Bersant Hobdari

Export market participation with sunk costs and firm heterogeneity

In this article we investigate the importance of sunk costs, firm characteristics and spillovers from nearby exporters on a firms decision to participate in exporting. The empirical analysis involves the estimation of a nonstructural, discrete choice, dynamic model with firm heterogeneity. By using panel data for Estonian companies from 1994 to 1999 we find that: (i) both sunk costs and observable firm characteristics are important determinants of export market participation; (ii) previous history matters, in that, if a firm has been exporting the previous period or the period before, it significantly increases the likelihood of the firm exporting in the current period; (iii) larger firms with high capital intensity and foreign ownership are more likely to be exporters; (iv) operating in an export-oriented industry increases a firms likelihood of exporting.

The Determinants of Global Integration Strategies of Chinese Multinationals—Some Empirical Evidence

The main purpose of this research is to understand the determinants of global integration strategies of Chinese Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). In this article, we identify four expansion strategies for Chinese MNEs, that is, horizontal, vertical, lateral and risk diversification and we investigate a series of location and firm-level factors that determine the adoption of each strategy. We present empirical evidence based on data from the 2008 Spring edition of the Lexis Nexis Corporate Affiliates Directory. Our results indicate that Chinese MNEs expand internationally through a grid of strategic choices which is diversified geographically and industrially.

Book Review: Karl P. Sauvant and Geraldine Mcallister, with Wolfgang A. Maschek (eds.) Foreign Direct Investments from Emerging Markets: The Challenges Ahead

Over the last decade a significant amount of interest and, subsequently, a large literature has arisen on the topic of foreign direct investment undertaken by emerging market (EM) multinationals (MNEs). This volume is among the latest contributions to this literature. As stated in the preface, the volume shows that both academic researchers and policy makers are just beginning to come to grips with the most important analytical and policy issues that affect the world economy due to the rise of EM MNEs. The volume consists of contributions at the first Five-Diamond International Conference entitled Thinking Outward: Global Players from Emerging Markets, held in April 2008 at Columbia University, New York. Authors discuss issues relating to outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging markets such as new theory development, country-specific profiles of, for example, Brazil, Russia, India, China (BRIC), home-market policies, host-market policies, and future challenges, amongst others. Sauvant, K.P. and McAllister, G., with Maschek, W.A. (Eds.). (2010). Foreign direct investments from emerging markets: The challenges ahead. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan. (492 pages. ISBN #, 0-230-10021-X. US

The Overseas Expansion of Chinese Multinational Corporations

175.00.) European Management Journal, 30, 204-218. Special Issue for the Second Copenhagen Conference on “Emerging multinationals: Outward FDI from emerging and developing economies”

Emerging multinational companies and strategic fit: A contingency framework and future research agenda

This original and important book explores how the interaction between China and multinational enterprises has the potential to affect the future of the Chinese economy, the global economy, and international business.