Microeconomic mechanisms behind export spillovers from FDI: evidence from Bulgaria
Résumé
This paper studies how the presence of multinational enterprises affects the
export performance of Bulgarian manufacturing firms—export spillovers from FDI.
Using export data at the firm/product/destination level for the period 2004–2006, it
finds positive forward spillover on export value and quantity, related to quality
upgrading. Conversely, it finds negative (or insignificant) backward and horizontal
spillover on export flows, related to quality downgrading. When aggregating data at
the firm level and considering that a firm can operate in several sectors, the paper
shows that the presence of foreign input suppliers allows domestic firms to export
additional varieties of lower quality and upgrade the average quality of existing
varieties, whereas the presence of foreign customers generates the opposite effect.