Journal of International Business Studies

, Volume 38, Issue 3, pp 447–459 | Cite as

Is the relationship between inward FDI and spillover effects linear? An empirical examination of the case of China

Article
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Abstract

This paper finds that the nationality of ownership of foreign investors significantly impacts upon productivity spillover effects, revealing a curvilinear relationship with foreign direct investment on data for overseas Chinese (Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) multinational enterprises, but not for other (Western) firms. This relationship is most pronounced for low-technology host industries. These findings suggest that the curvilinear form is more appropriate to the future study of the spillover effects of foreign presence.

Keywords

FDI ownership advantages spillovers curvilinearity China 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We thank three anonymous referees and the JIBS Departmental Editor, Professor José Manuel Campa, for their very constructive comments on our earlier versions of this manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Academy of International Business 2007

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Centre for International Business, University of Leeds (CIBUL), Leeds University Business SchoolLeedsUK
  2. 2.Nottingham University Business SchoolUK
  3. 3.Business School, Ningbo UniversityChina

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