PUBLICATIONS & REPORTS

Contents Introduction

This project examines the relationship between foreign ownership and exports of manufacturing firms in Vietnam during 2010-2013 and manufacturing plants in Thailand in 1996. Consistent with patterns observed in commodity export data, MNEs in Vietnam are found to account for the majority of firm exports during this period. Wholly-foreign MNEs (WFs), which accounted for the vast majority of MNE production in Vietnam, accounted for most MNE exports. Both WFs and MNE joint ventures (JV) made larger direct contributions to exports than to production or employment, as observed in several other Asian developing economies. There was a strong tendency for WFs to have the highest export propensities (export-turnover ratios) followed by JVs. Manufacturing firms exported over four-fifths of the otal in most years. Tobit estimates that control for the effects of firm size, capital intensity, liquidity, location, and industry affiliation for manufacturers indicate WFs also had the highest onditional export propensities, followed by JVs, private firms, while export propensities tended to be similar in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private firms in most industries. Because Vietnam imposes few ownership restrictions on MNEs, these results imply that MNEs generally prefer to export from WFs rather than JVs, and are consistent with previous results for Thailand in 1996 and Indonesia in 1990-2001, for example.