska Javorcik

Beata Smarzynska Javorcik

University of Oxford - Department of Economics; World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Mariana Spatareanu

Rutgers University Department of Economics and Division of Global Affairs

Date Written: August 8, 2003

Abstract

This paper examines whether the degree of spillovers from foreign direct investment is affected by the foreign ownership share in investment projects. The analysis, based on an unbalanced panel of Romanian firms from 1998-2000, provides evidence consistent with positive intrasectoral spillovers resulting from fully-owned foreign affiliates but not from projects with joint domestic and foreign ownership. This finding is consistent with literature suggesting that foreign investors tend to put more resources into technology transfer to their wholly-owned projects than to those owned partially. The data also indicate that the presence of partially foreign-owned projects is correlated with higher productivity of domestic firms in upstream industries, suggesting that domestic suppliers benefit from contacts with multinational customers. But the opposite is true for fully-owned foreign affiliates, which appear to have a negative effect on domestic firms in upstream industries. These results are consistent with the observation that foreign investors entering a host country through greenfield projects are less likely to source locally than those engaged in joint ventures or partial acquisitions. They are also in line with the evidence suggesting that fully-owned foreign subsidiaries use newer or more sophisticated technologies than jointly-owned investment projects, and thus may have higher requirements which only a few, if any, domestic suppliers are able to meet.

This paper - a product of Trade, Development Research Group - is part of a larger effort in the group to examine the impact of foreign direct investment on recipient countries.

JEL Classification: F23

Suggested Citation

Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska and Spatareanu, Mariana, To Share or Not to Share: Does Local Participation Matter for Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment? (August 8, 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=428201

Beata Smarzynska Javorcik (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Department of Economics ( email )

Manor Road Building
Manor Road
Oxford
United Kingdom

World Bank - Development Research Group (DECRG) ( email )

1818 H. Street, N.W.
MSN3-311
Washington, DC 20433
United States
202-458-8485 (Phone)
202-522-1159 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://econ.worldbank.org/staff/bjavorcik

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Mariana Spatareanu

Rutgers University Department of Economics and Division of Global Affairs ( email )

360 ML King Jr. Blvd.
Newark, NJ 07102
United States
973 353 5249 (Phone)
973 353 5819 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
189
Abstract Views
1,377
Rank
289,210
PlumX Metrics