In Direct Foreign Investment, scholars from business schools in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Latin America reflect on the relationship of foreign investment to the development process, examining the experience of foreign investors in a variety of national settings. They explore the complex issues relating to foreign investment and present the pros and cons of various approaches. The volume begins with general administrative ways to encourage or discourage foreign investment. There are detailed discussions on specific countries and their experiences with foreign investment, including a large Asian developing country, countries in Latin America and Europe, and Japan. Following these regional experiences are general articles examining the costs and benefits of in the international marketplace.

This title was first published in 2003. Covering a diverse range of countries such as Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Russia, as well as referring to the characteristics of the region as a whole, this book examines the inflow and outflow of foreign direct investment from both home and host company and country perspectives. By analyzing foreign direct investment in terms of process, content and context, the book provides a holist approach towards direct foreign investment in the transitional context of Central and Eastern Europe, embracing both macro- and micro-economic perspectives of the process.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) studies have evolved as one of the mainstreams in business strategy. This book presents a comprehensive perspective on the motivations behind the studies, the effects of FDI, and how it can be utilized and extended to other areas of studies. Written with a global perspective, this book not only touches upon business strategies but also covers government policies toward promoting and attracting FDI for industrial and economic development. The author, with his vast experience in consulting and research projects for multinational companies, international organizations and governments, examines real world business practices of Eastern firms and how they relate to their Western counterparts, thus making this book a valuable and practical reference not only for students, but for practitioners, too.

Increasing international investment, the proliferation of international investment agreements, domestic legislation, and investor-State contracts have contributed to the development of a new field of international law that defines obligations between host states and foreign investors with investor-State dispute settlement. This involves not only vast sums, but also a panoply of rights, duties, and shifting objectives at the juncture of national and international law and policy. This engaging Research Handbook provides an authoritative account of these diverse investment law issues.

Printed on Demand. Limited stock is held for this title. If you would like to order 30 copies or more please contact books@worldbank.org Contact books@worldbank.org, if currently unavailable. FIAS Occasional Papers no. 12. During the early 1990s, the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (FIAS), a joint facility of the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), found that governments and foreign investors alike were concerned and frustrated about difficulties in successfully implementing private infrastructure projects. Governments were trying to attract these new types of investment without having established an appropriate policy framework. Therefore, there were no institutional structures to resolve impediments effectively and provide clear guidelines for the award of such large-scale projects. Legal frameworks tended to address traditional public-sector responsibilities and not investor concerns. Regulatory environments either did not exist or did not provide investors enough guarantees that their future operating environment would be sufficiently reliable. Consequently, FIAS has been advising many governments in the developing world on the best way to establish a policy framework attractive to foreign investors. FIAS typically combines its review of the institutional, legal and regulatory environment with investor roundtables and workshops for senior government officials to ensure that all the major concerns of both the government and the private sector are taken into account. Although each country has unique policy problems, FIAS has encountered common features in key areas that pose stumbling blocks for private infrastructure investments. This study synthesizes this experience and derives lessons for facilitating and encouraging foreign direct investment in infrastructure.

This paper reviews the growth of the direct foreign investment (DFI) in China and identifies various constraints which need to be removed to further improve China's attractiveness to foreign investors. The paper draws extensively on reports, papers and other material available on DFI in China as well as on Bank's own experience in China and other developing countries, particularly those in the East Asia Region. As a background, a brief global overview of DFI is presented first, followed by a review of the experience in East Asian countries. Next this paper reviews the recent history and developments of DFI in China including data on its distribution by source, region, and sector, and provides information on gains from DFI to China and an assessment of trends and patterns from the perspective of China's development goals. The last chapter of this report sums up various issues in the area of policies, procedures and infrastructure, and suggests necessary actions.

The report reviews lessons from the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) investment, and advisory experience in the developing world, which show the interactions between policy frameworks, and the volume and structure of foreign direct investments (FDI). Case studies show how the Corporation promotes successful project structures, and regulatory changes, as it tries to attain the strongest development impact for investments. In developing countries, FDI has flowed mainly into manufacturing, and processing industries. In the past, investment attractiveness had been closely linked to possession of natural resources, or a large domestic market, while production and trade globalization, competitiveness as a location for investment, and exporting, have become the main determinants of attractiveness. Sources of FDI in the past, came almost exclusively from industrial countries, though recently those sources have widened, emerging from developing countries in their own right, and for their own regions. IFC, as an international initiative to promote FDI in developing countries, is liable to promote bilateral trade agreements, bilateral and multilateral financial institutions, and investment promotion programs; its advisory role may vary from diagnostic studies overviewing constraints to FDI, to investment policy studies giving specific solutions on either changes, or strategies. The study further looks at how policy environment is set, and at finding investor opportunities, through project financing, largely structured as joint ventures. The inherent, fragile nature of joint ventures, restricts foreign ownership, thus limiting project structures; however, careful project design has lead to successful operations, by ensuring management, and financial arrangements. Still, to maximize benefits, an unfinished agenda of policy reform remains, and, as more countries open to FDI, this integration will lead to an overall increase in FDI flows.

During the past twenty or so years, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows have increased at rates approaching the astounding, especially so during the 1990s. While much of the increase was due to unprecedented cross-border mergers and acquisitions among high-income countries, the amount of FDI flowing to developing nations also grew substantially. This volume examines the economics of this FDI to developing countries. Some chapters are theoretical in nature, others empirical, and still others are largely policy-oriented. Topics covered include whether FDI makes an autonomous contribution to growth in these nations and whether or not 'spillovers' are generated by this investments. Also covered are effects of policy intervention by governments on FDI flows and whether non-economic factors (e.g. cultural factors) might figure as determinants of location of FDI.

The purpose of this collection of chapters is to analyse from several angles, factors which may explain, and/or influence, the relationship between the competitiveness of multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the countries in which they operate.