How do foreign-owned suppliers affect economic performance? Evidence from Italian manufacturing firms

This paper examines how the presence of foreign-owned suppliers (Inward FDI in intermediate good sectors, called input IFDI) affects both the productivity and outward FDI propensity of domestic firms. Using data from Italian manufacturing firms over the period 2005–2012, we find that the degree of a firm’s involvement in innovation activities is crucial. More specifically, input IFDI, on average, boosts aggregate productivity in sectors where the majority of firms are involved in innovation activities. These industry productivity gains are due to efficiency improvements within firms, as well as the reallocation of market shares towards more efficient firms. Conversely, in sectors where few firms are involved in innovation activities, input IFDI, on average, leads to productivity losses within firms, entailing larger market share reallocation towards the best performing firms. Our findings further demonstrate that in those sectors with a high degree of innovation activity, input IFDI increases domestic firms’ propensity to invest abroad, whereas the opposite is true for the other sectors.