This dissertation focuses on the development of foreign direct investment realized by Czech companies during the last two decades. The Czech Republic became one of the targets of foreign investors during its economic transformation while inward investments have all this time exceeded outward investments. This is probably the reason why Czech outward foreign direct investments do not attract such attention in economic research as inward investments. This dissertation tries to extend findings on the influences on the development of Czech outward foreign direct investments, describes who the main Czech investors abroad are and examines the microeconomic and macroeconomic impacts of foreign direct investments. Last but not least, application of the Investment Development Path theoretical concept was used in order to describe Czech outward foreign direct investment in the globalising world economy.

The success of the local development experiences after the 1980s is associated with the non-economic components as well as the economic ones in the contemporary development literature. Most apparently, the literature seems to be intensified on the local institutions and on the local social interaction which creates reciprocal cooperative trust relations. These socially constructed local institutions refer to the local rules, routines and patterns having been directly influencing the relation among the local actors of development. They are also seen to be the organizational actors of development being responsible for the social inheritance of traditional and even tacit local knowledge and facilitating the adaptation of other local actors to the changing supra local networks. In many cases, however, the age groups dominating these successful development experiences have come to the edge of or already exceeded the age limits of active workforce cohorts currently. The coming decade, therefore, indicates a succession period from these generations leading to the emergence of successful development experiences to their successors. This period is identified in this study as the generational transition. This concept represents a newly emerging field of contradiction and this study analyses and conceptualizes the influences of generational transition on the local pathways of development both in terms of the tensions between diverse generations, and in context of tensions between the institutions and successor generations and among the institutions being socially constructed by diverse generations. These tensions are analyzed in this study through the Kayseri experience which has created a successful local development practice after the 1980s by focusing the generational transformation of both the local development path and the socio-spatial patterns of the town. This analysis indicates three vitally important outcomes of generational transition. Firstly, the local socio-spatial institutions have a crucial importance in the social inheritance of the traditional local knowledge and they have been transformed by the influences of generational transition. Secondly, it is found that the economic organizations have been transformed generationally in tune with the generational transition. And finally it is found that the generational transition has directly been influencing the local development path by destroying or changing some institutions and by creating some new ones.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has grown exponentially in the recent past and has become one of the most important measures of globalisation. Today, Information and communication technologies (ICT) are viewed as one of the necessary conditions for the globalisation of business activities. ICT is also seen as a general purpose utility in many developed countries. Additionally, in many developing and so called emerging economies, there have been significant investments in ICT. Very recent studies show that the adoption and investment in ICT leads to economic growth and productivity gains at a macro-level. However, the link between ICT and FDI needs further exploration, especially in least developed and developing countries. This study aims to shed more light on internal factors that might explain the behaviour of FDI in emerging and developing economies and to understand if ICT capabilities of economies play a significant factor in foreign direct investments. The results from the study show that there is indeed a relationship between ICT and FDI in developing and developed countries; however, this relationship is not significant in least developed countries. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

The thesis analyses the investment development path (IDP) of CEE countries and discusses their movement to its later stages, which is conditioned by in- crease in outward foreign direct investment (FDI). Providing evidence on data until 2012, it enables to test the impact of global financial crisis on the validity of IDP and the stages reached by particular CEE countries. Moreover, the thesis explores the effect of inward reinvestment of earnings on the ability to move to later stages through the relationship with outward FDI, which has not been tested in the literature yet. The thesis on a cross-sectional basis shows that: a) CEE countries follow IDP; however, when using subsamples, it holds only for more developed ones; b) contrary to literature before crisis, CEE countries did not reach the third stage of IDP, which suggests that crisis could have caused movement back along their IDP; c) reinvestment of earnings positively influ- ences outward FDI. According to the latter, countries with high reinvestment of earnings and inward FDI stock are identified and is concluded that they are likely to enter the third stage of IDP. However, further research is needed as also other determinants are relevant for outward FDI, not only reinvestment of earnings.

This thesis is an inquiry into the challenges to the role of civic organisations in political reform during and after political transitions. The major question this research addresses is: How do institutions and institutional dynamics constrain political reform during a transition? The thesis examines how demands for reform by non-governmental organisations in Lebanon and Libya were not translated into concrete political decisions taken by regimes during a transition period. The thesis suggests that the combination of weak states and power-sharing agreements marginalizes civic organisations, and poses institutional constraints on the likelihood of reform. The thesis is based on contemporary research on events and reform trajectories in Lebanon and Libya, with a focus on the demands and strategies employed by activists during periods of transition. Lebanon between 2005 and 2010 and Libya between 2011 and 2013 underwent critical political events but subsequently did not adopt political reforms despite demands by civic organisations in two main areas: the electoral system in Lebanon and the constitutional process in Libya. A study of these two reform campaigns reveals deeply entrenched historical patterns and elements of continuity that led to path dependent outcomes during transition. By utilising theory and concepts from the perspective of historical institutionalism, the thesis identifies the factors behind path dependent outcomes in Lebanon and Libya. I argue that the transitions in Lebanon and Libya were a result of only ‘partially' critical junctures. The thesis builds on the approach of path dependence by offering insights as to how historically inherited institutional dynamics from the previous regime can cause junctures to be only ‘partially' critical for the broader political order. The main source of data comes from participant observations, interviews and focus groups with two organisations that tried to advance electoral reform and constitutional development.

Le développement des biocarburants soutenu par la communauté internationale connait un essor depuis le début des années 2000 à l'échelle mondiale pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre, répondre aux préoccupations énergétiques des pays industriels et diminuer la pauvreté énergétique dans les pays du sud. Cette stratégie rencontre plusieurs controverses qui portent sur les impacts socio-économiques des biocarburants et les trajectoires technologiques les mieux adaptées aux besoins de développement des pays d'Afrique sub-saharienne. L'objectif de la thèse est de comprendre les déterminants des processus d'innovation technologique sur la production des biocarburants. La thèse pose pour cela deux hypothèses. La première hypothèse structurée par le croisement entre les théories de la transition et les analyses systémiques de l'innovation repose sur le déterminisme institutionnel des processus d'innovation technologique qui structure l'émergence du secteur des biocarburants. La seconde hypothèse suppose que l'émergence et le développement du secteur bioénergétique résulte des conditions d'adoption micro-économiques et territoriales de la production des cultures énergétiques. Le test de ces hypothèses est réalisé en mobilisant un référentiel d'analyse en termes de système d'innovation dans le cas de la filière Jatropha au Burkina Faso. Les résultats soulignent que l'émergence des technologies biocarburants dans les pays d'Afrique subsaharienne est liée aux changements institutionnels induits par les crises énergétiques et environnementales. Ces changements institutionnels activent des ressources favorables à l'émergence et à la dissémination des technologies sur les biocarburants. Au Burkina Faso, ces changements sont impulsés par les politiques européennes et celles d'organisations sous régionales telles que l'UEMOA et la CEDEAO. Une modélisation économétrique permet de manière complémentaire de tester les conditions d'adoption micro-économique et d'implémentation des innovations technologiques sur les biocarburants. Les facteurs structurels de l'exploitation agricole (capital foncier, situation alimentaire, perception) ; la proximité des acteurs de la filière ; ainsi que les variables institutionnelles inhérentes au renforcement des capacités et compétences apparaissent structurants de ces processus d'adoption sur le Jatropha. Cette adoption dépend enfin des modèles technologiques qui permettent d'intégrer d'un point de vue territorial les phases de production de la matière première, transformation et utilisation dans un mécanisme de réponse aux besoins prioritaires du développement du Burkina Faso. / Biofuel development supported by the international community expands since the early 2000s globally to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, meet the energy concerns of industrial countries and reduce energy poverty in the countries of south. This strategy meets several controversies that address the socioeconomic impacts of biofuels and the most appropriate technological trajectories to the needs of developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of the thesis is to understand the determinants of the process of technological innovation on the production of biofuels. The thesis raises two hypotheses for this. The first assumption structured by intersection between the theories of transition and systemic analysis of innovation based on institutional determinism of technological innovation process that structures the emergence of the biofuel sector. The second assumption is that the emergence and development of the bioenergy sector resulting conditions of micro-economic and territorial adoption of the production of energy crops. The test of these hypotheses is achieved by mobilizing an analytical reference in terms of innovation system in the case of the Jatropha sector in Burkina Faso. The results highlight the emergence of biofuels technologies in sub-Saharan Africa is related to institutional changes induced by the energy and environmental crises. These institutional changes enable favorable resources to the emergence and diffusion of technology on biofuels. In Burkina Faso, these changes are driven by European policies and those of sub-regional organizations such as UEMOA and ECOWAS. Econometric modeling allows complementary way to test the conditions of microeconomic adoption and implementation of technological innovations on biofuels. Structural factors of the farm (land capital, food situation, perception); the proximity of the actors of the sector; and institutional variables inherent in capacity building and skills appear structuring of these processes of adoption of Jatropha. This adoption also depends technological models that integrate a territorial perspective the production phases of the raw material, processing and use in a response mechanism to the priority needs of the development of Burkina Faso.

The thesis provides information on rarely discussed issues -Czech outward foreign direct investments. The theoretical parts contains a brief overview of major theories and methodology of outward internationalization processes. The main hypothesis that deals with this issue is so called "investment development path" paradigm (IDP). This model explains why countries at a lower development stage first host foreign direct investments and why and when they start investing abroad. The practical part concentrates mainly on history, trends and role determining outward foreing direct investments of Czech enterprises. The major source for the analyses in this part is based on Czech National Bank data, Czech Statistical Office data and relevant scientific researches. This part also describes investment strategy of Czech companies - ČEZ a.s, Zentiva N.V. and Škoda-Auto a.s.The last chapter is engaged in applying IDP theory on case of Czech Republic.