Introduction: Resource-Seeking FDI: Birth, Decline and Resurgence

As the industrialisation of the Western world proceeded in the nineteenth century, there was an increasing demand for additional or new sources of raw materials to those that were available locally. Concomitantly, innovations in the late nineteenth century resulted in the use of different kinds of minerals and materials — for example, oil, rubber and bauxite — than those required previously. Further, as income rose in advanced temperate countries, consumers began to demand tropically produced food and drink. These factors precipitated the emergence of the multinational enterprise (MNE) seeking to engage in resource-seeking foreign direct investment (FDI) (Dunning 1992). Indeed, the majority of the FDI carried out by MNEs from Europe and the United States during the nineteenth century focused on mining, agricultural and forestry activities in Australia, Canada and the developing countries (McKern 1993). Interestingly, several of the mineral and oil MNEs which currently dominate their respective industries, such as Rio Tinto, de Beers and Royal Dutch Shell, emerged during this period (Dunning 1992).