The current slump in world coffee prices is mainly due to a structural oversupply. Instead of introducing price measures, measures aimed at reducing this excess supply would be a more efficient method of increasing coffee producers'incomes.

This paper presents the first empirical test with German establishment level data of a hypothesis derived by Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple in a model that explains the decision of heterogeneous firms to serve foreign markets either trough exports or foreign direct investment: only the more...

The paper sketches the basic patterns and facts about service trade, foreign direct investment and regulation in the EU. We conclude that the last decade trade in services has increased substantially, in particular in business services. This is also the case for foreign direct investment (in...

This paper analyzes the effects of EU integration on intra-EU trade volumes with a special focus on trade within and between the core and the periphery countries. We find that in all phases of integration core-periphery and intra-periphery growth of trade has experienced stronger positive...

The purpose of this study is to formalize the optimal choice of market entry strategy for an individual multinational enterprise (MNE) from a dynamic perspective. It is argued that incorporating a suitable treatment of irreversibility, uncertainty and flexibility related to a MNEs investment...

On the basis of focused interviews with managers of foreign parent banks and their affiliates in Central Europe and the Baltics, we analyse foreign banks’ small business lending and internal capital markets. This allows us to complement the standard empirical literature, which has difficulty...

Globalization has led to exciting new business opportunities around the globe. Still, national and cultural boundaries have not evaporated into a borderless world. Several studies have identified so-called liabilities of foreignness that arise from a lack of embeddedness and roots in the host...

This study examines the role of national culture on an issue which is central to competitive strategy: whether to maintain flexibility or commit to a strategic direction. We consider that equity investments in foreign partners may be initiated as the first step in a sequential acquisition...

Multinational firms are traditionally considered as firms possessing some technological lead and exploiting this proprietary advantage in international markets, but a growing literature has been arguing that multinational firms set up foreign subsidiaries not only as a means to exploit their own...

Evidence on productivity spillovers from FDI to domestic firms is ambiguous. Incorrect estimation procedures may be one of the sources for the contradictory results obtained in empirical studies on this subject. We observe that inadequacy of the estimation procedures leads to a severe...