Does GVC Participation Improve the Productivity of Korean Manufacturing Firms? : Evidence from Subgroup Analysis Using Enterprise-level Data

Abstract

Purpose – Considering the recent instability of world economy and its heavy dependence on foreign, Korea must formulate breakthrough approaches to proactively cope with these adverse global developments. As such, this study aims to ascertain how participation in global value chains (GVCs) relates to corporate productivity and derive policy implications. Design/methodology – This study utilizes the microdata of Korean manufacturers to develop indicators of GVC participation at the enterprise level and analyzes the effects of GVC participation on the firm’s total factor productivity by using fixed effect model. Findings – Enterprises with highest rates of export-side GVC participation see their productivity grow as their export-side GVC participation rates increase. In addition, when companies are classified by their export-side GVC participation rates, increasing export values improves all firm’s productivity. In particular, those with low participation rates are analyzed to achieve higher productivity by increasing their imports, not only exports, which implies that companies with lower export-side GVC participation can boost productivity by reinforcing their export and import activities. Originality/value – This research paper distinguishes itself from others in that it makes a novel attempt to design the indicators of GVC participation at the enterprise level, not at the national or industry level. In addition, this study contributes to the existing literature by dividing companies into subgroups depending on their GVC participation rates for each of export and import and identifying variances in the effect of GVC participation on productivity growth among subgroups.