How Do External Shocks Affect the Economic Efficiency of Companies with Foreign Direct Investment?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of export and import activities of domestic companies with foreign direct investment during the external shocks. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that the impact of side effects of FDI on domestic companies and economic uncertainty after the sanctions and the outbreak of the pandemic was ambiguous. The empirical base contains about 170,000 observations on 18,799 operating companies with a foreign capital share of at least 10% for the period from 2012 to 2020, obtained from the Ruslana database - Bureau Van Dijk. For the purposes of the study, the companies are grouped by the industry and their roles in international trade. Efficiency assessment is measured by using the data envelopment analysis (DEA), taking into account the spillover effects from foreign direct investment. The results of the study confirm that firms that trade in both directions have better performance. Next come companies focused only on export or import. Companies that are not involved in international trade are the least efficient (hypothesis 1). Industries that benefit from FDI inflows include more capital-intensive sectors (hypothesis 2). External shocks have a negative impact on the efficiency of companies with FDI (hypothesis 3). This understanding has important implications for long-term economic growth and the recovery of the Russian economy in the current external shocks.