6533b828fe1ef96bd12877d7

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Productivity, Ownership & National Chains: Evidence from the British Retail Sector

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This paper investigates whether foreign-owned retailers operating in the British retail sector perform differently than domestic-owned firms with diverse national presence. Using simultaneous quantile regression techniques we test for any sign of performance gaps. The findings suggest that foreign ownership turns out to be a weak explanatory factor of differences in performance across retailers. Only when firms in the upper quantiles of TFP are compared, the role of foreign ownership gains statistical significance, although with exceptions. On the other hand, firms able to expand their infrastructure across Great Britain possess a productivity advantage over more local retailers. This implies that the existence of a national network of stores may be more important than the origin of ownership.