Abstract
The year 2020 marks the 30th anniversary of the World Investment Report (WIR), an UNCTAD publication that examines national, regional, and worldwide trends in foreign direct investment and foreign investment policies. I look back briefly at the first 30 WIRs and then look forward, asking: What next? Whither WIR? I argue that upcoming WIRs should address a mix of Big Questions and Grand Challenges and provide a baker’s dozen list of 13 possible themes.
Highlights
The year 2020 will be long remembered for many events, the most important of which will almost certainly be the COVID-19 pandemic and worldwide recession we are still experiencing
For international business scholars and policymakers, the year 2020 will be remembered as the 30th anniversary of the World Investment Report (WIR), which since 1991 has been written and published by UNCTAD’s Division of Investment and Enterprise (DIAE)
I look back briefly at the first 30 years of WIRs and look forward, asking: What next? Whither WIR? I argue that the WIR theme chapters should address a mix of Big Questions and Grand Challenges (Buckley, Doh, & Benischke, 2017) over the 10 years and provide 13 possible themes
Summary
Digital Economy Firms and Business Models Changing Nature of Work in Digital Economy Factfulness/Big Data Evidence-based policy making (EBPM) Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) Social Responsibility of Business. As a publication of UNCTAD, WIR is tasked with analyzing international trade and investment from the perspective of developing countries. My role on the “WIR@30” panel at the AIB 2020 (Virtual) Annual Conference, as requested by the panel chair, James Zhan, Director of DIAE, was to “think ahead” and identify what I saw as “key emerging issues for the future research and policy agenda of WIR.”. I interpreted this request as asking me to develop a list of possible theme chapters for the 10 years of WIRs. My talk, “Lorraine’s Wish List for 2021–2030,” discussed 10 possible theme chapters. 7, 2020) with the author, noted that his criteria for selecting WIR themes over the years had included “topicality, feasibility, and sensitivity.”. WIR themes needed to be topical and feasible and politically doable within the UNCTAD system.
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