Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe


Book Description

This book examines how foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Central and Eastern Europe have changed after the Great Recession. It argues that beyond their cyclical effects, the economic crisis and the changing competitiveness of Central and Eastern European countries have had structural impacts on FDI in the region. FDI has traditionally been viewed as the key driver of national development, but the apparent structural shift means that focusing on cheap labour as a competitive advantage is no longer a viable strategy for the countries in the region. The authors argue that these countries need to move beyond the narrative of upgrading (attracting FDI inflows with increasingly higher value added), and focus on ensuring greater value capture instead. A potential way for doing this is by developing the conditions in which innovative national companies can emerge, thrive and eventually develop into lead firms of global value chains. The book provides readers with a highly informative account of the reasons why this shift is necessary, as well as diverse perspectives and extensive discussions on the dynamics and structural impacts of FDI in post-crisis Central and Eastern Europe.




Globalization and the State in Central and Eastern Europe


Book Description

This book examines the transformation of the state in Central and Eastern Europe since the end of communism and adoption of market oriented reform in the early 1990s, exploring the impact of globalization and economic liberalization on the region’s states, societies and political economy. It compares the different policies and national strategies adopted by key Central and Eastern European states, including the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, showing how initial internally oriented strategies of market reform, privileging domestic sources of investment, had by the late 1990s given way to externally oriented strategies emphasising the promotion of competitiveness by attracting foreign investment. It explores the reasons behind this convergence, considering the influence of internal and external forces, and the roles of interests, institutions and ideas. It argues that internationalization of the state is forged in the processes through which domestic groups linked to transnational capital attain domestic influence necessary to shape state policy and strategy. These groups — the comprador service sector in particular — constitute and organize political, social and institutional support of the competition state in the region. Overall, this book not only provides a detailed account of the political economy of post-communist transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, but also the processes by which states adapt to the forces of globalization.




The Technological Role of Inward Foreign Direct Investment in Central East Europe


Book Description

Foreign direct investment (FDI) assumed a prominent role in Central East Europe (CEE) early on in the transition process. Foreign investors were assigned the task of restructuring markets, providing capital and knowledge for investment in technologically outdated and financially ailing firms.




Foreign Direct Investment in Europe


Book Description

This book provides authoritative academic and professional insights into the effects of foreign direct investment (FDI) on home and host countries. It highlights global trends and patterns, and explores related policy challenges all with a special focus on the countries in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. The book cuts through the existing data fog by offering a wide range of up-to-date academic findings and institutional expertise. Those findings are rounded off with lessons to be learned from historical developments (Ireland s success story), an evaluation of current trends (the role of China) and an investment promotion agency policy for attracting sustainable investment (CzechInvest). Contributions made by central bank officials, institutional representatives, members of academia and professionals provide for a uniquely complementary view on FDI developments and their implications. At a time of big changes in the FDI landscape, this book offers both empirical and econometric evidence on foreign direct investment and will be of great interest to economists and other experts in the fields of economic policy and European integration from central, commercial and investment banks, governments, international organizations, universities and research institutes. The special focus on FDI will attract those interested in, or directly involved in tackling the challenges of attracting sustainable investment or investing successfully abroad.




Cross-Border Investing


Book Description

Cross-Border Investing: The Case of Central and Eastern Europe offers a view that reflects two main hypotheses: -You cannot understand foreign direct investment (FDI) trends and developments unless you understand the company's motives to invest, -You cannot understand a company's cross-border investment decision-making unless you understand what the investment area offers. This is the reason why this text builds up a relationship between the world of companies' decision-makers and that of the policy makers in the public sector. It does so by linking the business processes to the factors that together constitute the location profile of a country or a region. Based on more than 15 years of practical experience as well as research in the field of FDI, Dr Julia Djarova offers a Cross-Border Investment Model to describe the logic behind the decision-making process concerning foreign investments made by companies. The model is illustrated by a number of case studies of multinationals.




Foreign Direct Investment in the Real and Financial Sector of Industrial Countries


Book Description

A collection of papers on the determinants and consequences of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real and financial sectors of industrial countries. The text sheds new light on the determinants of FDI, in particular the role of governmental incentives. Another main topic is the role of FDI in the east European accession countries. It provides insights into the question of whether EU enlargement will have consequences for capital flows into those countries. Since the start of European monetary union, the discussion on cross-border mergers in the European banking industry has intensified. The final part of the book contains contributions to this debate.




From Communists to Foreign Capitalists


Book Description

From Communists to Foreign Capitalists explores the intersections of two momentous changes in the late twentieth century: the fall of Communism and the rise of globalization. Delving into the economic change that accompanied these shifts in central and Eastern Europe, Nina Bandelj presents a pioneering sociological treatment of the process of foreign direct investment (FDI). She demonstrates how both investors and hosts rely on social networks, institutions, politics, and cultural understandings to make decisions about investment, employing practical rather than rational economic strategies to deal with the true uncertainty that plagues the postsocialist environment. The book explores how eleven postsocialist countries address the very idea of FDI as an integral part of their market transition. The inflows of foreign capital after the collapse of Communism resulted not from the withdrawal of states from the economy, as is commonly expected, but rather from the active involvement of postsocialist states in institutionalizing and legitimizing FDI. Using a wide array of data sources, and combining a macro-level account of national variation in the liberalization to foreign capital with a micro-level account of FDI transactions in the decade following the collapse of Communism in 1989, the book reveals how social forces not only constrain economic transformations but also make them possible. From Communists to Foreign Capitalists is a welcome addition to the growing literature on the social processes that shape economic life.




The Impact of FDI on Economic Growth


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and economic growth, with special attention to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Within a new semi-endogenous growth model, the book illustrates the impact of FDI on economic growth for every stage of development of a country. The book analyzes the growth enhancing effect of FDI, and explains the actual growth contributions induced by FDI.




Turkey and Central and Eastern European Countries in Transition


Book Description

This book offers a comparative study of the Central and Eastern European and Turkish economies that analyses the implications of EU enlargement. The contributors discuss issues related to the creation of a legal infrastructure that encourages entrepreneurial initiative, fair competition, market forces and investor confidence. They assess the benefits of following prudent monetary and fiscal policies together with appropriate competition, trade and foreign direct investment policies in Turkey and Central and Eastern Europe.




Emerging-market Multinational Enterprises in East Central Europe


Book Description

The rise of multinational enterprises (MNEs) from emerging markets is topical, important and poses a number of questions and challenges that require considerable attention in the future from academia as well as business management. The recent takeovers of high-profile companies in developed or developing countries by non-European emerging-market MNEs (EMNEs) – such as Lenovo, Wanhua (China), Hindalco (India), CVRD (Brazil), Cemex (Mexico), Lukoil (Russia), etc. – as well as the greenfield or brownfield investments of emerging companies (such as Huawei, ZTE, Tata, Pepco, etc.) show a new trend where new kind of firms become major players globally. EMNEs have become important players in several regions around the globe, ranging from the least developed countries of Africa through the developing markets in Latin America and Asia to the developed countries of the United States or the European Union, including East Central European (ECE) countries. EMNEs presence on the global level has resulted in numerous studies in the international literature but those research results barely cover EMNEs’ activities in the ECE region (in the East Central European EU member countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia). The existing books typically focus on the investment activity of a single country or region (such as China or East Asia) but a comprehensive analysis is still missing in this regard. The novelty of this edited volume is that it aims at exploring EMNEs location determinants, strategies, activities and challenges in East Central Europe by discussing its anomalies to the traditional theories as well as to other types of MNEs in the ECE region. The authors focus on EMNEs not only from China but from other important emerging countries, too, such as Russia, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Brazil or South Africa.