Exporting firms and retail internationalization: Evidence from France
Résumé
This paper questions the impact of the globalization of the retail sector on the
export activity of origin country agri‐food firms. We use an original firm‐level
database of French agri‐food exports that identifies the domestic suppliers of
French retailers through certification with the private International Featured
Standard (IFS). The results show that IFS certified French firms are more likely
to export and export larger volumes than noncertified firms to markets where
French retailers have established outlets. We also show that when French
retailers stop their activities in a market, certified firms reduce their exports to
this market in the following years. The results are robust to the use of different
sets of firm‐year‐ and country‐year‐specific controls and fixed effects, and are
not affected by possible selection and endogeneity biases. The difference in the
behavior of certified and noncertified exporting firms on markets where French
retailers operate confirms the network effect that benefits retailers’ suppliers,
which is lost when French retailers exit from the destination country.