F23 - Multinational Firms; International BusinessReturn

This study assesses the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows on economic growth and domestic investment in a panel of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries during the period of 1990–2017 by utilizing the method of fixed-effects and system generalized method of moments (GMM). The findings show that FDI inflows are positively and significantly associated with the economic growth of the host economy. When considering the origin of FDI, we find that FDI from developed countries contributes to the growth rate in the receiving economy, while FDI from developing countries shows no significant effect. Importantly, FDI does not appear to crowd in or out domestic investment. Only FDI from developed countries is associated with crowding in of domestic investment.

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the shareholder structure and dividend policy of an entire region – the developed markets in the Asia-Pacific region. The results show that at least three shareholder groups influence the dividend policy of companies. The group of investment advisors favours higher dividend payments. However, the greatest likelihood to receive extraordinary dividend payments is with shares of companies with a high stake of government investors. Further, the group of minority shareholders show a negative influence, which might be affected by the low interest-rate period and hence the lack of alternative investment opportunities for members of this group.

The automotive industry has reached a very high level of international integration. It expanded in Russia at the end of the first decade of the century. The paper aims at describing the problems encountered in the first years of the process and how car manufacturers and their suppliers have evolved and adapted over a period of almost 10 years. Using a qualitative inductive methodology, based on interviews of Western European and Russian participants to the expansion, and using a case of failure as an extreme situation, the author identifies a certain number of influencing factors and describes how they have evolved trough the years. Finally, the paper concentrates on two phenomena that need more investigation, i.e. the reason for a small representation of Russian suppliers and the generic subculture of Russians working for foreign corporations. The results provide also a model of the implantation process on a new market that can be used for further research or to train and support managers involved in international projects.