Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy

There is a large literature dealing with the spillover effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to emerging and developing economies at the aggregate level. Beyond the aggregate impacts, a growing number of studies also examine the impact of FDI spillovers on firms of different sizes, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This special issue of the journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy (JICEP) features seven empirical papers dedicated to exploring issues relating to the various interactions between FDI flows, productivity spillovers and SMEs in Asia and beyond.

This paper explores the connection between the external opening of China and differences in innovation across Chinese regions. For the period 1995–2010, we find that regions that attract inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and exports have become more innovative. Further, we show a U-shaped relation between globalization, regional income levels, and innovation, where both the lower middle-income and the most advanced regions gain from globalization in terms of increased innovation. The higher middle-income regions gain little from globalization in terms of innovation. We provide evidence that differences in ownership structures of foreign investments and outsourcing drive the results.

Since 1991, India has witnessed wide-ranging economic reforms in its policies governing international trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) flows which has consequently led to a dramatic rise in both trade and FDI flows since then. Using firm-level panel data, this paper investigates whether these trends have contributed to significant productivity improvements since 2000, as measured by total factor productivity (TFP). In addition, the paper also examines the determinants of TFP across a range of different industry categories. The results suggest the existence of significant productivity improvements since 2000 and also identify variables such as imports of raw materials and capital goods, size of operation, quality of employment captured by wage rates, and technology imports as crucial determinants of productivity.

Using panel data for 57 countries over the period of 1995–2012, this paper investigates the impact of intellectual property rights (IPR) processes on productivity growth. The IPR processes are decomposed into three stages — innovation process, commercialization process, and protection process. The paper finds that better IPR protection is directly associated with productivity improvements only in developed economies. In addition, the contribution of IPR processes on growth through foreign direct investment (FDI) appears to be quite limited. Only inward FDI in developed countries which creates better innovative capability leads to higher growth. In connection with outward FDI, only the increase in IPR protection and commercialization are proven to improve productivity in the case of developing countries, particularly when the country acts as the investing country.

While finance is critical for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to survive and grow, most SMEs suffer from poor access to finance. Given the pronounced global financial uncertainty, stable access to appropriate funding sources has become even more difficult for SMEs to attain. Lessons from the global financial crisis have motivated many countries to consider SME access to finance beyond conventional bank credit and to diversify their domestic financial systems. This paper uses empirical analysis to point out the limitations of traditional bank lending to SMEs and suggests possible policy approaches facilitating them to access growth capital.

Many firms in the developing world — including a majority of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) — operate in the informal economy. The informal firms face a variety of constraints, making it harder for them to do business and grow. Lack of access to finance is often cited as the biggest operational constraint these firms face. This paper documents the use of finance and financing patterns of informal firms, highlights differences between use of finance by formal and informal firms, and identifies the most significant characteristics of informal firms that are associated with higher use of financial services.

While Singapore has been doing well in terms of cross-country per capita income comparisons and in terms of overall employment growth, it has been a laggard when it comes to labor productivity and this concern is more serious for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In this context, this paper first identifies the sources of gross domestic product (GDP) growth and simulates different scenarios pertaining to the potential GDP which the economy can achieve given the level of required productivity based on some employment-growth assumptions. Further, the paper reevaluates the performance, challenges and opportunities for SMEs as well as suggests several policy strategies as to how SMEs can synergize and be more competitive moving forward.

This paper provides an empirical investigation of the main determinants of entrepreneurial activities across three groups of countries over the period 2004–2008, by specifically examining the importance of institutional setting and economic growth on entrepreneurial activities. The classification of countries is based on the Economic Freedom Index and the World Economic Forum (2011) which groups them on the basis of whether they are innovation-driven, efficiency-driven, or factor-driven countries. On the one hand, empirical results find a positive and significant role for economic freedom to accelerate entrepreneurial activities and growth in innovation and efficiency-driven countries characterized by strong institutional systems. On the other hand, the results suggest that in factor-driven countries characterized by relatively less economic freedom and weak institutions, there is a significant negative relationship between economic freedom and entrepreneurial activities.