Crowds in or crowds out? The effect of foreign direct investment on domestic investment in Chinese cities

This study investigates the empirical relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and domestic investment (DI) in China using a comprehensive city-level panel over the period from 2003 to 2011. System-generalized method-of-moment estimation reveals mixed results. At the national level, FDI neither crowds in nor crowds out DI, indicating a neutral FDI–DI nexus. However, when the full sample is segmented by geographical topology, a positive and significant FDI–DI nexus can be found in eastern and, to a lesser extent, central cities. A negative, although insignificant, association is reported among western cities. Further, the empirical nexus is conditional on several local absorptive capacities including human capital, financial development, and institutional quality. These findings suggest that a region-based FDI strategy in general and local governments should strengthen their absorptive capacities to fully internalize FDI spillovers

FDI and regional development policy

The transformations in the worldwide division of labour brought about by globalisation and technological change have shown an unintended negative effect, particularly evident in advanced economic systems: uneven spatial distribution of wealth and rising within-country inequality. Although the latter has featured prominently in recent academic and policy debates, in this paper we argue that the relevance of connectivity (here proxied by foreign capital investments, FDI) for regional economic development is still underestimated and suffers from a nation-biased perspective. As a consequence, the relationship between the spatial inequality spurred by the global division of labour and the changes in the structural advantages of regions remains to be fully understood in its implications for economic growth, territorial resilience and industrial policy. Furthermore, even though connectivity entails bi-directional links – i.e. with regions being simultaneously receivers and senders – attractiveness to foreign capital has long been at the centre of policy attention whilst internationalisation through investment abroad has been disregarded, and sometimes purposely ignored, in regional development policy agendas. We use three broad-brushed European case-studies to discuss some guiding principles for a place-sensitive regional policy eager to integrate the connectivity dimension in pursuing local economic development and territorial equity

Insider Control and the FDI Location Decision

This paper examines the FDI location strategies of firms from one of the Asian NIEs (Taiwan) in a rapidly emerging market (China). Although there is a substantial literature on FDI location choice, most studies model the choice as a function of a range of location-specific attributes such as local market size, labour costs etc. Few studies consider the impact of firm-specific characteristics, other than potential country-of-origin effects. Yet locations, and especially those in emerging markets where institutions are weak and capital markets are immature, also differ in terms of their risk. Different shareholder constituencies within the parent company will typically have different preferences with regard to risk, and are therefore likely to favour some locations over others. We find that the ownership structure of the parent company matters with regard to its FDI location decision and, in particular, that both family and non-family insider shareholders exert influence over the choice of location. Furthermore we show that firms¿ location and entry mode choices are inter-related, and establish that the extent of their resource commitments in their foreign affiliates leads parent companies to favour locations where the perceived risks are lower. Finally we show that the efficacy of firms¿ external relational linkages varies according to the strength of the cultural and historic ties between the location of the foreign affiliate and the home country

The determinants of Chinese outward foreign direct investment

This study investigates the determinants of Chinese outward direct investment (ODI) and the extent to which three special explanations (capital market imperfections, special ownership advantages and institutional factors) need to be nested within the general theory of the multinational firm. We test our hypotheses using official Chinese ODI data collected between 1984 and 2001. We find Chinese ODI to be associated with high levels of political risk in, and cultural proximity to, host countries throughout, and with host market size and geographic proximity (1984–1991) and host natural resources endowments (1992–2001). We find strong support for the argument that aspects of the special theory help to explain the behaviour of Chinese multinational enterprises. Journal of International Business Studies (2007) 38, 499–518. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400277

Towards a theoretically based global foreign direct investment policy regime

This paper seeks to derive rational policies towards multinational enterprises (MNEs) from extant international business theory. It examines the impact of national institutions and policies on both inward and outward direct foreign investment. It adopts a theory-based perspective utilising internalisation, transaction cost and institutional approaches to the operations of MNEs. It contrasts the received policy process by which MNEs react to policy initiatives with a potential “direct” policy model whereby strategic decisions of MNEs embody policy goals. The paper suggests that transparent national policies with robust supranational monitoring are the best solution for world economic welfare