Global Cities of External Europe as FDI Objects

Abstract

Global European cities are important targets for foreign direct investment (FDI). The purpose of the article is to identify the causes of this phenomenon on the basis of empirical and theoretical analysis based on the concepts of global cities. London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Warsaw, which represent different types of global cities, were taken to conduct such a study. This determined the structure of the work, which consists of theoretical and methodological introduction, sections of the analysis of the FDI inflow in these cities, as well as a conclusion, which contains the main results ofthe work and the possibility of applying them to Moscow. The main conclusions of the article can be summarized as follows: global cities have their own specialization in FDI inflows, which is ensured by the presence of special attractive factors against the background of the general investment attractiveness of a country. It is possible to distinguish three key specializations (functions, roles) of a global city from the point of FDI inflow: international hub for transit capital, regional hub for the transfer of FDI to other parts of a country, site for FDI inflow to the city economy. The cities under consideration clearly demonstrate the different nature of their specialization, which depends on the different endowment of each city with specific attracting factors. London is a world leader and is able to accumulate an extremely large volume of FDI due to all three specializations. Dublin, although it is a young global city, already plays a key role in the inflow of FDI into the country as an international hub and partially as an attractive city economy. Amsterdam also specializes in the international hub activity and to a lesser extent as an attractive city economy. Frankfurt attracts substantial FDI into its economy on the base of its banking sector and also plays a role of the regional hub. Warsaw also plays the roles of a recipient of FDI and a regional hub.