Foreign-owned firms as agents of structural change in regions

Abstract

This paper investigates the role of different types of firms in related and unrelated diversification in regions, in particular the extent to which foreign-owned firms induce structural change in the manufacturing capability base of 67 Hungarian regions between 2000 and 2009. Doing so, it connects more tightly the literatures of evolutionary economic geography and international business. The results indicate that foreign-owned firms deviate more from the region's average capability match than domestic-owned firms. However, this deviation is larger on the short run than in the long run, and more pronounced in peripheral regions and in the capital region.