How Important is Export-Platform FDI? : Evidence from Multinational Activities in Poland

This paper investigates the link between export performance and multinational enterprise presence utilizing trade and industry data for Polish manufacturing industries for the years 1994-2002. Decomposing trade into final and intermediate goods and assessing the impact of foreign-owned capital on the respective export performance of Polish industries, we suggest a significant role of export-platform FDI into Poland, while the importance of FDI for vertical integration is limited suggesting that the sourcing of intermediate goods from Poland primarily occurs through arm’s-length contractual outsourcing instead of in-house sourcing of multinational enterprises. The paper also suggests that over the sample period, where Poland has evolved into a relatively stable economic environment, the role of export-platform FDI has increased significantly.