Outward FDI does not necessarily cost domestic employment of MNEs at home: Evidence from Japanese MNEs

Outward FDI does not necessarily reduce domestic employment--it often boosts it. Evidence from Japanese MNEs show that they increase domestic employment in Japan when they conduct market-seeking, strategic asset-seeking, or efficiency-seeking FDI to expand domestic operations into foreign countries, and hence enhance their competitive advantages

对外直接投资未必减少跨国公司在本国的就业水平： 日本跨国公司的案例

Outward FDI does not necessarily reduce domestic employment--it often boosts it. Evidence from Japanese MNEs show that they increase domestic employment in Japan when they conduct market-seeking, strategic asset-seeking, or efficiency-seeking FDI to expand domestic operations into foreign countries, and hence enhance their competitive advantages

Outbound Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Motivation and Domestic Employment by Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)

This study investigates whether and how outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) boosts or reduces domestic employment by multinational enterprises (MNEs). Based on analyses of a firm-level sample of 18,252 subsidiary-year cases of Japanese MNEs in 59 countries from 1996 to 2010, the findings indicate that outbound FDI motivated by (1) market seeking for scale and scope expansion, (2) natural resource seeking, or (3) strategic asset seeking tends to serve as a “strategic complement” that enhances domestic employment by MNEs. However, outbound FDI motivated by (4) market seeking associated with declines in domestic demand or (5) labor resource seeking tends to act as a “strategic substitute” that reduces domestic employment by MNEs. The implications for theory, practice, and policymaking are discussed

The effect of non-conventional outbound foreign direct investment (FDI) on the domestic employment of multinational enterprises (MNEs)

Using a sample of 787 Japanese MNEs operating in 60 countries from 1996 to 2010, this study examines the impacts of MNEs’ three most commonly observed forms of non-conventional outbound FDI (i.e., as a means to counter trade barriers, to achieve a financial hedge, or to obtain tax breaks) on domestic employment levels of MNEs at home. We build on a conceptual classification of ‘motivation-activity’ of MNEs as a theoretical framework, and evaluate the impacts of MNEs’ non-conventional outbound FDI on their domestic employment levels in relation to the MNEs’ specific combination of ‘motivation’ and ‘activity’ as they conduct outbound FDI in host countries. The 3SLS regression results show strong evidence that non-conventional outbound FDI in core business activities reduces MNEs’ domestic employment levels when the investment is primarily for responding to country-specific conditions, such as circumventing host country restrictions (e.g., FDI to counter trade barriers) or escaping from home country restrictions (e.g., FDI for tax incentive packages), while FDI in non-core business activities (e.g., FDI for financial hedging or FDI in tax havens) has either a positive or insignificant effect on MNEs’ domestic employment levels depending on whether it aims to develop FSAs or not. We conclude the study with public policy implications from these findings

Entrepreneurship across Time and Space: Empirical Evidence from Korea

This paper investigates the temporal and spatial dynamics of business start-up activities and their determinants. It integrates three perspectives in explaining regional variations of start-ups: (i) spatial heterogeneity that characterizes regional differences in promoting or conditioning start-up activities, (ii) temporal dependence that features a self-augmenting and self-reinforcing effect of start-up activities, and (iii) spatial dependence that portrays inter-regional interaction of start-up activities across proximate regions. A spatial dynamic panel modeling analysis of the determinants of new manufacturing ventures created in sub-national regions of South Korea confirms that, in addition to the importance of regional characteristics, both temporal and spatial dependences of start-up activities are simultaneously in force and play statistically significant roles. To address the joint endogeneity issue of temporal and spatial dependences, we employ the system GMM estimator, which leads to much improved explanation of inter-regional variations in firm creation activities

Does Foreign Direct Investment Stimulate New Firm Creation? In Search of Spillovers through Industrial and Geographical Linkages

This paper examines the spillover effects of inward foreign direct investment (FDI) on the entrepreneurial activities of new firm creation through both industrial and geographical linkages. Using a dataset of 44,434 newly created small firms in 234 regions of South Korea in 2000–2004, this study finds that while the spillover impacts of FDI in the low-tech industry are positive and significant across almost all four possible combinations of the intra-/inter-regional and intra-/inter-sectoral channels, the impacts in the high-tech industry are largely intra-sectoral within the host region and across neighboring regions. Moreover, all statistically significant spillover effects follow an inverted ‘U’-shaped curvilinear trend

The moderating effects of home region orientation on R&D investment and international SME performance: Lessons from Korea

Summary Drawing from the resource-based view, we investigate how firm and country combinations affect international SME performance. Using a sample of 2676 international Korean SMEs, we explore the relationships among SME R&D investment, home region orientation and financial performance. Results show that R&D investment has a horizontally inverted S-shaped relationship with performance reflecting cost leadership, stuck in the middle, and differentiation strategies. We also find that a home region orientation moderates the relationship between R&D investment and performance. Home region orientation positively moderates the relationship when R&D investment reflects cost leadership or differentiation but negatively moderates a stuck in the middle strategy.Regional strategies Home region orientation Firm-specific advantages R&D investment Firm performance Small and medium-sized enterprises

Regional Knowledge Production and Entrepreneurial Firm Creation: Spatial Dynamic Analyses

This study assesses whether and to what extent new knowledge available in a region and its surrounding regions induces and facilitates new firm creation, an important topic that is largely left untested in the literature. Using a full population firm-level dataset of 44,434 newly created entrepreneurial firms in the manufacturing sector in 234 regions of South Korea between 2000 and 2004, its econometric estimations indicate a positive externality effect of new knowledge production on activities of new firm creation within and across the regional boundaries, with the intra-regional effect being stronger than the inter-regional one. The estimations also show that both the intra- and inter-regional effects are stronger in high-tech industries than in low-tech industries