Strategic Options Flashcards
Name three facts about globalization
- Trade has grown faster than output
- FDI has grown faster than trade
- Structural imbalances have emerged across the economy with global cities operating as nodes of the global production network
What theory explains we see localization at the same time as globalization
Agglomeration theory
Name two different views on globalization
- Hyper-globalist view:
- No borders - end of division
- Global is the natural order - end of distance
- Increasing speed + functional integration - long-run decrease in density - Sceptical
- Need to consider qualitative changes as well
- Localizing/clustering/globalizing all coexist
What theory Does Alfred Marshall (1920) introduce?
Clustering theory based on agglomeration theory
What are the three reasons for clustering?
- Specialized suppliers
- Labor market pooling –> specialized labor pooling
- Knowledge spillovers
What are the rationales behind clustering? and what industries are more likely to cluster?
- Economies of scale
- Knoweledge spillovers
- Bounded in space –> the closer proximity the more benefit
Mature industries (industry life cycle) and high-tech industries, i.e. not manufacturing
What does Audretsch & Feldman (1996) test and find?
Use the spatial Gini-coefficient to test what industries are more likely to cluster.
They find that R&D intensive industries and industries where skilled labor is required, are more likely to cluster –> perfect parallel to Marshallian forces
Industries where knowledge spillovers play a decisive role cluser more
Is city size an unambiguous factor for performance?
No, not anymore. Connectedness has become more important.
What makes connectedness possible?
Institutional transformation and changes (e.g. in technology)
Global Production Networks (GPN)
Along which three dimensions, does the World Bank suggest that one can measure the geography of production and labor?
- Density –> Output per land area
- Distance –> ease for goods to traverse space
- Very much driven by technological improvements such as commercial aircraft and containerization - Division –> arise when borders are poorly managed/guarded; mitigations are NAFTA, NATO etc.
What does ‘the local buzz and global pipelines’ mean?
That the global economy relies on TWO networks:
- Geographical clusters (the buzz)
- International organization (the pipelines)
Closely linked to the concept of GPN
What is the Global Production Network (GPN)?
A circuit of interconnected functions, operations and transactions through which a commodity is produced, distributed and consumed
How is the GPN related to the ‘local buzz, global pipeline’ concept?
Geographically differentiated production networks (the buzz/clusters) converge in the generation of the GPN
How do we defined a TNC?
Firms with the power to coordinate and control operations in more than one country, even if they do not own them
Basic characteristics:
Coordination and control processed WITHIN AND BETWEEN COUNTRIES
Ability to take advantage of INTERNATIONAL DIFFERENCES in the distribution of factors
Geographical FLEXIBILITY
Who are the 5 main actors in the GPN?
- TNCs –> main actors
- States –> regulatory authority
- Labor –> holders of skills and knowledge
- Consumers –> demand
- Global civil society organizations –> NGO groups affecting the GPN
Name 4 reasons for internationalizing
- Market seeking –> market size/growth/saturation
- Resource seeking –> limited raw materials
- Efficiency seeking –> Scale advantages, cost differences across geogrpahies
- Strategic asset seeking –> search for technology, patents or HC for global competition
Explain Dunning’s eclectic paradigm?
OLI:
Ownership advantages; firm-specific advantages
Location advantages; the degree to which to can obtain these O-adv. by locating elsewhere
Internalization; Whether this advantage is worth more in-house
What is the conventional international expansion pattern?
- Domestic
- Export
- Sales office established
- Foreign manufacturing
What is the local responsiveness dilemma?
Trade-off between;
global standardization versus local adaptation
Explain Ghemawat’s (2001) CAGE framework in terms of DISTANCE:
Four different types of distance that make transnationalizing harder:
- Culture
- Administrative (institutional differences)
- Geographic
- Economic (differences in consumer income)
What is a Born Global company and what are the key drivers of Born Globals?
Company that is global right from inception.
–> happens more often in rapid technological contexts
Internal drivers:
- No domestic markets, Strong competitive advantage
External drivers:
- New market conditions, Technological advancements, learning from overseas
TNCs location choices; name the different divisions and their specific needs:
- HQ: needs a connected place, and agglomeration forces
- R&D: Normally at home, however more and more export
- Marketing & Sales: Most geographically dispersed
- Production: no clear patterns, various strategies exist
Name the three types of R&D facilities
- Support labs –> adaptation to local markets
- locally integrated R&D –> product innov. in local market
- International independent R&D labs
Name the four ways to transnationalize production facilities:
- Globally concentrated
- Host market production (each host market has a production facility)
- Product specialization in different areas
- Transnational vertical integration (chains and hubs that then is assembled at main production)
In the New Economic Geography theory (NEG), describe if Economies of scale are relevant, and what their benefits and costs are?
Economies of scale are relevant, we optimally will only have ONE production facility.
o Benefits of locating in the large market (agglomeration forces)
Demand linkages (more consumers)
Cost linkages (more suppliers, so cheaper to get raw materials)
o Costs of locating in the large market (dispersion forces)
Product market competition
Factor market competition (e.g. competition to attract best labor)
What effects do transportation costs have on firms’ location choices in the NEG?
High transp. costs –> incentive to locate in local markets
Low transp. costs –> incentive to exploit economies of scale from ONE location globally
What are internal and external agglomerations?
External; Marshallian Forces
Internal; Geographical proximity between within-firm activities (R&D and production located together e.g.)
As first defined, what are absorptive capacities?
The ability of firms to recognize new knowledge, assimilate it, and apply it to commercial ends
TWO steps:
- Knowledge acquisition –> firms’ capability to identify and acquire external knowledge
- Assimilation capability –> Firms’ routines and processes that allow them to understand external knowledge (IBM as case example)
According to Alcacer & Delgado (2016), in what 4 ways does internal agglomeration affect productivity?
- Continuous exchange between internal divisions, such as R&D and manuf. is key to develop absorptive capacities
- Economies of scale and scope in internal labor markets (gyms, shared personel)
- Access to intermediate inputs
- Control and coordination costs –> if internal less transaction costs
According to Alcacer & Delgado (206), in what 4 wayts does external agglomeration affect productivity?
- Abundant inputs at low costs (e.g. labor in China)
- Rare and unique resources (e.g. access to a port)
- Location-specific incentive programs (e.g. tax policies)
- Marshallian forces based on agglomeration economies
a. Specialized suppliers
b. Labor market pooling
c. Knowledge spillovers
What are internal and external agglomeration forces (once again) and do they both matter?
YES! both matter, and affect firms’ location choices
Internal forces –> Centripetal forces that drive within-firm collocation
External forces –> centrifugal forces that drive firms to disperse activities geographically in search of best external environment (Marshallian forces)
The role of internal agglomeration is STRONGER in the case of expansion of existing establishment, whereas when considering new openings, external forces are more relevant.
Name the FIVE channels of spillover effects
- Demonstration / imitation
- Labor mobility (positive: domestic firms hiring from TNCs, negative: TNCs attracting all the good labor)
- Exports (TNCs develop necessary institutions for exports, enabling domestic firms to start cheaper)
- Competition (positive: incentive for domestic firms to become more effecient, Negative: TNCs outcompete loval incumbents)
- Backward and forward linkages
- Backward; supplier linkages
- Forward; customers (of intermediary goods)
List the FIVE factors causing asymmetries in spillover effects:
- Absorptive capacity and technological gap (not too large, not too small gap from domestic to TNC)
- Regional effect –> spillovers decrease with distance
- Domestic firm characteristics –> Non-exporting firms more likely to benefit, since they have not tried international competition before. Also larger firms more likely to benefit, since they will have large potential to actually compete with new TNCs
- FDI characteristics –> how firms enter, if M&A, slower diffusion than if greenfield investment
- Other factors –> trade policy environment, IP rights, Restrictions on labor mob… etc.
According to Crescenzi, Gagliardi, Iammarino (2015), what are the effects of TNCs location choice on local firms’ innovation performance?
Overall: Positive effect from foreign FDI –> knowledge spillovers are larger than negative competition effects
Nuance: Heterogeneity of the domestic firms play a role!
- Positive effects are ONLY seen in NATIONAL and LOCAL players, not regional and already international players
- Only positive effects for firms not already part of a TNC network