IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v160y2020ics0040162520310593.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does product complexity matter for firms' TFP?

Author

Listed:
  • Guan, Shu
  • Cheng, Liwei

Abstract

This study investigated the complexity-productivity linkage at the firm level. Using data on a large sample of Chinese manufacturing sector firms from 2000 to 2006, the complexity of a firm was evaluated via product complexity. Product complexity was found to be positively related to a higher productivity level. This finding remained robust after several sensitivity checks, sample selection, and the use of alternative complexity and productivity indicators. Across different sectors and provinces, technological factors explained the effect of complexity on productivity. specialization in more complex products exerted a mediating impact between technological factors and firm productivity.

Suggested Citation

  • Guan, Shu & Cheng, Liwei, 2020. "Does product complexity matter for firms' TFP?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:160:y:2020:i:c:s0040162520310593
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120233
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520310593
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120233?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2008. "A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    2. Gary S. Becker & Kevin M. Murphy, 1994. "The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs, and Knowledge," NBER Chapters, in: Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition, pages 299-322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Ma, Yue & Tang, Heiwai & Zhang, Yifan, 2014. "Factor Intensity, product switching, and productivity: Evidence from Chinese exporters," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 349-362.
    4. Cesar A. Hidalgo & Ricardo Hausmann, 2009. "The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity," Papers 0909.3890, arXiv.org.
    5. By Michael Funke & Ralf Ruhwedel, 2001. "Product Variety and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence for the OECD Countries," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 48(2), pages 1-1.
    6. Jørgen Ulff‐Møller Nielsen & Aleksander Rutkowski, 2005. "The EU Anti‐dumping Policy Towards Russia and China: Product Quality and the Choice of an Analogue Country," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(1), pages 103-136, January.
    7. Felipe, Jesus & Kumar, Utsav & Abdon, Arnelyn, 2014. "How rich countries became rich and why poor countries remain poor: It's the economic structure…duh!," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 46-58.
    8. George Mavrotas & Syed Mansoob Murshed & Sebastian Torres, 2011. "Natural Resource Dependence and Economic Performance in the 1970–2000 Period," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(1), pages 124-138, February.
    9. Jeffrey D. Sachs & Andrew M. Warner, 1995. "Natural Resource Abundance and Economic Growth," NBER Working Papers 5398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2001. "Continuous training in Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 14(3), pages 523-548.
    11. Krishna, Pravin & Levchenko, Andrei A., 2013. "Comparative advantage, complexity, and volatility," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 314-329.
    12. Lin, Faqin, 2015. "Learning by exporting effect in China revisited: An instrumental Approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-13.
    13. Ricardo Hausmann & Jason Hwang & Dani Rodrik, 2007. "What you export matters," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, March.
    14. Dani Rodrik, 2006. "What's So Special about China's Exports?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 14(5), pages 1-19, September.
    15. Miaojie Yu & Jin Li, 2014. "Imported Intermediate Inputs, Firm Productivity and Product Complexity," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 65(2), pages 178-192, June.
    16. Robert C. Feenstra & Zhiyuan Li & Miaojie Yu, 2014. "Exports and Credit Constraints under Incomplete Information: Theory and Evidence from China," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(4), pages 729-744, October.
    17. Volker Nocke & Stephen Yeaple, 2006. "Globalization and Endogenous Firm Scope," NBER Working Papers 12322, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Felipe, Jesus & Kumar, Utsav & Abdon, Arnelyn & Bacate, Marife, 2012. "Product complexity and economic development," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 36-68.
    19. Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim, 2012. "Trade and productivity: Self-selection or learning-by-exporting in India," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 1766-1773.
    20. Miaojie Yu & Guangliang Ye & Baozhi Qu, 2013. "Trade Liberalisation, Product Complexity and Productivity Improvement: Evidence from Chinese Firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(7), pages 912-934, July.
    21. Frederick van der Ploeg & Steven Poelhekke, 2009. "Volatility and the natural resource curse," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 61(4), pages 727-760, October.
    22. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    23. Levin, Andrew & Raut, Lakshmi K, 1997. "Complementarities between Exports and Human Capital in Economic Growth: Evidence from the Semi-industrialized Countries," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 46(1), pages 155-174, October.
    24. Boschini, Anne & Pettersson, Jan & Roine, Jesper, 2013. "The Resource Curse and its Potential Reversal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 19-41.
    25. Rauch, James E., 1999. "Networks versus markets in international trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 7-35, June.
    26. Maggioni, Daniela & Lo Turco, Alessia & Gallegati, Mauro, 2016. "Does product complexity matter for firms' output volatility?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 94-109.
    27. James Levinsohn & Amil Petrin, 2003. "Estimating Production Functions Using Inputs to Control for Unobservables," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 70(2), pages 317-341.
    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. Mo, Jianlei & Tu, Qiang & Wang, Jianing, 2023. "Carbon pricing and enterprise productivity-The role of price stabilization mechanism," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    2. Adedoyin, Festus Fatai & Erum, Naila & Ozturk, Ilhan, 2022. "Does higher innovation intensity matter for abating the climate crisis in the presence of economic complexities? Evidence from a Global Panel Data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).

    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. Hu, Cui & Tan, Yong, 2016. "Product differentiation, export participation and productivity growth: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 234-252.
    2. Xiaoping Li & Shuzhou Peng & Wei‐Chiao Huang & Qian Zhou, 2022. "What Drives Chinese Firms' Export Sophistication? A Perspective from the Rise of Minimum Wages," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 30(2), pages 28-59, March.
    3. Miaojie Yu, 2020. "China-US Trade War and Trade Talk," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-981-15-3785-1, June.
    4. Maggioni, Daniela & Lo Turco, Alessia & Gallegati, Mauro, 2016. "Does product complexity matter for firms' output volatility?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 94-109.
    5. Naima Chrid & Sami Saafi & Mohamed Chakroun, 2021. "Export Upgrading and Economic Growth: a Panel Cointegration and Causality Analysis," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 811-841, June.
    6. Lin, Faqin, 2015. "Learning by exporting effect in China revisited: An instrumental Approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-13.
    7. Avom, Désiré & Keneck-Massil, Joseph & Njangang, Henri & Nvuh-Njoya, Youssouf, 2022. "Why are some resource-rich countries more sophisticated than others? The role of the regime type and political ideology," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Zhang, Teng & Ouyang, Puman, 2018. "Is RMB appreciation a nightmare for the Chinese firms? An analysis on firm profitability and exchange rate," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 27-43.
    9. Gideon Ndubuisi & Solomon Owusu, 2021. "How important is GVC participation to export upgrading?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(10), pages 2887-2908, October.
    10. Huiying Zhang & Xiaohui Yang, 2016. "Intellectual Property Rights and Export Sophistication," Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Poncet, Sandra & Starosta de Waldemar, Felipe, 2013. "Export Upgrading and Growth: The Prerequisite of Domestic Embeddedness," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 104-118.
    12. Yilanci, Veli & Aslan, Murat & Ozgur, Onder, 2021. "Disaggregated analysis of the curse of natural resources in most natural resource-abundant countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Cui Hu & Faqin Lin & Xiaosong Wang, 2016. "Learning from exporting in China," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 24(2), pages 299-334, April.
    14. Cai, Chunlin & Li, Ning, 2023. "The threshold effect of export sophistication on natural resources-trade diversification nexus," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PA).
    15. Hartmann, Dominik & Guevara, Miguel R. & Jara-Figueroa, Cristian & Aristarán, Manuel & Hidalgo, César A., 2017. "Linking Economic Complexity, Institutions, and Income Inequality," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 75-93.
    16. Beata S. Javorcik & Alessia Lo Turco & Daniela Maggioni, 2018. "New and Improved: Does FDI Boost Production Complexity in Host Countries?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(614), pages 2507-2537, September.
    17. Fabrice Defever & Alejandro Riaño, 2012. "China's Pure Exporter Subsidies," CEP Discussion Papers dp1182, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    18. Sandra Poncet & Felipe Starosta, 2013. "Export upgrading and growth in China: the prerequisite of domestic embeddedness," PSE - G-MOND WORKING PAPERS halshs-00960684, HAL.
    19. Gomez-Gonzalez, Jose E. & Uribe, Jorge M. & Valencia, Oscar M., 2023. "Does economic complexity reduce the probability of a fiscal crisis?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    20. Albert Park & Dean Yang & Xinzheng Shi & Yuan Jiang, 2010. "Exporting and Firm Performance: Chinese Exporters and the Asian Financial Crisis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 92(4), pages 822-842, November.

    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:tefoso:v:160:y:2020:i:c:s0040162520310593. 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.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    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.