Title: Firm's efficiency and foreign ownership: evidence from Turin automotive cluster

Authors: Alessandro Manello

Addresses: University of Bergamo and Ceris-CNR, Moncalieri, Via Real Collegio 30, Torino, Italy

Abstract: During the last decade many contributions underline the importance of multinationals presence arguing their higher productivity. This paper presents a non-parametric estimate of efficiency levels and productivity trends of firms operating in the automotive sector near Turin. The obtained results are analysed using one of the most modern and robust semi-parametric technique. This allows to draw a more precise picture of the relation between ownership and productivity, cleaning for misleading individual characteristics. Large automotive multinationals appear to be less efficient in combining inputs to obtain outputs and they are also less able to improve productivity during the crisis. No evidence is found for small and medium firms owned by a foreign subject.

Keywords: automotive clusters; multinational corporations; automotive MNCs; efficiency analysis; second stage; Turin; automobile industry; foreign ownership; large firms; productivity; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJATM.2012.046005

International Journal of Automotive Technology and Management, 2012 Vol.12 No.1, pp.76 - 91

Published online: 20 Aug 2014 *

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