Abstract: The institutional quality of the host countries can affect the mode of global value chain governance of the multinational companies through the“fixed cost effect”and the “traditional boundary effect”. On the one hand, the improvement of institutional quality can reduce the institutional fixed costs of corporate foreign direct investment and promote the enterprises to adopt the mode of equity governance. On the other hand, the institutional quality will reduce the internalized demands resulted from market imperfections, and thus reduce the adoption of the equity governance mode. The findings of an empirical study using the trade data of related parties from US Census Bureau show that, at the stage of entering the market of host countries, the improvement of institutional quality of multinational companies can reduce the institutional fixed costs and raise the probability of adopting equity governance mode. However, at the stage of choosing corporate boundaries, due to the influence of traditional boundary effect, the impact of the improvement of institutional quality on corporate adoption of equity governance mode will be weakened; and with the rise of industrial institutional intensiveness, it will be further weakened.

Key words: zombie companies, bank credit, commercial credit, negative externality