The location choices of multinational firms : the role of internationalization experience and group affiliation

This paper investigates whether location choices of multinational firms depend on past export, import or FDI experience on foreign markets, and the experience of other affiliated firms. Using French data, we observe that 95% of new FDIs are preceded by exports in the same country, whereas 73% are preceded by imports. Regardless of locations’ observable and unobservable characteristics, we find that exporting in a given country, and to a smaller extent importing from it, significantly phase is more systematic for investing in distant countries and for first-time investors, whereas import experience is significantly correlated with FDI in low-income countries. Location choices not only depend on the investor’s own international experience, but also on the international experience of other affiliated firms: firms tend to invest in countries where the group already owns a local affiliate, and are more likely to invest in a distant country if other affiliated firms are already exporting there. These findings suggest the existence of coordinated strategies and/or information sharing between affiliated firms.