The book considers the determinants of the regional distribution of foreign manufacturing investment in the UK. The core theme of the book is that foreign firms coming to the UK seek in their location decision to minimise their costs of production. This minimisation of production costs is constrained by the need to ensure that they are adjacent to their key markets, whether these be in the UK or wider EC.

This study analyses the causes of British manufacturing investment overseas, focusing primarily on the period from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. During these years there were significant changes in UK direct investment and this book represented the first major analysis of these changes based on detailed case studies of British international firms. The early chapters assess the available statistical evidence and the theories of overseas investment that had hitherto been put forward. The authors emphasize the need for recognizing the dynamic and varied nature of firms and the relevance of their historical development in order to understand business decision-making. Through a detailed consideration of the activities of a large sample of companies, the book explains why they manufacture abroad and assesses the overall consequences for the British economy of its overseas investment.

Foreign Direct Investment Statistics: How Countries Measure FDI shows progress in recent years in moving toward compilation in accordance with international standards that have been established by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the ...

This is the 10th volume of The Academy of International Business book series bringing together the latest research on firm strategies and management and the internationalization of the firm from the 29th Academy of International Business UK conference. The four main themes of the book are subsidiary location and performance, internationalization and firm strategy, the internationalization of the small firm and the Internet and e-commerce.

This title analyzes the conception of economic development in modern regions, which has gone through a fundamental change since the early 1980s. Regions are today increasingly looked upon as independant market places that are connected via interregional and international trade and not as administrative units embodied in a national state. Two complementary theoretical frameworks explain the specialization of economic activity at the regional level. The traditional approach assumes that the comparative advantages of regions depend upon differences in the supply of lasting resources. In contrast the newer complementary framework called the "new economic georgraphy", assumes that the dynamic interaction between geographical market potentials and rational firms in its own way creates the comparative advantage of regions. The book examines the policy implications of the complementarity of the competing views in a variety of geographic and functional contexts.

The 'boom' in foreign direct investment (FDI) since the mid-1980s, continues to be paramount in policy interest. This book reviews the literature on the nature of FDI and reports the recent results on the performance of FDI plants in order to show the implications for regional economic development. It presents new evidence on the nature and performance of these plants, using a unique dataset that has been constructed and rigorously analyzed by applying econometric techniques. The role of FDI in economic development has long been poorly understood and this book contributes to improving understanding, and is of direct policy relevance. An examination is made of the generation, theory and location of FDI, as well as its implications for regional and national development. In addition to this, analysis is made of the issues at the project and plant levels, related to investment, employment and firm survival.

With the emergence of a truly global marketplace, regions now face far greater competition in attracting outside investment, and multinational companies have to consider local conditions on many levels before choosing to invest. Foreign Direct Investment and the Global Economy looks at the pattern of FDI and its impacts on the global, regional (trade block), national and sub-national scales. The contributors describe the much discussed global-local interlay apparent in the operations of multinational companies and their involvement with 'regulatory' institutions at different levels, from the global to the local.