Global Business Today

Answer:

The basic trend has been that the inflow in both the developed and developing countries has increased over the last 15-20 years. There was a slight slowdown during 2008-9 due to the global slowdown. However the share of the developing countries in the inflow has increased since the late 1990s. Also the share of developing nations as investors has increased over the last few years.
Another trend is in the increase of Multi-National Corporations (MNC). Earlier these were mainly from US, Japan and the European countries. Today one will find many MNCs from China, India and South Korea competing in the global market place. Also today these are not necessarily large corporation like the US corporations of the past but could be mini-MNCs with a restricted exposure to either a few countries or a niche market in many countries.

Answer:

The main indicator as to the suitability of a nation for FDI in the next three years has been the " A.T Kearney -FDI Confidence Index". This ranks various countries in the world
The methodology used in the research done for this report is to construct the data from a proprietary survey conducted during November and December 2012. This involved senior executives from over 300 companies in 28 countries. They included executives at the top three levels and included many regional and business heads.
All companies had global revenues exceeding $ 500 million with two-thirds of the respondents topping $ 1 billion. Also to take into consideration the growing focus on emerging markets more than one-third of the respondents were headquartered in a developing country.
The survey is based on a weighted average of the high, medium and low responses to the survey questions. Responses from the source country are not considered for evaluation of that country.
Given below is a table showing the top 25 FDI destinations for 2013 and the positions of those countries in 2012.
2013 FDI Confidence Index (Source: A T Kearney - Foreign Direct Investment Confidence Index ® 2013)
The FDI Confidence Index is rated on a scale of 0 to 3. As a barometer of how near the various countries are the highest in 2013 was 2.09 and the lowest 1.60. The above table shows the top countries as rated by their attractiveness for FDI. It may be pertinent to mention at this point that 10 top countries have received 50 percent of the global inflows within 12 months of publication of these reports. The top 5 countries accounted for 35 percent of the inflows of FDI.

Answer:

Over the last three decades, the national economies of the world have become more interconnected. Money, workers, goods and services all across national borders have become easier due to the collapse of the Soviet Bloc, less trade restrictions, and new technology such as the Internet. Companies and workers are facing increasing competition from India, Japan, Brazil, China, Mexico and other nations. Wages have driven down and some occupations have moved partly or in whole to nations with cheap labor, cheap land, cheap energy and/or less intrusive regulations. Businesses increasingly have found customers and suppliers from other nations. The World Economy is larger and more interconnected. Economic growth has gone up in many developing or undeveloped nations. The economic balance has shifted.
Great Britain, a former superpower, has become less industrialized due to foreign competition from Brazil because now it has a smaller economy than Brazil. Britain has involved itself into free trade, becoming a member of both the Commonwealth of Nations (Britain's former empire) and the European Union. Businesses have many opportunities to outsource jobs to cheaper areas in Eastern Europe and India. Easy migration rules also allow British companies to recruit workers from places like Poland and India. London remains the world's most prominent financial center, but Singapore and Hong Kong are increasing in importance. Financial, Insurance, and other London white collar companies increasingly set up subsidiaries or strategic partnerships across the planet to diversify.
North American companies benefit from a free flow of investment capital and ideas. The North American Free Trade Agreement has led to increased trade and outsourcing between Mexico, Canada, and the US. Restrictions on international labor flow in all three countries encourage illegal immigration and outsourcing. Many manufacturing, high tech, and green companies faced massive (often foreign government supported) competitive pressures from East Asia and Europe. Many companies collapsed, but others thrived, often by exporting to burgeoning foreign markets. There has also been in sourcing. International companies including Japanese car makers often move production to North America to decrease shipping costs or to generate political goodwill from the governments, which is still the world's largest market.
Hong Kong is widely known as one of the most business friendly places in the world. It has free capital flows, free labor flows, non-existent trade barriers, and is one of the easiest places on earth to create a new business. This has enabled Hong Kong to grow from a barren rock to one of the fourth Asian Tigers. Honk Kong also benefits from ties with Britain's former empire, its access to China's market, and its location at the crossroads of the most economically dynamic areas over the last three decades. Hong Kong business is likely to grow in importance and reach.