Foreign Direct Investment in a Process of Economic Integration: The Case of Spanish Manufacturing, 1986-1992

In this paper we analyze the main characteristic features of foreign direct investment (FDI) directed to Spanish manufacturing, both across industries and through time, for the years 1986- 1992. During this period, Spain was one of the most important recipients of FDI inflows in the world, coinciding with the first years of integration into the European Union and the prospects about the completion of the Single European Market by 1992. To this end, a relative FDI measure is related to several industry indicators, as well as to some macroeconomic variables, which allows us to obtain a general characterization of FDI in Spanish manufacturing over that period.Foreign direct investment, Spanish manufacturing industry, European integration

Industrial Policy in Guatemala: A Case of Policy Inertia under Changing Paradigms

This paper reviews productive development policies (PDPs) in Guatemala, focusing on the alleged justification of existing programs in terms of the market or government failures they are meant to address. An effort is made to identify how the different instruments complement or contradict each other and how these situations came to be. The main hypothesis throughout the paper is that there are non-trivial contradictions within the set of PDPs and its implementation framework that render policy instruments ineffective or inefficient, with evidence from several case studies. On this basis and in light of international practices, the study develops a broad set of recommendations for improving the design and implementation of Guatemala’s PDPs.Industrial Policy, Policymaking, Guatemala

Assessing the impact of foreign direct investment on regional growth - An analysis of the Spanish case

The massive increase in foreign direct investment inflows following the Spanish integration with the now European Union in 1986, has been one of the most important features shaping the behaviour of the Spanish economy in the last twenty years. In this paper we will try to provide an assessment of its impact on regional economic growth, using data for the 17 Spanish regions, from 1986 on. To that end, we will estimate an aggregate production function where the foreign-owned capital stock is included as an additional factor.

Comercio internacional, crecimiento económico e inversión extranjera directa : evidencias de causalidad para México

El presente estudio prueba la existencia de causalidad, en el sentido de Granger, y la dirección de la misma entre el Producto Interno Bruto real, exportaciones, importaciones y la Inversión Extranjera Directa (FDI) para el caso de México. El análisis aplica tanto la metodología de cointegración desarrollada por Liu, Burrigde y Sinclair (2002) como las pruebas de cambio estructural para vectores de cointegración desarrolladas por Quintos (1993 con Phillips, 1997 y 1998). Los resultados muestran que existe una estable relación causal de la FDI hacia el resto de las variables. Esta relación es unidireccional, por lo que si bien existen beneficios de la inversión foránea en México, estos vínculos pueden estar condicionados por factores externos antes que por la evolución de la economía nacional. ________________________________________This document investigates the existence of causality, in the Granger sense, and its direction among real Gross Domestic Product, exports, imports and Foreign Direct Investment of the Mexican case. The analysis applies the methodology of cointegration developed by Liu, Burridge and Sinclair (2002) and the tests of structural changes for the vector of cointegration developed by Quintos (1993 with Phillips, 1997 and 1998). The statistical results show that there is a stable and causal relationship of the FDI towards the rest of the variables; however in this case it is unidirectional. In this sense, there are benefits of FDI in Mexico, nevertheless this links can be triggered first by external factors, before the evolution of the national economy

SPANISH COMPANY FOREIGN MARKET ENTRY

The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of diversification mode (acquisition versus greenfield) through foreign direct investment considering various theories, such as those of mergers and acquisitions, transaction costs, the learning organisation, the institutional context of the company and the cultural environment of the host country, and to analyse the determinants of entry mode combining diversification mode with ownership structure decision (greenfield wholly-owned subsidiaries, greenfield joint ventures, full acquisition and partial acquisition) and proposing various research hypotheses. The methodology used estimates various binomial and multinomial logit models, over a sample of 141 Spanish manufacturing companies between 1998 and 2000, finding that entry mode into a foreign country through direct investment is mainly explained by related diversification, international and local experience, advertising intensity, cultural distance, company size and ownership structure. El propósito de este trabajo consiste en analizar, por un lado, los determinantesdel modo de diversificación (adquisición versus desarrollo interno) de la inversióndirecta en el exterior considerando diversas aproximaciones teóricas, como las defusiones y adquisiciones, costes de transacción, del aprendizaje organizativo, así comodel contexto institucional de la empresa y del entorno cultural del país receptor. Por otrolado, se examinan los determinantes de la inversión directa exterior combinando elmodo de diversificación con la estructura de la propiedad empresarial (adquisición total,adquisición parcial, filial de plena propiedad y filial de propiedad compartida)proponiendo diversas hipótesis de investigación. La metodología aplicada estimadiversos modelos logit, binomial y multinomial, sobre 141 empresas españolasmanufactureras entre 1998 y 2000, detectando que el modo de entrada medianteinversión directa exterior viene explicada por la diversificación relacionada, laexperiencia internacional y local de la empresa, la intensidad publicitaria, la distanciacultural, así como por el tamaño y estructura de la propiedad de la empresa.marketing internacional, modo de entrada, inversión directa en el exterior, joint-venture, adquisición. international marketing, entry mode, foreign direct investment, jointventure, acquisition

On the effects of foreign direct investment on local human capital formation

El presente paper presta tanto argumentos teóricos como soporte econométrico a la idea de un nivel óptimo de inversión extranjera directa (FDI). Lo hace descubriendo una relación con forma de U invertida entre dicha inversión y el esfuerzo educativo local. La optimalidad de un flujo limitado de FDI depende de la formación de incentivos para educarse entre la población local, que es heterogénea en términos de destreza o habilidad. Estos incentivos se forman en presencia de incertidumbre e información asimétrica entre la multinacional y sus potenciales empleados. Nuestras estimaciones revelan la existencia (y significatividad) de un impacto positivo (lineal) y otro negativo (no lineal) de la inversión extranjera directa sobre la escolarización terciaria, tanto en países desarrollados como en vías de desarrolloThis paper looks at both the theoretical and econometric support to the notion of optimal FDI levels. It does so by uncovering an inverted-U-shaped relationship between FDI and educational effort. The optimality of a particular FDI inflow depends on the educational incentives induced by FDI on the local, heterogeneous population. Those incentives are formed in the face of uncertainty and asymmetric information between the multinationals and their potential workers. Our estimates confi rm the signifi cance of a positive (linear) and a negative (non-linear) impact of FDI per capita on tertiary schooling, both in developed and developing countrie

Foreign direct investment and regional growth: An analysis of the Spanish case

The massive increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows following the Spanish integration with the now European Union (EU) in 1986, has been one of the most important features shaping the behaviour of the Spanish economy in the last twenty years. In this paper we will try to assess the impact of FDI on regional economic growth following Spain’s entry into the EU, using data for the 17 Spanish regions. The results support the important role played by FDI in promoting productivity growth, for those regions that received higher FDI inflows over the period analyzed.Economic growth, Foreign direct investment, Regions

Foreign Direct Investments and Relocations in Business Services – What are the Locational Factors? The Case of Hungary

Hungary became host to various business services through relocations of these activities from other, higher cost locations, especially from Western Europe and through opening up new capacities. Locational advantages determine which countries are chosen as hosts to new or relocated service centres. For the case of Hungary, the analysis is carried out on the basis of eight detailed company case studies (this number is expected to increase to ten). The majority of these is vertical FDI (close to 100 % of export/sales ratio), and two companies represent a confluential case of vertical and horizontal (domestic market oriented) FDI, where sales to the domestic market are also important, though not dominating. The paper’s main aim is to make an attempt at contributing to filling some gaps in the literature, in terms of analysing locational advantages for vertical FDI in services, specifically in business services. It shows that locational advantages, taken into consideration by vertical and horizontal FDI differ from each other to a great extent. It identifies the various elements of locational advantages connected to the different elements of investment motives, in terms of cost reduction, reducing costs of disintegration of production, reducing other costs, and motives arising from the confluence of vertical and horizontal FDI, and the paper relates these elements to the specificities of the business services sector.Offshore outsourcing, Business services, Locational advantages, Hungary, East Central Europe.

Technology and the Generation of International Knowledge Spillovers. An Application to Spanish Manufacturing Firms

Technology is among firms ownership advantages explaining their internationalisation as, now for decades, the eclectic approach has highlighted. The debate about the positive versus negative effects that foreign capital generates in the host economy has gained a new relevance today insofar as, on the one hand, the concept of systems of innovation allows us to rethink the interaction with the domestic/recipient economies and, on the other, the increasing internationalisation of the technological activities of multinational companies (MNCs) introduces new forms of that interaction. Therefore, the possibility of generation of external effects by MNCs today demands a new reformulation of the problem. In this vein, one of the strengthening aspects commonly underlined is that foreign knowledge, not completely appropriable by the foreign firms, may spill over into domestic firms. However, since the findings of the empirical evidence are not fully confirmatory of the hypothesis, and taking into account the new conditions, this essay attempts to offer new light with research about the Spanish manufacturing firms. Two main issues are focused on this analysis. First, the importance of dynamics in the assessment of technological spillovers motivated by foreign direct investment (FDI), which is possible thanks to the availability of a panel data for manufacturing firms in Spain in the period 1991-1999. Second, the importance that technology may have for the generation of spillovers and to what extent the Pavitt taxonomy of industries is still useful for in depth analysis of such a learning process.Foreign capital, Foreign direct investment,Spanish manufacturing firms, Knowledge Spillovers