Doing Business in the Homeland: Diaspora-Owned Firms and the Value of Social Networks
Doing Business in the Homeland: Diaspora-Owned Firms and the Value of Social Networks
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在祖国做生意：侨民拥有的公司和社交网络的价值
DOI：
10.2139/ssrn.1983575
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发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Benjamin A. T. Graham
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Benjamin A. T. Graham
侨民人口与双边外国直接投资之间的因果关系已经通过实证建立起来，但驱动这种关系的因果机制仍不清楚。侨民拥有的外国公司在祖国是否享有竞争优势？如果是，原因是什么？我认为，与非侨民拥有的公司相比，侨民拥有基于社交网络的重要优势，这些竞争优势解释了侨民人口与投资流之间的关系。本文使用对格鲁吉亚 174 家外资企业进行的原始调查数据来探讨侨民差异的机制，特别关注企业如何在业务中使用社交网络。我发现侨民拥有的公司在收购房地产时比其他外国公司更多地使用社交网络，而且侨民拥有的公司的所有者和经理认为社交网络对公司选址决策和整体盈利能力比非侨民拥有的公司的同行更重要。这表明社交网络为侨民拥有的企业提供了重要的竞争优势，这些优势可以解释侨民人口与外国直接投资全球流动之间的因果关系。
A causal relationship between diaspora populations and bilateral foreign direct investment has been established empirically, but the causal mechanism driving this relationship remains unclear. Do diaspora-owned foreign firms enjoy a competitive advantage in the homeland, and if so, what accounts for this? I argue that diasporans have important social network based advantages over non-diaspora-owned firms, and that these competitive advantages explain the relationship between diaspora populations and investment flows. This paper uses data from an original survey of 174 foreign-owned firms in Georgia to explore mechanisms of diaspora difference, focusing particularly on how firms use social networks in business. I find that diaspora-owned firms use social networks more than other foreign firms in the acquisition of real estate, and that owners and managers at diaspora-owned firms perceive social networks to be more important to firm location decisions and to overall profitability than do their counterparts at non-diaspora-owned firms. This indicates that social networks provide important competitive advantages to diaspora-owned firms, advantages that may explain the causal relationship between diaspora populations and global flows of foreign direct investment.