Multinational Enterprises and Investment Motivations: A Strategic Analysis of Inward Foreign Direct Investment into Ireland

From both a firm and country perspective understanding the nature of multinational investment decisions is an important topic in understanding the contribution it makes to the economic growth, development of national prosperity and wealth creation of individual countries. The corporate decision as to where to invest, the resources and core competences to commit to each location is crucial for the creation of a firm's sustainable competitive advantage. Understanding the process of corporate investment decisions contributes to generating effective managerial recommendations to be adopted by multinational enterprises and to generating appropriate economic policies for host countries to enhance their attractiveness as investment destinations. The objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual framework that provides insights into the strategic decision-making behaviour of multinational firms. It seeks to advance the understanding of the link between multinationals' foreign direct investment behaviour and location-specific considerations, which influence their ultimate investment decisions. The underlying assumption of this research is that in a changing global economy, resources and core competences of the multinational firm drive its decision making process with respect to international investment; furthermore multinational investment decisions are influenced by the changes in the environment of the host country. The notion that the manner in which a firm utilises its resources contributes to the development of its core competences directly influences its strategic and investment decisions. As a consequence, firms must examine and understand the resources and capabilities that enable them to generate above-normal 'rates of return'; this process will help the organisation to compete in the most effective manner in dynamic global markets. This research adopts a resource-based view with relevant key insights drawn from International business theory to understand multinational foreign direct investment decisions and motivations. The development of a theoretical framework for . multinational investment motivations bridges the resource-based view and international business literature; additionally it addresses a key challenge for the two literatures by reducing fragmentation and synthesising different theoretical perspectives.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Political governance, civil liberties and human capital : evaluating their effect on foreign direct investment in emerging and developing economies

We study the influence of a country’s political governance on its attractiveness to foreign direct investors. We argue that democracy is not a unidimensional concept and that the effect of host country political governance on incoming Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) differs depending on whether FDI originates from a democratic or an autocratic country. We also hypothesize that the effect of civil liberties depends on the motivations of investing Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) and that human capital moderates this relationship. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 35,000 investments in emerging and developing countries between 2003 and 2013

Multinational enterprises and investment motivations : a strategic analysis of inward direct investment into Ireland

From both a firm and country perspective understanding the nature of multinational investment decisions is an important topic in understanding the contribution it makes to the economic growth, development of national prosperity and wealth creation of individual countries. The corporate decision as to where to invest, the resources and core competences to commit to each location is crucial for the creation of a firm's sustainable competitive advantage. Understanding the process of corporate investment decisions contributes to generating effective managerial recommendations to be adopted by multinational enterprises and to generating appropriate economic policies for host countries to enhance their attractiveness as investment destinations. The objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual framework that provides insights into the strategic decision-making behaviour of multinational firms. It seeks to advance the understanding of the link between multinationals' foreign direct investment behaviour and location-specific considerations, which influence their ultimate investment decisions. The underlying assumption of this research is that in a changing global economy, resources and core competences of the multinational firm drive its decision making process with respect to international investment; furthermore multinational investment decisions are influenced by the changes in the environment of the host country. The notion that the manner in which a firm utilises its resources contributes to the development of its core competences directly influences its strategic and investment decisions. As a consequence, firms must examine and understand the resources and capabilities that enable them to generate above-normal 'rates of return'; this process will help the organisation to compete in the most effective manner in dynamic global markets. This research adopts a resource-based view with relevant key insights drawn from International business theory to understand multinational foreign direct investment decisions and motivations. The development of a theoretical framework for . multinational investment motivations bridges the resource-based view and international business literature; additionally it addresses a key challenge for the two literatures by reducing fragmentation and synthesising different theoretical perspectives.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Interdisciplinarity : practical approach to advancing education for sustainability and for the Sustainable Development Goals

The need for a more sustainable world was unanimously acknowledged by United Nations members in September 2015, when 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set, positioning education at the heart of the strategy to promote sustainable development. This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of adopting an interdisciplinary approach to education for sustainable development, and to illustrate how to advance it, acknowledging different perspectives of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the context of diversity. It examines the broad agenda of the SDGs, which requires the participation of multiple disciplines and sectors to be delivered. Considering the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME), the paper reviews the literature regarding interdisciplinarity and its application in education for sustainable development, including practices and barriers to enhance it. A case study is provided to illustrate how to advance interdisciplinary education for sustainable development amongst postgraduate MBA students from different backgrounds, in a course where sustainable development concepts are already embedded across disciplines. The case illustrates the application of the Six Principles of PRME and explains how a sustainability and CSR module can encourage students to combine knowledge from all disciplines in order to advance their understanding and action on sustainable development issues