Outward Foreign Direct Investment from Russia: A Literature Review

Abstract

The revolution in Russian outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has occurred this century. UN statistics indicate that Russian OFDI stock was just USD 20 billion at the beginning of this century, whereas in 2013 it already exceeded USD 500 billion. The researchers have followed this skyrocketing investment growth and the numerous novel themes it has generated. On the eve of the millennium, there were only a handful of scientific studies focusing on Russian OFDI, whereas a decade later, significantly more than 100 contributions have emerged. With this review the authors aim to identify the development of Russian OFDI, its main trends, research gaps, key weaknesses and even some scientific disputes among scholars. With the description of the development of the research field, the authors wish to strengthen the accumulation of knowledge concerning Russian OFDI and aid other scholars to find novel research topics and focus their research more effectively than before.KEYWORDS capital exports from Russia, internationalization of Russian firms, literature review, Russian outward FDI According to Bulatov (1998Bulatov ( , 2001, Russian enterprises began to invest abroad in the last decades of the 19th century. Russian capital was exported primarily to China and Persia as well as to Mongolia.

Foreign board members in Russia’s largest corporations: A special emphasis on the country’s 10 biggest firms investing abroad

“…However, corporate governance has been a neglected research area, in the context of the Russian outbound FDI [Liuhto & Majuri, 2014]. As earlier studies on the Russian OFDI did not support the implementation of this research 1 , the author reviewed earlier fi ndings related to the relationship between board composition and an FDI decision by a fi rm, in a non-Russian context.…”

Effects of subnational regional corruption on growth strategies in emerging economies: Evidence from Russian domestic and international M&A activity

“…Adopting the regional level of granularity also helps us obtain new insights into the escape argument in the Russian context (e.g., Bulatov, ; Liuhto & Majuri, ). We find that, on average, Russian firms in a geographic expansion process seek to diversify their assets in less corrupt environments, thereby reducing both operating costs and business risks.…”

“…In this network, the regional level occupies a central role: despite the de jure centralization of the federal bureaucracy, the federal government must have the support of regional authorities to be effective (Chebankova, 2005). 17 16 There is also some literature about the internationalization activities of Russian firms (Bulatov, 1998;Filippov, 2010;Kalotay, 2002;Kuznetsov, 2011;Liuhto, Heikkila, & Laaksonen, 2009;Liuhto & Majuri, 2014;Panibratov, 2011) and, more generally, the emergence of multinational firms from Eastern Europe (e.g., Andreff, 2003;Caputo, Pellegrini, Dabic, & Dana, 2016;Gorynia, Nowak, Trąpczy nski, & Wolniak, 2015;Rugraff, 2010). 17 Russia is characterized by regional legislation that is harmonized with federal legislation for most of its formal rules.…”

“…There is also some literature about the internationalization activities of Russian firms (Bulatov, ; Filippov, ; Kalotay, ; Kuznetsov, ; Liuhto, Heikkila, & Laaksonen, ; Liuhto & Majuri, ; Panibratov, ) and, more generally, the emergence of multinational firms from Eastern Europe (e.g., Andreff, ; Caputo, Pellegrini, Dabic, & Dana, ; Gorynia, Nowak, Trąpczyński, & Wolniak, ; Rugraff, ).…”

Foreign nationals on the Boards of Directors of Russia’s Ten Largest Non-Financial Companies Investing Overseas

“…Corporate governance has been a little studied research theme in the context of the Russian outbound FDI [7] 4 . After analysing earlier studies on the relationship between the board composition and outbound FDI in Russia's (Chapter 2.1), the author reviews earlier findings related to the relationship between the board composition and an FDI decision by a company in a nonRussian context (Chapter 2.2).…”