We propose and empirically test a product market motive for cross-listing, positing that intensified competition in domestic markets incentivizes firms to cross-list their securities as a strategic response to mitigate the adverse impact of heightened competition at home. Utilizing a hand-collected comprehensive cross-listing dataset covering 56 home countries and 45 cross-listing host countries, along with a novel measure of competition law reforms that intensify product market competition in firms’ home countries, our study provides robust evidence supporting this hypothesis. We find that firms are more likely to cross-list their securities following the implementation of competition law reforms in their home countries. Additional analyses suggest that cross-listing facilitates firms in gaining a deeper understanding of foreign product markets, signaling their commitment to delivering superior products, and enhancing product/brand awareness in foreign countries. Importantly, we demonstrate that cross-listing positively influences foreign sales, underscoring its efficacy as a strategic tool for bolstering a firm’s presence in foreign product markets amid heightened domestic competition. Overall, our study identifies a strategic product market motive for cross-listing and offers actionable insights for firms to enhance market positioning in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

我们提出并实证检验了交叉上市的产品市场动机，假设国内市场竞争的加剧会激励公司将其证券交叉上市，作为减轻国内竞争加剧的不利影响的战略应对措施。利用手工收集的综合交叉上市数据集，涵盖 56 个本国和 45 个交叉上市东道国，以及加强公司本国产品市场竞争的竞争法改革的新措施，我们的研究提供了支持这一假设的有力证据。我们发现，在本国实施竞争法改革后，公司更有可能将其证券交叉上市。其他分析表明，交叉上市有助于公司更深入地了解外国产品市场，表明他们致力于提供优质产品，并提高产品/品牌在国外的知名度。重要的是，我们证明了交叉上市对国外销售有积极影响，强调了交叉上市作为在国内竞争加剧的情况下加强公司在国外产品市场影响力的战略工具的有效性。总体而言，我们的研究确定了交叉上市的战略产品市场动机，并为公司提供了可行的见解，以在竞争日益激烈的全球市场中加强市场定位。