Institutional determinants of foreign direct investment inflows: evidence from emerging markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Paul ◽  
Pravin Jadhav
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Institutional Determinants ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

Purpose Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a strategic decision for achieving competitive advantage by multinational enterprises. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of institutional determinants of FDI using data from 24 emerging markets including China, India, Indonesia, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia and Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach In order to identify factors that attract FDI in emerging markets, this study has used data from sources such as the World Bank, Index of Economic Freedom and UNCTAD. Findings The findings of this research indicate that infrastructure quality, trade cost measured by tariff and non-tariff barriers, institutional quality measured by effective rule of law, political stability, regulatory quality and control on corruption are significant determinants of FDI in emerging markets. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the sectoral institutional determinants of Inward FDI in the important emerging economies, to the best of authors’ knowledge.

scholarly journals Impact of Institutional Quality on Foreign Direct Investment Inflow: Evidence from Croatia

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-58
Author(s):  
Ljubo Jurčić ◽  
Sanja Franc ◽  
Antea Barišić
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Economic Cycle ◽  
Economic Determinants ◽  
Institutional Determinants ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
And Control ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

AbstractBackground: Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows are unevenly distributed around the world and determined by different factors. The literature points out to economic and non-economic determinants of FDI flows, while the latter have shown to generate ambiguous effects across regions.Objectives: The primary goal of this paper is to examine the relationship between non-economic determinants and the FDI inflow in Croatia from 1996 to 2017, thus capturing different periods of the economic cycle. The importance of non-economic institutional determinants of FDI is analysed in parallel with the economic determinants.Methods/Approach: This study uses available data on FDI per capita and a set of non-economic (institutional) and economic determinants. We employed the OLS regression analysis to determine the significance of FDI inflow determinants and compare the relevance of non-economic to economic factors.Results: Results of this exploratory study show that institutional quality variables included in the model (regulatory quality, political stability, and government effectiveness, the rule of law and control of corruption) could not be pointed out as important determinants of the FDI inflow in Croatia. Economic variables GDP per capita and average gross wage prove to be important in determining the FDI inflow in Croatia.Conclusions: The research results point to a variety of FDI determinants among countries and economic cycle periods. Given the evidence from Croatia, variations, especially in institutional determinants, might be caused by the diverse FDI inflow characteristics and specificities of receiving economies.

scholarly journals Technology-sourcing investment abroad as an enhancer of Chinese MNEs’ innovative capabilities

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Gugler ◽  
Laura Vanoli
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Citation Analysis ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Knowledge Diffusion ◽  
Technological Capabilities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chinese Mnes ◽  
Firm Knowledge ◽  
Innovative Capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on Chinese firms’ innovation processes that are induced by foreign direct investment abroad. The study uses a patent and citation analysis to examine the extent to which investments abroad contribute to enhancing these firms’ innovative capabilities. More specifically, this study focusses on the role of foreign location competitiveness as an asset to provide technological capabilities to Chinese affiliates. Design/methodology/approach – Patents are good indicators of firms’ innovative capabilities. Moreover, patents allow to track the inter-firm knowledge transfer through the citations of patents on which they are based. The authors use an OECD patent database called “OECD REGPAT July 2013” that compiles patents registered with the European Patent Office (EPO) over the period from 1986 to 2013. The authors focus the analysis on patents registered by Chinese multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) based in Europe because the authors assume inter alia that innovations patented by Chinese affiliates in Europe are registered with the EPO. The sample comprises 3,010 patents involving 5,749 citations that the authors have individually examined. Findings – The findings suggest that Chinese MNEs ability to generate innovation based on their own knowledge is low, with a self-citation rate of approximately 4 percent. Patents by Chinese MNEs are largely based on foreign patents, especially from developed economies (at least 90 percent). The citation analysis also suggests that 39.2 percent of citations represent domestic firms in the local recipient country. This subgroup of citations is categorized as follows: 1.04 percent are M&A linkages, 13.8 percent are cluster linkages, and 24.36 percent are localization linkages. The remaining 60.8 percent of the total sample demonstrates that firms do not necessarily need to be collocated in foreign locations with domestic firms to exchange assets. Research limitations/implications – Patent and citation analysis considers only a part of the inter-firm knowledge diffusion. Some innovations are not patented and tacit knowledge diffusion is not observable. Moreover, the analysis focusses only on Chinese outward foreign direct investment to Europe, but a large part of knowledge is accumulated in China thanks to inward foreign direct investment. Originality/value – Many scholars have scrutinized emerging markets multinational enterprises’ strategic asset-seeking investments abroad that are designed to upgrade the companies’ technological capabilities (Cui and Jiang, 2009; Zhang and Filippov, 2009; Huang and Wang, 2013; Amighini et al., 2014; De Beule et al., 2014; Nicolas, 2014). However, few studies analyze the results of these strategies in terms of innovation output.

The determinants of foreign direct investment: what about the potential of the Arab Maghreb countries?

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamdi Khalfaoui ◽  
Abdelkader Derbali
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The United States ◽  
Investment Risk ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Foreign Companies ◽  
Main Determinants ◽  
General Method Of Moments

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the main determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the case of the Arab Maghreb countries. Design/methodology/approach We employ a dynamic panel analysis using the General Method of Moments for a sample composed of 105 countries over the period 1985–2018. Findings We show that FDI stability, market size, higher education enrolment, quality of institutions, distance, sharing of common border, and bilateral investment and integration agreements are the main determinants of FDI location. These determinants are neither general. The potential for attracting FDI from AMU countries is poorly exploited. FDI to the AMU is lower than estimated stock. The observed FDI to potential FDI ratio does not exceed 87%. France and Spain are the main investors in the AMU region thanks to historical and cultural links. The FDI from the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, and Japan are below what is expected. Originality/value The contribution of this paper is observed on the examining oh the determinants of the FDI in the Arab Maghreb countries. Our study demonstrate that the political stability can decrease investment risk in these countries. The administrations correspondingly require expanding their rules and strategies with union demonstrations which were at the beginning of the departure and closing of several foreign companies.

Diversification strategies and equity market performances

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Burhan F. Yavas ◽  
Kathleen Grave ◽  
Demosthenes Vardiabasis
Keyword(s):  
Capital Markets ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Target Market ◽  
Risk And Uncertainty ◽  
Market Returns ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the linkages among foreign direct investment (FDI – greenfield and mergers and acquisitions [M&A]) decisions and equity market returns and volatilities. The main premise is that FDI decisions by multinational enterprises (MNE) are influenced by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities in the destination (host) countries. This is so because the events on the stock markets in general and their volatilities in particular signal the vitality of the investment climate of the target market. Understanding volatility in capital markets is important for determining the cost of capital and for evaluating direct investment and asset allocation decisions. Design/methodology/approach Surveys and structured interviews were conducted with senior managers of 11 MNEs based in the USA to collect the data used in this study from November 2017 to October 2018. The paper investigates if FDI decisions of the MNE managers are influenced by risk and uncertainty indicated by equity market returns and volatilities. The paper endeavors to make a contribution to the IB literature in highlighting the role played by equity returns and volatilities in FDI decisions and therewith attempts to integrate finance (capital markets) with international business/strategic decision-making. Findings Capital market performances (returns and volatilities) were found to influence the country choice for location of production facilities (FDI – both greenfield and M&A decisions) as well as timing of the FDI by a MNE. In other words, the share of production capacity optimally located abroad and M&A activities are affected by capital market returns and volatilities.

Political risk distribution of Chinese outward foreign direct investment

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Qiuyu GaoYan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Risk Index ◽  
Political Risk ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Government Support ◽  
Outward Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Risk Distribution

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding on relations between Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) and host country political risk. To contribute to a better understanding of whether traditional wisdom on foreign direct investment (FDI) is sufficient to explain the internationalization of Chinese multinational enterprises, the author collected 15 proxy variables from the PRS Group and Heritage Foundation and applied principal component analysis (PCA) to construct a new political risk index (PRI) that measures multiple facets of political risk for 139 countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing this new PRI as a criterion, the author investigated changes in the political risk distribution (PRD) of Chinese outward FDI (OFDI) regarding investment destinations, large projects, annual investment outflows and sectorial distributions from 2006–2017.FindingsThe author found that the vast majority of Chinese OFDI during this period is concentrated in moderate- and low-risk countries, even at the sectorial level. This paper also shows that the continuing reform of Chinese OFDI policy and strong government support have led to an unprecedented increase in Chinese OFDI, while the PRD of Chinese OFDI has maintained a gradual decline over the past decade.Originality/valueThis research provides a new measurement that covers multiple facets of political risk.

Institutional quality and foreign direct investment in Ghana

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Nandom Yakubu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Institutional Quality ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
Single Measure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of institutional quality on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ghana for the period 1985-2016. Design/methodology/approach The study uses the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to examine the relationship between institutional quality along with other controlled variables and FDI. Findings Evidence from the ARDL framework establishes a positive significant effect of institutional quality on FDI irrespective of the time horizon. The results also reveal a significant impact of inflation on FDI in both short and long run, while GDP per capita growth and trade are significant determinants only in the short run. Practical implications The study recommends the instigation of effective policies and strategies that seek to strengthen the quality of institutions, as this provides a conducive investment climate to attract FDI. Specifically, policies that are focused on promoting transparent legal regimes, regulatory reforms, non-corrupt institutions and political stability should be the precedence of policymakers. Originality/value In addition to being a pioneering work on the impact of institutional quality on FDI in Ghana, the main contribution of the study lies in its application of the principal component analysis to generate a single measure of institutional quality based on a number of institutional factors.

The economic determinants of Chinese foreign direct investment in Egypt

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hany M Elshamy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Single Equation ◽  
Positive Influence ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) by Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) over the period 1985-2011. Design/methodology/approach – This paper estimates a single equation model which uses long-run co-integration analysis and short-run analysis (error correction mechanism). This paper depends on annual data collected from the World Bank and the General Authority for Investment & Free zones Information & Decision Support Division for the period 1985-2011. Findings – This paper found a conventional result for market size. The author infers from the significant role played by Egyptian natural resource endowments that the institutional environment has strongly shaped Chinese FDI, leading to significant natural resources-seeking FDI. The author also finds that policy liberalisation in China has had a positive influence in stimulating Chinese FDI in Egypt. Originality/value – Despite this model being used to estimate the determinants of FDI by Chinese MNEs in several countries, this is the first time it is being used in Egypt using a time-series analysis. Moreover, this model which has been used in this paper uses both long-run and short-run analyses.

Do institutional risk preferences exist in Chinese direct investments in ASEAN countries? A case study of Chinese-funded enterprises in Laos

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyue Chen ◽  
Gengzhi Huang ◽  
Hongou Zhang ◽  
Yuyao Ye ◽  
Qitao Wu
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Sampling Strategy ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Institutional factors play an important and complex role in Chinese outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) location choices that do not seem to be influenced by a host country’s high political risks. Moreover, the location choice for OFDI is key to corporate strategic decision-making on internationalization. Therefore, this study aims to examine the direct investments of Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) in Laos. Design/methodology/approach Combining the purposive sampling strategy and snowball sampling method, the authors interviewed nine market- and resource-seeking Chinese enterprises in Laos. Drawing from the mainstream eclectic paradigm and the theory of new institutional economics, the authors analyzed two key variables – enterprise investment motivation and enterprise heterogeneity. Findings Chinese MNEs are not insensitive to the regressive institutional quality of host countries; the relationship effect and institutional distance are the location decision pathways along with which institutional factors influence Chinese multinationals’ investments in Laos; political stability is necessary for Chinese-funded enterprises to invest in Laos and the degree of corruption is an overestimated institutional preference factor. Originality/value The relationship effect is introduced into the analysis framework as an intermediate variable that influences the decision of MNEs to invest in countries with underdeveloped institutions. It verifies the significant roles of bilateral political relations and network relations in the OFDI location decisions of state-owned and private enterprises, respectively.

scholarly journals The machination of foreign direct investment flow to emerging markets – a focus on Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafiu Adewale Aregbeshola
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Capital Productivity ◽  
Lm Test ◽  
Macroeconomic Fundamentals ◽  
Productivity Gains

Purpose The deterministic role of various macroeconomic fundamentals on the attractiveness of countries to inflow of FDI is well documented in literature. The role of market size, infrastructural development, inflation and exchange rates differential have been supported as determinants of FDI direction. However, no documented study has benefited from diverse measures of institutional adequacy as presented in this study. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts various econometric approaches that include descriptive statistics, fixed effects models, LM test of independence, feasible generalised least squares regression and SUR estimations. Findings This study unveils the specific impacts and explanatory power of each of the variables along country lines, and the author compares the results of some emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America to some selected countries in Africa. Using data set from various sources over a period of 44 years in a seemingly unrelated regression environment, this study suggests that poor technological capability, inadequate political system, weak productivity gains are major deterrents to the attractiveness of African countries to inflow of FDI. Research limitations/implications The major limitation of this study revolves around availability of usable data, which compels the researcher to limit the focus and the span of time series. Practical implications The study suggests the need to improve institutional quality in emerging economies, especially countries in Africa in order to enhance their attractiveness to FDI inflow. More importantly, the study found that low capital productivity gains hinder the attractiveness of African emerging markets to FDI inflow. Social implications To alleviate poverty, attraction of FDI is considered important, and the improvement of institutional functionality in that regard is found to be important. The need to augment technological improvement is considered very important and critical. Originality/value This serves to confirm that the article entitled “The Machination of Foreign Direct Investment Flow to Emerging Markets – A focus on Africa” is my own original work, envisaged to contribute to the debate about the role of macroeconomic fundamentals, especially capital productivity gains as determinants of a country’s attractiveness to inflow of foreign capital in academic literature. All the sources used and consulted have been fully acknowledged by a way of complete referencing. The author hereby agrees to the terms and conditions as stipulated by the publisher and the editorial board of this prestigious journal.

The contribution of human capital to foreign direct investment inflows in developing countries

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Abbas ◽  
Imad Moosa ◽  
Vikash Ramiah
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Human Capital ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Regression Equation ◽  
Basic Question ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Extreme Bounds Analysis ◽  
Determinants Of Fdi

PurposeThis paper is about the effect of human capital on foreign direct investment (FDI). The purpose of this paper is to find out if developing countries with high levels of human capital (educated people and well-trained labour force) are more successful in attracting FDI. The underlying hypothesis has been tested repeatedly without reaching a consensus view or providing an answer to the basic question. This is to be expected because FDI is determined by a large number of factors, making the results sensitive to the selected set of explanatory variables, which forms the basis of the Leamer (1983) critique of the use of multiple regression to derive inference. Furthermore, confirmation bias and publication bias entice researchers to be selective in choosing the set of results they report.Design/methodology/approachThe technique of extreme bounds analysis, as originally suggested by Leamer (1983) and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), is used to determine the importance of human capital for the ability of developing countries to attract FDI. The authors use a cross-sectional sample covering 103 developing and transition countries.FindingsThe results show no contradiction between firms seeking human capital and cheap labour. No matter what proxy is used to represent human capital, it turns out that the most important factor for attracting FDI is the variable “employee compensation”, which is the wage bill, implying that multinational firms look for cheap and also skilled labour in the host country.Originality/valueIn this paper, the authors follow the procedure prescribed by Leamer (1983), and modified by Sala-i-Martin (1997), using extreme bounds analysis to distinguish between robust and fragile determinants of FDI, with particular emphasis on human capital. Instead of deriving inference from one regression equation by determining the statistical significance of the coefficient on the variable of interest, the extreme bounds or the distribution of estimated coefficients are used to distinguish between robust and fragile variables. This means that emphasis is shifted from significance, as implied by a single regression equation, to robustness, which is based on a large number of equations. The authors conduct tests on three proxies for human capital to find out if they are robust determinants of FDI and also judge the degree of robustness relative to other determinants.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document