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Strong growth and social progress have made Brazil one of the world’s leading economies over the past three decades, but Brazil remains a highly unequal country with an urgent need for reforms to sustain and continue development with inclusive growth. This chapter introduces sustainable foreign direct investments (FDIs), which can be tools to promote sustainable development and improve the living conditions of all Brazilians, thus representing entrepreneurship for social change in Brazil. Although there is a large recognition that FDIs might pave the way for sustainable development, it does not happen in an automatic way and, in this chapter, some instruments are presented as pathways for achieving that aim in Brazil. First, it analyses the scenario of inequalities in Brazil and a call for more sustainable private investments to achieve social inclusion. Next, it introduces the state of the art of Brazil’s framework and legislation on sustainable FDIs. Last, it presents initiatives on financing and promotion of sustainable development in Brazil. This chapter comes to a conclusion that Brazil has taken the first steps, but much more has to be done in order to effectively introduce sustainable FDIs as entrepreneurial tools for social inclusion, reduction of inequalities and better conditions of life for all Brazilians.

This paper aims to analyse, the issue concerning the quality of inward foreign direct investments (FDI) by empirically investigating the role of four sustainability determinants of FDI, namely, economic, environmental, social and governance using data from 22 developing countries of the Asian region over a period from 2000–2016.

The methodology adopted to achieve this purpose is dynamic panel estimation (two-step difference generalised method of moments) by developing three econometric models. The data is sourced from the World Development, Worldwide Governance Indicators, International Telecommunication Union and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

The econometric results indicate that, in general, control of corruption, political stability and electricity consumption influence sustainable FDI favourably; and CO₂ emissions lower the extent of sustainable FDI. The result underlines deficiencies in the information technology aspect, which has a non-significant yet positive relationship with sustainable FDI. A pertinent finding of this study is that the past value of FDI inflows increases the current year’s FDI inflows in developing countries.

The findings related to gender and information technology aspects found in this paper will be of interest to both researchers and policymakers for substantially reorienting the sustainability attributes to foreign investment.

The authors’ main contributions are to encapsulate the conceptual framework into an empirical model by combining all the four dimensions, namely, environmental, economic, social and governance for developing countries.

Purpose – While previous studies have highlighted opportunities, this chapter sheds light on the negative effects of globalization that mature European multinational enterprises (MNEs) encounter.

Design/methodology/approach – We develop an extended network perspective to argue that globalization has resulted in several network-related threats for mature European MNEs.

Findings – European MNEs encounter three types of negative effects. First, globalization has caused local problems to increasingly spill over to other parts of MNE networks. Second, globalization has bred or strengthened countervailing powers, such as emerging-market MNEs, supranational governmental bodies, and international non-governmental organizations, which have eroded the power of mature European MNEs by entering their networks. Third, while globalization has caused the economic networks of MNEs to expand, it has made critical production factors scarcer since the availability of labour, land and natural resources has not increased accordingly. We conclude that globalization acts as a double-edged sword, which has not only offered opportunities for mature European MNEs but has also led them to experience important new and intensified threats.

Social implications – Earlier studies have shown that globalization can have positive effects for MNEs and negative effects for the sovereignty of nation states, domestic employment and the natural environment. The findings of the present study imply that globalization can also backfire on mature MNEs, thereby undermining their competitive position or even jeopardizing their continuity.

Originality/value – The negative effects of globalization for MNEs have remained understudied. Our contribution is to systematically analyze the neglected yet important ‘dark side of globalization’ that mature European MNEs encounter.

Our work provides a comprehensive examination of two major issues concerning the fragmentation of state and possible state failure, which will be one of the major deterrence for achieving peace in our world. There are two important sources of conflicts – one is for the rural society and the other is relevant for the urban society. In the rural set-up, we argue that the fragmentation of markets leads to clientelism between rich farmers and their subjugated clients, small farmers. We show this as an equilibrium phenomenon in which a handful of rich and powerful players, or farmers, can effectively control millions of small farmers, which can easily challenge the authority and the mandate and the jurisdiction of a nation state. This element of clientelisation can effectively fragment the state in a developing nation.

The purpose of this paper is to better understand the current state of the Islamic financial system in Tunisia. In addition, it is aimed at discussing the preconditions that can help exploit the potential development of Tunisia's Islamic finance and expand the banked population.

The paper describes the regulatory and legal framework governing the Tunisian Islamic banks. It provides a mapping of Islamic banks, mutual funds, Takaful institutions and a potential Sukuk market. The paper also relates recent developments including academic qualifications and training in Islamic finance.

The paper concludes with various recommendations for the successful transition from a niche position to a critical mass. It argues the need to establish a specific regulatory framework, supervisory standards and rules of accounting for this kind of institutions. It suggests the development of Islamic financial education to strengthen the role played by the Islamic financing Ecosystem and to help Tunisia promote local and exportable expertise to other countries. Finally, authorities should focus more on promoting market Sukuk, Takaful and microcredit to fund SME.

This paper contributes to the assessment of the current situation of Islamic finance in Tunisia by performing a full scan of the Islamic financial landscape instead of being limited only to Islamic banks. It proposes some prerequisites to benefit from the opportunities offered by the Islamic finance industry in Tunisia to take advantage of its future potential and ensure its promotion.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

A growing number of multinational enterprises (MNEs) are engaging with the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) and trying to link the SDGs to their foreign direct investments (FDI). They are searching for ways in which they can contribute to the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of the sustainable development of host countries while pursuing their commercial and competitive objectives, that is, creating shared value (CSV). One type of foreign direct investor that has long-standing experience with balancing profit and impact is development finance institutions (DFIs), that is, public, or semi-public institutions investing in private commercial projects in developing countries with the aim of creating impact. Through the conceptual lens of organizational theory of hybrid organizations, this chapter analyzes how the large Danish DFI Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) has balanced its SDG mission with financial profitability. This balance is achieved by focusing on the SDGs as the value driver at the organizational level; by applying a portfolio perspective on the balance between SDGs and profitability; and by applying rigorous impact measurement methodologies along with financial accounting at the project level. The chapter suggests that this kind of experience from DFIs may have important implications for other foreign direct investors, such as MNEs, seeking to engage with the SDGs. It also contributes to the literature by bringing an understudied foreign direct investor, that is, DFIs, into the international business (IB) literature on SDGs and by providing a conceptual framework for analyzing how MNEs can create shared value in their FDI.