Davide Sala

Ethnic Diversity and Firms’ Export Behaviour

Research by Davide Sala, together with P. Parrotta and D. Pozzoli, shows that the workforce diversity of a company is actually an asset, not a hindrance, for firms’ internationalisation. Being diverse, companies prefer a cosmopolitan world on a small scale; their employees learn to relate to other cultures in their daily interactions or in team-work, improving a firm’s relational capital and contextually a firm’s ability to market products internationally. The researchers rely on several empirical strategies to address endogeneity issues that arise in this context. All results point in the same direction: ethnic diversity favours firms’ engagement on international markets. This seems to validate the practice of large companies – so often reported in the media – of increasing the diversity of the headquarters’ workforce with the aim of sustaining their international operations.

Mr Sala’s research focuses on international trade and specifically on firms’ internationalisation, innovation and trade policy. His research plan while visiting the ifo Institute is to finalise a research project co-authored with a former ifo researcher, Erdal Yalcin. At the core of this project is the internationalisation process of firms. The project aims at identifying the key traits of managerial knowledge that are relevant for firms’ expansion on international markets. Because such knowledge is intimately connected with managers’ personal work experience and background, managerial mobility necessarily plays a prominent role in divulgating such knowledge.

Davide Sala is Assistant Professor of International Economics at the University of Passau, having previously taught at the University of Southern Denmark, the Aarhus School of Business and the University of Tübingen. He holds a PhD in Economics from the European University Institute and an M.sc in Economics from Pompeu Fabra University.