Internationalization and economic performance of enterprises: evidence from firm-level data

This paper provides evidence on the relative performance of internationalized firms using Polish firm-level data spanning over the period of 1996-2005. We distinguish between three modes of internationalization: foreign direct investment, exporting and importing of capital goods. Our results point strongly at superior performance of foreign affiliates vs. domestic firms, exporters vs. non-exporters and importers vs. non-importers. There seem to be important learning effects associated with becoming a foreign affiliate or an exporter. We also find evidence for significant horizontal and backward productivity spillovers from all three types of international activity.