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There's no Place like Home: The Profitability Gap between Headquarters and their Foreign Subsidiaries

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  • Matthias Dischinger
  • Nadine Riedel

Abstract

Using a large data set of European firms, this paper provides evidence that operations at multinational headquarters are significantly more profitable than operations at their foreign subsidiaries. The effect turns out to be robust and quantitatively large. Our findings suggest that the profitability gap is partly driven by agency costs which arise if value–driving functions are managed by a subsidiary that is geographically separated from the headquarters management. In line with falling communication and travel costs over the last decade, the profitability gap is shown to decline over time. Apart from that, our results indicate that a higher competitiveness of multinational firms in their home markets also contributes to the profitability gap. We discuss various implications of our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Dischinger & Nadine Riedel, 2009. "There's no Place like Home: The Profitability Gap between Headquarters and their Foreign Subsidiaries," CESifo Working Paper Series 2866, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_2866
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    Cited by:

    1. Jarle Møen & Dirk Schindler & Guttorm Schjelderup & Julia Tropina, 2011. "International Debt Shifting: Do Multinationals Shift Internal or External Debt?," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2011-40, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    2. Dischinger, Matthias & Riedel, Nadine, 2011. "Corporate taxes and the location of intangible assets within multinational firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 691-707, August.
    3. Dischinger, Matthias & Riedel, Nadine, 2010. "The Role of Headquarters Firms in Multinational Profit Shifting Strategies," Discussion Papers in Economics 11352, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    4. Riedel, Nadine & Böhm, Tobias & Karkinsky, Tom & Knoll, Bodo, 2015. "Corporate Taxes and Strategic Patent Location within Multinational Firms," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112978, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    5. Matthias Dischinger & Nadine Riedel, 2010. "The Role of Headquarters in Multinational Profit Shifting Strategies," Working Papers 1003, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    6. Fabienne Fortanier & Selwyn Moons, 2011. "Foreign Investors in The Netherlands: Heterogeneous Employment and Productivity Effects," De Economist, Springer, vol. 159(4), pages 511-531, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    profit distribution; multinational enterprise; corporate taxes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance

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