IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/mtk/febawb/99.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Knowledge Transfer From Multinationals Through Labour Mobility: Learning From Export Experience

Author

Listed:
  • Jaan Masso
  • Priit Vahter

Abstract

This paper investigates knowledge spillovers through labour mobility from multinational enterprises (MNEs) to domestic firms. Despite the recent increased interest in this particular channel of MNE spillovers, there is a need to understand how such effects of managerial labour mobility from MNEs function in more detail. Based on employer-employee level data from Estonia, we find that higher firm and individual-level performance associated with hiring MNE-experienced managers and top specialists especially tends to reflect the export experience of these employees. A channel for how these spillovers function appears to be the increase in the propensity to export by domestic firms. The contribution of external international experience is especially strong in the first stages of the internationalisation of a firm and for entry into nearby markets. There is no evidence of the effects of MNE experience on the intensity of exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaan Masso & Priit Vahter, 2016. "Knowledge Transfer From Multinationals Through Labour Mobility: Learning From Export Experience," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 99, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).
    • Handle: RePEc:mtk:febawb:99
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mjtoimetised.ut.ee/febpdf/febawb99.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Markusen, 1995. "The Boundaries of Multinational Enterprises and the Theory of International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 169-189, Spring.
    2. Jaan Masso & Kärt Rõigas & Priit Vahter, 2015. "Foreign market experience, learning by hiring and firm export performance," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 659-686, November.
    3. Dasgupta, Kunal, 2012. "Learning and knowledge diffusion in a global economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 323-336.
    4. Jaan Masso & Priit Vahter, 2015. "Exporting and Productivity: The Effects of Multi-Product and Multi-Market Export Entry," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(4), pages 325-350, September.
    5. Aitken, Brian & Hanson, Gordon H. & Harrison, Ann E., 1997. "Spillovers, foreign investment, and export behavior," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1-2), pages 103-132, August.
    6. Ann-Kathrine Ejsing & Ulrich Kaiser & Hans Christian Kongsted & Keld Laursen, 2013. "The Role of University Scientist Mobility for Industrial Innovation," Working Papers 332, University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration (IBW).
    7. Wolfgang Keller, 2004. "International Technology Diffusion," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(3), pages 752-782, September.
    8. Gary A Knight & S Tamer Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(4), pages 334-334, July.
    9. James G. March, 1991. "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 71-87, February.
    10. repec:bla:jecsur:v:12:y:1998:i:3:p:247-77 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Ragnhild Balsvik, 2011. "Is Labor Mobility a Channel for Spillovers from Multinationals? Evidence from Norwegian Manufacturing," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(1), pages 285-297, February.
    12. Fosfuri, Andrea & Motta, Massimo & Ronde, Thomas, 2001. "Foreign direct investment and spillovers through workers' mobility," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 205-222, February.
    13. Holger Görg & David Greenaway, 2016. "Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 9, pages 163-189, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    14. Amy Jocelyn Glass & Kamal Saggi, 2002. "Multinational Firms and Technology Transfer," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 104(4), pages 495-513, December.
    15. Marc J. Melitz, 2003. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(6), pages 1695-1725, November.
    16. Magnus Blomström & Ari Kokko & Mario Zejan, 2000. "Multinational Corporations and Spillovers," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 8, pages 101-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    17. 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..
    18. Ronald Findlay, 1978. "Relative Backwardness, Direct Foreign Investment, and the Transfer of Technology: A Simple Dynamic Model," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 92(1), pages 1-16.
    19. Holger Görg & Eric Strobl, 2016. "Spillovers from Foreign Firms through Worker Mobility: An Empirical Investigation," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT, chapter 13, pages 243-259, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    20. Davide Sala & Erdal Yalcin, 2012. "Export Experience of Managers and the Internationalization of Firms," ifo Working Paper Series 139, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    21. Christian Dustmann & Costas Meghir, 2005. "Wages, Experience and Seniority," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 77-108.
    22. Liu, Qing & Lu, Ruosi & Zhang, Chao, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and spillovers from multinationals: Evidence from Chinese private firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 95-106.
    23. Sanne Hiller, 2013. "Does immigrant employment matter for export sales? Evidence from Denmark," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(2), pages 369-394, June.
    24. Jan Johanson & Jan-Erik Vahlne, 1977. "The Internationalization Process of the Firm—A Model of Knowledge Development and Increasing Foreign Market Commitments," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 8(1), pages 23-32, March.
    25. Markusen, James R. & Trofimenko, Natalia, 2009. "Teaching locals new tricks: Foreign experts as a channel of knowledge transfers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 120-131, January.
    26. Luca David Opromolla & Giordano Mion, 2011. "Managers’ Mobility, Trade Status, and Wages," Working Papers w201104, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    27. Chad Syverson, 2011. "What Determines Productivity?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 326-365, June.
    28. Gary A Knight & S Tamar Cavusgil, 2004. "Innovation, organizational capabilities, and the born-global firm," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 35(2), pages 124-141, March.
    29. Eliane Choquette & Philipp Meinen, 2015. "Export Spillovers: Opening the Black Box," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(12), pages 1912-1946, December.
    30. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    31. Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg & Rebecca Henderson, 1993. "Geographic Localization of Knowledge Spillovers as Evidenced by Patent Citations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 108(3), pages 577-598.
    32. Mika Maliranta & Pierre Mohnen & Petri Rouvinen, 2009. "Is inter-firm labor mobility a channel of knowledge spillovers? Evidence from a linked employer--employee panel," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 18(6), pages 1161-1191, December.
    33. Xiaohui Liu & Jiangyong Lu & Igor Filatotchev & Trevor Buck & Mike Wright, 2010. "Returnee entrepreneurs, knowledge spillovers and innovation in high-tech firms in emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(7), pages 1183-1197, September.
    34. Love, James H. & Roper, Stephen & Zhou, Ying, 2016. "Experience, age and exporting performance in UK SMEs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 806-819.
    35. Linda Argote & Sara L. Beckman & Dennis Epple, 1990. "The Persistence and Transfer of Learning in Industrial Settings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(2), pages 140-154, February.
    36. Martin Ganco, 2013. "Cutting the Gordian knot: The effect of knowledge complexity on employee mobility and entrepreneurship," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(6), pages 666-686, June.
    37. Igor Filatotchev & Xiaohui Liu & Trevor Buck & Mike Wright, 2009. "The export orientation and export performance of high-technology SMEs in emerging markets: The effects of knowledge transfer by returnee entrepreneurs," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(6), pages 1005-1021, August.
    38. Jennifer P. Poole, 2013. "Knowledge Transfers from Multinational to Domestic Firms: Evidence from Worker Mobility," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 393-406, May.
    39. Panagiotis Ganotakis & James H Love, 2012. "Export propensity, export intensity and firm performance: The role of the entrepreneurial founding team," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(8), pages 693-718, October.
    40. Davide Sala & Erdal Yalcin, 2015. "Export Experience of Managers and the Internationalisation of Firms," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(7), pages 1064-1089, July.
    41. Peter J. Lane & Michael Lubatkin, 1998. "Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning," Post-Print hal-02311860, HAL.
    42. Beata Smarzynska Javorcik, 2004. "Does Foreign Direct Investment Increase the Productivity of Domestic Firms? In Search of Spillovers Through Backward Linkages," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(3), pages 605-627, June.
    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. Konstantins Benkovskis & Jaan Masso & Olegs Tkacevs & Priit Vahter & Naomitsu Yashiro, 2020. "Export and productivity in global value chains: comparative evidence from Latvia and Estonia," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 156(3), pages 557-577, August.
    2. Liis Roosaar & Urmas Varblane & Jaan Masso, 2020. "Productivity Gains From Labour Churning In Economic Crisis: Do Foreign Firms Gain More?," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 125, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).

    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. Jaan Masso & Kärt Rõigas & Priit Vahter, 2015. "Foreign market experience, learning by hiring and firm export performance," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 659-686, November.
    2. Jaan Masso & Kärt Rõigas & Priit Vahter, 2014. "Foreign Market Experience, Learning by Hiring and Firm Export," Discussion Papers 26, Central European Labour Studies Institute (CELSI).
    3. Neil Foster-McGregor, 2012. "Innovation and Technology Transfer across Countries," wiiw Research Reports 380, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
    4. Castillo, Victoria & Figal-Garone, Lucas & Maffioli, Alessandro & Rojo, Sofia & Stucchi, Rodolfo, 2016. "The Effects of Knowledge Spillovers through Labor Mobility," MPRA Paper 69141, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Müller, Patrick, 2021. "Impacts of inward FDIs and ICT penetration on the industrialisation of Sub-Saharan African countries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 265-279.
    6. Liu, Qing & Lu, Ruosi & Zhang, Chao, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and spillovers from multinationals: Evidence from Chinese private firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 95-106.
    7. Merlevede, Bruno & Schoors, Koen & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Time since Foreign Entry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 108-126.
    8. Huu Thanh Tam Nguyen & Ngoc-Sang Pham, 2014. "Should the host economy invest in a new industry? The roles of FDI spillovers, development level and heterogeneity of firms," Post-Print halshs-01147485, HAL.
    9. Dasgupta, Kunal, 2012. "Learning and knowledge diffusion in a global economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 323-336.
    10. Nuno Crespo & Maria Paula Fontoura & Isabel Proença, 2009. "FDI spillovers at regional level: Evidence from Portugal," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(3), pages 591-607, August.
    11. Holger Görg & David Greenaway, 2016. "Much Ado about Nothing? Do Domestic Firms Really Benefit from Foreign Direct Investment?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES AND HOST COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT Volume 53: World Scientific Studies in International Economics, chapter 9, pages 163-189, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    12. Keller, Wolfgang, 2010. "International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Technology Spillovers," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 793-829, Elsevier.
    13. Orlic, Edvard & Hashi, Iraj & Hisarciklilar, Mehtap, 2018. "Cross sectoral FDI spillovers and their impact on manufacturing productivity," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 777-796.
    14. Crespo, Nuno & Fontoura, Maria Paula, 2007. "Determinant Factors of FDI Spillovers - What Do We Really Know?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 410-425, March.
    15. Jan Hagemejer & Marcin Kolasa, 2011. "Internationalisation and Economic Performance of Enterprises: Evidence from Polish Firm‐level Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 74-100, January.
    16. Katariina Nilsson Hakkala & Alessandro Sembenelli, 2018. "Multinationals, competition and productivity spillovers through worker mobility," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 154(2), pages 401-426, May.
    17. Merlevede, Bruno & Schoors, Koen & Spatareanu, Mariana, 2014. "FDI Spillovers and Time since Foreign Entry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 108-126.
    18. Bruno Merlevede & Victoria Purice, 2014. "Distance, Time since Foreign Entry, and Knowledge Spillovers from Foreign Direct Investment," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 14/896, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    19. Robin Kaiji Gong, 2019. "The Local Technology Spillovers of Multinational Firms," HKUST CEP Working Papers Series 201902, HKUST Center for Economic Policy.
    20. Crespi, Gustavo & Figal Garone, Lucas & Maffioli, Alessandro & Stein, Ernesto, 2020. "Public support to R&D, productivity, and spillover effects: Firm-level evidence from Chile," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    multinational enterprise; knowledge spillovers; export entry; labour mobility;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F10 - International Economics - - Trade - - - General
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:mtk:febawb:99. 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: Liis Roosaar (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/febutee.html .

    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.