Common Ownership, Domestic Competition, and Export: Evidence from Thailand

We use administrative data of all registered firms in Thailand, both public and private, to study the relationships between common ownership, market power, and firms' export behaviors. Our results suggest that firms in ownership networks tend to have higher market power as measured by markup. In addition, markup is negatively associated with a firm's propensity to export, its likelihood of product upgrade, and the chance of survival in foreign markets. Our findings have policy implications on antitrust regulations and competitiveness policies, especially in export-oriented economies dominated by powerful business conglomerates.