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FDI and world heterogeneities: The role of absorptive capacities

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2008
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Instituto Complutense de Estudios Internacionales (ICEI)
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It is generally agreed that foreign direct investment (FDI) flows can contribute to the local upgrading of host economies, whereas the diverse technological strategies of multinational companies (MNCs) can determine the existence and size of spillover effects. When considering FDI entry modes, merger and acquisitions (M&As) reveal a higher level of interaction with local productive systems than general FDI. Accordingly, their impacts may differ depending on the development level of countries and on the characteristics of national systems. Our aim is to exam the relative importance of local determinants explaining different choices of FDI entry. We explore both the strengths of the traditional explanation of FDI flows as well as the relevance of institutional stability and consolidation of national absorptive capabilities; the latter are considered key features of national systems. Our findings confirm that the factors at a country level affecting general FDI differ from those concerning cross-border M&As and support the need to investigate new drivers for attraction of FDI. Structural factors explain better the behaviour of FDI, whereas the factors of national systems of innovation are more closely correlated with the cross-border M&As trend. Finally, although international inequalities persist when both developed and developing countries are considered, it is interesting to note the importance of the heterogeneity that characterises the developing world as a topic for further research.
El propósito en este trabajo es examinar la importancia relativa de los determinantes locales que explican las diversas opciones de entrada de las empresas multinacionales. En el análisis se trata de contrastar cuál es el peso de los factores predominantes en las explicaciones económicas más convencionales, así como el efecto de la estabilidad institucional y el grado de consolidación de las capacidades nacionales de absorción. Los resultados nos permiten confirmar que los factores condicionantes de los flujos de IDE en general, difieren de los que atañen a las fusiones y adquisiciones transfronterizas, lo que justifica la necesidad de explorar nuevos elementos de atracción de IDE. Mientras que los factores estructurales explican bien el comportamiento de la IDE en general, los factores relacionados con los sistemas nacionales de innovación están más estrechamente relacionados con las fusiones y adquisiciones. Finalmente, aunque las desigualdades internacionales persisten al analizar conjuntamente países desarrollados y en desarrollo, tiene una especial relevancia la heterogeneidad que caracteriza al mundo en desarrollo para futuras investigaciones.
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