Performance of the Firms in a Free‐Trade Zone: The Role of Institutional Factors and Resources

Akbari, Mohsen; Chaijani, Milad Hooshmand

doi:10.1111/emre.12163

Cited by 34 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 119 publications

(181 reference statements)

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“…According to Teifenbrun [ 6 ] and Akbari et al [ 7 ], an FTZ refers to an area where goods may be landed, handled, manufactured, or reconfigured, and then re-exported without the intervention of customs authorities. In the zones, multiple institutional incentives such as free movement of goods and people and preferential taxation are provided.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Have China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones Improved Green Total Factor Productivity?

Zhang

Kun

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Free trade zones (FTZ) are designated areas for promoting trade openness and investment facilitation. In China, FTZs are also regarded as “green areas” in which planning actions and institutional innovations are implemented, and there is a commitment to promoting urban green and healthy development. Given that green total factor productivity (GTFP) is an important measure of a city’s health and green performance, this study exploits the difference-in-differences method to explore the impact of pilot FTZs on urban GTFP in 280 cities in China for the period between 2005 and 2017. The results show that the green areas positively contributed to the growth of GTFP. Moreover, the outcome holds with robustness tests. Statistically, the positive effect emerged in cities during the first three years after introducing the initiative, with the effect disappearing afterward. It also had a strong positive impact in the central and western regions and in large and medium-sized cities, while the influence remained insignificant in the remaining areas in China. Furthermore, the paper also reveals that the promotion of foreign direct investment and industrial structure upgrading are the primary channels through which the positive relationship between pilot FTZs and GTFP is established.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Have China’s Pilot Free Trade Zones Improved Green Total Factor Productivity?

Zhang

Kun

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Jenkins and Arce (2016) probed into the backward linkage and its regional economic driving effect of the export processing zones. Akbari et al (2018) surveyed 151 companies located in the Anzali Free Trade and showed its positive impact on the firms' competitive advantage and performance. Meng and Zeng (2019) summarized the success factors of the Shanghai free trade zone and other free economic zones.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Advantages of Free Trade Port Construction in Shanghai under the Belt and Road Initiative

Wang

2020

IJFS

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As China’s opening-up grows wider under the Belt and Road Initiative, the exploration and construction of free trade ports have received increasing attention. In 2018, China’s first free trade port was settled in Hainan instead of Shanghai. In 2019, after the Lingang New Area of China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone was approved by the central government, six new pilot free trade zones were launched in Shandong, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Yunnan, and Guangxi provinces. As the bridgehead of the Belt and Road Initiative, Shanghai established the first and biggest pilot free trade zone in China and gained the priority of institutional innovation exploration in Lingang New Area. Whether and how Shanghai will lead the construction of free trade ports and the new round of higher-level opening-up has become a research agenda that requires further study. Based on the document analysis, competition analysis and factor analysis in this paper, the following results were drawn out: (1) The construction of a free trade port is an upgrade of the 18 free trade zones and the 50 cities involved, and it needs more high-level opening-up, more sophisticated services, more rigorous supervision, and more professional talent; (2) With its geographical location, economic foundation, development support, and industrial services, Shanghai has the potential, foundation, and momentum to explore institutional innovation in the construction of pilot free trade zones and free trade port; (3) Development basis, port shipping, talent attraction, service support, risk supervision and control are the five major comparative advantages and the important driving factors that need to be considered in exploring and leading the construction of China’s free trade port under the higher quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative.

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“…There are various approaches to the development of territorial entities in the form of special economic zones. One way is investment in free zones; that is, specific areas of a country in which trade tariffs are normal, rationing is eliminated, and bureaucracy that hinders attraction of new business and foreign capital is diminished (Akbari, Azbari, & Chaijani, 2018).…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 99%