IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/empeco/v59y2020i6d10.1007_s00181-019-01747-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Modeling dynamic location expansion of multinational firms in France

Author

Listed:
  • Mina Sami

    (American University in Cairo)

  • Tarek Ibrahim Eldomiaty

    (Misr International University)

Abstract

This paper focuses on the factors that affect location decisions of multinational firms in the French regions in terms of the type of organizational structure and location characteristics. The objective is to examine the significance of the factors that affect firms’ choice of location and the operations in different locations. The paper considers the manufacturing and service sectors that differ in terms of nature of products and operations. This paper uses firm-level data extracted from “Bilan France” database. The database contains 6840 investment projects that cover the period from 2001 to 2011. The firms included in the database originate from 77 foreign countries. The study utilizes the properties of mixed logistic regression and nested logit to fulfill the objectives of the paper. The results show that (a) the organizational structure of projects in the French regions is not a random process, that is, coordination and communication costs matter for multinational firms, (b) multinational firms are willing to group their projects geographically in the same region, (c) the organizational structure of multinational corporations in France matters for the location decision of their new projects more than the regional characteristics, (d) the concentration of projects is more strategic for the manufacturing sector relative to the service sector, (e) internal coordination costs and the effect of stages (upstream and downstream) are more sensitive in the manufacturing sector. Having agreed upon in the literature that location decisions are country specific, this study offers robust evidence that multinational corporations in France adjust organizational structure and take into consideration regional characteristics in order to benefit from economies of scale.

Suggested Citation

  • Mina Sami & Tarek Ibrahim Eldomiaty, 2020. "Modeling dynamic location expansion of multinational firms in France," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(6), pages 3033-3061, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:59:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s00181-019-01747-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-019-01747-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-019-01747-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s00181-019-01747-9?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. Crozet, Matthieu & Mayer, Thierry & Mucchielli, Jean-Louis, 2004. "How do firms agglomerate? A study of FDI in France," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 27-54, January.
    2. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    3. James R. Markusen, 2004. "Multinational Firms and the Theory of International Trade," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262633078, April.
    4. Grossman, Gene M. & Helpman, Elhanan & Szeidl, Adam, 2006. "Optimal integration strategies for the multinational firm," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 216-238, September.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8mcgcdbi is not listed on IDEAS
    6. James R. MARKUSEN, 2021. "Multinationals, Multi-Plant Economies, And The Gains From Trade," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 1, pages 3-24, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Yeaple, Stephen Ross, 2003. "The complex integration strategies of multinationals and cross country dependencies in the structure of foreign direct investment," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(2), pages 293-314, August.
    8. Sascha O. Becker & Karolina Ekholm & Robert Jäckle & Marc-Andreas Muendler, 2005. "Location Choice and Employment Decisions: A Comparison of German and Swedish Multinationals," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(4), pages 693-731, December.
    9. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    10. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8mcgcdbi is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Benjamin Nefussi & Cyrille Schwellnus, 2010. "Does FDI in manufacturing cause FDI in business services? Evidence from French firm‐level data," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 43(1), pages 180-203, February.
    12. Baltagi, Badi H. & Egger, Peter & Pfaffermayr, Michael, 2007. "Estimating models of complex FDI: Are there third-country effects?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 260-281, September.
    13. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2005. "From sectoral to functional urban specialisation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 343-370, March.
    14. Fabrice Defever, 2006. "Functional fragmentation and the location of multinational firms in the enlarged Europe," Post-Print halshs-00118808, HAL.
    15. Disdier, Anne-Celia & Mayer, Thierry, 2004. "How different is Eastern Europe? Structure and determinants of location choices by French firms in Eastern and Western Europe," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 280-296, June.
    16. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2001. "Decentralized Employment and the Transformation of the American City," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1912, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    17. David L. Carr & James R. Markusen & Keith E. Maskus, 2021. "Estimating The Knowledge-Capital Model of the Multinational Enterprise," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: BROADENING TRADE THEORY Incorporating Market Realities into Traditional Models, chapter 5, pages 95-110, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Defever, Fabrice, 2006. "Functional fragmentation and the location of multinational firms in the enlarged Europe," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 658-677, September.
    19. Lorenzo Caliendo & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2012. "The Impact of Trade on Organization and Productivity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1393-1467.
    20. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Investment in the European Union," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(4), pages 959-972, November.
    21. Basile, Roberto & Castellani, Davide & Zanfei, Antonello, 2008. "Location choices of multinational firms in Europe: The role of EU cohesion policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 328-340, March.
    22. Crozet, Matthieu & Mayer, Thierry & Mucchielli, Jean-Louis, 2004. "How do firms agglomerate? A study of FDI in France," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 27-54, January.
    23. Devereux, Michael P. & Griffith, Rachel, 1998. "Taxes and the location of production: evidence from a panel of US multinationals," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 335-367, June.
    24. Benjamin Nefussi & Cyrille Schwellnus, 2010. "Does FDI in manufacturing cause FDI in business services? Evidence from French firm-level data," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(1), pages 180-203, February.
    25. Pol Antràs & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2009. "Organizations and Trade," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 43-64, May.
    26. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/10192 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Shang-Jin Wei, 2000. "How Taxing is Corruption on International Investors?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(1), pages 1-11, February.
    28. Helpman, Elhanan, 1984. "A Simple Theory of International Trade with Multinational Corporations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 451-471, June.
    29. Keith Head & Thierry Mayer, 2004. "Market Potential and the Location of Japanese Firms in the European Union," Post-Print hal-00267438, HAL.
    30. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8o118937 is not listed on IDEAS
    31. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/c8dmi8nm4pdjkuc9g8o118937 is not listed on IDEAS
    32. Laura Alfaro & Andrew Charlton, 2009. "Intra-industry Foreign Direct Investment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(5), pages 2096-2119, December.
    33. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam & Wan, Guanghua, 2010. "Firm location choice in cities: Evidence from China, India, and Brazil," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 113-122, March.
    34. Sylvie Montout & Mina Sami, 2016. "Determinants for locating research and development activity in Europe," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 145, pages 7-20.
    35. Wheeler, David & Mody, Ashoka, 1992. "International investment location decisions : The case of U.S. firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1-2), pages 57-76, August.
    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. Mina Sami & Wael Abdallah, 2022. "Does Cryptocurrency Hurt African Firms?," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-17, 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. Marie-Line Duboz & Nathalie Kroichvili & Julie Le Gallo, 2016. "Do Foreign Investors’ Location Determinants in Service Functions Differ According to Sectors? An Empirical Analysis of EU for 1997 to 2011," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 39(4), pages 417-456, October.
    2. Nielsen, Bo Bernhard & Asmussen, Christian Geisler & Weatherall, Cecilie Dohlmann, 2017. "The location choice of foreign direct investments: Empirical evidence and methodological challenges," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 62-82.
    3. Andrea Ascani & Riccardo Crescenzi & Simona Iammarino, 2015. "Economic Institutions and the Location Strategies of European Multinationals in their Geographical Neighbourhood," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 97, European Institute, LSE.
    4. Hayakawa, Kazunobu & Tsubota, Kenmei, 2014. "Location choice in low-income countries: Evidence from Japanese investments in East Asia," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 30-43.
    5. Mayer, T. & Mejean, I. & Nefussi, B., 2010. "The location of domestic and foreign production affiliates by French multinational firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 115-128, September.
    6. Mariam Camarero & Sergi Moliner & Cecilio Tamarit, 2021. "Is there a euro effect in the drivers of US FDI? New evidence using Bayesian model averaging techniques," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(4), pages 881-926, November.
    7. Chen, Maggie Xiaoyang & Moore, Michael O., 2010. "Location decision of heterogeneous multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 188-199, March.
    8. Marti, Josep & Alguacil, Maite & Orts, Vicente, 2015. "Firm Heterogeneity and Location Choice of European Multinationals," MPRA Paper 62596, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Jonathan Jones, 2017. "Agglomeration economies and the location of foreign direct investment: A meta-analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(5), pages 731-757, November.
    10. Sarker, Bibhuti & Serieux, John, 2023. "Multilevel determinants of FDI: A regional comparative analysis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 47(3).
    11. Laura Casi & Laura Resmini, 2014. "Spatial complexity and interactions in the FDI attractiveness of regions," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93, pages 51-78, November.
    12. Jonas Kleineick & Andrea Ascani & Martijn Smit, 2020. "Multinational investments across Europe: a multilevel analysis," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 40(1), pages 67-105, April.
    13. João Ricardo Faria, 2016. "Location Clusters, FDI and Local Entrepreneurs: Consistent Public Policy," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 7(4), pages 858-868, December.
    14. Marie-Line Duboz & Nathalie Kroichvili & Julie Le Gallo, 2019. "What matters most for FDI attraction in services: country or region performance? An empirical analysis of EU for 1997–2012," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 63(3), pages 601-638, December.
    15. Siedschlag, Iulia & Zhang, Xiaoheng & Smith, Donal, 2009. "What Determines the Attractiveness of EU Regions to the Location of Multinational Firms in the ICT Sector?," Papers DYNREG45, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    16. Riccardo Crescenzi & Carlo Pietrobelli & Roberta Rabellotti, 2012. "Innovation Drivers, Value Chains and the Geography of Multinational Firms in European Regions," LEQS – LSE 'Europe in Question' Discussion Paper Series 53, European Institute, LSE.
    17. Fabrice Defever, 2006. "Functional fragmentation and the location of multinational firms in the enlarged Europe," Post-Print halshs-00118808, HAL.
    18. Hecht, Veronika, 2015. "Location choice of German multinationals in the Czech Republic : the importance of agglomeration economies," IAB-Discussion Paper 201519, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    19. Spies, Julia, 2010. "Network and border effects: Where do foreign multinationals locate in Germany?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 20-32, January.
    20. Bruce Blonigen, 2005. "A Review of the Empirical Literature on FDI Determinants," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 33(4), pages 383-403, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Foreign direct investment (FDI); Organizational structure; Geographical location; Regions; Grouping; Coordination costs;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights
    • F21 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Investment; Long-Term Capital Movements
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:empeco:v:59:y:2020:i:6:d:10.1007_s00181-019-01747-9. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.