The Importance of Foreign Direct Investments in Turkey’s Export: A New Strategy for Low and Medium Tech Firms

This research investigates the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and export operated by low-, medium low-, and medium high-tech firms in Turkey. For this purpose, a hidden cointegration approach developed by Hatemi and Iraoundaoust Hidden cointegration is conducted on data covering the period between 2006:Q1 and 2018:Q3. According to Hatemi and Irandoust (Asymmetric interaction between government spending and terms of trade volatility. Journal of Economic Studies 39(3):368–378, 2012), hidden cointegration, there is no long-run relationship between the cumulative positive shocks of Low Tech Export (LTX) and cumulative positive shocks of FDI; the same existence is obtained for the cumulative negative shock between the variables. The outcomes identify that LTX and FDI respond to shocks differently in Turkey. Moreover, the same results were found for Medium Low-Tech Export (MLTE) and FDI. In another saying, a positive and negative shock in MLTX does not proceed with positive and negative shocks in FDI. Nonetheless, a long-run relationship between Medium High-Tech Export (MHTE) and FDI concerning both the positive and negative cumulative shocks is also found. A positive shock in MHTX is associated with the influence of positive in FDI. Furthermore, a negative shock in MHTX is also linked to the impacts of negative in FDI. Thus, it is recommended that Companies and governments manage cooperatively with foreign investors, sustain and create locational advantages, and implement policies that lower costs because low and medium low-tech export plays a ruling role in export performance.