Comparisons of Japanese Multinationals and Other Firms in Thailand’s Non-oil Manufacturing Industries

Abstract

This study compares average labour productivity, capital intensity, wages, skill intensity, foreign labour dependence, and trade propensities in Japanese firms and other firms in Thai land's non-oil manufacturing industries in 1990. Firm-level analysis reveals that Japanese firms tend to be relatively capital intensive compared to all other firm groups, pay higher wages compared to local firms as do other foreign firms, be less skill intensive than firms from developed economies, and depend more on foreign workers than do local firms or other developed economy firms, though this dependence is even higher in developing economy firms. All firms with high foreign ownership shares had relatively large export propensities. However, there were few differences between local firms and foreign firms in labour produc tivity and import propensities. Results thus indicate that Japanese multinationals may not differ that much from other multinationals in many respects, despite obvious differences in corporate structures and practices.