Determinants of greenfield emerging market outward FDI into the UK

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of Greenfield Emerging Market (EM) Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) into the UK, a Developed Market (DM) host. Despite the increasing significance of EM OFDI, this particular theme of EM OFDI to a DM host has received relatively little attention from researchers. This paper seeks to address this shortfall. Design/methodology/approach: Considering the distinctiveness of EM OFDI in its firmspecific characteristics, given circumstances and motivations, this paper applies adapted ‘Resource-based view (RBV)’ framework and institutional theory to build a theoretical framework. A range of hypotheses regarding ‘strategic-asset seeking’, ‘market-seeking’ and ‘institution-seeking’ motivations of EM OFDI, which reflect both ‘pull factors’ (advantages in hosts) and ‘push factors’ (disadvantages at home), were then developed. Using panel data for the years 2003-2012, the research questions were analysed using a sample of the then most important emerging market source countries which had undertaken Greenfield FDI into the UK. Findings: The analysis results supported the hypotheses that strategic-asset seeking and institution-seeking motivations were important in determining EM OFDI to the UK, with the coefficients of relevant variables showing statistical significance and expected sign (i.e. positive). However, the hypothesis on market-seeking motivation of EM OFDI cannot be supported as the coefficient of the relevant variable, whilst showing the expected sign, had a statistically insignificant coefficient. Amongst the three control variables, the source countries’ exports and imports as a percentage of GDP was statistically significant and had the correct sign whilst, the UK’s share of intra-EU trade, whilst statistically significant, had the opposite sign to that expected. The third control variable, the exchange rate was not statistically significant, though it had the correct sign. Originality/value: This paper provides an adjusted theoretical framework for the analysis of EM OFDI to DM with a novel application of institutional theory and RBV. It also qualifies and extends existing works on EM OFDI by including a wider range of EM source countries and DM hosts with empirical analysis results as well as theoretical suggestions. In addition, the paper offers up a range of policy implications for DM hosts

The Moderating Role of IIAs in FDI: Implication for Sustainable Development

Despite a long belief in positive impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on host countries and in a positive role of international investment agreements (IIAs) in attracting FDI, empirical studies in neither of the areas have confirmed results. As Sustainable Development has become an important agenda for many developing and less developed countries, where FDI is considered as an important resource for their development. A clearer picture of the relationship between FDI, IIAs and sustainable development will have significant implications in both academic and policy terms. Thus, this study explores conceptual frameworks to re-shape these relationships

Determinants of Emerging Market Foreign Direct Investments in the UK

Although Emerging Market (EM) Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) has become an increasingly significant phenomenon in recent years, research regarding EM OFDI to Developed Markets (DMs) remains at an ‘emerging’ stage. This thesis seeks to address this shortfall through the following research questions: 1) what are the determinants of EM OFDI to the UK, and 2) what are the influencing factors of subsequent investment decisions of EM firms within the UK? Considering the distinctiveness of EM OFDIs in their firm-specific characteristics, given circumstances and motivations, this thesis applies an adapted ‘Resource-based view (RBV)’ framework and institutional theory to build a theoretical framework. Within this the hypotheses/propositions regarding ‘strategic-asset seeking’, ‘market-seeking’ and ‘institution-seeking’ motivations of EM OFDI, which reflect both ‘pull factors’ (advantages in hosts) and ‘push factors’ (disadvantages at home), are developed. Panel analysis was conducted to address the first research question with Greenfield data only due to data availability. Additionally, a case study was conducted; firstly, for the purpose of triangulation; secondly, to supplement the panel analysis results with M&A data; and lastly, to address the second research question. Both panel and case study analysis results generally support the major theoretical assumptions of this thesis, although the ‘market seeking’ motivation variable in panel analysis has statistically insignificant coefficient and there is a lack of case study data to support the ‘institutional push factor’. This thesis contribute to the body of knowledge of FDI and IB area 1) by providing an adjusted theoretical framework for the analysis of EM OFDI to DM with a novel application of institutional theory and RBV; and 2) by qualifying and extending existing works on EM OFDI by including a wider range of EM source countries and DM hosts whilst extending the scope of study to the less-researched ‘post-investment stage’ of EM OFDI, with empirical analysis results as well as theoretical suggestions

Diversity and inclusion in the screen industries: a rapid evidence assessment

This work was supported by the Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre and Arts and Humanities Research Council

The mediating role of planned behaviour in the religiosity and nascent entrepreneurship nexus

Purpose: Increasingly, there is scholarly recognition that individuals' faith constitutes a background factor much like other antecedents conditioning entrepreneurial inclination. Yet, there is room to expand knowledge on how faith interrelates with psychological and social determinants of entrepreneurship, especially in under-researched contexts such as Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach: This inquiry conceptualises associations between religiosity and (1)entrepreneurial self-efficacy, (2) entrepreneurial attitudes (3) and subjective norms as predictors of nascent entrepreneurship. For analysis, 1,259 observations of Nigerian students are assessed by structural equation modelling. Findings: The path analysis showed that the religiosity–nascent entrepreneurship nexus is altogether mediated by entrepreneurial self-efficacy, entrepreneurial attitudes and subjective norms. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy is found to have the greatest impact on nascent entrepreneurship, followed by subjective norms and then entrepreneurial attitudes. Originality/value: Theoretically, this study is one of the first to test all three dimensions of the theory of planned behaviour in the religiosity–nascent entrepreneurship nexus. It draws fresh attention to faith motivation and praxis, role-taking and attribution theory as explainers of the inherent correlations. Practically, the findings summon stakeholders to consider religious activity in the delivery of entrepreneurship programmes

FDI inflows and economic growth: A novel application of dose-response functions

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Macrothink Institute. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence. The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.5296/rae.v16i1.21607In this work we estimate different dose-response functions linking FDI inflows received by developing countries with their economic growth. Although the impact of FDI on the economic growth of host countries has been widely investigated in literature, findings have been ambiguous. Our study proposes a novel ‘dose-response’ approach which allows the response of recipients to different amounts of treatment in terms of FDI inflow to be observed. Our findings show that the estimated dose-response functions are statistically significant for treatment values greater than 20%, after the treatment has been rescaled to a percentage measure of the maximum dose observed, and increasing at a decreasing rate, therefore suggesting three relevant results: a) a country receiving a greater amount of FDI inflows will present a higher economic growth; b) there might be a minimum amount of FDI inflows required to reach some policy effectiveness; c) the initial amounts of FDI inflow are more effective than the subsequent ones. Results will help policymakers to better isolate the effect of FDI on economic growth and conduct informed FDI cost-benefit analysis.Published onlin

Transformation or retaining the status quo: Multinational hospitality companies and SME collaboration on sustainability in emerging countries

© 2023 IGI Global. This is a chapter published by IGI Global in Handbook of Research on Sustainable Tourism and Hotel Operations in Global Hypercompetition, edited by Hakan Sezerel & Bryan Christiansen, available online: https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/book/291267 For reuse please see the publisher's terms and conditions: https://www.igi-global.com/about/rights-permissions/content-reuse/This chapter focuses on the dynamics of MHC-SME collaboration on sustainability in an emerging country context. The findings show that MHC sustainability policy is generally driven from headquarters and that economic sustainability has priority over environmental and social sustainability. By contrast, SMEs appear to be able to initiate fully sustainable strategies based on the culture, tradition, family history, industry, and ethical standing of the owners. The interaction of MHCs and SMEs in relation to sustainability involves varying factors at the macro, meso, and micro levels. However, the micro level factor (i.e., human agency) seems to be the determining factor of the relationship. The authors provide rich contextual data by adopting a qualitative research method (case study) based on primary data, which is rare in international business literature

Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries : a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015). Methods We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990 and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed as the geometric mean of the rescaled indicators by SDG target. We used spline regressions to examine the relations between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI, a summary measure based on average income per person, educational attainment, and total fertility rate) and each of the health-related SDG indicators and indices. Findings In 2015, the median health-related SDG index was 59.3 (95% uncertainty interval 56.8-61.8) and varied widely by country, ranging from 85.5 (84.2-86.5) in Iceland to 20.4 (15.4-24.9) in Central African Republic. SDI was a good predictor of the health-related SDG index (r(2) = 0.88) and the MDG index (r(2) = 0.2), whereas the non-MDG index had a weaker relation with SDI (r(2) = 0.79). Between 2000 and 2015, the health-related SDG index improved by a median of 7.9 (IQR 5.0-10.4), and gains on the MDG index (a median change of 10.0 [6.7-13.1]) exceeded that of the non-MDG index (a median change of 5.5 [2.1-8.9]). Since 2000, pronounced progress occurred for indicators such as met need with modern contraception, under-5 mortality, and neonatal mortality, as well as the indicator for universal health coverage tracer interventions. Moderate improvements were found for indicators such as HIV and tuberculosis incidence, minimal changes for hepatitis B incidence took place, and childhood overweight considerably worsened. Interpretation GBD provides an independent, comparable avenue for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs. Our analysis not only highlights the importance of income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement but also emphasises that investments in these areas alone will not be sufficient. Although considerable progress on the health-related MDG indicators has been made, these gains will need to be sustained and, in many cases, accelerated to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The minimal improvement in or worsening of health-related indicators beyond the MDGs highlight the need for additional resources to effectively address the expanded scope of the health-related SDGs.Peer reviewe

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Forouzanfar MH, Afshin A, Alexander LT, et al. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015. LANCET. 2016;388(10053):1659-1724.Background The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors-the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57.8% (95% CI 56.6-58.8) of global deaths and 41.2% (39.8-42.8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211.8 million [192.7 million to 231.1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148.6 million [134.2 million to 163.1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143.1 million [125.1 million to 163.5 million]), high BMI (120.1 million [83.8 million to 158.4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113.3 million [103.9 million to 123.4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103.1 million [90.8 million to 115.1 million]), high total cholesterol (88.7 million [74.6 million to 105.7 million]), household air pollution (85.6 million [66.7 million to 106.1 million]), alcohol use (85.0 million [77.2 million to 93.0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83.0 million [49.3 million to 127.5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Copyright (C) The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd

Foreign ownership, board of directors and environment commitment in European international new ventures

This is an author's accepted manuscript of an article due to be published by Wiley in Thunderbird International Business Review, available online at: [insert link]. The accepted manuscript may differ from the final published version.This study examines the effect of foreign ownership and the presence of a board of directors on commitment to environmental issues and export intensity. Based on a robust path analysis of 181 international new ventures spanning 25 European countries, it is found that foreign ownership significantly boosts the environmental commitment and exports of this breed of firms. On the contrary, board of directors bears no relationship with the aforementioned outcomes. Theoretically, this paper expands the international entrepreneurship discourse by uncommonly investigating environmental issues in the context of international new ventures. Practically, insights are offered to owners/managers of international new ventures to reflect on the distinctive value of foreign ownership and board of directors in their environmental and internationalisation agenda. Regional policymakers’ attention is drawn to the contribution of foreign ownership as a harbinger of environmental performance and greater export intensity