Multinationals without Advantages
质疑了企业进行外国直接投资必须拥有特定优势的传统观点，通过简单模型说明落后企业可能通过海外投资获取本地优势，而领先企业则可能选择出口以避免优势扩散。
We question the widespread argument that firms embarking on foreign direct investments must possess some specific advantages to offset the penalties of operating across national and cultural boundaries. A simple model shows that firms might invest abroad to capture local advantages through geographical proximity of plant location, rather than to exploit existing ones. Because of spatially bounded spillovers, laggard firms might use foreign investments to acquire location‐specific knowledge, whereas leading firms might prefer costly exports to avoid the dissipation of their advantages.