IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wsr/ecbook/2012iiv-002.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Determinants of Greenfield Investment in Knowledge Intensive Business Services

Author

Listed:
  • Martin Falk

Abstract

This study investigates the determinants of bilateral Greenfield FDI projects and flows in knowledge intensive business services from OECD/BRIC countries to the EU countries for the period 2003-2010. Greenfield FDI projects are distinguished by type of activity: (i) business services, (ii) design, development and testing activities, (iii) headquarters activities and (iv) R&D services. Another aim of this study is to provide new empirical evidence on the patterns of Greenfield investments in knowledge intensive business services over time, source country and destination country. For Austria, the number of Greenfield investments in headquarter functions remains stable over time whereas Greenfield investments in R&D and related activities declined during the sample period. The same holds true for the number of jobs generated through greenfield investments. The results using panel count data models show that wage costs, tertiary education, corporate taxes, having a common border and sharing a common language all play a significant role in determining bilateral Greenfield FDI projects in knowledge intensive services. However, the impact of corporate taxation and labour costs differs widely across the functions and does not play a role in Greenfield investments in R&D and development, design and testing services.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Falk, 2012. "Determinants of Greenfield Investment in Knowledge Intensive Business Services," FIW Research Reports series IV-002, FIW.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsr:ecbook:2012:i:iv-002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.fiw.ac.at/fileadmin/Documents/Publikationen/Studien_2012_13/02-ResearchReport-Falk.pdf
    File Function: full text
    Download Restriction: none
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hugo Erken & Marcel Kleijn, 2010. "Location factors of international R&D activities: an econometric approach," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 203-232.
    2. Arie Y Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation? The emerging global race for talent," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(8), pages 1406-1406, October.
    3. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1067-1081.
    4. Strauss-Kahn, Vanessa & Vives, Xavier, 2009. "Why and where do headquarters move?," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 168-186, March.
    5. Céline Azémar & Rodolphe Desbordes, 2010. "Short‐run Strategies for Attracting Foreign Direct Investment," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(7), pages 928-957, July.
    6. Walter Kuemmerle, 1999. "The Drivers of Foreign Direct Investment into Research and Development: An Empirical Investigation," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(1), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Bruce A. Blonigen & Jeremy Piger, 2019. "Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Foreign Direct Investment, chapter 1, pages 3-54, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Eugene D. Hahn & Kraiwinee Bunyaratavej & Jonathan P. Doh, 2011. "Impacts of Risk and Service Type on Nearshore and Offshore Investment Location Decisions," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 357-380, June.
    9. Michele FRATIANNI, 2007. "The Gravity Equation in International Trade," Working Papers 307, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    10. Criscuolo, Chiara & Haskel, Jonathan E. & Slaughter, Matthew J., 2010. "Global engagement and the innovation activities of firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 191-202, March.
    11. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2008. "Why are companies offshoring innovation ?the emerging global race for talent," Working Papers CEB 08-009, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    12. Kolstad, Ivar & Villanger, Espen, 2008. "Determinants of foreign direct investment in services," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 518-533, June.
    13. V.N. Balasubramanyam, 2008. "Foreign Direct Investment," Chapters, in: Amitava Krishna Dutt & Jaime Ros (ed.), International Handbook of Development Economics, Volumes 1 & 2, volume 0, chapter 39, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Mehmet Demirbag & Keith W. Glaister, 2010. "Factors Determining Offshore Location Choice for R&D Projects: A Comparative Study of Developed and Emerging Regions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(8), pages 1534-1560, December.
    15. Santos Silva, J.M.C. & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2011. "Further simulation evidence on the performance of the Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood estimator," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 112(2), pages 220-222, August.
    16. Jonathan P Doh & Kraiwinee Bunyaratavej & Eugene D Hahn, 2009. "Separable but not equal: The location determinants of discrete services offshoring activities," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(6), pages 926-943, August.
    17. Mayer, Thierry & Zignago, Soledad, 2006. "Notes on CEPII’s distances measures," MPRA Paper 26469, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Magdolna Sass & Martina Fifekova, 2010. "Offshoring and Outsourcing Business Services to Central and Eastern Europe: Some Empirical and Conceptual Considerations," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(9), pages 1593-1609, October.
    19. Ronald B Davies & Rodolphe Desbordesz, 2012. "Greenfield FDI and Skill Upgrading," Working Papers 201209, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    20. Dossani, Rafiq & Kenney, Martin, 2007. "The Next Wave of Globalization: Relocating Service Provision to India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 772-791, May.
    21. Lilach Nachum & Srilata Zaheer, 2005. "The persistence of distance? The impact of technology on MNE motivations for foreign investment," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 747-767, August.
    22. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2006. "The Log of Gravity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(4), pages 641-658, November.
    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. Bunyaratavej, Kraiwinee & Hahn, Eugene D. & Doh, Jonathan P., 2007. "International offshoring of services: A parity study," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(1), pages 7-21, March.
    25. Tomi Laamanen & Tatu Simula & Sami Torstila, 2012. "Cross-border relocations of headquarters in Europe," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(2), pages 187-210, February.
    26. Pari Patel & Keith Pavitt, 1991. "Large Firms in the Production of the World’s Technology: An Important Case of “Non-Globalisation”," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 22(1), pages 1-21, March.
    27. Aleksandra Riedl, 2010. "Location factors of FDI and the growing services economy," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(4), pages 741-761, October.
    28. N/A, 2004. "Index for 2004," European Union Politics, , vol. 5(4), pages 511-512, December.
    29. Davide Castellani & Alfredo Jimenez Palmero & Antonello Zanfei, 2011. "The Gravity of R&D FDIs," Working Papers 1106, University of Urbino Carlo Bo, Department of Economics, Society & Politics - Scientific Committee - L. Stefanini & G. Travaglini, revised 2011.
    30. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1067-1081, October.
    31. Hall, Bronwyn H., 2011. "The internationalization of R&D," MERIT Working Papers 2011-049, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    32. Christian Bellak & Rajneesh Narula, 2008. "EU enlargement and consequences for FDI assisted industrial development," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2008-69, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    33. Bunyaratavej, Kraiwinee & Hahn, Eugene D. & Doh, Jonathan P., 2008. "Multinational investment and host country development: Location efficiencies for services offshoring," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 227-242, March.
    34. Bergstrand, Jeffrey H. & Egger, Peter, 2007. "A knowledge-and-physical-capital model of international trade flows, foreign direct investment, and multinational enterprises," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 278-308, November.
    35. Arie Lewin & Silvia Massini & Carine Peeters, 2009. "Why are companies offshoring innovation the emerging global race for talent (Journal of International Business Studies (2009) 40 (901-925) DOI:10.1057/jibs.2008.92)," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/205625, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    36. Alberto Di Minin & Jieyin Zhang, 2010. "An Exploratory Study on International R&D Strategies of Chinese Companies in Europe," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 27(4), pages 433-455, July.
    37. J. M. C. Santos Silva & Silvana Tenreyro, 2011. "poisson: Some convergence issues," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 11(2), pages 215-225, June.
    38. Miao Wang & M. C. Sunny Wong, 2009. "What Drives Economic Growth? The Case of Cross‐Border M&A and Greenfield FDI Activities," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 316-330, April.
    39. Manning, Stephan & Ricart, Joan E. & Rosatti Rique, Maria Soledad & Lewin, Arie Y., 2010. "From blind spots to hotspots: How knowledge services clusters develop and attract foreign investment," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 369-382, December.
    40. Bala Ramasamy & Matthew Yeung, 2010. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Services," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 573-596, April.
    41. Chakrabarti, Avik, 2001. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment: Sensitivity Analyses of Cross-Country Regressions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 89-113.
    42. Runjuan Liu & Dorothee J Feils & Barry Scholnick, 2011. "Why are different services outsourced to different countries?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(4), pages 558-571, May.
    43. Avik Chakrabarti, 2001. "The Determinants of Foreign Direct Investments: Sensitivity Analyses of Cross‐Country Regressions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(1), pages 89-114, February.
    44. Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stephen S. Golub & Dana Hajkova & Daniel Mirza & Kwang-Yeol Yoo, 2003. "Policies and International Integration: Influences on Trade and Foreign Direct Investment," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 359, OECD Publishing.
    45. Diana Farrell, 2005. "Offshoring: Value Creation through Economic Change," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 675-683, May.
    46. Zwinkels, Remco C.J. & Beugelsdijk, Sjoerd, 2010. "Gravity equations: Workhorse or Trojan horse in explaining trade and FDI patterns across time and space?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 102-115, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. repec:wsr:ecbook:2010:i:iv-002 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Martin Falk, 2013. "New Empirical Findings for International Investment in Intangible Assets. WWWforEurope Working Paper No. 30," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 46891, April.
    3. Niccolò Pisani & Joan Enric Ricart, 2016. "Offshoring of Services: A Review of the Literature and Organizing Framework," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 56(3), pages 385-424, June.
    4. Schmeisser, Bjoern, 2013. "A Systematic Review of Literature on Offshoring of Value Chain Activities," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 19(4), pages 390-406.
    5. Niccolò Pisani & Joan Enric Ricart, 2018. "Offshoring Innovation to Emerging Countries: The Effects of IP Protection and Cultural Differences on Firms’ Decision to Augment Versus Exploit Home-Base-Knowledge," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 58(6), pages 871-909, December.
    6. Gooris, Julien & Peeters, Carine, 2014. "Home–Host Country Distance in Offshore Governance Choices," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 73-86.
    7. Clampit, Jack & Kedia, Ben & Fabian, Frances & Gaffney, Nolan, 2015. "Offshoring satisfaction: The role of partnership credibility and cultural complementarity," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 79-93.
    8. Manning, Stephan, 2014. "Mitigate, tolerate or relocate? Offshoring challenges, strategic imperatives and resource constraints," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 49(4), pages 522-535.
    9. Rodgers, Peter & Khan, Zaheer & Tarba, Shlomo & Nurgabdeshov, Assylbek & Ahammad, Mohammad F., 2019. "Exploring the determinants of location choice decisions of offshored R&D projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 472-483.
    10. Julien Gooris & Carine Peeters, 2012. "Home-Host Country Distance and Governance Choices in Service Offshoring," Working Papers ECARES ECARES 2012-007, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    11. Martin Falk, 2016. "Austria 2025 – Corporate Investment in Austria. Stylised Facts, Impacts, Determinants and Investment Policies," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 59183, February.
    12. Manning, Stephan, 2013. "New Silicon Valleys or a new species? Commoditization of knowledge work and the rise of knowledge services clusters," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 379-390.
    13. Martinez-Noya, Andrea & Garcia-Canal, Esteban & Guillen, Mauro F., 2012. "International R&D service outsourcing by technology-intensive firms: Whether and where?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 18-37.
    14. Falk, Martin, 2016. "A gravity model of foreign direct investment in the hospitality industry," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 225-237.
    15. Jensen, Peter D. Ørberg, 2012. "A passage to India: A dual case study of activities, processes and resources in offshore outsourcing of advanced services," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 311-326.
    16. Torben Schubert & Elisabeth Baier & Christian Rammer, 2018. "Firm capabilities, technological dynamism and the internationalisation of innovation: A behavioural approach," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(1), pages 70-95, January.
    17. Schubert, Torben & Baier, Elisabeth & Rammer, Christian, 2016. "Technological capabilities, technological dynamism and innovation offshoring," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-044, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Caniato, Federico & Elia, Stefano & Luzzini, Davide & Piscitello, Lucia & Ronchi, Stefano, 2015. "Location drivers, governance model and performance in service offshoring," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 189-199.
    19. Mashiho Mihalache & Oli R. Mihalache, 2020. "What is Offshoring Management Capability and How Do Organizations Develop It? A Study of Dutch IT Service Providers," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 37-67, February.
    20. Marina Papanastassiou & Robert Pearce & Antonello Zanfei, 2020. "Changing perspectives on the internationalization of R&D and innovation by multinational enterprises: A review of the literature," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 623-664, June.
    21. Silvia Massini & Marcela Miozzo, 2010. "Outsourcing and Offshoring of Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: Implication for Innovation," Chapters, in: Faïz Gallouj & Faridah Djellal (ed.), The Handbook of Innovation and Services, chapter 20, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Greenfield foreign direct investment; knowledge intensive business services; headquarter functions; R&D activities; gravity equation; panel data; FDI determinants;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wsr:ecbook:2012:i:iv-002. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.