Abstract
Earlier chapters noted the increasingly active participation of the UK in world flows of direct investment, and particularly with respect to inward investment, alongside the shifting UK regional pattern of this investment. The purpose of this chapter is to advance some simple hypotheses to explain the changing behaviour of the new inward investor with regard to regional location, and to show how these hypotheses can be empirically defined and then tested. Despite the numerous and sometimes severe nature of the theoretical and empirical problems encountered, this chapter will show that variation in the UK distribution of new FDI can be largely explained in terms of relatively few regional economic characteristics. The relationship between the regional pattern of inward investment and these economic characteristics is consistent with a number of models of MNE behaviour including the preferred simple explanation that the new foreign investor chooses a UK regional location in order to minimise the relevant costs of production whilst securing access to adjacent national and international markets. The policy implications that stem from this simple model and its verification are many and substantial. For example, the sectoral marketing and employment policies of the new inward investor will largely determine the mix of regional characteristics that are necessary in order to minimise production costs, including transport costs, and will therefore according to this model, influence regional location. Hence particular regions will not only attract differing shares of inward investment according to their regional characteristics, but the very nature of the inward investors attracted will reflect the particular mix of economic characteristics that the region can offer.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bagchi-Sen, S. and Wheeler, J. O. (1989), ‘A Spatial and Temporal Model of FDI in the US’, Economic Geography, 65, 2, 113–29.
Blackbourne, A. (1978), ‘Multinational Enterprise and Regional Development: A Comment’, Regional Studies, 12, 125–7.
Buckley, P. J. and Casson, M. (1976), The Future of the Multinational Enterprise (2nd edn, 1991) London: Macmillan.
Coase, R. M. (1937), The Nature of the Firm, Economica, 4, 386–405.
Coughlin, C. C, Terza, J.V. and Arrundee, V. (1991), ‘State Characteristics and the Location of Foreign Direct Investment Within the United States’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 54, 440–49.
Culem, C. (1988), ‘The Locational Determinants of Direct Investment Among Industrialised Countries’, European Economic Review, 32, 885–904.
Dicken, P. and Lloyd, P. (1976), ‘Geographical Perspectives on United States Investment in the UK’, Environment and Planning, A 8, 685–705.
Dunning, J. H. (1976), ‘Trade, Location of Economic Activity and the Multinational Enterprise: A Search for an Eclectic Approach’, University of Reading Discussion Papers in International Investment and Business Studies, no. 29.
Dunning, J. H. (1991), The ‘Eclectic Paradigm of International Production’, in C. W. Pitelis and R. Sugden (eds), The Nature of the Transnational Firm, London: Routledge.
Freidman, J., Gerlowski, D. A. and Silberman, J. (1992), ‘What Attracts Foreign Multinational Corporations? Evidence of Branch Plant Location in the United States’, Journal of Regional Science, vol. 32, 4, 403–18.
Glickman, N. J. and Woodward, D. P. (1988), ‘The Location of Foreign Direct Investment in the United States: Patterns and Determinants’, International Regional Science Review, 11, 131–54.
Grubaugh, N. (1987), ‘The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment’, Review of Economics and Statistics, 69, 149–52.
Hill, S. and Keegan, J. (1993), ‘Relative Regional Manufacturing Performance’, Regional Science Association, British Section, Annual Conference, Nottingham, September.
Hill, S. and Munday, M. (1991), ‘The Determinants of Inward Investment: A Welsh Analysis’, Applied Economics, 23, 11, 1761–9.
Hill, S. and Munday, M. (1992), ‘The UK Regional Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment: Analysis and Determinants’, Regional Studies, 26, 6, 535–44.
Hill, S. and Munday, M. (1993), ‘FDI and its Role in the Economic Development of EC Regions’, paper for the European Periphery Facing the New Century Conference, Santiago, Spain, October.
Hood, N. and Young, S. (1979), The Economics of Multinational Enterprise, London: Longman.
Little, J. S. (1978), ‘Locational Decisions of Foreign Direct Investors in the US’, New England Economic Review, July/August, 43–63.
Luger, M. I. and Shetty, S. (1985), ‘Determinants of Foreign Plant Start-Ups in the United States: Lessons for Policy-Makers in the Southeast’, Vanderbuilt Journal of Transactional Law, 223–45.
McConnell, J. K. (1980), ‘Foreign Direct Investment in the US’, Annals of the Institute of American Geography, 70, 259–70.
McDermott, P. J. (1977), ‘Overseas Investment and the Industrial Geography of the UK’, Area 9, 200–207.
Morris, J., Munday, M. and Wilkinson, B. (1993), Working for the Japanese, London: Athlone.
NIERC/OEF (1993), Regional Economic Outlook, February, Oxford.
O’Sullivan, P. (1985), ‘The Determinants and Impact of Private DFI in Host Countries’, Management International Review, 25, 28–35.
Schoenberger, E. (1988), ‘Multinational Corporations and the New International Division of Labour: A Critical Approach’, International Regional Science Review, 11, 2, 105–19.
Taylor, N. and Thrift, N. (eds) (1982), The Geography of Multinationals, London: Croom Helm.
Vernon, R. (1971), Sovereignty at Bay, New York: Basic Books.
Watts, H. D. (1982), ‘The Inter-Regional Distribution of West German Multinationals in the UK’, in M. Taylor and N. Thrift (eds), The Geography of Multinationals, London: Croom Helm.
Woodward, D. P. (1992), ‘Locational Determinants of Japanese Manufacturing Start-ups in the United States’, Southern Economic Journal, 58, 690–708.
Yannopoulos, G. N. and Dunning, J. H. (1976), ‘Multinational Enterprise and Regional Development: An Explanatory Paper’, Regional Studies, 10, 389–99.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1994 Stephen Hill and Maxim Charles Richard Munday
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hill, S., Munday, M. (1994). The Determinants of the Regional Distribution of Foreign Direct Investment. In: The Regional Distribution of Foreign Manufacturing Investment in the UK. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13101-3_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13101-3_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-13103-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-13101-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)