11. Multinationals and Organization of the Firm.pdf

《11. Multinationals and Organization of the Firm.pdf》由会员上传分享，免费在线阅读，更多相关内容在学术论文-天天文库。

1、Feenstra,AdvancedInternationalTradeChapter11:MultinationalsandOrganizationoftheFirmDespitethefactthatthisbookisaboutinternationaltrade,wehavesofarnotintroducedanyrolefortraders.Therehasbeenlittlescopeforfirms,letaloneeconomicorganizationmoregenerally,tohaveanysignificantinfluenceontradepattern

2、sbetweencountries.Thiscontradictstheempiricalfactthatagooddealoftradeoccursinternallywithinfirmslocatedacrosscountries.FortheU.S.,forexample,aboutone-thirdofexportsandover40%ofimportsconsistofintra-firmtradebetweenaU.S.orforeignfirmandtheiraffiliates–seeTable11.1.Whenafirmoperatesinseveralcoun

3、triesitisamultinationalenterprise,andtheinvestmentmadeinthe1foreigncountryisreferredtoasforeigndirectinvestment(FDI).Thefirstgoalofthischapteristointroducethesefeaturesintoourearliertrademodels.Theclassictreatmentofamultinationalisthatithassomeintangibleasset(suchasknowledgeofaproductionproces

4、s)thatitcanusetoitsadvantageinaforeignmarket.Itmustdecidewhethertosimplyexportthere,ortoinvestinthatmarketbybuildingaplantandsellingtheproduct,orwhethertoengageinajointventureorothercontractualarrangementwithaforeignfirmtoproducethegood.Wewillinitiallyfocusonthefirsttwodecisions–whethertoexpor

5、ttotheforeignmarketortobuildaplantandsellthere.Thethirdcase–whethertoengageinajointventurewithaforeignfirm–willbediscussedattheendofthechapter.Noticethatthisclassicstatementoftheproblemcanequallywellworkinreverse,wherebytheacquisitionofaforeignfirmcanbringwithitsomeknowledgeofvaluetothepurchas

6、er,thatcouldnotbe2obtainedbysimplybuyingtheproductsofthatforeignfirm.1WemightdefineFDIasacquiringsufficientassetsinaforeignfirmtoexercisesomemanagerialcontrol,thoughacquiring10%ormoreoftheassetsofaforeignenterpriseisthedefinitioncommonlyusedinpractice.2Blonigen(1997)arguesthatincreasedinflowso

7、fJapaneseacquisitionFDIintotheU.S.during1985-1990weremotivatedbythedesiretoacquiretheknowledgeassetsofU.S.firms,combinedwiththelowvalueofthedollar.Noticethatbythisargument,FDIflowsdependonthelevelofexchangerates.11-2Feenstra,AdvancedInt