IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/chieco/v21y2010i4p629-638.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capital or knowhow: The role of foreign multinationals in Sino-foreign joint ventures

Author

Listed:
  • Bai, Chong-En
  • Lu, Jiangyong
  • Tao, Zhigang

Abstract

China's success in attracting foreign direct investment has been cast in doubt as mainly a transfer of capital, not knowhow, because its financial system is incapable of allocating domestic savings and hard-earned foreign reserves to domestic enterprises. To shed light on this debate, we examine the determinants of equity sharing in Sino-foreign joint ventures with the premise that the roles of foreign direct investment (in transferring capital or knowhow) should be reflected in equity sharing between multinational firms and local firms. Our empirical analysis offers strong evidence for foreign direct investment as a transfer of knowhow, but limited support for foreign direct investment as a transfer of capital, which points to the need for further reform in China's financial system.

Suggested Citation

  • Bai, Chong-En & Lu, Jiangyong & Tao, Zhigang, 2010. "Capital or knowhow: The role of foreign multinationals in Sino-foreign joint ventures," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 629-638, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:21:y:2010:i:4:p:629-638
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043-951X(10)00074-X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Razin, Assaf & Sadka, Efraim & Yuen, Chi-Wa, 1998. "A pecking order of capital inflows and international tax principles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 45-68, February.
    2. Maurice Obstfeld & Kenneth S. Rogoff, 1996. "Foundations of International Macroeconomics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262150476, April.
    3. Brian J. Aitken & Ann E. Harrison, 2022. "Do Domestic Firms Benefit from Direct Foreign Investment? Evidence from Venezuela," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Globalization, Firms, and Workers, chapter 6, pages 139-152, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Albert G. Z. Hu & Gary H. Jefferson, 2002. "FDI Impact and Spillover: Evidence from China's Electronic and Textile Industries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(8), pages 1063-1076, August.
    5. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    6. Djankov, Simeon & Hoekman, Bernard M, 2000. "Foreign Investment and Productivity Growth in Czech Enterprises," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 14(1), pages 49-64, January.
    7. Robert E. Hall & Charles I. Jones, 1999. "Why do Some Countries Produce So Much More Output Per Worker than Others?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 114(1), pages 83-116.
    8. Pol Antras & Elhanan Helpman, 2004. "Global Sourcing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(3), pages 552-580, June.
    9. Chong-En Bai & Zhigang Tao & Changqi Wu, 2004. "Revenue Sharing and Control Rights in Team Production: Theories and Evidence from Joint Ventures," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(2), pages 277-305, Summer.
    10. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    11. Gomes-Casseres, Benjamin, 1989. "Ownership structures of foreign subsidiaries : Theory and evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 1-25, January.
    12. Nakamura, M. & Xie, J., 1998. "Nonverifiability, noncontractibility and ownership determination models in foreign direct investment, with an application to foreign operations in Japan," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 571-599, September.
    13. repec:hrv:faseco:4784029 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Bai, Chong-En & Li, David D. & Tao, Zhigang & Wang, Yijiang, 2000. "A Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 716-738, December.
    15. Barbosa, Natalia & Louri, Helen, 2002. "On the determinants of multinationals' ownership preferences: evidence from Greece and Portugal," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 493-515, April.
    16. Daniel H. Rosen, 1999. "Behind the Open Door: Foreign Enterprises in the Chinese Marketplace," Peterson Institute Press: All Books, Peterson Institute for International Economics, number 23, January.
    17. Hart, Oliver & Moore, John, 1990. "Property Rights and the Nature of the Firm," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1119-1158, December.
    18. Bai, Chong-En & Lu, Jiangyong & Tao, Zhigang, 2009. "How does privatization work in China?," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 453-470, September.
    19. Chong‐En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "Property rights protection and access to bank loans," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 14(4), pages 611-628, October.
    20. Bengt Holmstrom, 1982. "Moral Hazard in Teams," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 324-340, Autumn.
    21. Yuanzheng Cao & Yingyi Qian & Barry R. Weingast, 1999. "From federalism, Chinese style to privatization, Chinese style," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 7(1), pages 103-131, March.
    22. Philippe Aghion & Patrick Bolton, 1992. "An Incomplete Contracts Approach to Financial Contracting," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 59(3), pages 473-494.
    23. Jozef Konings, 2001. "The effects of foreign direct investment on domestic firms," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 9(3), pages 619-633, November.
    24. Elizabeth Asiedu & Hadi Salehi Esfahani, 2001. "Ownership Structure In Foreign Direct Investment Projects," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(4), pages 647-662, November.
    25. Hart, Oliver, 1995. "Firms, Contracts, and Financial Structure," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198288817.
    26. Lu, Jiangyong & Lu, Yi & Tao, Zhigang, 2010. "Exporting behavior of foreign affiliates: Theory and evidence," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 197-205, July.
    27. Dasgupta, Sudipto & Tao, Zhigang, 1998. "Contractual incompleteness and the optimality of equity joint ventures," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 391-413, December.
    28. Chong-En Bai & Jiangyong Lu & Zhigang Tao, 2006. "The Multitask Theory of State Enterprise Reform: Empirical Evidence from China," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 353-357, May.
    29. Haddad, Mona & Harrison, Ann, 1993. "Are there positive spillovers from direct foreign investment? : Evidence from panel data for Morocco," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 51-74, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Shahid Yusuf, 2012. "From Technological Catch-up to Innovation : The Future of China’s GDP Growth," World Bank Publications - Reports 12781, The World Bank Group.
    2. Bai, Chong-En & Ma, Hong & Pan, Wenqing, 2012. "Spatial spillover and regional economic growth in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4), pages 982-990.
    3. Li Jing & Huying Zhang, 2023. "Venture Capital, Compensation Incentive, and Corporate Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-19, March.
    4. Bai, Chong-En & Qian, Yingyi, 2010. "Infrastructure development in China: The cases of electricity, highways, and railways," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 34-51, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muller, Thomas & Schnitzer, Monika, 2006. "Technology transfer and spillovers in international joint ventures," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 456-468, March.
    2. Javorcik, Beata Smarzynska & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2008. "To share or not to share: Does local participation matter for spillovers from foreign direct investment?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1-2), pages 194-217, February.
    3. Jiahua Che & Giovanni Facchini, 2009. "Cultural differences, insecure property rights and the mode of entry decision," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 38(3), pages 465-484, March.
    4. Moskalev, Sviatoslav A. & Swensen, R. Bruce, 2007. "Joint ventures around the globe from 1990-2000: Forms, types, industries, countries and ownership patterns," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 29-67.
    5. Eduard Marinov, 2016. "The 2016 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 97-149.
    6. Valeria Gattai & Piergiovanna Natale, 2014. "Joint Ventures and the Property Rights Theory of the Firm: a Review of the Literature," Working Papers 287, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Dec 2014.
    7. Chong-En Bai & Zhigang Tao & Changqi Wu, 2004. "Revenue Sharing and Control Rights in Team Production: Theories and Evidence from Joint Ventures," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(2), pages 277-305, Summer.
    8. Y Wei & X Liu, 2006. "Productivity spillovers from R&D, exports and FDI in China's manufacturing sector," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 37(4), pages 544-557, July.
    9. Juan Carluccio & Thibault Fally, 2012. "Global Sourcing under Imperfect Capital Markets," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 94(3), pages 740-763, August.
    10. Harrison, Ann & Rodríguez-Clare, Andrés, 2010. "Trade, Foreign Investment, and Industrial Policy for Developing Countries," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4039-4214, Elsevier.
    11. Sara L. McGaughey & Pascalis Raimondos & Lisbeth La Cour, 2018. "What is a Foreign Firm? Implications for Productivity Spillovers," CESifo Working Paper Series 7109, CESifo.
    12. M Ayhan Kose & Eswar Prasad & Kenneth Rogoff & Shang-Jin Wei, 2009. "Financial Globalization: A Reappraisal," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 56(1), pages 8-62, April.
    13. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "International Joint Ventures and the Boundaries of the Firm," NBER Working Papers 9115, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Gattai, Valeria & Natale, Piergiovanna, 2013. "What makes a joint venture: Micro-evidence from Sino-Italian contracts," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 194-205.
    15. Newman, Andrew & Conconi, Paola & Alfaro, Laura & Fadinger, Harald, 2010. "Trade Policy and Firm Boundaries," CEPR Discussion Papers 7899, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Maria Bas & Juan Carluccio, 2009. "Wage Bargaining and the Boundaries of the Multinational Firm," CEP Discussion Papers dp0963, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    17. Valeria Gattai, 2006. "From the Theory of the Firm to FDI and Internalisation: A Survey," Giornale degli Economisti, GDE (Giornale degli Economisti e Annali di Economia), Bocconi University, vol. 65(2), pages 225-262, November.
    18. Kemeny, Thomas, 2010. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Drive Technological Upgrading?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 1543-1554, November.
    19. Sara L. McGaughey & Pascalis Raimondos & Lisbeth Cour, 0. "Foreign influence, control, and indirect ownership: Implications for productivity spillovers," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-22.
    20. Lin, Ping & Liu, Zhuomin & Zhang, Yifan, 2009. "Do Chinese domestic firms benefit from FDI inflow?: Evidence of horizontal and vertical spillovers," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 677-691, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:chieco:v:21:y:2010:i:4:p:629-638. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/chieco .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.