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Unlike the traditional growth model of emerging markets after economic liberalization, India’s inward foreign direct investment (FDI) surged paralleling its strong economic growth in the 2000s, despite the failure to establish a strong secondary sector. This creates an opportunity to deepen the conceptual and contextual understanding of the pivotal mechanisms that impel foreign multinational enterprises to invest into India and provides a natural setting to better understand the nature of its institutional, political and economic environment.

The authors develop a theory contextualized to Indian inward FDI patterns for the 2000–2017 period. The theoretical framework expands upon received investment motives, with explicit consideration given to the idiosyncrasies of developments in India’s recent macro and socioeconomic environment. The authors test the hypotheses using panel data from 134 countries that invested in India, using a Hausman–Taylor estimation.

The authors find that India’s transition toward a knowledge economy attracts asset augmenting rather than asset exploiting FDI. Investors appear to target long-term investments by gaining access to India’s digital capabilities, R&D, and growing talent base with a high degree of specialization within analytics, biotechnology, engineering, or pharmaceuticals. Foreign investors do not seem to be notably deterred by infrastructural challenges nor by legal and regulatory restrictions.

By providing a new perspective on India’s atheoretical economic development and FDI environment, this study offers a distinct point of comparison with regard to established hypotheses within the extant literature on FDI into emerging markets. Rethinking contemporary investment motive theory by introducing an adapted conceptual framework provides further opportunity to inform the understanding of firm strategies in similar environments.

Cities are host to many of the world’s knowledge intensive research and innovation clusters. As such, they are likely to be attractive locations for emerging market multinational enterprises (MNEs) seeking to engage in knowledge seeking “springboard” type firm-level catch-up strategies. The purpose of this study is to therefore explore whether city-based research-intensive clusters containing deep pools of location bounded (i.e. “sticky”) knowledge are a stronger driver for greenfield research and development (R&D)-related FDI projects for Chinese MNEs than they are for developed market MNEs.

The authors use logistic modelling on 97,163 worldwide greenfield FDI projects to explore the relative likelihoods of Chinese MNEs engaging in R&D-related greenfield (i.e. “strategic asset seeking”) FDI projects as well as how city type (global or research-intensive cluster city) moderates this relationship for Chinese MNEs.

The authors find that Chinese MNEs are more likely to engage in overseas R&D FDI projects (compared with other types of project) than DMNEs and that research-intensive city clusters hold a stronger attraction for Chinese MNEs than developed market MNEs.

The authors discuss how the research contributes to the debate on emerging market MNE catch-up theory, as well as that on sub-national city location choice, by highlighting the growing importance of sub-national geography to understanding strategic asset seeking related greenfield FDI.

Sub-national city location choice is an important driver of strategic asset seeking FDI for Chinese MNEs, one that both national and local city level policymakers should pay attention to.

Chinese FDI via aggressive mergers and acquisitions to acquire key technologies has been restricted in recent years. Policymakers must consider whether they may also wish to restrict Chinese greenfield FDI in R&D-related projects, which now exhibit a pronounced upward trend.

The authors highlight the growing importance of sub-national geography to understanding strategic asset seeking related greenfield FDI in Chinese MNEs (and how it plays, more generally, a central role in their strategies).

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of an industry’s connectedness to foreign countries on knowledge sourcing.

The authors examine the research model through probit regression techniques to the 472,303-patent data across 16 industries derived from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The results suggest that international connectedness increases the accessibility of foreign knowledge and helps the accumulation of technological capability. Thus, this paper provides a better understanding that international connectedness can be critical for exploiting knowledge dispersed worldwide and influencing intra- and interindustry knowledge-sourcing behavior in the home country.

While prior studies have mainly paid attention to the relationship between parents and subsidiaries in foreign countries for international knowledge sourcing, the authors attempt to analyze international and local knowledge sourcing with a broader set of knowledge sourcing channels at an aggregate level. By considering an industry’s export intensity and inward foreign direct investment, this study reveals specifically how the extent of an industry’s international connectedness influences knowledge sourcing from both abroad and locally.

Cities remain an understudied unit of analysis for understanding the motives of multinational enterprises’ (MNE) foreign direct investment (FDI), with subnational locations in International Business (IB) research to date predominantly captured via the phenomenon of agglomeration. As regional integration projects, such as the European Union and to a lesser degree NAFTA, increasingly reduce the importance of national institutional environments, this paper argues regional and subnational levels become more important for studying MNE location choice. This paper aims to evaluate the explanatory contribution of regional and subnational levels of analysis to understanding MNE location choice.

A qualitative deductive bottom-up multiple-case study research design is adopted to study the city location choices and FDI motives of six automotive and six commercial banking companies. These purposefully sampled manufacturing and service MNEs have different home countries and regional orientations. Data on their foreign investments across the extended Triad of Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific were collected for the time period of 2000–2021.

Findings suggest that different classes of city tend to attract specific types of FDI and that these patterns might vary across sectors and be influenced by the regional strategic orientations of MNEs. Industry-specific findings reveal the importance of related and support industries and partners in a city location for the automotive MNEs, while the commercial banks seek investment opportunities in cities that allow acquisition targets that have an attractive customer based and will improve their local market knowledge.

The findings provide evidence in support of MNEs in manufacturing and service industries perceiving the attractiveness of three city types in different ways across the Triad regions.

This study considers the “technology creation” characteristic of technical knowledge-intensive business services (T-KIBS) and examines how human capital and intellectual property rights (IPR) protection affect the location choice of foreign direct investment (FDI) in China for two types of T-KIBS: (1) information transmission, software and information technology (ICT) services and (2) scientific research and technology (SCI) services.

Our empirical analysis is based on panel data on 22 Chinese provinces from 2009 to 2017. We use the generalized method of moments estimation for the regression analysis.

FDI in ICT services prefers regions with high human capital, while FDI in SCI services favors regions with good IPR protection.

Future research could use more comprehensive data and qualitative interviews to enhance the findings.

These findings provide a foundation for China’s future policy on attracting FDI into T-KIBS, especially in areas related to human capital and IPR protection.

This study bridges the research gap on the FDI location choice of T-KIBS in China by clarifying the influences of human capital and IPR protection and providing theoretical support for the location choice of T-KIBS FDI.

The study aims to analyze the role of the Made in China 2025 (MIC2025) initiative in China's Outward Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI) and the factors affecting the success or failure of Chinese enterprises' OFDI from the perspectives of the heterogeneity of home country enterprises.

Based on data on China's OFDI obtained from the China Global Investment Tracker (CGIT), the study uses the difference-in-differences model to analyze 2,670 completed OFDI deals and 211 failed OFDI deals by Chinese enterprises, from 2009 to 2018.

The study found that the effect of MIC2025 on Chinese enterprises' OFDI varies according to the ownership structure of the home country's enterprises. For successful OFDI, MIC2025 significantly impacted central state-owned enterprises (CSOEs), while it did not significantly influence local SOEs and privately owned enterprises. For failed OFDI, the MIC2025 plan only increased the failure of CSOEs' OFDI for the technology-seeking motivation in high-income host countries. Further, the investment options of local SOEs differ from those of CSOEs. Considering their aim to drive the local economy and seek profits, they are more similar to those of privately owned enterprises.

This study used a new database (i.e. the CGIT) to analyze Chinese enterprises' OFDI. It discussed the role of MIC2025 for different enterprises from the perspectives of successful and failed OFDI. It thus provided a new basis for analyzing policy affecting the OFDI of Chinese enterprises.

Known as the major capital providers in Belt and Road countries and the largest carbon emitter in the world, what role China's outward direct investment (ODI) plays in carbon neutralization has become a matter of concern. This study aims to measure the impact of China's ODI on the carbon emissions of Belt and Road countries.

Based on an econometric model and an inter-regional input–output model, a new model measuring the carbon emission effects of ODI is developed.

The empirical results show that (1) in general, China's ODI generates an emission-reduction effect in Belt and Road countries; (2) The relationship between the emission-reduction effect and income level of host countries shows an approximate inverted U-shaped trend; and (3) China's ODI generates stronger emission-reduction effects on capital-intensive industries.

This study quantitatively measures the scale of carbon emission-increase and reduction effect, which is relatively lacking in previous studies. This study explores the heterogeneity from the perspectives of regions, countries and industries. The authors have compiled an inter-regional input–output table for the Belt and Road countries for 2014 to provide a broad basis for the study of related issues.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and cities and how the relationship between multinational enterprise (MNEs) and local firms facilitates regional cleantech innovation.

Using a combination of social network analysis, regression analysis and interview analysis, the authors map and analyze a cleantech cluster to investigate the relationship between MNEs and local firms and the resulting effects on cleantech innovation.

The findings of the paper indicate that FDI plays a crucial role in cities and their local clusters by acting as a broker between a diverse set of actors: firms, institutions, universities, financial and other intermediaries. Additionally, connectedness to MNEs improves local firms’ innovation.

This study is not free of limitations, mainly, because of the aspects that the analysis is based on one city and one cleantech hub. Further research could verify whether the findings of this paper hold in other cities and industries.

The findings, elucidating the connection between MNEs and local firms, as well as MNEs being important brokers in the local system, and the resulting impact, will help policymakers to take appropriate actions and support the local cleantech innovation. It is important to not only attract high-quality FDI into local clusters, but also to create and support collaborations between foreign firms and local actors, because colocation does not automatically leads to positive spillovers and a lot depends on how MNEs are integrated into the local milieu.

The present paper argues that FDI plays an important role in local cleantech innovation and it is important to integrate foreign firms in local social networks.

The authors analyze FDI patterns in an emerging industry at the city and local cluster level using a unique database containing the information on relationships between MNEs and local firms, as well as interview data.

Long regarded as a far-fetched notion, companies from post-socialist economies (PSEs) increasingly compete with companies from advanced economies in their domestic markets and abroad. This study identifies PSE companies' motives and determinants of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) in advanced economies.

This study analyses Slovenian business activities in Germany by juxtaposing eight Slovenian investors and three exporters using a multiple case study approach. The authors use content analysis to examine rich data from semi-structured interviews, databases and internal and external documents to provide comprehensive and in-depth insights into PSE investments in advanced economies.

The authors identify market-seeking motives and competitive advantages which differ from those of other emerging economy companies and offer theoretical suggestions. In contrast to findings from other emerging economies, the authors identify firm- and country-specific advantages, such as high technology, high service quality, a highly educated labour force, and European Union membership, which Slovene companies have employed to enter the advanced German market.

This study represents the first application of springboard theory to explain PSE company investment in advanced economies. The authors offer contextualised explanations of PSE investments in advanced host economies, which have been lacking thus far. The authors also contribute to the scarcity of studies on the effects of supranational institutions on OFDI from emerging economies.

This study aims to focus on a key unanswered question about how digitalization and the knowledge processes it enables affect firms’ strategies in the international arena.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review of relevant theoretical and empirical studies covering over 20 years of research (from 2000 to 2023) and including 73 journal papers.

This review allows us to highlight a relationship between firms’ international strategies and the knowledge processes enabled by applying digital technologies. Specifically, the authors discuss the characteristics of patterns of knowledge flows and knowledge processes (their origin, the type of knowledge they carry on and their directionality) as determinants for the emergence of diverse international strategies embraced by single firms or by populations of firms within ecosystems, networks, global value chains or alliances.

Despite digital technologies constituting important antecedents and critical factors for the internationalization process, and international businesses in general, and operating cross borders implies the enactment of highly knowledge-intensive processes, current literature still fails to provide a holistic picture of how firms strategically use what they know and seek out what they do not know in the international environment, using the affordances of digital technologies.