No abstract

In view of the rapid increase of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from emerging economies in recent years, this study examines how OFDI supports economic development in the world's less advanced home countries. Drawing on theories of FDI, available literature of relevance and some recent evidence from emerging economies, this study finds that the objective of multinational enterprises to pursue assets and advantages abroad through OFDI can yield financial, intangible capability and tangible capacity returns. In the right circumstances, these returns generate important macroeconomic gains, mitigate some of the typical problems of economic development and provide broader benefits to societies. Despite some limitations, OFDI complements, sometimes in distinct ways, the development benefits many countries already realise through trade, migration and inward FDI. Emerging economies are best placed to benefit from the returns generated by OFDI.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze how path dependence in the evolution of major theories of foreign direct investment (FDI) locked in a theoretical perspective of the multinational enterprise that focused on asset-exploitation. This perspective is challenged by recent contradicting observations of multinationals from China and other emerging economies. A decisive re-orientation of FDI theory is proposed as a way forward to resolve this tension. Design/methodology/approach Placing FDI theories into the context of FDI patterns prevailing at the time they were developed, Thomas Kuhn’s framework on the evolution of scientific knowledge is employed to track how the mainstream FDI theory emerged, went through a period of normal science and then approached a crisis of science in this field. Findings The evolution of FDI theory is strongly path-dependent, which made it difficult for theory to effectively incorporate new conceptual discoveries and empirical findings about the nature of FDI activity. Originality/value FDI theory would benefit from a full re-orientation to a demand-oriented perspective which places the pursuit of advantages, assets, resources, etc., at the core of the theory. Such a change is implicit in many recent theoretical advances and would assure theory is generalizable to all types of FDI.