Abstract

A bilateral research association funded by the Bavarian-Czech Academic Agency (BTHA) examines the role of multinational companies in the Bavarian-Czech border regions. The Free State of Bavaria plays a central role in German-Czech transnational links between companies. Due to the direct border with the Czech Republic, numerous firms have taken the opportunity of internationalisation to set up a branch in nearby Bohemia, especially in the borderlands. The first-time linkage of firm-level data on foreign direct investments (FDI) of German companies in the Czech Republic with establishment and personal data has resulted in a unique data set within the ReLOC project at the IAB which allows the investigation of individual effects of FDI. The findings of the project will contribute to the political counselling of decision-makers in order to solve urgent labour market problems and can be the basis for further Research projects. Cooperation partners include the University of Bamberg, the University of Regensburg, the Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE) at Charles University in Prague and the Institute for Democracy & Economic Analysis (IDEA) at the Economics Institute (EI) of the Czech Academy of Sciences.