Abstract: This paper makes use of the penal data at enterprise level covering from 2005 to 2007 to conduct a statistical analysis and empirical test of the production efficiency distribution characteristics of OFDI firms with gradient productivity structure. The results indicate that the overall production efficiency of China’s OFDI firms is higher than that of the non-OFDI firms. Viewing from all the samples, the production efficiency of China’s OFDI enterprises presents an inverted U-shape changing trend of first rise then fall along with the sectional progressive increase of productivity, and the adaptive difference in technology selection is the main cause of the phenomenon. Compared to capital-intensive industries, the lower productivity in the labor-intensive and technology-intensive industries and the technological choice mismatch of the OFDI enterprises at the high-productivity sections are more serious, and the inverted U-shape relationship between productivity and production efficiency is more obvious.

Key words: outward foreign direct investment; technology selection; production efficiency