| Περίληψη: | Traditionally, tourism was placed second as a priority in the agenda of investors, policy makers, and academics. Nowadays, a significant reappraisal of its role in socioeconomic development is taking place, which values tourism as a source for earning export revenues, generating large numbers of jobs, promoting economic growth and a more services-oriented economy not only in developing but also in developed countries (UNCTAD, 2007).
According to World Tourism Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU) numbered six Member States among the top 10 countries in the world welcoming the largest number of international tourist arrivals. Within the EU, receipts from international tourism in 2008 were highest in Spain, France, and Italy, followed by Greece and Portugal
Previous studies have attempted to explain destination and/or firm strategic positions by focusing on (mostly demand side factors) prices, exchange rates, qualitative and other institutional factors. Supply side factors and in particular company strategy contact and performance have not been taking explicitly into consideration. However, important pioneer research has been done regarding the globalization of the service sector and the hotel industry (Dunning and McQueen 1981, 1982; Boddewyn et al., 1986; Li and Guisinger, 1992; Dunning and Kundu, 1995; Constractor and Kundu, 1995).
The topic under scrutiny is, therefore, to investigate whether MNEs operating in Greece, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy perform differently than domestically owned firms. In particular, we seek to identify the relevant factors that may explain the performance implications of foreign ownership for a large cross section of firms in Greek, French, Spanish, Portugues and Italian industries, controlling for a number of factors affecting firms’ performance. A closely related topic is to examine whether MNEs perform well per se, or their relative superior performance is a consequence of the detrimental effect they may exercise on domestic profitability. Additionally, we will try to determine the relative importance of the firm and destination effects using a multilevel approach and hierarchical linear models.
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