Organization of Multinational Activities and Ownership Structure

We develop a model in which multinational investors decide about the modes of organization, the locations of production, and the markets to be served. Foreign investments are driven by market-seeking and cost-reducing motives. We further assume that investors face costs of control that vary among sectors and increase in distance. The results show that (i) production intensive sectors are more likely to operate a foreign business independent of the investment motive, (ii) that distance may have a non-monotonous effect on the likelihood of horizontal investments, and (iii) that globalization, if understood as reducing distance, leads to more integration.Multinationals; Joint ventures; Technology spillovers; Distance; Horizontal and vertical investments; Ownership structure

Organization of Multinational Activities and Ownership Structure

We develop a model in which multinational investors decide about the modes of organization, the locations of production, and the markets to be served. Foreign investments are driven by market-seeking and cost-reducing motives. We further assume that investors face costs of control that vary among sectors and increase in distance. The results show that (i) production intensive sectors are more likely to operate a foreign business independent of the investment motive, (ii) that distance may have a non-monotonous effect on the likelihood of horizontal investments, and (iii) that globalization, if understood as reducing distance, leads to more integration

Organization of Multinational Activities and Ownership Structure

We develop a model in which multinational investors decide about the modes of organization, the locations of production, and the markets to be served. Foreign investments are driven by market-seeking and cost-reducing motives. We further assume that investors face costs of control that vary among sectors and increase in distance. The results show that (i) production intensive sectors are more likely to operate a foreign business independent of the investment motive, (ii) that distance may have a non-monotonous effect on the likelihood of horizontal investments, and (iii) that globalization, if understood as reducing distance, leads to more integration.distance; joint ventures; multinational firms; ownership structure; technology spillovers

Organization of multinational activities and ownership structure

We develop a model of a multinational firm serving a foreign market that needs to decide about the location of production and the optimal ownership structure. We study how the location decision and the ownership choice interact, how these decisions are affected by (cultural) distance and how they depend on industry characteristics. Our analysis shows that (i) distance leads to less integration in low tech, but tends to lead to more integration in high tech industries, (ii) distance may have a non-monotonous effect on the likelihood of horizontal investments as opposed to exports, and (iii) marketing intensive industries are relatively more likely to produce close to their customers.Multinational firms Joint ventures Distance Technology spillovers Ownership structure