Enrico Marvasi

Supply Chains and the Internalization of SMEs: Evidence from Italy

This paper explores the impact of being part of a supply chain on the internationalization of firms. We show that even small and less productive firms, if involved in production chains, can take advantage of reduced costs of entry and economies of scale that enhance their probability to become exporters. The empirical analysis is carried out on an original database, obtained by merging and matching balance sheet data with data from a survey on over 25,000 Italian firms, largely SMEs, which include direct information on the involvement in supply chains. We find a positive and significant impact of being part of a supply chain on the probability to export and on the intensive margin of trade. The number of foreign markets served (the extensive margin), on the other hand, does not seem to be affected. We also investigate whether being in different positions along the chain, i.e. upstream or downstream, matters and we find that downstream producers tend to benefit more. Our results are robust to different specifications, estimation methods, and to the inclusion of the control variables typically used in heterogeneous firm models.

North African Countries and Firms in International Production Networks

This paper analyzes the participation of North African countries into international production networks and examines if/to what extent being part of a global value chain affects firms’ performance. Using largely unexploited Input-Output data from UNCTAD-Eora, we describe regional and country GVC involvement. Results show that North African countries have not been able so far to fully integrate into international production networks. However, large part of their (low) trade is due to value added related activities, mainly in the upstream phases, and the importance of global linkages has been increasing over time. To better understand the impact of international fragmentation of production on competitiveness, we complement the above assessment with a firm-level analysis. We show that the performance of firms, measured by several indicators, is positively associated with both internationalization modes and GVC participation. These results con.rm those of our sectoral analyses and are in line with existing anecdotical evidence. Enhancing GVC participation of North African countries is likely to substantially benefit firms, countries and the whole area. However, the ability to retain such benefits relies on specific characteristics, such as the level of human capital, trade logistics and the presence of trade barriers, thus leaving room for policy intervention.

The Heterogeneity of Foreign Direct Investors: Linking Affiliates to Parent Productivity

We investigate the heterogeneity within the group of foreign direct investors and the relation between affiliates characteristics and parent productivity. Using data on Italian firms, we show that foreign direct investors differ in their productivity level according to their characteristics and their investment decisions. Larger parents by employment or sales tend to be more productive, to have more affiliates and to invest in a higher number of destinations. Focusing on manufacturing firms, we show econometrically that having more and larger affiliates in rich countries leads to higher ex-post productivity. In particular, investing in high income countries or both in high and low income countries is associated with a subsequent productivity premium \textit{vis-\`a-vis} low income countries investors, especially for larger parents. Low income countries investors are found to be relatively more productive when operating in low technology sectors, while the opposite applies to high income countries investors.