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To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.2010.00486.x Byline: Jun Du (1), Sourafel Girma (2) Abstract: SUMMARY Using a unique firm level data, this paper analyses the role of political connections in the post-entry performance of private start-up companies in China. It documents robust evidence that political affiliation enhances firms' survival and growth prospects. But interestingly politically neutral start-ups enjoy faster productivity improvements conditional on survival. In addition, the benefits of political connections are largely confined to firms associated with local or top level governments, and they are more pronounced in capital-intensive industries. We conclude that the close association between the state and a segment of the business community is leading to sub-optimal resource allocation in the economy by interfering with the process of market selection. Author Affiliation: (1)Aston Business School (2)Nottingham University Business School and Institut fur Weltwirtschaft

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.07.017 Byline: Sourafel Girma Keywords: innovation; FDI; state-owned enterprises; spillovers; competition; China; Asia Abstract: We investigate whether inward foreign direct investment (FDI), either at the firm or industry level, has any impact on product innovation by Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs). We use a comprehensive firm-level panel data set of some 20,000 SOEs during 1999-2005. Our results show that foreign capital participation at the firm level is associated with higher innovative activity. Inward FDI in the sector, by contrast, has a negative effect on innovative activity in SOEs on average. However, there is a positive effect of sector-level FDI on SOEs that export, invest in human capital, or undertake R&D. Author Affiliation: University of Nottingham, United Kingdom Article History: Accepted 7 July 2008

To purchase or authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9701.2009.01161.x Byline: Jun Du (1), Sourafel Girma (2) Abstract: Using recent data from Chinese manufacturing industry and the generalised propensity score, this paper establishes economically significant causal effects of foreign acquisition on domestic and export market dynamics. Author Affiliation: (1)Aston Business School (2)University of Nottingham

Possible benefits of linkages with multinational firms on the performance of Chinese state-owned enterprises are studied. Evidence supporting positive spillovers is not overwhelming, owing to limited regional linkages and low level of absorptive capacity.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.00465.x Byline: Sourafel Girma (1), Holger Gorg (2), Mauro Pisu (3) Keywords: F1; F2 Abstract: Abstract. In this paper we analyse productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment using firm-level panel data for U.K. manufacturing industries from 1992 to 1999. We investigate spillovers through horizontal, backward, and forward linkages; distinguish spillovers from export-oriented vs domestic-market-oriented FDI; and allow for differing effects, depending on domestic firms' export activities. The results suggest that the mechanisms through which spillovers affect domestic firms are very complex and that there are substantial differences in spillover benefits for domestic exporters and non-exporters, and from different types of inward investment. Abstract (Spanish): Exportation, effets d'entrainement, et effets externes de productivite en provenance de l'investissement direct de l'etranger. Dans ce memoire, on analyse les effets externes de productivite en provenance de l'investissement direct de l'etranger en utilisant des donnees de panel pour les industries manufacturieres au Royaume Uni entre 1992 et 1999. On examine les effets externes dans leurs effets d'entrainement en amont, en aval et d'une maniere horizontale, tout en distinguant les effets externes decoulant des investissements etrangers destines a produire pour l'exportation par opposition a une production pour le marche domestique. On note aussi les effets differents sur les entreprises domestiques selon l'intensite de leurs activites a l'exportation. Les resultats suggerent que les mecanismes a travers lesquels se transmettent les effets de debordement sur les entreprises domestiques sont tres complexes, qu'il y a des differences significatives dans ces effets pour les entreprises exportatrices et non exportatrices et selon le type d'investissement etranger. Author Affiliation: (1)Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham (2)Institut fur Weltwirtschaft and Christian-Albrechts-Universitat, Kiel (3)National Bank of Belgium

International technology diffusion through FDI has been examined mainly at macro or industry level whereas micro studies have been concerned mostly with spillovers. Using recent data on the UK manufacturing firms, this paper uncovers evidence that acquisition FDI is an important channel of direct technology transfer from foreign multinationals to domestic exporters. This finding accords with the prediction of the internalisation theory of FDI which postulates that multinational firms transfer a range of intangible proprietary assets to their affiliates. JEL Classification: D24; F14; F23; O33 Keywords: Exports; Foreign acquisition; Productivity; International technology diffusion

This paper seeks to identify the causal effect of foreign acquisitions on wages of skilled and unskilled workers, using difference-in-differences propensity score matching estimators. Our results suggest that there is substantial heterogeneity in the post-acquisition wage effect depending on the nationality of the foreign acquirer and the skill group of workers. We find sizable post acquisition wage effects on skilled and unskilled wages following an acquisition by a US firm. No such impacts result from acquisitions by EU multinationals. Also we discern some positive wage effects for unskilled workers resulting from acquisitions by multinationals from the rest of the world. Keywords: Multinationals; Acquisitions; Wages; Difference-in-differences; Matching estimator JEL classification: F23; J31

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2006.11.006 Byline: Sourafel Girma, Katharine Wakelin Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Production functions; Spillovers; Regional development Abstract: The paper examines whether productivity spillovers from foreign direct investment are geographically limited. Using plant-level data from the U.K. electronics sector, it finds robust evidence of both intra-industry and inter-industry spillovers from regional FDI. By contrast, it fails to establish any discernible relationship between domestic plant's productivity and FDI outside the region. Author Affiliation: Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, United Kingdom Article History: Accepted 6 November 2006

This study decomposes the productivity advantage of foreign multinationals into a technology and a scale effect and analyses the causal relationship between foreign ownership and these two components. This is done by analyzing the effects of an acquisition of a domestic establishment by a foreign multinational, using a combined propensity score matching and difference-in-differences estimation. The main results show that any positive impact of acquisition is predominantly due to changes in technical efficiency and not in scale and that the preacquisition productivity of the target plays a role in mediating the rate of technology transfer from the multinational. (JEL F23, L22, I. INTRODUCTION There is now a substantial body of empirical work that documents a robust and positive correlation between foreign ownership and firm or plant productivity growth across a number [...]

The effect of acquisitions by the technology importing industries of United States and European Union on the productivity of domestic firms in United Kingdom is examined. Domestic economy scenario effected by such acquisitions are also analyzed.

A study employing the instrumental variable quantile regression framework, analyses that returns to schooling wary across the wage distribution of individuals, in Ethiopia.

A study is conducted using latest threshold regression techniques to find out the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) on productivity growth and absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity is used to find the firm's ability to apply new knowledge.

A difference-indifference methodology based on matched firms is used to isolate the direct employment effect of recent acquisition foreign direct investment (FDI) in U.K. manufacturing. The analysis indicates that acquisition FDI has led to a reduction in the efficiency with which labor was used, but was not associated, on average, with any significant downsizing.

The effects business mergers and acquisitions on employee's salaries are analyzed by focusing on database collected from the United Kingdom between 1979-91.

Foreign direct investment in the electronics industry can cause domestic raises in wages.

This paper analyses the domestic performance of UK multinational firms from two perspectives: (i) their productivity relative to foreign multinationals, domestic exporters and non-exporters, and (ii) their ability to benefit [...]

I seek to evaluate the influence of the European Internal Market Programme on the relative significance of the determinants of entry (via acquisitions and start-ups) by non-EU multinationals in some 102 UK manufacturing sectors. The occurrence of foreign direct investment (FDI) is modelled as a two-step process in which factors affecting whether a sector gets any entry by foreign plants are first considered, and the determinants of the count of entries for those sectors that attract positive flow of FDI are then investigated. The empirical estimates point to the conclusion that the parameters of the FDI functions have changed in response to the challenges and opportunities created by increasing economic integration, but with some interesting contrasts between the two types of entries. Acquisition FDI appears to have become more responsive to the size of the European market and unit labour costs relative to the rest of the EU, and less sensitive to the local market size. It is also increasingly being concentrated in sectors with higher intra-EU export propensity, consistent with the predominance of vertical FDI. By contrast, the significance of the size of the UK market has not diminished in the greenfield investment model, and the importance of agglomeration economies has more than doubled during the process of integration. Since the FDI consequences of European integration vary according to the mode of foreign entry, the policy implications of our findings also depend on the type of FDI under consideration.

A study of United Kingdom foreign acquisitions finds that foreign manufacturing firms pay higher wages and achieve higher productivity, 3.4% and 13% respectively.

This paper provides a systematic empirical analysis of the effects of take-over and merger activity on firm employment in the United Kingdom using a specially constructed database for the period 1967-1996. Our results indicate that significant rationalisations in the use of labour occur as firms reduce joint output and increase efficiency postmerger. These effects are particularly pronounced in the case of related and especially hostile mergers. JEL classification: J23; L23 Keywords: Mergers; Acquisitions; Panel data; Labour demand

We motivate and describe a GMM method of estimating linear dynamic models from a time series of independent cross-sections. This involves subjecting the model to a quasi-differencing transformation across pairs of individuals that belong to the same group. Desirable features of the model include the fact that: (i) no aggregation is involved, (ii) dynamic response parameters can vary across groups, (iii) the presence of unobserved individual specific heterogeneity is explicitly allowed for, and (iv) the GMM estimators are derived by realistically assuming group size asymptotics. The Monte Carlo experiments conducted to assess the finite sample performances of the proposed estimators provide us with encouragement.

Research into the employment effects of hostile takeovers in the UK in the period 1983 to 1996 is presented. It is concluded that hostile and friendly acquisitions are each similarly linked with an apparent initial fall in labour demand. Hostile deals are connected with immediate significant falls in output and employment.