Spillovers from MNCs through worker mobility and technological and managerial capabilities of SMEs in Mexico

Abstract

SummaryAt international level, there is a consensus that the Multinational Corporations (MNCs) can function as a channel of diffusion of knowledge and technology, and that they can contribute to accelerate the economic development processes in the countries where they are established, by means of technological spillover effects. The spillovers are beneficial if they are captured by the firms linked to the MNCs.Human capital spillovers are associated with the continuous training of employees by MNCs and the mobility of these employees toward domestic firms. These spillovers, can contribute to the development of technological and managerial capabilities of the local firms, which in turn increase their absorptive capacity,This paper explores the spillovers from the MNCs through worker mobility toward small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and discusses to what extent the firms created by former employees of the MNCs have larger technological and managerial capabilities than those whose owners did not have this previous experience. This paper focuses on the case of the MNCs that operate under the maquila regime in Mexico and on the machine shops industry, a sector of SMEs that is a supplier of these MNCs. The source of information is a census carried out between August and October 2002 on this sector in a Mexican locality. A classification of the firms in terms of their technological and managerial capabilities was carried out by means of two multivariate statistical methods: multiple correspondence analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis. Then, a comparison of the capabilities of these firms in each cluster is carried out, differentiating between those firms whose owners have had previous work experience in the maquila industry from those that have not.The evidence shows an heterogeneous sector, grouped in 6 different clusters according to the technological and managerial capabilities of the firms. A positive relationship was found between the previous experience of the SMEs’ owners in the maquilas, and between the specific job position occupied by the firms’ owners, and the technological and managerial capabilities of the firms. The owners that occupied managerial job positions seem to have acquired technical and managerial skills that are required for their new firms.