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Using factual affiliate-level data of Japan’s multinational firms from 2017 through 2019, this study investigates the impact of a trade shock (the 2018 US-Sino trade war in this case) on multinational firms’ overseas production activities. Focusing on Japanese affiliates in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, we find evidence of a potential production shift from China to the ASEAN member countries. According to our empirical results, in response to the trade war, those affiliates in the ASEAN with vertically integrated Chinese siblings belonging to the same multinational parent’s value chains may increase their export to North America and see a growth in total sales. Fast substitution of export and production occurs through the production network within Japanese multinationals when a part of which is negatively affected by the trade shock. In addition, this group of affiliates are also likely to increase both the share and value of local procurement. The study highlights the positive role of setting up a diversified production network for multinationals.

A Japanese Black calf became dehydrated on the first day of life and died on the third day. Gross examination revealed a large amount of yellowish-brown serous fluid in the abdominal cavity and whitish-yellow fibrin in the serosa of the abdominal organs. Patchy red spots were observed throughout the peritoneum, and the outer membrane of the umbilical arteries was dark red. Bacteriologically, Mannheimia haemolytica serotype 2 was isolated from the umbilical arteries and vein, liver, and kidney. Histopathology revealed inflammation with M. haemolytica serotype 2 in the outer membrane of the umbilical arteries and in the serosa of the bladder and intestinal tract. This is the first case of bovine peritonitis with histopathologic and immunohistochemical identification of M. haemolytica.

This study examines how the product mixes of Japanese manufacturing plants have been impacted by the rise of China imports over the period 1997-2014, and the extent that plants' local embeddedness mitigate this causal relationship. We find evidence that China import competition induced both product downsizing and product exit within Japanese manufacturing plants. Moreover, we find that those negative e ects differ across plants according to various plant characteristics including the spatial organization of their parent firm. Finally, we show that both product survival and product sales are positively impacted by external agglomeration economies, but these e ects are strong for standalone plants only, and almost non-existent for plants aliated to spatially compact multi-unit firms.

Additional file 1. Raw data of patient/subject characteristics in this study. d-ROM = diacron reactive oxygen metabolite. BAP = biological antioxidant potential. CNV = choroidal neovascularization. logMAR = logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution. BCVA = best corrected visual acuity.

This study examines how Japanese firms change their product portfolios in response to surges of imports from China. Using the comprehensive Japanese plant-product level panel data set, we examine the impact of import competition on their product churning behavior. We found that the import competition pressures do affect the product churning for multi-product plants. However, the negative effects of import competition are mitigated by increased export opportunities. This effect is more pronounced especially in the years before 2008. However, their impact on plant-level reallocation is somewhat limited. Negative effects on plant-level sales and exit behavior are observed only for single-product plants.

This paper examines the duration of intermediate goods imports and its determinants for Japanese affiliates in China. Our estimations, using a unique parent-affiliate-transaction matched panel dataset for a discrete-time hazard model over the 2000–2006 period, reveal that products with a higher upstreamness index, differentiated goods, and goods traded under processing trade are less likely to be substituted with local procurement. Firms located in more agglomerated regions with more foreign affiliates tend to shorten the duration of imports from the home country. For parent-firm characteristics, multinational enterprises that have many foreign affiliates or longer foreign production experience import intermediate goods for a longer duration.

In this study, we examine the effects of tariff reduction on firms' quality upgrading by employing an Indonesian plant-product-level panel dataset matched with a plant-level dataset. We explore the effects of lower output and input tariffs separately, by focusing on the apparel industry. By estimating the Berry-type demand function, we derive product-quality indicators based on the Khandelwal (Review of Economic Studies, 2010) methodology, which enables us to isolate quality upgrading from changes in prices. Our findings are as follows. First, a reduction in output tariffs does not affect product quality upgrading. Second, a reduction in input tariffs boosts quality upgrading in general. In particular, this impact is greater for import firms, which is consistent with the fact that the source of the boost is the import of high-quality foreign inputs.

This study investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on domestic corporate performance using firm-level data on Japanese automobile parts suppliers. While previous studies used the propensity score matching method and focused mainly on the impact of the extensive margin of FDI, this study uses data on the automobile makers' FDI as an instrumental variable for suppliers' FDI and estimates the impact of both extensive and intensive margins of FDI on domestic corporate performance. Our empirical results reveal that while the impact of intensive margins of FDI has no significant impact on corporate performance, FDI in both developed and developing countries has a positive impact on sales and total factor productivity (TFP) in the case of extensive margins. Furthermore, the impact of the first flow of FDI is more profound than that of subsequent flows.