International Success of Business Groups as an Indicator of National Competitiveness

Abstract

Business groups are the dominant form of large private enterprise throughout Latin America. However, relatively little academic research has attempted to identify the dominant characteristics of these groups and even fewer formal studies have examined how these groups are fairing in today's age of increased competition and globalization. While there are numerous characteristics of business groups that are worthy of examination, in this paper we focus on their foreign direct investment (FDI) activities. In order to better understand the potential strengths and weaknesses of Mexican multinationals, we draw upon Dunning's eclectic paradigm of international production and the literature examining developing country multinationals. While this body of knowledge provides a useful theoretical lens, the current FDI activity of Mexican business groups is somewhat at odds with the existing literature.     

Infrastructure Development and FDI Inflow to Developing Economies: Evidence from India

Nowadays, developing economies are becoming the preferred destination of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. We draw insights from Dunning's eclectic paradigm to explore how FDI inflow is influenced by the quality of the physical infrastructure and human resources of the host country. We investigate various India‐specific infrastructural factors affecting FDI inflow between 1991 and 2010. Our empirical findings indicate that factors like railway transportation and road network as well as the quality of human resources played a crucial role in attracting FDI. However, air transportation or communication infrastructure is yet to play a significant role. Our study makes a modest attempt to identify areas of concern and scope for the further improvement of India's infrastructure facilities to attract foreign investment in the future. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Internationalization of multinational banks: a study of foreign direct investment in seven Latin American countries

The article attempts to explore and contrast the different factors that influence the foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions of multinational banks. Employing eclectic theory, an estimation model with panel data from seven Latin American countries is set to test the proposed hypotheses. The results highlight an increase in foreign assets, removal of banking restriction, banking concentration, and capital cost differential in the local banking system as determinants of specific location advantages for attracting banking FDI. Other factors such as cultural proximity and crisis also have a significant impact on banking FDI. Discussions and implications are debated before conclusions are drawn for a future research agenda.     

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.     

拉丁美洲农业利用外国直接投资的实践及启示

拉美农业利用外国直接投资(FDI)的实践表明,外国直接投资在促进拉美农业发展的同时,也给拉美农业带来了诸如被跨国公司支配、转移不适宜技术、造成单一的农业生产结构、环境破坏和劳动力失业等一系列社会经济问题.文章针对拉美农业利用外国直接投资的教训,提出我国农业利用外国直接投资必须遵循的原则.     

Foreign Direct Investment in Latin America in the 1990s

Summary

FDI in Latin America has witnessed a resurgence in the 1990s after the debt crisis and capital drought of the 1980s. This inflow results both from more market-friendly policies in the recipient countries and lower returns and growth in developed nations. The latter factor has also attracted many short-term, portfolio instruments to the continent which can be highly damaging to local economies when not properly regulated. Privatization has been among the more important country-specific variables attracting direct investors to the region. Despite the positive effects of FDI, Latin American countries are still beset with problems such as unequal distribution of income and poverty that direct investment is unlikely to ameliorate.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed: TAKATOSHI ITO and ANNE O. KRUEGER (eds.), Governance, Regulation, and Privatization in The Asia‐Pacific Region. ELHANAN HELPMAN, The Mystery of Economic Growth. DANIEL H. ROSEN, SCOTT ROZELLE and JIKUN HUANG, Roots of Competitiveness: China's Evolving Agriculture Interests JAMES J. HECKMAN and CARMEN PAGÉS (eds.), Law and Employment: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean.     

The Interface Between FDI and the Development of Natural-Resource-Rich Regions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework for analysing the connections between foreign direct investments (FDI) and the development of the natural-resource-rich regions. In order to understand the link between FDI and regional development, we need to consider two perspectives at least: those of the investor companies and the developing region. The theoretical framework is built up from a combination of the eclectic paradigm (OLI framework) from international business and the Canadian Staple Theory (CST) from the discipline of economic geography. As it stands, the framework is encouraging in terms of promoting a better understanding of the context and content of inward and outward FDIs in resource-rich regions. This will be illustrated by means of two cases, the Ukrainian/Swiss investment (Donbass-Duferco) in the Hungarian iron and steel company Dunaferr in 2004 and the much-criticized Sakhalin-2 project of the Sakhalin Energy Investment Company (SEIC) in the oil and gas industry.     

Multinational Firms’ Leadership Role in Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America

This paper explores the commitment to corporate citizenship on the part of the largest U.S.-based multinationals in the emerging market region of Latin America. The websites of the largest U.S.-based firms – according to the 2007 Fortune 500 list – are reviewed and their CSR efforts in Latin America are noted. The firms’ positions on corporate citizenship in Latin America are mapped onto a three-by-three matrix in which firms’ commitment to corporate citizenship ranges from profit-making motivations to a more holistic approach where support for non-profit causes is embraced by the entire firm and implemented at all levels (Marsden, Business and Society Review 105(1), 9–26, 2000). The largest U.S.-based multinationals were selected for this study because of their leadership role and the fact that other firms within their respective industries may seek to emulate the firms’ level of commitment to corporate citizenship. While the matrix can be used to evaluate corporate citizenship efforts in any market – or globally – the emphasis in this study is on Latin America, a region of interest for two reasons: because of the paucity of research on this particular emerging market region as it relates to CSR, and because there is some evidence to suggest that philanthropic initiatives by the region’s wealthy individuals lag behind individual philanthropic efforts in other world regions (Oppenheimer, Latin America’s Rich Should Donate More. McClatchey-Tribune Regional News, 2007). If this is the case, this study aims to identify whether companies are picking up the slack.

“You make a living by what you get; but you make a life by what you give.” Winston Churchill

     

Japanese Foreign Direct Investment in the UK Electronic Industry: The Eclectic Approach

This article analyses the combined effects of Japanese firms' ownership and location advantages on the size of foreign direct investment (FDI). The size of FDI is measured by two proxies, the firm's employment level and its total assets. Econometric models are estimated. The estimated regression models show that the parent company's firm-specific resources and the external economies in the located region determine the flow of FDI at the time of entry of Japanese electronic firms in the UK. This result shows that empirical analysis on FDI flows should combine both the ownership and location advantages, as suggested by Dunning's eclectic paradigm.     

对外直接投资理论及其发展

早期主要运用国际化理论和国际生产折衷理论的方法,对对外直接投资(FDI)进行研究。随着贸易产业组织理论的发展,国际贸易理论在一般均衡框架下不断发展,FDI理论也被纳入了国际贸易理论体系,并将跨国公司加入到经典的H-O理论中对FDI进行分析。随着新贸易理论的发展,在规模报酬递增和不完全竞争的贸易模型下分析FDI,新新贸易理论的产生是与FDI理论的发展密切联系的。     

The Chinese outward foreign direct investment motives in ASEAN countries through export performance: The role of competitive intensity among Chinese smartphone manufacturers

This study aims to examine the impact of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) objectives on the achievement of export performance under competitive intensity. We apply the diverse theoretical perspectives of the eclectic paradigm and institutional theory. Primary data were collected from 162 Chinese manufacturer–exporter companies. Specifically, this research shows that Chinese OFDI motives increase its export performance in ASEAN markets. Furthermore, we discover that competitive intensity moderates the relationship between strategic assets-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) motive and export performance, but not the relationship between market-seeking FDI motive and export performance. Hence, this study presents a holistic assessment of Chinese smartphone manufacturers' export performance by accounting for the overlooked effect of firms seeking FDI motive through the moderating of competitive intensity.     

A multi-theory framework for understanding the reshoring decision

Recently firms have been reconsidering offshoring decisions, and have been reshoring activities back from offshore locations to domestic locations. The aim of this paper is to develop a framework for understanding location and governance choice in the reshoring decision. Employing the eclectic paradigm, the resource-based view and transaction cost economics as a theoretical basis, this research highlights the value of integrating location-specific factors with process- and firm-specific factors for understanding location and governance choice in the reshoring decision. Moreover, the framework highlights the value of understanding the interaction of the location-, firm- and process-specific factors on the reshoring decision.     

Escapism FDI from developed economies: The role of regulatory context and corporate taxation

In this paper, we extend the conceptualisation of escapism Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) holding for emerging economies to developed economies that face specific institutional failures, such as weak or incomplete regulations, along with high taxation. We combine this literature with the recent development of Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, which includes institutional aspects regarding location factors. We argue that in developed economies with problematic regulations and high taxation, sound institutions and lower tax rates abroad are extremely significant for domestic firms’ internationalisation. A central result regards the moderating effect of host regulatory quality on taxation, which highlights the crucial role of institutions for firms originating in developed economies that lack sound institutions. Additionally, the results challenge the available theorising and evidence on the moderating role of institutions in the prior experience of a firm at a location. We instead provide evidence that once firms establish a subsidiary abroad, they acquire substantial knowledge about the host institutional environment, which translates into an Ot advantage, providing an additional motive for further expansion. This work uses a unique database of the total population of Greek MNEs – released for the first time – for an extended time period, 2001–2010. The results could be generalised to similar developed economies facing analogous regulatory failures and high taxation, such as the southern European Union countries, as well as even for northern European Union countries, such as Germany, according to Bundesbank’s report.     

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.     

The role of corporate governance in FDI decisions: Evidence from Taiwan

There has been a considerable literature on the determinants of why firms undertake foreign direct investment (FDI), but very little on whether firms with different governance characteristics are more or less likely to venture overseas. For example, are family-controlled firms more predisposed to FDI than firms, with similar attributes, but different forms of ownership? Does the presence of institutional shareholders suggest a greater propensity to invest abroad? Does the composition of the Board of Directors have an impact? Most extant studies of corporate governance focus on the impact of governance factors on firm performance. However, these performance outcomes are a function of the strategic decisions made by the firms, which suggests it might be useful to consider the relationship between corporate governance factors and particular strategic decisions. One example is the decision to undertake foreign direct investment. The two main strands of IB literature on the determinants of FDI have little or nothing to say about how corporate governance factors might affect the FDI decision. Both internalisation theory and the resource-based view see FDI primarily as a means by which firms can appropriate rents in overseas markets from the exploitation of their idiosyncratic resources and capabilities. This paper extends this literature by investigating the effects of governance factors on the decision to undertake FDI. In particular, we want to assess the impact upon the FDI decision of (a) the extent of family control, (b) the presence of domestic and foreign institutional shareholders, and (c) the composition of the Board of Directors. We investigate these effects using a sample of 228 publicly listed firms in Taiwan, and our results clearly indicate that family control and share ownership by domestic financial institutions in Taiwanese firms are associated with the decision to undertake FDI. We also find that corporate governance impacts in different ways with regard to Taiwanese FDI in China in comparison to Taiwanese FDI in the rest of the world.     

Licensing versus direct investment: implications for economic growth

We develop a symmetric two country model of foreign direct investment (FDI) that captures the internalization decision and its implications for both the rate and magnitude of innovations. When mode choice (licensing versus FDI) is fixed, a subsidy to multinational production increases the rate but decreases the size of innovations. When mode can switch, the rate and size of innovations both increase, provided the subsidy is not too large. Although innovation size decreases for industries where firms already were choosing FDI, innovation size increases for industries where firms switch from licensing to FDI because multinationals choose larger innovations than licensors.     

Why don't all young firms invest in R&D?

This article aims to analyze the different impacts that some factors may exert on the probability that a small young firm invests intensively in R&D. Recently, an increasing amount of the literature makes reference to the vital role played by a small number of young firms in generating jobs and increasing efficiency levels. However, not all new firms invest in R&D. Departing from the definition of Young Innovative Companies (YICs, firms younger than 6 years old, fewer than 250 employees and with more than 15 % of their revenues invested in R&D activities), and with an extensive sample of the Spanish Community Innovation Survey between 2004 and 2010, we try to determine: (1) those factors that cause firms to become YICs (innovative young small firms) or Young Non-Innovative Companies (YNICs, moderately innovative young small firms), and (2) what is the difference in the impact of those factors between YICs and YNICs. Our results show that factors such as initial innovation capacity and cooperation in R&D projects enhance the probability of becoming a YIC. Nevertheless, factors such as export potential and market uncertainty may influence the decision to invest moderately and become a YNIC.     

Foreign direct investment in Spain: Regional distribution and determinants

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the regional distribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Spain and its main determinants between 1995 and 2005/2008. By means of using different indicators, the paper reveals the major traits of this distribution, among which its highly geographical concentration stands out. Afterwards, the paper performs an explanatory factor analysis to reduce to a manageable number of factors the vast array of FDI determinants considered in the literature. The econometric analysis carried out reveals that factors such as economic potential, labour conditions and competitiveness are important for attracting FDI both at aggregate and sectoral levels; on the contrary, market size is not relevant at all as booster of FDI. Finally, the analysis is extended to take account of the presence of spatial effects, the results showing the existence of negative geographical spillovers associated to the economic potential and competitiveness factors.     

对外开放与发展中国家的收入不平等:基于亚洲和拉美国家的比较研究

本文基于要素禀赋理论,在将劳动力划分为低、中、高技能三类的基础上,选取亚洲和拉丁美洲部分发展中国家1960-2005年的数据,建立非平衡面板模型,分析两地区的开放对国内收入分配的影响。实证结果表明,亚洲和拉丁美洲发展中国家的对外开放确实对国内收入不平等起到推动作用。目前的开放有利于中等技能劳动力相对丰裕的发展中国家,而不利于低技能劳动力相对丰裕的国家。总体的贸易依存度对拉美不平等的推动作用更大,但外资对亚洲不平等的推动作用更大;制造业出口倾向于扩大拉美国家的收入差距而缩小亚洲国家的收入差距。