No abstract

It is scientifically proved that foreign direct investments (FDI) are one of the life-forces for economic growth. Foreign investors use local labour, capital, and natural resources that are constantly running out and limited. However, global companies that translocate their production process often devastate the nature of the host country. Decline of natural resources and climate changes forces to think about how people could develop country's economy and social welfare, but at the same time save nature and its resources. Global companies are the main developers of economy and social welfare, but also, they are environment polluters. The value of sustainable development is quite obvious, but there is a lack of research about the relationship between FDI and sustainable development in the literature. The literature separately analyses the problem of sustainable development or FDI impact on economic development. Often, FDI is described by determining the effects, but it does not address the question of expedient foreign capital, which would provide the greatest benefit to the host country. The article analyses the influence of foreign direct investments (FDI) on sustainable development. It develops the concept of sustainable investment. It aims to find out whether the purposively formed foreign direct investment policy can ensure the sustainability of economic development. In this case, FDI can become an instrument for the implementation of sustainable development. This study is about Ireland case. The choice is not coincidental. Since this country applied FDI policy, it was able to transform the economy rapidly, and also it became one of the most developed countries in Europe. The authors of the research chose ten economic, social, and environmental factors that define sustainable growth. The analysis revealed the contact between the indicators of FDI and sustainable growth in different periods of the economic cycle.

Driving factors and implications of foreign direct investments were widely discussed during the latest decade. Anyway, impression remains that due to the specifics of that type of investment, misinterpreting of their economic composition is rather frequent than rare. Hence, the paper starts with detailed classification of investment types. The next part of the paper is devoted to a review of approaches to FDI driving factors and outcomes. Finally, current trends of foreign capital flows in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are being observed and evaluated. Novel insights about new consistent patterns of foreign capital directions are being provided. The paper is being finalized by indicating contemporary implications of FDI withdrawal for host country related to its further secure and sustainable development.

Santrauka. Straipsnyje nagrinėjamas investicijų rėmimo poveikis TUI srautams šalyje. pirmojoje straipsnio dalyje analizuojama mokslinė literatūra, skirta investicijų rėmimo ir kitų TUI lemiančių veiksnių sąryšiui nustatyti. Empirinei analizei pasirinktos trys Baltijos valstybės. Išskiriamos trys pagrindinės investicijų paskatų grupės. Siekiant nustatyti TUI lemiančių veiksnių įtaką TUI srautams ir investicijų rėmimo reikšmę tarp jų, taikomi trys daugiakriteriniai metodai. Analizė patvirtino teorinius teiginius, kad investicijų rėmimas daro poveikį TUI srautams. Investicijų rėmimas turi stiprią įtaką pritraukiant TUI, ypač kai investicijų rėmimo strategija aiškiai suformuota ir įgyvendinama.

The problems towards foreign direct investment (hereinafter FDI) have been the subject of debate from the 1980s. The benefits of FDI are obvious: it is one of the main sources of external finance, which is especially important for developing economies. It is highly important to attract foreign direct investments for countries with rapidly growing economies. In order to direct foreign investments into the problematic business areas or problematic regions, targeted FDI policy is essential. However, because the countries with growing economies usually seek to attract foreign capital by any means, uncontrolled foreign investment can bring more harm than benefit. The aim of the article is to develop a complex-targeted FDI policy that would bring the greatest benefit to the state. The authors raise the question how to attract targeted FDI inflows. When selecting a method for the formation of FDI policy, another problem arises: the methods based on correlationregression analysis are frequently applied in the literature. This analysis is helpful in assessing relationships between individual factors; however, it does not allow determining the complex components of FDI policy. The authors assume that FDI policy is characterized by multi-criteria, therefore one of the qualitative multi-criteria methods-ANPhas been chosen for an empirical study because of the fact that, using this method, not only the effect of a criterion or sub-criterion but also the relationships between the sub-criterion are assessed. The criteria system is based on SWOT analysis. Four alternatives to current FDI policy are suggested which account for the threats and weaknesses that are characteristic of the Estonian economy. The following alternatives for FDI policy are proposed: FDI policy focused on the service sectors; FDI policy focused on the export promotion; FDI policy focused on R&D, and FDI policy focused on the manufacturing sectors. According to the research, FDI policy in Estonia is mostly influenced by its strengths and opportunities. The main weakness is the research and innovation system that may prevent from the attraction of FDI in knowledge-intensive sectors. A repeated synthesis highlighted Estonia's potential to successfully attract FDI and to exploit them in the knowledge-intensive services, high-tech and medium-tech sectors. The research results indicate that attracting FDI to the service sector would be the most effective policy that would bring a long-term positive impact on the country's economic development. investment promotion, Estonia, foreign investments, FDI policy, marketing activities.