Foreign Direct Investment and International Technology Diffusion

Author(s):  
Difei Geng ◽  
Kamal Saggi

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays an important role in facilitating the process of international technology diffusion. While FDI among industrialized countries primarily occurs via international mergers and acquisitions (M&As), investment headed to developing countries is more likely to be greenfield in nature; that is, it involves the establishment or expansion of new foreign affiliates by multinational firms. M&As have the potential to yield productivity improvements via changes in management and organization structure of target firms, whereas greenfield FDI leads to transfer of novel technical know-how by initiating the production of new products in host countries as well as by introducing improvements in existing production processes. Given the prominent role that multinational firms play in global research and development (R&D), there is much interest in whether and how technologies transferred by them to their foreign subsidiaries later diffuse more broadly in host economies, thereby potentially generating broad-based productivity gains. Empirical evidence shows that whereas spillovers from FDI to competing local firms are elusive, such is not the case for spillovers to local suppliers and other agents involved in vertical relationships with multinationals. Multinationals have substantially increased their investments in research facilities in various parts of the world and in R&D collaboration with local firms in developing countries, most notably China and India. Such international collaboration in R&D spearheaded by multinational firms has the potential to accelerate global productivity growth.

2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Nunnenkamp

AbstractThe rise in foreign direct investment flowing to developing countries has created high expectations that, by drawing on this source of external financing, developing countries could initiate or accelerate processes of economic catching-up to advanced industrialized countries. By contrast, the public in advanced countries such as Germany is increasingly concerned that the relocation of production and the outsourcing of inputs by multinational enterprises add significantly to domestic labor market problems. A critical review of the literature and own empirical analyses suggest, however, that both views have to be qualified in major respects. As concerns developing host countries, it appears to be more difficult to derive macroeconomic benefits from foreign direct investment than to attract it. The labor market repercussions in advanced home countries are fairly complex. While relocation and outsourcing are important means to support the international competitiveness of domestic enterprises, the employment prospects and the relative wages of less qualified workers are likely to deteriorate.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 114-121
Author(s):  
Abdallah Mohamed Othman El Nofely ◽  
Rehna Gul

Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a crucial role in the economic sector, particularly in developing countries. BIT lays down instrumental principles which help to protect investors’ establishments in host states, by inter alia encouraging prompt compensation in case of expropriation. Governments need FDIs to gear up their economic growth, advance technology, and scale down unemployment. Most scholarly writings are in favor that BIT is a necessary tool for promoting FDIs, however this study takes a different approach and categorically unveils the draw backs of BIT in developing countries by highlighting some of the contentious provisions that have sparked unprecedented legal, economic, sociopolitical and diplomatic strife between the host countries, investors and investors’ home countries. Therefore, the author proposes development for regional Model BITs that would go in line with national laws to curtail the persisting sovereignty and socio-economic challenges.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1050-1069 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Francois Outreville

Purpose Numerous articles contain recommendations as to how emerging countries can attract foreign direct investment on terms that are beneficial to both the investing firm and the host society but very few explore the conditions for firms from emerging countries to invest abroad. The purpose of this paper is twofold: the first is the documentation of the preferred locations of foreign affiliates for the largest financial groups headquartered in emerging countries; and, second, is to identify some of the determinants associated with the location-specific advantages of these host countries. Design/methodology/approach The analysis of the internationalization process of these groups is based on a list of top financial groups ranked by total assets. In the empirical section, the factors that explain the choice of these locations by multinational firms are categorized as resources seeking, market seeking, efficiency-seeking variables and cultural variables. Findings There is empirical evidence that institutions prefer to invest in foreign locations that minimize some dimensions of the culture. Other factors like the role of efficiency variables, i.e. trade efficiency, political risk and government effectiveness, in host countries also have a strong impact on the determinants of the internationalization process. Originality/value The paper puts forward a framework for analyzing determinants of foreign direct investment of multinational financial groups from emerging economies.


Author(s):  
Jose Godinez

Foreign direct investment has aided in a significant manner the economic development of Latin America since the early 1990s because capital in this region is limited (Blanco, 2012). Despite some criticism literature on FDI has overwhelmingly demonstrated that FDI has positive effects on host countries (Tan & Meyer, 2011) especially in Latin America (Wooster & Diebel, 2010). Authors researching the effects of FDI in Latin America have stated that this investment helps to growth on productivity (Blonigen & Wang, 2005) and thus, might help developing countries to begin their road to development. Therefore, scholars have devoted great efforts to understanding the determinants of FDI to Latin America and a brief overview will be provided in this study.This paper will present a detailed account of FDI flows to the region, a clear definition of corruption and how it is manifested in Latin America. After these definitions, suggestions are provided to deal with the problem of corruption in the region.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-264
Author(s):  
Herliana Herliana

Investment arbitration has been acclaimed as an important part of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) movement around the globe because it provides a neutral and trustable forum for settling investment dispute. However, many argue that investment arbitration often becomes advocates of foreign investors and neglect the developing country’s interests as the host of investment. This paper aims at studying the investment arbitration awards rendered by International Center for Settlement of Investment Dispute (ICSID) tribunals launched against developing countries. The question is whether and to what extent those awards have equally observed the interests of foreign investors and host states of investments. To answer the questions, this paper employs case study method and use publicly available ICSID cases. This research shows that some ICSID tribunals have inconsistent reasoning which led to contradictory decisions. Apparently, as some cases indicate ICSID tribunals gave more weight to the need to protect foreign investors rather than host countries’ development interests. As a consequence, inconsistency and ambiguity have led to uncertainty and unpredictability of the forum. This is not only disadvantaged the parties due to inability to foresee the likely outcome of the disputes but also endanger the ICSID tribunals’ credibility as neutral and reliable forum.


2009 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jungmin Kim ◽  
Dong Kee Rhee

This paper examines the trends and determinants of Korean outward foreign direct investment and the extent to which location decision explanation needs to be nested within the general theory of the multinational firm. In the context of investment development path developed by Dunning and Narula, we examine the important factors for the location decisions of Korean outward foreign direct investment, considering host countries at very different stages of economic development. In line with this objective, we test empirically the determinants of Korean outward investment using macro economic factors of host countries. Thus, we identify several factors that impact on such trends and develop hypotheses that could explain the phenomenon generically. We test our hypotheses using official Korean outward FDI data collected from 1994 to 2005. The behavior of Korean multinational firms shows several distinctive features. As a result, we find that the dynamic effects of economic development have influenced on the changes of outward FDI characteristics.


2007 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ismail Çevis ◽  
Burak Çamurdan

The economic growth rates have dramatically increased in developing economies, such as in Latin American, Asian, and Eastern European countries, following the financial liberalisation attempt, especially during the 1990s. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become an increasingly important element for economic development and integration of developing countries and transition economies in this period with the world economy. The main purpose of this study is to develop an empirical framework to estimate the economic determinants of FDI inflows by employing a panel data set of 17 developing countries and transition economies for the period of 1989:01-2006:04. In our model there are seven explanatory economic variables. They are, respectively, the previous period FDI (the pull factor for new FDI), GDP growth (measures market size), Wage (unit labour costs), Trade Rate (measures the openness of countries), the real interest rates (measures macroeconomic policy), inflation rate (as country risk and macroeconomic policy), and domestic investment (Business Climate). Hence, throughout the paper, only the economic determinants (being separated and apart from the other studies in the literature) of FDI inflows to developing countries and transition economies are studied. It is found out that the previous period FDI which is directly related to the host countries’ economic resources is important as an economic determinant. Besides, it is also understood that the main determinants of FDI inflows are the inflation rate, the interest rate, the growth rate, and the trade (openness) rate and FDI inflows give power to the economies of host countries.


2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-299
Author(s):  
İSmail ÇEviŞ ◽  
Burak ÇAmurdan

The economic growth rates have dramatically increased in developing economies, such as in Latin American, Asian, and Eastern European countries, following the financial liberalisation attempt, especially during the 1990s. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has become an increasingly important element for economic development and integration of developing countries and transition economies in this period with the world economy. The main purpose of this study is to develop an empirical framework to estimate the economic determinants of FDI inflows by employing a panel data set of 17 developing countries and transition economies for the period of 1989:01-2006:04. In our model there are seven explanatory economic variables. They are, respectively, the previous period FDI (the pull factor for new FDI), GDP growth (measures market size), Wage (unit labour costs), Trade Rate (measures the openness of countries), the real interest rates (measures macroeconomic policy), inflation rate (as country risk and macroeconomic policy), and domestic investment (Business Climate). Hence, throughout the paper, only the economic determinants (being separated and apart from the other studies in the literature) of FDI inflows to developing countries and transition economies are studied. It is found out that the previous period FDI which is directly related to the host countries’ economic resources is important as an economic determinant. Besides, it is also understood that the main determinants of FDI inflows are the inflation rate, the interest rate, the growth rate, and the trade (openness) rate and FDI inflows give power to the economies of host countries. JEL classification: F21, R19, C23 Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment, the Determinants of FDI, the Developing Countries, Transition Economies, Panel Data Analysis


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 1850010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chia-Lin Chang ◽  
Michael McAleer ◽  
Ju-Ting Tang

With the advent of globalization, economic and financial interactions among countries have become widespread. Given technological advancements, the factors of production can no longer be considered to be just labor and capital. In the pursuit of economic growth, every country has sensibly invested in international cooperation, learning, innovation, technology diffusion and knowledge, and outward direct investment. In this paper, we use a panel data set of 40 countries from 1981 to 2008 and a negative binomial model, using a novel set of cross-border patents and joint patents as proxy variables for technology diffusion, in order to investigate such diffusion. The empirical results suggest that, if it is desired to shift from foreign to domestic technology, it is necessary to increase expenditure on R&D for business enterprises and higher education, exports and technology. If the focus is on increasing bilateral technology diffusion, it is necessary to increase expenditure on R&D for higher education and technology. It is also found that outward foreign direct investment has no significant impact on either joint or cross-border patents, whereas inward foreign direct investment has a significant negative impact on cross-border patents but no impact on joint patents. Moreover, government expenditure on higher education has a significant impact on both cross-border and joint patents.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
JUN-KI PARK ◽  
DONG JOON LEE ◽  
KEUN LEE

In this paper, we identify the different determinants of the location of research and development (R&D) on foreign direct investment (FDI) in both developed and developing countries. In the case of host developed countries, we find that private R&D investment is positively associated with attracting R&D on FDI. In contrast, in the case of host developing countries, we find that private R&D investment is not significantly associated with attracting R&D FDI, but public R&D induces it. These findings imply that the objective of R&D FDI in developed economies is to advance multinational corporations’ (MNCs) technology further by targeting the local technology market. In contrast, the R&D FDI of MNCs in developing countries is attracted toward localities where the R&D infrastructure is better developed due to public R&D investment. MNCs in developing countries do not direct considerable attention to the R&D activities of the local private sector because their goal is to modify their own technology or products for the local product or export markets in the host countries. Therefore, although one obvious policy implication is the importance of conducting local R&D to attract foreign R&D, the more important factors are to stimulate private R&D further in the case of developed countries and to initiate public R&D first in the case of developing countries.


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