Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/211199 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Working Paper No. 2018/161
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
This study combines evidence from interviews in seven countries with (i) government institutions responsible for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), (ii) 102 multinational enterprises (MNEs), and (iii) 226 domestic firms linked to these foreign affiliates as suppliers, customers, or competitors. The purpose of the interviews was to identify whether relations between MNEs and domestic firms lead to direct transfers of knowledge/technology. We first document that there are relatively few linkages between MNEs and domestic firms in sub-Saharan Africa compared with Asia. However, when linkages are present in sub-Saharan Africa, they raise the likelihood of direct knowledge/technology transfers from MNEs to domestic firms as compared with linked-in firms in Asia. Finally, we do not find that direct knowledge/technology transfers are more likely to occur via FDI than through trade. As such, our results are not consistent with the view that tacit knowledge transfers are more likely to occur through localized linkages.
Subjects: 
FDI linkages
technology transfer
Africa
Asia
JEL: 
O14
O53
O55
O57
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
ISBN: 
978-92-9256-603-6
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
455.08 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.