Does Competition Improve Performance? Evidence from the Czech Manufacturing Industries

The paper investigates both the impact of domestic and import competition on performance of manufacturing industries in the Czech Republic in 1998 - 2002. Using panel data we found a strong increasing non-linear (diminishing) relationship between performance of manufacturing industries and domestic competition measured by the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. Import competition measured by an import penetration ratio is negatively related to performance of Czech industries, while foreign direct investments are positively correlated with performance.