Developing Tendencies of Foreign Direct Investments

Abstract

The formation process of foreign direct investment theories began in the second half of the twentieth century, it was period that the importance of foreign direct investment (FDI) in international capital movement increased, and this period was characterized by the rapid growth of multinational enterprises, which, in turn, is a major source of FDI. Scientific and technological progress has become the basis for decisions of transnational companies to invest capital in to different parts of the world and to coordinate and control its many branches from one country. During this period scientists actively began to develop theories and mathematical models of foreign direct investments, which meant studying the genesis of FDI, as well as analyzing their impact on the economy of both the host and the issuer countries. The analysis of foreign direct investment theories is closely related to the study of the activities of multinational corporations. Among them are some paradigms containing interesting discoveries that view the foreign direct investment as a contributing factor for the economic growth of the host country and its industrial development. In this article, the author consider the key theories and models of foreign direct investment: 1. The Product Life Cycle Theory, which is developed by Vernon; 2. Transnational companies and monopolistic computation theory, which is developed by Hymer; 3. Generalized theory of economic development, which is developed by Akamatsu; 4.The competitive advantage of nation’s theory, which is developed by Porter; 5.The eclectic paradigm and country's investment development theory, which is developed by Dunning; 6.Differential model of capital distribution between countries by Leontiev. The theories and models provide a basic range of motives of investors' behavior in the world market. It also makes it possible to analyze what impact foreign direct investment has on the economy of the recipient country and what forecast the recipient country's economy will have. Keywords: Globalization, Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Growth, Multinational Corporations, Analysis of Basic Theories and models;