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Determinants of the Profitability of Japanese Manufacturing Affiliates in China and Other Regions: Does Localisation of Procurement, Sales and Management Matter?

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  • Keiko Ito
  • Kyoji Fukao

Abstract

Does localization of procurements, sales, and management contribute to the profitability of overseas affiliates? This study examines this question by analyzing the performance of Japanese multinationals' manufacturing affiliates in China using a comprehensive affiliate-level dataset for the period from 1989 to 2002 collected by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI). We find that even though foreign multinationals often seem to enter China for the local market potential, affiliates with a higher local sales ratio tend to be less profitable - a pattern that is conspicuously different from that observed for Japanese affiliates in other regions such as the USA or the ASEAN-4, where local sales orientation has a positive impact on profitability. On the other hand, we find that Japanese affiliates' profitability was positively associated with their local procurement ratio. Using the coefficients of the profit function estimated from data on all Japanese manufacturing affiliates around the world, we can calculate the effect of localization (local sales and local procurements) on profitability by country, controlling for the level of GDP and per-capita GDP. In the case of China, the localization effects are positive following the country's accession to the WTO, suggesting that both local procurement and sales expansion contribute to higher profitability in China.
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Suggested Citation

  • Keiko Ito & Kyoji Fukao, 2010. "Determinants of the Profitability of Japanese Manufacturing Affiliates in China and Other Regions: Does Localisation of Procurement, Sales and Management Matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(12), pages 1639-1671, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:worlde:v:33:y:2010:i:12:p:1639-1671
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    2. Ksenija Dencic-Mihajlov, 2014. "Profitability During the Financial Crisis Evidence from the Regulated Capital Market in Serbia," South-Eastern Europe Journal of Economics, Association of Economic Universities of South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region, vol. 12(1), pages 7-33.
    3. HOSONO Kaoru & MIYAKAWA Daisuke & TAKIZAWA Miho, 2017. "Do Overseas Subsidiaries Benefit from Parent Firms' Intangibles?," Discussion papers 17073, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Chin Hee Hahn & Kazunobu Hayakawa & Tadashi Ito, 2016. "Managers’ nationalities and FDI’s productivity: evidence from Korean firm-level data," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(6), pages 941-953.
    5. ITO Koji & Ivan DESEATNICOV & FUKAO Kyoji, 2017. "Japanese Plants' Heterogeneity in Sales, Factor Inputs, and Participation in Global Value Chains," Discussion papers 17117, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    6. LIANG, Licheng, 2023. "Resilience of Japanese Multinational Enterprises' Production Networks during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Discussion Paper Series 742, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    7. Pham, Huy & Ha, Van & Le, Hanh-Hong & Ramiah, Vikash & Frino, Alex, 2024. "The effects of polluting behaviour, dirty energy and electricity consumption on firm performance: Evidence from the recent crises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).

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