Foreign Direct Investment and Corporate Networking

This innovative book analyses the geographical patterns in foreign direct investment flows by combining elements from the theory of international production and the theory of economic geography. It develops a model for explaining why foreign direct investment is attracted to certain locations.The book examines foreign direct investment from a spatial perspective and considers how knowledge, regional synergies, economic integration, corporate strategies and networking affect patterns of investment. Using a model, Robert Morsink derives sets of determinants for different foreign direct investment patterns of multinationals and evaluates the corporate strategy behind these flows. First, he analyses investment flows within the European Union. Then, he goes into investments originating from the United States, Japan, Germany and the Netherlands and destined for Western Europe, South and Southeast Asia and North and South America. These analyses enable him to make suggestions for government policy at both the national and international level to attract foreign investment. Foreign Direct Investment and Corporate Networking will be of interest to economists working in the areas of international trade and investment, economic geographers and corporate strategy advisors as well as to policymakers from government and non-governmental organizations.