A race to lower standards? Labor standards and location choice of outward FDI from the BRIC countries

Scholars argue that multinational corporations tend to locate their investment in countries with lower labor standards, but empirical results are highly inconsistent. In this paper, we investigate the effect of differential labor standards on the location choice of outward greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) from Brazil, Russia, India and China (i.e. the BRIC countries). We find robust evidence that while there is a tendency toward the attraction of FDI by lower labor standards in developed countries, such a “race” is absent in FDI directed to developing countries. Location choice is highly path dependent upon previous trading relations between the home and the host country, which hampers the MNCs’ ability to arbitrage. Conversely, capital mobility at the industry level is found to intensify the race to lower standards.     

Investing for strategic resources and its rationale: The case of outward FDI from Chinese companies

As more Chinese companies become engaged in foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly in industrial countries, a crucially important issue must be addressed: what is the motivation of Chinese outward FDI, and what is its rationale? Based on a detailed analysis of both primary and secondary data sources, this article argues that when investing in advanced economies, Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) are motivated primarily by the quest for strategic resources and capabilities, and that the underlying rationale for such asset-seeking FDI is strategic needs. The examination of this premise will hopefully prompt business practitioners to think about this important issue in new and innovative ways, thereby identifying an appropriate policy and strategic response.     

Friend or Foe? On the role of institutional reforms in the investment development path of Central and East European economies

Many existing studies on emerging markets and firms have concentrated on the separate effects of institutional reforms and quality of the institutional infrastructure for attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) and fostering outward FDI. We argue that both these perspectives should be considered in an interplay, as there are links between inward and outward FDI in a country's economic development, which is captured by the investment development path (IDP) concept. Moreover, while predominant attention has been paid to emerging markets, little has so far been done to evaluate the sustainability of the institutional development, including later post-transition stages. We extend the IDP with insights from the institutional theory and conduct a comparative analysis of the effects of institutional reforms on IDP paths of ten Central and Eastern European (CEE) post-communist European Union (EU)-members. We find that while most of the studied post-transition economies follow a quadratic relationship between the net outward investment (NOI) position and each country's economic development, the role of institutional reforms is not in all cases accelerating the movement through the stages of the IDP. We attempt to explain the ambiguous role of institutions in an ensuing detailed discussion of the investigated countries.     

Neither developed nor emerging: Dual paths for outward FDI and home country innovation in emerged market MNCs

Emerged market multinational corporations (EDMNCs) ? those based in emerged markets that have transitioned out of emerging economic status ? have received little research interest from the international business scholarship, despite their growing presence in the global market. EDMNCs face significant competitive pressure to leverage cross-border knowledge to innovate and leapfrog their middle-zone status between emerging and developed market multinational corporations. Analyzing 174 publicly listed South Korean MNCs and their outward foreign direct investment (OFDI), we find that an EDMNC’s OFDI into developed and emerging markets contributes unequally to its home-country innovation. We also elaborate on the moderating effect of industry peers’ OFDI into developed countries through crowding out and spillover effects. These findings have implications for the OFDI and innovation literature in general, and particularly for international business scholarship focusing on an under-investigated category of MNCs that are increasingly becoming successful in international competition.     

Why on Earth Should Foreign Banks Invest in Africa's Financial Services Sector? Evidence from Financial Multinationals in Ghana

While sub‐Saharan African countries have been able to attract some degree of resource‐seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) due to their abundant natural resources, financial FDI inflows have proved to be elusive for the region, in spite of the widespread financial‐sector adjustment programs that offer attractive incentive packages for financial multinational corporations (MNCs). Literature surrounding the determinants of FDI inflows has mainly focused on manufacturing and real production activity. We analyzed the root causes of the weak administrative and institutional framework in Africa's banking industry, using Ghana as a case in point. Focusing on two financial MNCs as case studies, this article validates the significance of a thorough qualitative investigation in evaluating the explanations as to why most foreign banks do not invest in sub‐Saharan Africa and why the few that do have relatively insignificant operations. The study also reveals that despite the far‐reaching reforms, there are several structural constraints and deficiencies placed on financial MNCs that affect the size of the business they can conduct and their future investment decisions. One of the major issues prior to the financial‐sector reforms in Africa was disintegration, and the restructuring was not designed to create an attractive location for foreign capital; hence, the low financial FDI inflows to Ghana in particular and Africa in general. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Innovation,productivity and foreign direct investment-induced R&D spillovers

This article examines the effect of foreign direct investment on innovation and productivity in the host and home countries. I investigate how the flows of knowledge transmitted through FDI affect the production of knowledge in both source and recipient countries, as well as how these flows affect productivity. Using patent citations within FDI as the measure of the degree of ‘access’ that one nation gains to the R&D knowledge of another, and new patents as the measure of innovation, results reveal that there are large differences in the way FDI affects innovation and productivity between countries that are technological leaders, and technological followers. Both inward and outward FDI are found to have a strong positive effect on domestic innovation and productivity in countries that are technological followers. For technological leaders, outward FDI is highly conducive to increased domestic innovation, while inward FDI seems to increase competition between domestic and foreign firms, making it more difficult to come up with new viable ideas. As for domestic productivity, inward FDI is highly beneficial for technological leaders, while outward FDI does not have a significant effect. I conclude that technological followers have much to gain from FDI-induced R&D spillovers, and therefore governments in these countries will find it worthwhile to attract foreign multinationals, while those in the more technologically advanced economies need to weigh the costs and benefits of FDI carefully.     

Comprehending the outward FDI from Latin America and OCED: A comparative perspective

This study examines the determinants of outward foreign direct investment (FDI) from Latin American countries and compares it with their OECD counterparts. Our analysis is based on a sample of 45 countries, 13 from Latin America and 32 from the OECD, over the period 2001–2012. We find that the outward FDI from Latin America is more likely to be located in geographically proximate countries and in countries with similar culture and language than that from their OECD counterparts. We also show that Latin American outward FDI is less likely to be resource seeking. This presumably reflects the rich natural resource endowments and agricultural potential in major Latin American countries. Further, outward FDI from Latin America is more likely to be concentrated in countries with a similar corruption environment than that from their OECD counterparts. This might indicate a broadly similar nature of corruption across Latin America due to shared cultural, political and economic legacies.     

我国企业跨国市场进入方式的选择战略

本文首先比较了不同跨国市场进入方式的优缺点,分析了并购与新建、独资与合资的各国选择经验和选择影响因素,最后指出我国对外直接投资的跨国市场进入方式选择:从投资动机看,对发达国家技术和管理经验寻求型直接投资的进入方式应以并购、合资为主,从东道国的外资政策看,我国的产业转移型对外直接投资的主要目标是发展中国家,进入方式应以新建、合资为主,从投资规模角度看,我国自然资源寻求型对外直接投资的进入方式应以合资为主。     

Pro-market institutions and outward FDI of emerging market firms: An institutional arbitrage logic

We offer new theory and evidence regarding the effects of pro-market institutions on outward foreign direct investment (FDI) of emerging market firms (EMFs). Drawing on the logic of institutional arbitrage, we integrate the escapism and exploitation mechanisms of EMF internationalization into a unified theoretical context. We propose an inverted U-shaped relationship between host market-supporting institutions (MSI) and the investment scale of an EMF’s FDI project in the country, showing an escape-driven upward slope for low-to-medium MSI levels and an exploitation-driven downward slope for medium-to-high MSI levels. We supplement this main argument with two boundary conditions: the alleviating effect of home market liberalization (HML) and the strengthening effect of home government subsidies (HGS), demonstrating the coexistence and variation of pro- and anti- market institutions in an emerging market. Using information on 1,450 FDI projects conducted by 288 Chinese listed firms in 116 host countries, we obtain supportive evidence for the predicted relationships between the three institutional forces. This study enriches the literatures on institutional arbitrage and pro-market institutions with evidence from EMFs.     

What determines Chinese outward FDI?

Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased substantially in recent years. Though this has generated considerable interest in the motivations and drivers of Chinese investment abroad, there have been few systematic empirical studies of these questions. This paper performs an econometric analysis of the host country determinants of Chinese outward FDI in the period 2003-2006. We find that Chinese outward FDI is attracted to large markets, and to countries with a combination of large natural resources and poor institutions. Disaggregation shows that the former effect is related to OECD countries, whereas the latter interaction effect holds for non-OECD countries.     

中国对外直接投资的贸易效应研究——基于面板数据的协整分析

本文使用2000—2006年我国对50个国家或地区直接投资和进出口的面板数据,运用面板协整模型和面板误差修正模型,对我国对外直接投资的长短期贸易效应进行了检验。研究结果显示:(1)中国对外直接投资与中国出口及进口均存在长期协整关系,在长期,中国对外直接投资对中国进出口的拉动作用相当大。(2)在短期,我国对外直接投资与出口及进口的长期稳定(协整)关系,对短期的出口及进口的抑制(调节)作用并不显著,对短期的对外直接投资具有显著的正向调节效应。本文还进一步讨论了这些结果的深层次原因以及相应的政策启示。     

The potential for technology and knowledge transfers between foreign and local firms: A study of the construction industry in Ghana

Multinational corporations (MNCs) and other foreign firms can be conduits for technology and knowledge (T&K) transfer to host countries in the developing world. Most of the existing research focuses on T&K transfers through FDI and are drawn from Asia not Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), although SSA is increasingly receiving foreign investment. There is a paucity of research that gives insights into project-level T&K transfer issues in SSA countries. Using the Ghanaian construction industry as an empirical focus, this article explores T&K transfer potential. The findings reveal significant weaknesses in T&K transfer across industry subsectors and between foreign and local firms. This arises from the potentially complementary but dissimilar resource and knowledge bases. The weaknesses are compounded by the absence of coherent government T&K development policies.     

经济国际化与政府服务创新和服务支出的相关性实证分析

本文通过对发达国家和发展中国家的经济国际化与政府服务创新和服务支出进行国际比较分析。结果表明,政府服务支出与经济国际化具有显著的相关性,其中发达国家和发展中国家的政府服务支出与对外贸易依存度具有显著正相关,发展中国家的政府服务支出与外商投资依存度成正相关,发达国家政府服务支出与对外直接投资发展具有显著正相关关系。为更好地促进我国对外直接投资发展,本文建议我国政府应加快完善我国对外直接投资的服务体系,增加我国对外直接投资的政府服务性支出。     

Foreign Direct Investment,Competition and Industry Performance

This paper investigates the productivity effects of inward and outward foreign direct investment using industry‐ and country‐level data for 17 OECD countries over the period 1973 to 2001. Controlling for national and international knowledge spillovers we argue that the effects of FDI work through direct compositional effects as well as changing competition in the host country. Our results show that there are, on average, productivity benefits from inward FDI, although we can identify a number of countries which, on aggregate, do not appear to benefit in terms of productivity. On the other hand, a country's stock of outward FDI is, on average, negatively related to productivity. However, again there is substantial heterogeneity in the effect across OECD countries.     

Uncovering neglected success factors in post-acquisition reverse capability transfer: Evidence from Chinese multinational corporations in Europe

Based on empirical evidence of four Chinese firms’ outward mergers and acquisitions (M&As) to European countries, this paper examines previously neglected key success factors in post-acquisition reverse capability transfer. We identified three such factors: home-country advantage, motivation-oriented complementary resources, and acquirers’ attractiveness, and argue that post-acquisition capability transfer is affected by not only the process factors that occur during the post-acquisition phase but also by pre-acquisition status factors. In this way, the paper enriches the process perspective of M&A, thereby contributing to the international M&A literature and to studies of multinational corporations (MNCs) from emerging economies.     

Extending Dunning's Investment Development Path: The role of home country institutional determinants in explaining outward foreign direct investment

Recent years have seen an increase in outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging markets and post-communist economies alike. Given the specific institutional fabric of these countries, the question is whether mainstream theory can explain the drivers of foreign direct investment outflows or whether new theories are needed to explain this phenomenon. This paper aims to investigate the home country determinants of OFDI from post-communist economies. We augment the Investment Development Path (IDP) with explanations derived from institutional theory and explain the effects of home country institutional factors on the level of OFDI. We test our hypotheses using random effects estimations on a comprehensive panel dataset comprising of OFDI from 20 Central- and Eastern European countries. Our results support the IDP's main propositions but also highlight the importance of accounting for home country institutional factors when investigating the determinants of OFDI. In particular, we find that the inclusion of institutional variables increases the explanatory power of our models and that competition policy and overall institutional reforms play a crucial role in explaining OFDI from CEE countries with important implications for FDI theory.     

Modes of Foreign Direct Investment and Patterns of Trade: An Alternative Empirical Approach

Modes of FDI can be clarified by analysing the changing patterns of trade among host, home and third countries. However, most empirical experiments of foreign direct investment (FDI) determinants have been confined to general characteristics of host countries and multinational enterprises' outward investment activities. This may not clearly characterise the specific characteristics of inward FDI in regard to the host country. Thus, we introduce an alternative approach to clarify modes of FDI by investigating the link between patterns of trade and inward FDI. To empirically test whether our approach is applicable, we choose China during the period 1998–2007. We construct a modified gravity equation of bilateral trade while considering spatially lagged interdependence between host, home and third countries. The problem of endogeneity is controlled by applying the system generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation technique. Our findings are consistent with results in existing studies on modes of outward FDI to China and prove that our approach in dealing with the link between patterns of trade and inward FDI has wide applicability to all modes of FDI. We discover there is strong evidence for statistically significant complementarity between bilateral trade and inward FDI within the aggregate trade data. As we decompose the aggregate trade data into final and intermediate goods, we find the motivation concerning export‐platform and complex vertical FDI is very significant. In addition, as we separate the bilateral partners into developing partners and developed partners, we find both bilateral and multilateral linkages are much stronger with developing partners.     

Outward FDI and Productivity: Micro‐evidence from Slovenia

This paper uses a rich data set of Slovenian manufacturing firms active in the period 1994–2002 that contains information on outward FDI and exports to different markets in order to test three empirical hypotheses that relate the decision for outward FDI to total factor productivity. First, the evidence supports the hypothesis proposed by Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2004) that more productive firms are more likely to invest in a foreign affiliate. Second, the hypothesis proposed by Head and Ries (2003 ) that less productive firms may be encouraged to invest in low‐income countries is rejected by the data. However, the main contribution of the paper is to confirm the third hypothesis that required firm's productivity increases with the number of markets that the firm serves, i.e. there is a positive relationship between the number of a firm's foreign affiliates and its total factor productivity.     

The determinants of China's outward foreign direct investment

Globalisation has led to a rapid increase in the growth of foreign direct investment (FDI) globally. Over the last decade China has become the largest recipient of FDI whilst simultaneously increasing its outward FDI dramatically. The growth in China's outward FDI has attracted little attention from scholars in mainstream research publications. The motivation behind this paper is to investigate the factors driving this growth from both economic and strategic backgrounds. The paper employs panel data analysis covering the period 2003–2009 where we quantify the main drivers of China's outward FDI across a range of variables including bi lateral and multi lateral trade, market size, GDP growth, openness and resource endowment.     

Exports and FDI motivations: Empirical evidence from U.S. foreign subsidiaries

Foreign direct investments (FDI) are supposed to bring into the host countries indirect benefits, usually referred as productivity spillover effects. However, an emerging literature analyses the effect with regard to the export performance of local firms finding inconclusive results. This literature is affected by two main shortcomings: firstly, the role played by FDI motivations is largely disregarded and, secondly, it is difficult to generalise results valid across countries. For these reasons, the aim of the paper is that of testing the effects of U.S. FDI on export intensity at the sectoral level in 16 OECD countries over the period 1990–2001 by bringing together international economics and international business perspective on FDI motivations. Through our data, we disentangle asset seeking and asset exploiting FDI motivations distinguishing also the channels through which the effect is going to occur. The findings show that asset exploiting motivations, and in particular market seeking FDI, are those that affect export intensity to a greater extent.