IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/intman/v27y2021i1s1075425321000144.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How FDI Inflows to Emerging Markets Are Influenced by Country Regulatory Factors: An Exploratory Study

Author

Listed:
  • Contractor, Farok J.
  • Nuruzzaman, N.
  • Dangol, Ramesh
  • Raghunath, S.

Abstract

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows to emerging nations exhibit a big variation. To what extent do host-country regulatory and institutional variables attract or repel FDI? We integrate various theoretical perspectives: transaction cost economics, global value chain analysis and liability of foreignness to examine the impact of formal regulations, rule-of-law, property rights, procedural bottlenecks and infrastructure on the attractiveness of an emerging market over a 12 year period. We seek to identify which of the many regulatory variables most influence the FDI decision. We find that countries with more efficient start-up regulations, stronger protection of minority investment, and better procedures and infrastructure for international trade across their borders attract more FDI. These results have important implications for government policy reform in emerging markets, as well as for multinationals selecting which nations to invest in.

Suggested Citation

  • Contractor, Farok J. & Nuruzzaman, N. & Dangol, Ramesh & Raghunath, S., 2021. "How FDI Inflows to Emerging Markets Are Influenced by Country Regulatory Factors: An Exploratory Study," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:27:y:2021:i:1:s1075425321000144
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intman.2021.100834
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1075425321000144
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.intman.2021.100834?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Simeon Djankov & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2002. "The Regulation of Entry," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 1-37.
    2. Pol Antràs & Davin Chor, 2013. "Organizing the Global Value Chain," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(6), pages 2127-2204, November.
    3. Trevino, Len J. & Thomas, Douglas E. & Cullen, John, 2008. "The three pillars of institutional theory and FDI in Latin America: An institutionalization process," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 118-133, February.
    4. Williamson, Oliver E., 2010. "Transaction Cost Economics: The Natural Progression," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 215-226.
    5. Daria Taglioni & Deborah Winkler, 2016. "Making Global Value Chains Work for Development," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 24426, December.
    6. Oded Shenkar, 2001. "Cultural Distance Revisited: Towards a More Rigorous Conceptualization and Measurement of Cultural Differences," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(3), pages 519-535, September.
    7. Edison, Hali J. & Levine, Ross & Ricci, Luca & Slok, Torsten, 2002. "International financial integration and economic growth," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 749-776, November.
    8. Quyen T K Nguyen & Alan M Rugman, 2015. "Internal equity financing and the performance of multinational subsidiaries in emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(4), pages 468-490, May.
    9. Bruce A. Blonigen, 2019. "Firm-Specific Assets and the Link Between Exchange Rates and Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 3, pages 89-120, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    10. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna & Giuseppe Nicoletti & Fabio Schiantarelli, 2005. "Regulation And Investment," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(4), pages 791-825, June.
    11. Elinor Ostrom, 2010. "Beyond Markets and States: Polycentric Governance of Complex Economic Systems," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(3), pages 641-672, June.
    12. Asli Demeirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine (ed.), 0. "Finance and Growth," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 17119.
    13. Adrian Corcoran & Robert Gillanders, 2015. "Foreign direct investment and the ease of doing business," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(1), pages 103-126, February.
    14. André van Hoorn & Robbert Maseland, 2016. "How institutions matter for international business: Institutional distance effects vs institutional profile effects," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(3), pages 374-381, April.
    15. Ying Gan & Buhui Qiu, 2019. "Escape from the USA: Government debt-to-GDP ratio, country tax competitiveness, and US-OECD cross-border M&As," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(7), pages 1156-1183, September.
    16. Bruce A. Blonigen & Ronald B. Davies, 2004. "The Effects of Bilateral Tax Treaties on U.S. FDI Activity," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 11(5), pages 601-622, September.
    17. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    18. Elena Cirmizi & Leora Klapper & Mahesh Uttamchandani, 2012. "The Challenges of Bankruptcy Reform," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 27(2), pages 185-203, August.
    19. Contractor, Farok J. & Dangol, Ramesh & Nuruzzaman, N. & Raghunath, S., 2020. "How do country regulations and business environment impact foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    20. Christian Daude & Ernesto Stein, 2007. "The Quality Of Institutions And Foreign Direct Investment," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(3), pages 317-344, November.
    21. Kato, Hayato, 2015. "The importance of government commitment in attracting firms: A dynamic analysis of tax competition in an agglomeration economy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 57-78.
    22. Rajagopalan, Nandini & Zhang, Yan, 2008. "Corporate governance reforms in China and India: Challenges and opportunities," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 55-64.
    23. Michael A Witt & Arie Y Lewin, 2007. "Outward foreign direct investment as escape response to home country institutional constraints," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 38(4), pages 579-594, July.
    24. Bat Batjargal & Michael Hitt & Anne Tsui & Jean-Luc Arregle & Justin Webb & Toyah Miller, 2013. "Institutional Polycentrism, Entrepreneurs' Social Networks, and New Venture Growth," Post-Print hal-02276709, HAL.
    25. Timothy Besley, 2015. "Law, Regulation, and the Business Climate: The Nature and Influence of the World Bank Doing Business Project," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 29(3), pages 99-120, Summer.
    26. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2005. "Unbundling Institutions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 949-995, October.
    27. Selin Sayek & Mr. Alexander Lehmann & Hyoung Goo Kang, 2004. "Multinational Affiliates and Local Financial Markets," IMF Working Papers 2004/107, International Monetary Fund.
    28. Garry D. Bruton & David Ahlstrom & Han–Lin Li, 2010. "Institutional Theory and Entrepreneurship: Where Are We Now and Where Do We Need to Move in the Future?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 34(3), pages 421-440, May.
    29. Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman, 2000. "Finance and the sources of growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 261-300.
    30. S Tamer Cavusgil & Gary Knight, 2015. "The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities perspective on early and rapid internationalization," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 46(1), pages 3-16, January.
    31. Rainer Lanz & Sébastien Miroudot, 2011. "Intra-Firm Trade: Patterns, Determinants and Policy Implications," OECD Trade Policy Papers 114, OECD Publishing.
    32. Bat Batjargal, 2013. "Institutional Polycentrism, Entrepreneurs??? Social Networks, And New Venture Growth," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp1060, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    33. Alvarez, Roberto & Görg, Holger, 2009. "Multinationals and plant exit: Evidence from Chile," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 45-51, January.
    34. Witold J. Henisz & Bennet A. Zelner, 2004. "Explicating political hazards and safeguards: a transaction cost politics approach," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 13(6), pages 901-915, December.
    35. Mike W Peng & Denis Y L Wang & Yi Jiang, 2008. "An institution-based view of international business strategy: a focus on emerging economies," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(5), pages 920-936, July.
    36. Chang Hoon Oh & Jennifer Oetzel, 2017. "Once bitten twice shy? Experience managing violent conflict risk and MNC subsidiary‐level investment and expansion," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 714-731, March.
    37. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2008. "Better the devil you don't know: Types of corruption and FDI in transition economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 12-27, March.
    38. Wu, Yen-Chun Jim & Goh, Mark, 2010. "Container port efficiency in emerging and more advanced markets," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1030-1042, November.
    39. Oded Shenkar, 2012. "Beyond cultural distance: Switching to a friction lens in the study of cultural differences," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(1), pages 12-17, January.
    40. Beck, Nathaniel & Katz, Jonathan N., 2001. "Throwing Out the Baby with the Bath Water: A Comment on Green, Kim, and Yoon," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 487-495, April.
    41. Jatinder Singh, 2010. "Economic Reforms and Foreign Direct Investment in India: Policy, Trends and Patterns," The IUP Journal of Financial Economics, IUP Publications, vol. 0(4), pages 59-69, December.
    42. Mudambi, Ram & Navarra, Pietro, 2002. "Institutions and internation business: a theoretical overview," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(6), pages 635-646, December.
    43. Palitha Konara & Alexander Mohr, 2019. "Why We Should Stop Using the Kogut and Singh Index," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 335-354, June.
    44. Farok J. Contractor & Vikas Kumar & Sumit K. Kundu & Torben Pedersen, 2010. "Reconceptualizing the Firm in a World of Outsourcing and Offshoring: The Organizational and Geographical Relocation of High‐Value Company Functions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(8), pages 1417-1433, December.
    45. Leora Klapper & Raphael Amit & Mauro F. Guillén, 2010. "Entrepreneurship and Firm Formation across Countries," NBER Chapters, in: International Differences in Entrepreneurship, pages 129-158, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    46. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines, 2004. "A Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure Choice and Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2451-2487, December.
    47. Birger Wernerfelt, 1984. "A resource‐based view of the firm," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 5(2), pages 171-180, April.
    48. Bat Batjargal & Michael Hitt & Anne Tsui & Jean-Luc Arregle & Justin Webb & Toyah Miller, 2013. "Institutional Polycentrism, Entrepreneurs' Social Networks, and New Venture Growth," Post-Print hal-02313079, HAL.
    49. Klaus E. Meyer & Saul Estrin & Sumon Kumar Bhaumik & Mike W. Peng, 2009. "Institutions, resources, and entry strategies in emerging economies," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 61-80, January.
    50. Moghaddam, Kaveh & Sethi, Deepak & Weber, Thomas & Wu, Jun, 2014. "The Smirk of Emerging Market Firms: A Modification of the Dunning's Typology of Internationalization Motivations," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 359-374.
    51. Farok J. Contractor & Vikas Kumar & Sumit K. Kundu & Torben Pedersen, 2010. "Reconceptualizing the Firm in a World of Outsourcing and Offshoring: The Organizational and Geographical Relocation of High-Value Company Functions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(s2), pages 1417-1433, December.
    52. John H. Dunning & Sarianna M. Lundan, 2009. "The Internationalization of Corporate R&D: A Review of the Evidence and Some Policy Implications for Home Countries1," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 26(1‐2), pages 13-33, January.
    53. Klaus E Meyer, 2001. "Institutions, Transaction Costs, and Entry Mode Choice in Eastern Europe," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(2), pages 357-367, June.
    54. Freund, Caroline & Bolaky, Bineswaree, 2008. "Trade, regulations, and income," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(2), pages 309-321, October.
    55. Arvind Subramanian & Martin Kessler, 2013. "The Hyperglobalization of Trade and Its Future," Working Paper Series WP13-6, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    56. Henisz, Witold J, 2000. "The Institutional Environment for Multinational Investment," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 16(2), pages 334-364, October.
    57. Gary S. Becker, 1983. "A Theory of Competition Among Pressure Groups for Political Influence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 98(3), pages 371-400.
    58. Bevan, Alan A. & Estrin, Saul, 2004. "The determinants of foreign direct investment into European transition economies," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 775-787, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Hong & Gangopadhyay, Partha & Singh, Baljeet & Chen, Kairan, 2023. "What motivates Chinese multinational firms to invest in Asia? Poor institutions versus rich infrastructures of a host country," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    2. Niaz Morshed & Mohammad Razib Hossain, 2022. "Causality analysis of the determinants of FDI in Bangladesh: fresh evidence from VAR, VECM and Granger causality approach," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(7), pages 1-28, July.
    3. Bingqiang Li & Xi Li & Jinzhi Li & Hongchun Lin & Baojuan Rui, 2023. "Empirical Analysis of Export Tax Rebate on Inwards Foreign Direct Investment in China," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Mukherjee, Debmalya & Nuruzzaman, N. & Gaur, Ajai S. & Singh, Deeksha, 2023. "Pro-market reforms and the outsourcing tradeoffs: Evidence from the transition economies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(4).
    5. Wu, Jie & Zahoor, Nadia & Khan, Zaheer & Meyer, Martin, 2023. "The effects of inward FDI communities on the research and development intensity of emerging market locally domiciled firms: Partial foreign ownership as a contingency," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Contractor, Farok J. & Dangol, Ramesh & Nuruzzaman, N. & Raghunath, S., 2020. "How do country regulations and business environment impact foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
    2. Muellner, Jakob & Klopf, Patricia & Nell, Phillip C., 2017. "Trojan Horses or Local Allies: Host-country National Managers in Developing Market Subsidiaries," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 306-325.
    3. Xu, Kai & Hitt, Michael A. & Brock, David & Pisano, Vincenzo & Huang, Lulu S.R., 2021. "Country institutional environments and international strategy: A review and analysis of the research," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    4. Elitsa R Banalieva & Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Ravi Sarathy, 2018. "Dynamics of pro-market institutions and firm performance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(7), pages 858-880, September.
    5. Mike W. Peng & Sergey Lebedev & Cristina O. Vlas & Joyce C. Wang & Jason S. Shay, 2018. "The growth of the firm in (and out of) emerging economies," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 829-857, December.
    6. Xie, En & Reddy, K.S. & Liang, Jie, 2017. "Country-specific determinants of cross-border mergers and acquisitions: A comprehensive review and future research directions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 127-183.
    7. Michael A. Hitt & David G. Sirmon & Yuan Li & Abby Ghobadian & Jean-Luc Arregle & Kai Xu, 2021. "Institutions, industries and entrepreneurial versus advantage-based strategies: how complex, nested environments affect strategic choice," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(1), pages 147-188, March.
    8. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro, 2008. "Better the devil you don't know: Types of corruption and FDI in transition economies," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 14(1), pages 12-27, March.
    9. Rodolphe Durand & Robert M. Grant & Tammy L. Madsen & Sinziana Dorobantu & Aseem Kaul & Bennet Zelner, 2017. "Nonmarket strategy research through the lens of new institutional economics: An integrative review and future directions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 114-140, January.
    10. Godinez, Jose R. & Liu, Ling, 2015. "Corruption distance and FDI flows into Latin America," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 33-42.
    11. Sandberg, Susanne & Sui, Sui & Baum, Matthias, 2019. "Effects of prior market experiences and firm-specific resources on developed economy SMEs' export exit from emerging markets: Complementary or compensatory?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 489-502.
    12. Boddewyn, Jean J. & Peng, Mike W., 2021. "Reciprocity and informal institutions in international market entry," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    13. Buitrago R., Ricardo E. & Barbosa Camargo, María Inés, 2021. "Institutions, institutional quality, and international competitiveness: Review and examination of future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 423-435.
    14. Alvaro Cuervo-Cazurra & Luis Alfonso Dau, 2009. "Structural Reform and Firm Exports," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 49(4), pages 479-507, September.
    15. Liu, Xiaohui & Xia, Tianjiao & Jiangyong, Lu & Lin, Daomi, 2019. "Under what institutional conditions does overseas business knowledge contribute to firm performance?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 588-602.
    16. Gooris, Julien & Peeters, Carine, 2014. "Home–Host Country Distance in Offshore Governance Choices," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 73-86.
    17. Chan, Christine M. & Du, Jialin, 2022. "Formal institution deficiencies and informal institution substitution: MNC foreign ownership choice in emerging economy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 744-761.
    18. Mike W. Peng & Joyce C. Wang & Nishant Kathuria & Jia Shen & Miranda J. Welbourne Eleazar, 2023. "Toward an institution-based paradigm," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 353-382, June.
    19. Bailey, Nicholas, 2018. "Exploring the relationship between institutional factors and FDI attractiveness: A meta-analytic review," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 139-148.
    20. Trąpczyński, Piotr & Halaszovich, Tilo F. & Piaskowska, Dorota, 2020. "The role of perceived institutional distance in foreign ownership level decisions of new MNEs," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 435-449.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:intman:v:27:y:2021:i:1:s1075425321000144. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/601266/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.