Firms' International Status and Heterogeneity in Performance: Evidence from Italy

We revisit the evidence about firms’ performance and their international status in a large sample of Italian enterprises. Three results stand out. First, firms engaging in foreign production of final goods, in addition to export activities, are more productive than firms that only export abroad. Second, firms engaging in final goods off-shoring are more productive than firms engaging in inputs off-shoring. Third, the productivity dynamics of exporters is not any better than non-exporters’ one. Our results support that the better performance of globally engaged firms is chiefly due to the selection caused by the fixed costs associated to international operations.