David vs. Goliath? Smaller European Exporting Firms Facing Asian Competition on Global Markets

This paper analyses the presence of Asian competition in the export markets of Belgian manufacturing firms between 1998 and 2010. We focus on the value of exports at the firm level where we consider both the intensive and the extensive margin. Within Asia a distinction is made between China, India, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. We find that Asian competition matters significantly for Belgian export companies.