No Place Like Home? Location Choice and Firm Survival After Forced Relocation in the German Machine Tool Industry

27 Pages Posted: 19 Oct 2007 Last revised: 2 Nov 2007

See all articles by Guido Buenstorf

Guido Buenstorf

University of Kassel - Economics; University of Kassel - International Centre for Research on Higher Education; University of Gothenburg

Christina Guenther

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Economics

Date Written: August 31, 2007

Abstract

We study location choices and firm performance in the German machine tool industry, focusing on the forced migration of East German firms after World War II. Our analysis of location choices supports earlier findings that industry agglomerations attract further entrants. Relocating firms outperformed entrants that possessed no prior industry experience; apparently were able to build on their prewar capabilities. We find no evidence suggesting that firm performance benefited from agglomeration effects.

Keywords: Capabilities, agglomeration economies, location choice, firm survival, machine tool industry

JEL Classification: L20, R12, R30

Suggested Citation

Buenstorf, Guido and Guenther, Christina, No Place Like Home? Location Choice and Firm Survival After Forced Relocation in the German Machine Tool Industry (August 31, 2007). Jena Economic Research Paper No. 2007-053, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1022873 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1022873

Guido Buenstorf (Contact Author)

University of Kassel - Economics ( email )

Nora-Platiel Str. 4
34109 Kassel
Germany

University of Kassel - International Centre for Research on Higher Education ( email )

D-34109, Kassel
Germany

University of Gothenburg ( email )

Viktoriagatan 30
Göteborg, 405 30
Sweden

Christina Guenther

Max Planck Society for the Advancement of the Sciences - Max Planck Institute for Economics ( email )

Kahlaische Strasse 10
D-07745 Jena, 07745
Germany

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