This project is believed to be the first scientific research into the effects upon firms of pro-internationalisation policies applied across EU member states. Firm level respondents are asked question that, on analysis, yield understanding of the mechanisms within the firm, through which policy exerts its effect. The main final results are anticipated to show that policy instruments are entirely national, are frequently legacies and the result, not of scientific research into policy optimization, but of imitation by one government of another, or others’, policies. In investigating a selection of eight EU economies, the project is changing the agenda for policy research on the international sector of EU member states, and beyond. The state of the art is typified by evaluative studies of policy interventions for the purpose of validating existing policies. This is common across the EU, and in many economies of the world. The innovation of the findings of this project will have a ready application in the investigation of actual policy efficiency across other EU member states, but also in other economies.
This project finds that the same policy instruments are employed to promote trade and investment within the EU, as are employed for third countries. That is, the importance of benefits from European integration are not explicitly reflected in policy intervention. Moreover, policy instruments are largely copied by governments from each other. An outcome of this project is the reassessment of the effectiveness of pro-internationalisation policy instruments to achieve internationalisation and, crucially to look at the differences in impact of these instruments upon foreign direct investment and exports within the European Union – which directly achieve the objectives of completing the Single Market, adding to competition, raising competitiveness, and increasing economic integration.
The expected final results and their potential impact and use flow from the fact that this project is thought to be the first systematic investigation into pro-internationalization policy in the EU. It therefore sets a new benchmark for research, placing pro-internationalization policy within the scope of European integration more broadly, and alongside market integration in the Single Market, Competition Policy and the Growth Agenda. In terms of the eventual scientific findings, these will provide a basis for re-calibrating the extent and terms of interventions between member states in the EU, to achieve greater policy effectiveness nationally and, by building in the special goals of the EU, provide a rational basis for the optimization of support measures on a pan-EU basis. Put simply, as the EU benefits more because it is pursuing regional economic integration (i.e. above the promotion of exports and FDI per se) a greater social value should be placed on internationalization within the EU. At the same time, internationalization into third countries yields benefits to the EU, and a coherent policy towards promotion with respect to these economies (as with free trade and investment agreements, which benefit the whole EU) may yield greater benefits that are currently being realized. This may be through making feasible the designing in policy coherence between member states.
On completion of analysis of all data, the findings will be communicated to policy officials and legislators directly within the EU institutions, international organisations, and business representative organisations and business and management forums. The goal of this research is to deepen scientific understanding of the mechanisms through which pro-internationalization policy intervention operates, and to contribute to the designing in of more coherent (between member states) and more effective and efficacious policy interventions, so yielding performance benefits for firms and for economic growth.
