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From both a firm and country perspective understanding the nature of multinational investment decisions is an important topic in understanding the contribution it makes to the economic growth, development of national prosperity and wealth creation of individual countries. The corporate decision as to where to invest, the resources and core competences to commit to each location is crucial for the creation of a firm's sustainable competitive advantage. Understanding the process of corporate investment decisions contributes to generating effective managerial recommendations to be adopted by multinational enterprises and to generating appropriate economic policies for host countries to enhance their attractiveness as investment destinations. The objective of this thesis is to develop a conceptual framework that provides insights into the strategic decision-making behaviour of multinational firms. It seeks to advance the understanding of the link between multinationals' foreign direct investment behaviour and location-specific considerations, which influence their ultimate investment decisions. The underlying assumption of this research is that in a changing global economy, resources and core competences of the multinational firm drive its decision making process with respect to international investment; furthermore multinational investment decisions are influenced by the changes in the environment of the host country. The notion that the manner in which a firm utilises its resources contributes to the development of its core competences directly influences its strategic and investment decisions. As a consequence, firms must examine and understand the resources and capabilities that enable them to generate above-normal 'rates of return'; this process will help the organisation to compete in the most effective manner in dynamic global markets. This research adopts a resource-based view with relevant key insights drawn from International business theory to understand multinational foreign direct investment decisions and motivations. The development of a theoretical framework for . multinational investment motivations bridges the resource-based view and international business literature; additionally it addresses a key challenge for the two literatures by reducing fragmentation and synthesising different theoretical perspectives.

The primary research question addressed in this study is: has Warren Buffett's 'meaning-making-in-action' changed over his life, as predicted by developmental theory? Meaning-making is defined within Constructive-developmental theory (Cook- Greuter, 1999,2005; Kegan, 1980,1994; Loevinger, 1976; McCauley et at., 2006; Torbert & Ass., 2004; Wilber, 2000) to mean the internal organising system individuals use to make sense of their experience. The question highlights the importance of vertical development which for Jean Piaget (1954) "was not the gradual accumulation of new knowledge or experience but a process of moving through qualitatively distinct stages of growth, a process that transforms knowledge itself" (McCauley et al., 2006, p. 635). Applying a constructive-developmental framework this study tracks the transformation in Buffett's meaning-making-inaction across thirty-two representative examples from his life that are then compared to one or more of seven developmental action-logics in developmental theory (Cook-Greuter, 2005; Fisher, Rooke & Torbert, 2003; Torbert & Ass., 2004). The study concludes that Buffett's meaning-making-in-action has transformed over his life and in a sequence predicted by the action-logics in developmental theory. This is reflected in a Spearman correlation coefficient of p. 93 which indicates a strong relationship between the predicted order of development and the actual order. While the principle contribution from this study is a methodological one within the field of developmental theory, the research also makes an original contribution to our understanding of the importance of Buffett's development to his effectiveness as 2 a leader. By implication developmental theory has important things to say about how others may develop their leadership as well. Next steps in this research include simplifying the application of the method.

This thesis provides an analysis of investment behaviour in Turkey after the implementation of structural adjustment programs. The aim of the study is to investigate the impact of program policies on investment. The validity of neoclassical economic predictions, which are associated with adjustment programs, is also discussed. In most parts, a comparative approach is adopted. That is, the performance in relation to investment after the initiation of structural adjustment is examined in comparison to that prior to adjustment. The thesis includes a review of theoretical and empirical investment studies. A large, long-run macro level data set on investment and other related economic indicators was compiled for the analysis. The impact of reforms is examined on the basis of three key transmission mechanisms: the public sector, the financial sector and efficiency. An econometric analysis of investment behaviour on the basis of cointegration and the error-correction method is used to test the significance of the variables concerned. Four main findings deserve emphasis. First, the degree of deregulation in Turkey has been limited by factors such as market structure and the incentive system. Second, the contributory role of the public sector, especially public investment in the process of development, can be understood on the basis of a historical perspective. Third, the experience of Turkey does not provide support for the predictions of the McKinnon-Shaw hypothesis. That is, financial deregulation measures have neither increased savings and credits significantly nor led to an improvement in financial efficiency and intermediation. Finally, overall and investment efficiency estimates do not suggest a superior performance after the introduction of structural adjustment. In general, our findings suggest that there have been crucial structural changes, especially in the distribution of investment after liberalisation. However, program policies have not necessarily led to an improvement in the level and the growth rate of total investment.

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