SMEs,foreign direct investment and financial constraints: The case of Belgium

This paper explores the problems experienced by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions in gaining access to debt and equity finance for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects. We develop several arguments for why such small businesses are expected to face severe financing constraints for foreign investments and provide an explorative empirical study with both the demand and supply side of FDI finance. We have interviewed thirty-two Belgian SMEs that carry out FDI, five banks and five venture capitalists. Based on the SME discussions, we have composed a questionnaire that was sent to the interviewed SMEs. The information problems and lack of collateral that often characterize international investment, the home bias of financiers and the capital gearing method used by banks to evaluate small firms’ foreign projects give rise to financial constraints for SMEs’ FDI projects. The reported finance gap hinders small firms’ (international) development and leads to suboptimal home and FDI host country development.     

An information-based trade off between foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment

The paper develops a model of foreign direct investments (FDI) and foreign portfolio investments (FPI). FDI enables the owner to obtain refined information about the firm. This superiority, relative to FPI, comes with a cost: a firm owned by the FDI investor has a low resale price because of asymmetric information between the owner and potential buyers. The model can explain several stylized facts regarding foreign equity flows, such as the larger ratio of FDI to FPI inflows in developing countries relative to developed countries, and the greater volatility of FDI net inflows relative to FPI net inflows.     

Source Country Characteristics and the Inflow of Foreign Direct Investment into Saudi Arabia

The paper examines the impact of source country characteristics on the inflow of FDI into Saudi Arabia using a gravity‐type model including economic, distance and socio‐political variables. A unique database listing all new investments involving foreign ownership is used to construct a panel of 33 countries in the period 1980–2005. To account for many country–year observations with zero FDI, the negative binomial regression, the Tobit regression and the Heckman selection procedure are used. The conclusions drawn from the analysis employing panel‐based techniques differ from the results obtained from pooled regression models. Also, the determinants of FDI differ depending on whether foreign investment is measured in terms of investment expenditure or the number of individual foreign projects. The Heckman selection results reveal that there are a large number of factors affecting the decision to invest in Saudi Arabia, compared with relatively few determinants of the actual size of investment. Traditional size and distance characteristics hold to a great extent but the relationship between FDI and bilateral trade is unclear and there is some evidence that the countries that export to Saudi Arabia do not invest there. In terms of scope for possible spillovers, there is mixed evidence on whether the investment comes from more technologically advanced economies but volume‐wise important investments originate from countries characterised by high income per capita.     

重庆市利用外商直接投资的现状及对策分析

随着改革开放的深入发展以及加入世贸组织,近两年我国引进外商直接投资(FDI)的绝对数量连续超过美国,位居世界第一,FDI已成为推动我国经济高速增长的重要力量。重庆市是祖国西部的工业重镇,应该充分利用外商直接投资以促进区域经济发展。本文利用1992-2003年的数据,从实证角度分析了重庆市吸引及利用FDI的现状,认为外商直接投资在促进重庆市经济增长、进出口贸易和固定资产投资方面,有一定的正面影响,但作用力不大。对今后如何吸引外资及提高外商投资质量,进一步促进重庆市经济发展提出了政策建议。     

Beyond the Image of Foreign Direct Investment in China: Where ethics meets public relations

While there had still been an increasing flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) into China during the 2002 downturn in FDI globally, such investments have historically been only sporadically successful. Much writing has detailed and discussed problems associated with China FDI but several costs remain dangerously overlooked. One such cost is that of micro-monitoring plants for work conditions and employee treatment in violation of local Chinese laws and possible home country ethics. Further, a more personal cost is presented – the personal cost associated with maintaining an investment in a facility that violates standards of ethical employee treatment. Background information related to these issues is presented, along with a general overview of FDI in China.     

外商直接投资对青岛市经济影响及对策研究

随着全球化进程的加剧,资本在国际间的流动越来越活跃,通过利用外商直接投资带动本地经济的发展成为了越来越重要的一种途径。随着青岛市外商直接投资规模的稳定增长,对青岛市的经济发展发挥了主要的推动作用。外商投资企业成为青岛市国民经济的重要组成部分和对外贸易的重要增长点。外商独资成为青岛市利用外资的主要形式,外资来源及投资领域也随着国内外形势的变化而有所改变。青岛市应进一步改善投资环境,以提高外商直接投资规模和质量,通过对投资方向的引导进而优化青岛市的产业布局。     

A model of demand,productivity and foreign location decision among Taiwanese firms

We develop a theoretical framework to examine the relative importance of firm demand and productivity in firm decisions to export and where to locate foreign direct investments. The model shows that the equilibrium firm decision depends on product technology, consumer preference for product quality, fixed investment costs of establishing a foreign subsidiary, transportation costs and relative wages. Our empirical results confirm the predictions of the theoretical model. Firm-level demand and productivity components are important in explaining the decision to participate in foreign markets with their relative importance depending on the firm's organizational form (exports versus FDI) and the destination of the investments. In general, FDI firms are more productive than exporting firms regardless of FDI destinations. FDI firms also have a higher demand component than exporters and this demand component is stronger than productivity. Finally, among FDI firms, while those with a high demand index and productivity have a significantly higher propensity to invest in high-income countries, firm productivity is the sole determinant of firms undertaking FDI in low-income countries.     

汇率、贸易壁垒与企业“诱发性”对外投资决策

将汇率冲击、贸易壁垒与"诱发性"对外直接投资置于一个理论框架下,揭示其间的诱发机制与综合传导路径,得出结论如下:跨越贸易壁垒是诱发企业对外投资行为的重要动因,汇率对直接投资流出可能具有"双向性"作用;在遭遇东道国反倾销威胁时,市场规模对企业对外投资的"跨越"动机起到制约作用;企业拥有的成本优势越具备"可转移"特征,越容易"诱发"对外直接投资的形成;行业内产品差异化程度越高,则越能"诱发"企业从事对外投资。     

股权激励、代理成本与企业投资效率

将股权激励、所有权结构、代理成本与投资效率纳入一个统一的分析框架,使用产权属性作为调节变量,代理成本作为中介变量,实证检验股权激励是否影响投资效率,以及股权激励、所有权结构、代理成本与投资效率之间的关系。结果表明:股权激励能够抑制上市公司的非效率投资,代理成本的中介效应显著,但所占比重很小,非国有企业的抑制作用大于国有企业,非国有企业的中介传导机制畅通;国有企业"期权激励"方式能够显著抑制非效率投资,非国有企业的非效率投资通过实施"股票激励"方式能够得到显著抑制;实施股权激励计划能够显著抑制上市公司的投资不足,非国有企业的抑制作用大于国有企业,非国有企业的代理成本中介效应机制畅通,国有上市公司的代理成本中介效应不显著。     

Socially Responsible Institutional Investment in Private Equity

This article studies institutional investor allocations to the socially responsible asset class. We propose two elements influence socially responsible institutional investment in private equity: internal organizational structure, and internationalization. We study socially responsible investments from Dutch institutional investments into private equity funds, and compare socially responsible investment across different asset classes and different types of institutional investors (banks, insurance companies, and pension funds). The data indicate socially responsible investment in private equity is 40–50% more common when the decision to implement such an investment plan is centralised with a single chief investment officer. Socially responsible investment in private equity is also more common among institutional investors with a greater international investment focus, and less common among fund-of-fund private equity investments.     

Injecting demand through spillovers: Foreign direct investment,domestic socio-political conditions,and host-country entrepreneurial activity

This study examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) spurs entrepreneurial activity in host countries. We also investigate why this relationship varies across countries because of domestic socio-political conditions. The findings from our panel analyses of 104 countries from 2000 to 2009 are consistent with our predictions that foreign direct investment positively relates to business creation and this positive effect is strongest in countries with poor institutional support, weak political stability, and low general human capital. Our work provides new insights into how cross-border investments and domestic socio-political conditions jointly influence entrepreneurial activity, especially in emerging and developing economies.     

GUIDE

FDI to China soars each year.To better understand China's regulations for those foreign investments in her different sectors related to foreign trade,China's Foreign Trade offers the guide.More investment guides in other sectors will be expected in the later issues.     

基于威尔逊系数的我国制造业收入差距与FDI关系探讨

改革开放以来,尤其是加入WTO以来,中国经济快速稳定发展,投资环境日趋完善,吸引外商直接投资(FDI)逐年增加。与此同时,中国的地区间、城乡间和行业间的收入差距也在不断拉大。在吸引外资的众多行业中,制造业是其中率先开放的行业,也是吸引外商直接投资最活跃的领域。在制造业引进外资并获得快速扩张的同时,制造业收入差距会更直接更显著地受FDI影响。所以研究外商直接投资对制造业收入①水平的变化、对制造业的行业内部收入差距变化以及整个经济福利变化的影响,具有理论与现实的意义。本文使用威尔逊系数探讨制造业收入差距问题,发现FDI的持续投入会使制造业收入差距呈倒U变化趋势,通过分析得出从长期来看FDI对制造业收入差距具有缩小作用的结论。     

The Causal Relationship Between Information and Communication Technology and Foreign Direct Investment

This paper investigates the simultaneous causal relationship between investments in information and communication technology (ICT) and flows of foreign direct investment (FDI), with reference to its implications on economic growth. For the empirical analysis we use data from 23 major countries with heterogeneous economic development for the period 1976–99. Our causality test results suggest that there is a causal relationship from ICT to FDI in developed countries, which means that a higher level of ICT investment leads to an increase inflow of FDI. ICT may contribute to economic growth indirectly by attracting more FDI. Contrarily, we could not find significant causality from ICT to FDI in developing countries. Instead, we have partial evidence of opposite causality relationship: the inflow of FDI causes further increases in ICT investment and production capacity.     

Mehr Schutz vor ausländischen Direktinvestitionen?

Currently, there is no comprehensive legal framework at EU level to screen foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EU. In September 2017, the European Commission proposed a framework for screening foreign direct investments into the European Union. The reform will likely come into force at the end of 2018. This paper describes the political background and key concepts of the FDI screening framework and analyses potential economic effects of the new regulation.     

Foreign Direct Investment in China: An Examination of the Literature

Since 1978, when China announced its ‘open-door’ policy to pursue the country's long-term national goal, the Four Modernisations, more than 220,000 foreign funded ventures have been approved. By the end of 1994 some US$300 billion of contracted investment had been agreed and US$95 billion of utilized investment, making the country the most important recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the developing world. This paper analyses the phenomenon of FDI in China. It examines the different forms and composition of FDI, reviewing its development since the early days of the ‘open-door’ policy and analysing its importance for Chinese domestic and export industries, as well as Western investor companies. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the world-wide sources of FDI in China and its distribution by both region and industry. Additionally, it reviews the existing research on FDI in China, emphasizing the investment mode of equity joint venture.     

Why a poor governance environment does not deter foreign direct investment: The case of China and its implications for investment protection

It is widely believed that countries with a poor governance environment (e.g., weak laws and rampant corruption) do not attract foreign direct investment (FDI); however, our study suggests otherwise. Using China as a case study, this article argues that the prevailing theory that a good governance environment begets FDI is incomplete. When faced with a poor governance environment, investors choose direct investment over indirect (portfolio) investment because the former can be better protected by private means. In fact, China attracts a large amount of FDI because of, rather than despite, its lack of a good governance environment. In conclusion, this article offers strategies to better protect investments and to chart through the pitfalls resulting from rapid changes in the governance environment.     

Multilevel determinants of subsequent FDI in China

Among developing countries, China is the world's largest foreign direct investment (FDI) destination. A significant portion of the FDI in China comes from multinational corporations' (MNCs) subsequent investments of retained earnings or additional capital contribution. However, the characteristics of MNCs' subsequent investment have not been systematically studied. This study attempts to examine MNCs' subsequent investment in China both conceptually and empirically. Conceptually, the study approaches three levels of determinants: firm, location, and international, within an integrated model. Empirically, the study considers whether origin, experience, initial location, and other related factors significantly affect subsequent investment of MNCs after their initial entry into the Chinese market. Through empirical analyses, this study identifies some statistically significant factors around MNCs' subsequent investment decisions in China. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of FDI on the performance and entrepreneurship of domestic firms

This paper examines how foreign direct investments influence the performance and entrepreneurship of domestic firms, a crucial question for economies driven by incursion of exogenous factors and especially transition economies. The intent is to investigate the way foreign direct investments shape the capabilities of domestic firms; hence, for this purpose, we take Macedonia, a Southeast European economy, as a case study. We find that (i) foreign ownership has helped restructure and enhance the productivity of domestic firms, (ii) FDI has positive influence in reinforcing the creation of new firms, and (iii) in line with the established literature, a foreign investment is likely to influence the job seeker to get employed rather to start their own business. Overall, the results confirm the influence of foreign firms in assisting entrepreneurial activity. The impact of foreign investment is, in general, positive and tends to influence the restructuring process of domestic enterprises.