Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • August 2012
  • Article
  • American Economic Journal: Economic Policy

Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance

By: Laura Alfaro and Maggie Chen
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We examine the differential response of establishments to the recent global financial crisis with particular emphasis on the role of foreign ownership. Using a worldwide establishment panel dataset, we investigate how multinational subsidiaries around the world responded to the crisis relative to local establishments. We find that first, multinational subsidiaries fared on average better than local counterfactuals with similar economic characteristics. Second, among multinational subsidiaries, establishments sharing stronger vertical production and financial linkages with parents exhibited greater resilience. Finally, in contrast to the crisis period, the effect of foreign ownership and linkages on establishment performance was insignificant in non-crisis years.

Keywords

Globalization; Financial Crisis; Multinational Firms and Management; Analytics and Data Science; Business Subsidiaries; Production; Finance; Performance; Ownership

Citation

Alfaro, Laura, and Maggie Chen. "Surviving the Global Financial Crisis: Foreign Ownership and Establishment Performance." American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 4, no. 3 (August 2012): 30–55. (Also NBER Working Paper No. 17141.)
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Laura Alfaro

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • February 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Doing Business in Boston, Massachusetts

    By: Laura Alfaro, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Zeke Gillman
    • September 2022
    • Management Science

    Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences

    By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf and Farzad Saidi
    • July 2022
    • Faculty Research

    FIELD Immersion 2022: Lawrence, Massachusetts

    By: Laura Alfaro and Tom Quinn
More from the Authors
  • Doing Business in Boston, Massachusetts By: Laura Alfaro, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Zeke Gillman
  • Health Externalities and Policy: The Role of Social Preferences By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia, Nora Lamersdorf and Farzad Saidi
  • FIELD Immersion 2022: Lawrence, Massachusetts By: Laura Alfaro and Tom Quinn
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College