Foreign direct investment,labour relations and sector effects: US investment outflows to Europe

This paper analyses the impact of national labour relations on foreign direct investment (FDI), with emphasis on macro-markets and sector properties. Since there are sector-specific differences between industries in transferability, labour-relations effects on FDI probably vary across sectors. The paper finds that labour costs dampen FDI, while the impact of national market potential remains inconclusive. Collective labour institutions have a significantly adverse impact on FDI in manufacturing, and a relatively beneficial one on FDI in services. While investment in manufacturing seeks to minimize labour costs at given skill levels, investment in services maximizes skills at given levels of cost.     

Political culture and foreign direct investment: The case of Italy

Does the political culture of an area have any impact on the foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions of multinational corporations (MNCs)? This question is difficult to address empirically, as locations differ in many dimensions. We therefore address this question by examining MNC investment location decisions with regard to different regions within a single country. The country we examine is Italy, which exhibits one of the highest levels of variation with regard to the political culture of its geographical regions. We find that political culture as represented by the pattern of support for political parties at different points on the political spectrum has a significant impact on the MNC investment location decision. Thus, in choosing between locations on a short list, where economic and financial location factors are roughly similar, political culture can have a determining influence. In the case of Italy, a Center-right orientation is conducive to MNC FDI, while a Center-left orientation is not. A Far-left orientation is found to have a very negative effect on FDI.     

European Union enlargement and the foreign direct investment channel of industrial relations transfer

Inward investment by multinational companies represents a vital channel for entrenching the company‐level industrial relations dimension of Europe's social model in the post‐socialist New Member States. Surveying a wide range of existing analysis and evidence, this article concludes that the prospects for diffusion through inward investment are highly contingent. The motive for inward investment, factor composition, host country institutions and the existence of transnational industrial relations structures are all found to be influential contingencies, but not country‐of‐origin or mode of entry.     

The determinants of foreign direct investment: An analysis of US manufacturing industries

This study explores the determinants of foreign direct investment by analyzing the variation across US manufacturing industries in the extent of outward foreign direct investment. Three types of industry characteristics are hypothesized to explain this variation. Empirical support is found for four sources of ownership-specific advantages favoring foreign direct investment, new technology created through research and development, marketing abilities, organizational techniques and capital cost advantages. Support is found for the role of production scale economies in favoring centralization and hindering foreign direct investment, but results suggest only a weak role for transport costs in favoring decentralization and foreign direct investment. Producer concentration, perhaps reflecting oligopolistic competition, is positively related to foreign direct investment.     

The effects of labour costs and workplace constraints on foreign direct investment among highly industrialized countries

Drawing on economic propositions underlying theories of foreign direct investment and organizational propositions underlying international human resource management strategic decision making, the theoretical model developed herein integrates two distinct but interrelated strategic HRM assessments. In deciding where to invest, multinational companies (MNCs) assess both (1) the net comparative labour cost advantages associated with alternative host-country IR systems and (2) the comparative flexibility afforded them by alternative IR systems to either transfer or create preferred HRM strategies abroad. The results of the present study indicate that, on average, MNCs from the major investor countries of the world give substantial weight to differences in national IR systems in deciding how much to invest across alternative high-skill, highwage countries. In particular, the evidence indicates that MNCs have invested more in countries with higher skills, lower compensation costs and lesser government and collective bargaining constraints on MNCs' flexibility to set the terms and conditions of employment or otherwise deploy preferred HRM practices abroad.     

Capital account liberalization and foreign direct investment

We examine the impact of capital account policies on FDI inflows. Using an annual panel dataset of 83 developing and developed countries for 1984-2000, we find that capital account openness is positively but only very moderately associated with the amount of FDI inflows after controlling for other macroeconomic and institutional measures. To a large extent, other country characteristics seem to determine FDI inflows instead of capital account policies. We also find that capital controls are easily circumvented in corrupt and politically unstable regimes. We conclude that liberalizing the capital account is not sufficient to generate increases in inflows unless it is accompanied by a lower level of corruption or a decrease in political risk.     

Regional trade agreement and foreign direct investment

This paper investigates the relationship between regional trade agreements, such as the NAFTA, and FDI. Using a fixed-effects gravity model to estimate OECD panel data spanning 1982–1997, we learn that trade integration encourages FDI. We find specific evidence for each of the NAFTA member countries—Mexico, Canada and the United States. In addition, we find evidence that FDI will rise with host and parent country GDP and fall with distance.     

Corporate financial determinants of foreign direct investment

Financial market incompleteness and (partial) segmentation of financial markets internationally may endow some firms with a financial advantage which can be exploited through foreign direct investment. We argue that this advantage appears as a distinct cost-of-capital effect on FDI, and identify possible channels for such an effect. Using a sample of European firms’ cross-border acquisitions, and controlling for traditional firm-level determinants of FDI, we find strong support for a cost-of-equity effect, whereas the effect of debt costs is indeterminate. Moreover, financial FDI determinants are more important for firms with high knowledge intensity and for firms resident in relatively less financially developed countries.     

Crises, portfolio flows, and foreign direct investment: An application to Turkey

We analyze how financial and economic crises affect the relation between the components of capital flows and their determinants in an emerging economy. Our results suggest that the composition of capital flows matters, crises can explain the volatility of portfolio flows and foreign direct investment, and modeling them as endogenous breakpoints improves the results considerably. By using data from the Turkish economy, we estimate these breakpoints together with the parameters of the model and find that they correspond to international and domestic crises that hit the country. Although both components are affected by similar crises, direct investment reacts strongly to the domestic crisis, while portfolios flows are more sensitive to global financial conditions. Breaks also have an effect on the significance and sign of determinants of each type of international investment. Evidence indicates changes in all coefficients in both investment types and suggests that analyses assuming parameter constancy lead to misleading results if they ignore the influence of endogenous breaks.     

Inbound foreign direct investment and domestic entrepreneurial activity

There is an interesting and lively debate going on in the academic literature intersecting trade policy and entrepreneurship. Several studies have shown that inbound foreign direct investment (FDI) has a negative effect on rates of entrepreneurship, while others find the opposite – a higher rate of new firm creation associated with increased inbound FDI. We study the phenomenon using a cross-country analysis of data on entrepreneurs from 38 countries and from 2001 to ? 2008. Results indicate that inbound FDI has negative associations with five types of entrepreneurship (nascent, new, early-stage, established, and high-growth) measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor survey. In our discussion, we argue that our study supports the contention that studies counting new limited liability company registrations do not always measure the same thing as entrepreneurial entries (self-reports), leading to different, even opposite results when subjected to empirical analysis.     

Privatisation and labour relations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe

The decision to transform capital ownership in Central and Eastern Europe is proving, in its practical application, to be both a controversial and lengthy process. In examining privatisation this article considers its main features and the consequences of its implementation for the social partners and the industrial relations system.     

利用外国直接投资的风险与防范

文章分析了外国直接投资的引入在促进我国经济发展的同时,也带来了行业垄断、技术依赖等风险,这些风险的存在增加了我国经济运行的不稳定性,并在对这些风险进行分析的基础上提出了相应的防范措施。     

Political events and the foreign direct investment decision: An empirical examination

This study investigates the impact of political events on US manufacturing direct investment in Latin America. The relationship between foreign direct investment and political events (and economic factors) is examined through regression analysis of pooled time-series (21 years) and cross-sectional (8 countries) data. In contrast to previous studies using an econometric approach, this study finds that political events do affect direct investment decisions. Specifically, both intra-nation and inter-nation conflict and co-operation have an impact on US direct investment decisions concerning Latin American countries. In addition, the host country's market size and market growth affect these decisions by US multinational firms.     

Foreign direct investment and financial markets influences: Results from the United States

This paper investigates the linkages among Foreign Direct Investment (FDI-greenfield and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)) decisions and equity market returns and volatilities. The central premise is that FDI decisions by Multinational Enterprises (MNE) are influenced, among other factors, by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities in the destination (host) countries. This is because of the events on the stock markets in general, and their volatilities, in particular, signal the vitality of the investment climate of the target country. Including capital market variables among the determinants of FDI is important for assessing the cost of capital and for evaluating direct investment and asset allocation decisions.Secondary time-series data (quarterly) were used on incoming US FDI from 1994 to 2018 along with data on independent variables such as exchange rates, inflation, market size, equity market returns, and equity market volatilities. Thus, the paper endeavors to contribute to the International Business literature by highlighting the role played of equity returns and volatilities in FDI decisions and therewith attempts to integrate finance (capital markets) with International Business/Strategic Decision making. Several different regression specifications (OLS, Fixed, and random-effects and VAR) were utilized to analyze the data, and capital market variables (stock returns and volatilities) were found to influence the location of production facilities by a multinational enterprise (MNE). In other words, the share of production capacity optimally located abroad, as well as M&A decisions, are influenced by capital market returns and volatilities.     

Wages,employment, labour turnover and the accessibility of local labour markets

In this paper, we extend a dynamic efficiency wage model to the case of multiple local labour markets that interact through migration. Firms are concerned about turnover costs. The quitting behaviour of workers is a function of local labour market conditions, non-wage income and the costs and benefits of migration to other local labour markets. A synthetic micro sample of 20,302 observations from the 1986, 1991 and 1996 New Zealand Censuses of Population and Dwellings provides evidence supporting the theory. Across subgroups, the wages of workers with relatively inelastic local labour supply and/or lower geographical mobility are relatively more responsive to changes in the local employment rate. The evidence is consistent with the notion that local employers engage in monopsonistic competition with respect to the employment of such workers.     

The human resource challenge to outward foreign direct investment aspirations from emerging economies: the case of China

The continued influx of foreign investment into China and the growing desire by indigenous Chinese companies to invest abroad have created an unprecedented demand for people who possess competencies to compete successfully in a global economy. Without this pool of human talent, China's economic growth will slow and its outward foreign direct investment aspirations will be thwarted. This paper presents two inter-related studies that can shed light on China's ability to meet this human resource challenge in the years ahead. The first study pertains to the intention of a sample of Chinese university students in Canada to return to work in China upon graduation. Most Chinese students were receptive to the idea of returning to China. The second study examines the willingness of non-Chinese university students to work for Chinese firms overseas or in China. In general, non-Chinese students were more willing to work in the North American operations of Chinese companies and less so in relocating to China. These two surveys are supplemented by in-depth interviews with Chinese who have returned to work in China and those who chose to remain overseas. The implications of these findings, both theoretical and practical, are discussed.     

外商直接投资对我国就业的影响--一个综合分析框架

利用外商直接投资是我国政府增加和扩大就业的政策措施之一。外商直接投资是否能够实现我国政府增加和扩大就业的目标,这是值得深入研究的一个重大课题。目前的大多数研究只注意到了外商直接投资对我国就业的积极影响,过分夸大了外商直接投资对我国就业的贡献,而忽视了其负面影响。为了全面了解外商直接投资对我国的就业效应,有必要从外商直接投资的就业创造效应、就业损失效应、就业挤出效应和就业转移效应四个方面进行详细分析,在此基础上进行必要的政策调整。     

The role of inward foreign direct investment on entrepreneurship

This paper investigates whether foreign firms had a positive impact on entrepreneurial activity measured by the net creation of firms. Using firm-level panel data for the Portuguese manufacturing and service industries over the period 1986 to 2000, we test whether the impact of foreign firms on firms’ entry depends on the number and size of previous foreign entrants. Overall, the results cast some doubts on the influence of foreign firms in assisting entrepreneurial activity. The impact of a first foreign investment is, in general, positive but the marginal impact of additional investments appears to be negative.     

The role of codes in labour relations: the case of disclosure

Over the last decade governments have increasingly used codes of practice as an alternative or complement to statutory regulation. This article uses as a case study one particular code, that on disclosure of information, to examine the relationships between codes’ legal obligations and industrial relations practice.