Using firm level data from five countries - Brazil, Ecuador, South Africa, Tanzania and Bangladesh - this paper examines the knowledge-based determinants of productivity of firms active in food processing, textiles, and garments and leather products. In particular, it seeks to investigate the...

Applying extant IB theory, I argue that initial firm internationalisation is shaped by the interdependence and dynamic interaction between its O assets and the L assets of its home location. Regardless of nationality, the initial O assets of an infant MNE tend to be constrained by the L assets...

This paper examines the evidence on developing country MNEs and outward FDI activity. We do not find evidence of an across-the-board growth in outward FDI from developing countries, either in magnitude, or geographically. Such growth is a narrow phenomenon, limited to a small group of home...

This paper takes a look at the research on Emerging country multinational enterprises (EMNEs) over the last 25 years, and argues that growth in EMNE activity over the last 10 years continues to be dominated by Asian Newly Industrialised Countries (NICs), and to a lesser extent by Brazil, Russia,...

Despite a well-developed science and technology base and considerable industrial capacity during the soviet era, Russia has largely failed to create a competitive industrial sector despite two decades of transition. This paper seeks to understand why Russia has not succeeded despite having...

This paper takes a closer look at the role of location advantages in the spatial distribution of MNE R&D activity. In doing so, we have returned to first principles by revisiting our understanding of L and O advantages and their interaction. We revisit the meaning of L advantages, and offer a...

The product lifecycle model can be understood as a three-stage model of technological development associated with a particular product technology. In the explorative stage many different designs are developed, in the development stage products become standardized into a dominant design, and in...

Sri Lanka was the earliest South Asian economy to introduce economic reforms to attract export-oriented FDI. The rise of clothing production for export, apparently mainly driven by foreign firms, is regarded as a major outcome of the reforms. This paper seeks to examine a range of factors...

On 1 January 2005, the international trade in textile and clothing was freed from the quota restrictions that had persisted for more than four decades. This study tests one of the predictions that countries effectively constrained by quotas in the major world markets will increase their exports...

Unlike in the past where industrial policy was either focused on creation and growth of state-owned firms or alternatively consisted merely of broadly functional policies without consideration for firm or entrepreneurial specifics, the requirement now is that future industrial policy ought to be...