A theoretical and econometric study of multinational enterprise direct international business investment

摘要

Over the years research of the Multinational Enterprise(MNE) and the Direct Foreign Investment(DFI) phenomenon has yielded a number of theories and propositions--and work continues. Each work however, appears to reflect a particular discipline's school of thought. The contribution of this multidisciplinary study is: (1) in ascertaining which sets of propositions, when combined, best model (IBIModel) Multinational Enterprise motivation in Direct Foreign Investment; and, (2) in deriving from practice, theory, and the IBIM a statistically testable macro-econometric investment relation (MGAParadigm).;The objective of this work is therefore to survey several significant theories explaining the MNE and/or DFI phenomena via research in three disciplines (economics, management, and finance); assess motivation in the context of the pure economic profit concept and MNE strategic planning practice; propose a cogent set of hypotheses that recognize some of the fragmented and diverse theoretical literature; and, finally, pose and partially evaluate the IBIM by statistically testing its derivative, the MGAP, in terms of macroeconomic data for market economies in twelve industrial countries.;The twofold, intuitive and statistically tested, IBIModel reflects: (1) the conclusion that the primary, all encompassing, objective of an MNE is to maximize gain; and, (2) the statistically tested inference that MNEs invested to accrue marginal gain via resource factor arbitrage availed in: (a) financial market disequilibria; (b) advantages in scale of assets and economies, flaws, or opportunities in the market; (c) differentials, and/or, (d) market inefficiencies due to economic policies.