Defense of Thesis in International Business, Priit Tinits, M. Sc.

The doctoral thesis of  Priit Tinits, MSc, "Essays Evaluating the Impact of Government Support on Exports" will be publicly examined at the Aalto University School of Business on Friday, November 3, 2023.

The public defense will be held at the School of Business, Hall U006 starting at 13:15.

Opponent: Professor Saeed Samiee, University of Tulsa
Custos (Chairperson): Assistant Professor Iiris Saittakari, Aalto University School of Business

Essays Evaluating the Impact of Government Support on Exports

Businesses and governments are inextricably connected and in the competitive global marketplace, governments support domestic enterprises in their pursuit to enter and grow in foreign markets. The question as to what extent the support is effective is subject to debate. My dissertation asserts that the simple yes or no question regarding the usefulness of export support is insufficient as it does not delve into the underlying dynamics and thus does not reveal the complete picture.

First, I studied a set of Estonian small and medium-sized firms that received support for developing strategic export plans or attending trade fairs or participated in the business delegations on state visits. I compared the impact of the three support instruments measuring when the positive effect appeared, peaked, and disappeared. I found that support for export plans had the longest lasting impact and participation in state visits had an immediate but shortest-term impact. I also determined that the optimal order of support modes was: 1) trade fair, 2) export plan, 3) state visit.

Next, I studied a dataset of government R&D support and export figures, innovation data and motivational aspects in a sample of innovative Chinese exporters. I found that R&D support and export are linked indirectly through the mediation by innovativeness. Further, extrinsic motivation (bonus payments) facilitated the R&D support-innovation relationship, and intrinsic motivation (employee suggestions) were effective in moderating the innovation-export relationship. I established a theoretical model of two rounds of “variation” and selection” that explained the stepwise impact on exports and the reasons for failures at each stage.

My third essay discusses fundamental questions not previously addressed in the academic literature on government export support and underlines issues for future studies: How to best target the aid? What are the implications of allocating support to a greater or fewer number of firms and what are the tradeoffs over the long term?

The dissertation expands on the theoretical understanding of the contextual factors at play. If various aspects, such as timing, magnitude, sequence of various types of support, employee motivation, implications of false positive and false negative errors, discussed in the dissertation essays, are considered at the development and design stages of government support programs, the resulting support instruments will have a greater economic impact.

Further information:
priit.tinits@aalto.fi 

+372 516 1880

The thesis is publicly displayed online 10 days before the defense here.