The thesis is focused on finding out an innovative potential in Vysočina region. Theoretical part is concerned with the theory of competitiveness and innovation. The other part of thesis deals with the development of foreign direct investments, their forms and location factors on which the investor decides. The end of theoretical part summarizes the theory of brownfields and industrial zones. Whole theory is completed with nationwide statistics from all those areas. In the practical part of the thesis are carried out the analyses that aimed to evaluate the investment potential of Vysočina region. It is an analysis of the region in terms of transport and technical infrastructure, educational and demographic structure and analysis of industrial zones, brownfields, innovations and foreign direct investments in the Vysočina region. Finally the SWOT analysis is completed and the investment opportunities of the Vysočina region are evaluated.

This study deals with foreign direct investments and their impacts on regional labour market and on domestic firms through spillover effects. The main goal was to find out if the foreign presence has positive influences on the host regional economy. This study has two important parts - quantitative and qualitative researches. The result of quantitative research based on multiple regression comes with no relevant empirical evidence of spillover effects. The qualitative research as a case study of TRCZ allows a trying to solve possible FDI-impacts on regional economy of Lovosice region. Keywords: foreign direct investment, multinational enterprises, impact of FDI, host economy, spillover effects

Após a abertura econômica, empresas brasileiras de diversos setores deram início ou ampliaram seus processos de internacionalização. Esse movimento acentuou-se a partir de 2004, quando os investimentos diretos no exterior das transnacionais brasileiras (IBDs) cresceram em uma magnitude sem precedentes. A recente expansão internacional, entretanto, difere das experiências passadas não apenas no volume dos investimentos, mas também quanto ao seu destino e qualidade, que abarcam um número crescente de países e setores. A presente dissertação contempla uma detalhada caracterização da internacionalização de 148 transnacionais brasileiras nas últimas duas décadas no que diz respeito a sua composição setorial e à localização geográfica dos IBDs. Por meio de análises quantitativas e qualitativas, chegamos a conclusões que desconstroem as ideias recorrentes na literatura acadêmica de que esse movimento estaria restrito a setores intensivos em commodities ou concentrado na América Latina. Ao evidenciarmos as correlações existentes entre os setores de atividade das empresas e suas estratégias de inserção internacional, demonstramos que as empresas mais intensivas em tecnologia buscam a internacionalização primordialmente nos maiores e mais dinâmicos mercados do globo como uma forma de reforçar os laços com os clientes e obter acesso a novos conhecimentos produtivos e tecnologias. Adicionalmente, a presente dissertação procura superar as limitações da perspectiva da gestão das empresas, predominante na literatura acadêmica sobre o tema, ao investigar os determinantes externos da recente intensificação da internacionalização das empresas brasileiras por meio de uma abordagem transdisciplinar. Nesse sentido, contextualiza historicamente a inserção externa das transnacionais brasileiras desde a década de 70 até os dias de hoje, analisando em detalhes os impactos da reestruturação da geografia produtiva internacional, da difusão de novas tecnologias e de fatores macroeconômicos e políticos sobre os fluxos de IBDs. Por meio dessa mudança de perspectiva, é possível alcançar uma melhor compreensão das características da trajetória recente de internacionalização das empresas brasileiras, bem como novas implicações para a formulação de políticas industriais. / After economic liberalization, Brazilian companies from several sectors initiated or expanded their internationalization processes. This trend became more pronounced after 2004, when Brazilian outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) grew with an unprecedented magnitude. The recent international expansion, however, differs from past experiences not only in the volume of investments, but also regarding their destiny and quality, covering an increasing number of countries and sectors. This dissertation includes a detailed characterization of the internationalization process of 148 Brazilian transnational companies (TNCs) during the last two decades, with particular reference to their sectoral composition and the geographical location of their OFDI projects. Through quantitative and qualitative analysis, this research reaches conclusions that deconstruct the recurring ideas in the academic literature that the internationalization of Brazilian companies would be restricted to commodities intensive sectors or concentrated in Latin America. By revealing the correlations between different sectors of economic activity and their international insertion strategies, we demonstrate that companies from technology-intensive sectors seek internationalization primarily in the largest and most dynamic markets of the world, as a way to strengthen ties with customers and gain access to new knowledge and technologies. Additionally, this dissertation seeks to overcome the limitations of the international business perspective, prevalent in the academic literature on the topic, by investigating the external determinants of the recent intensification of Brazilian OFDI through a transdisciplinary approach. In so doing, this research historically contextualizes the internationalization of Brazilian TNCs from the 70s to the present, analyzing in detail the impacts of the changing geography of international production, the diffusion of new technologies and macroeconomic and political factors on the Brazilian OFDI. This change of perspective allows a better understanding of the characteristics of the recent internationalization of Brazilian companies and also illuminates conclusions that lead to new implications for the formulation of industrial policies.

This thesis provides a cross-country analysis of potential tax revenue losses due to the ways different countries tax over-border dividend and interest incomes of multinational enterprise. Withholding taxation of outgoing dividends and interest payments is regulated by domestic tax rules as well as bilateral double tax treaties. The signing of such a treaty might substantially reduce the tax rate levied by the source country on the outgoing passive income and thus decrease its tax revenue. We create a large panel dataset and estimate withholding tax rate elasticities of dividend and interest outflows for a large set of countries around the world. Subsequently, we use these elasticities to estimate potential tax revenue losses due to outgoing dividend and interest payments for the source countries in our dataset. The results show highly elastic dividend outflows, 2.3% - 2.58% decrease related to 1% increase in the applicable withholding tax. We also find substantial tax revenue losses due to dividend outflows for a number of source countries, the largest for Canada (1.35 - 3.19 billion USD) and the United States (2.27 - 2.94 billion USD). The investor country behind the largest part of potential losses shows up to be the Netherlands. JEL Classification F21, F23, H25, H26 Keywords double tax treaty;...

A globalização propiciou que novas estruturas de empresas tomassem forma. Visando ampliar seus mercados, as maiores companhias do mundo começaram a internacionalizar suas atividades. As primeiras atividades a serem realizadas fora do país de origem foram as mais simples, como produção, comercialização e distribuição, no entanto, graças ao avanço da tecnologia, ações mais nobres puderam ser realizadas em outras regiões. Essas mudanças estruturais forçaram as empresas multinacionais a ampliar suas fronteiras tecnológicas, passando agora a pesquisar e desenvolver produtos e processos para o mercado global, mas sempre dando o merecido destaque às peculiaridades regionais que muitas vezes decidem quem terá sucesso. A força que a internacionalização das atividades de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento tomou e sua importância tanto para o crescimento da companhia como para o desenvolvimento do país que recebe investimentos destinados a esse fim merecem ser estudadas. Com isso o objetivo desse trabalho é comparar o grau de internacionalização das atividades de P&D nas subsidiárias das empresas estrangeiras localizadas no Brasil com aquelas localizadas na Índia e na China através de indicadores de C&T. / The globalization propitiated that new structures of companies took form. Aiming at success in new markets, the biggest companies of the world started to internationalize its activities. The first activities to be made through of the native country ware simple, as production, commercialization and distribution, however, with the advance of the technologies, nobler actions could have been carried through in other regions. These structural changes forced the multinationals companies to extend its technological borders, passing to search and to develop products and processes for the global market, but giving the deserved emphasis to the regional peculiarities that many times decide who will have success.. The internationalization of the activities of Research and Development and its importance for the growth of the companies and for the development of the country that receives investments deserve to be studied. The objective of this dissertation is to compare the degree of internationalization of the activities of R&D in branch offices of foreign companies located in Brazil with those located in India and China using Science and Technology data.

Economia e Gestão Internacional / Master in International Economics and Management / A performance empresarial tem sido apontada por vários autores como um importante tópico de pesquisa no ramo dos Negócios Internacionais (International Business), principalmente no que diz respeito às empresas multinacionais. As empresas, em geral, coordenam as suas actividades por objectivos e competem para alcançar vantagem competitiva através do desempenho. Esta dissertação investiga se as empresas multinacionais estrangeiras (FO) e as domésticas (DO) diferem em desempenho comparativo. Especificamente, este estudo pretende determinar se há diferenças de performance significativas entre as multinacionais estrangeiras e as suas congéneres domésticas, e se essas diferenças variam consoante as medidas de performance. O enquadramento que subjaz a este estudo baseia-se em teorias de organização industrial (IO) e de negócio internacional (IB), e, na sua aplicação empírica, analisa uma amostra recente (dados para o ano de 2006) que inclui as maiores empresas portuguesas retiradas da base de dados SABI (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). Este estudo foi realizado utilizando modelos econométricos estimados por método de mínimos quadrados (OLS) com desvios padrão robustos e por regressão de quantis. Os resultados são inequívocos: as empresas FO têm um impacto positivo e significativo na performance empresarial em ambos os tipos de medidas de desempenho usadas (lucro e produtividade). Os resultados deste estudo sugerem que há uma diferença significativa ao nível do desempenho entre as empresas FO e DO na indústria transformadora em Portugal. Este estudo contribui também para o debate sobre medidas de política pública relevantes, nomeadamente aquelas relacionadas com a promoção de investimento directo estrangeiro (IDE), com externalidades, e com os efeitos do IDE em empresas domésticas. / Firm Performance has been pointed by different authors as an important research matter in International Business, notably in multinational corporations (MNCs). Organisations in general coordinate their activities by objectives and compete to seek competitive advantage via performance. This dissertation investigates if foreign owned (FO) and domestic owned (DO) firms differ in comparative performance. Specifically, this study seeks to determine if there are significant performance gaps between foreign MNCs and their domestic counterparts, and if those differences/gaps vary with different performance measures. This study draws on an underlying theoretical framework based on industrial organisation (IO) and on international business (IB) theories, which is tested by examining a large scale recent sample (for the year 2006) including the Portuguese top largest firms extracted from the SABI database (Sistema de Análise de Balanços Ibéricos/Coface MOPE). This study was done using econometric models estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) with robust standard errors and by quantile regressions. The results are unequivocal: FO firms have a positive and significant impact in firm performance in both types of performance measures used (profitability and productivity). The findings of this study suggest that there is a significant performance difference between FO and DO firms in the manufacturing industry in Portugal. This study also contributes to the debate about relevant policy measures, notably related to inward investment promotion, performance externalities and effects of inward investments in local economies.

Ciências Empresariais / Nos últimos anos, talvez nenhum assunto na área da Gestão Internacional tenha recebido o mesmo nível de atenção como a escolha do modo de entrada de IDE, em particular, a decisão entre adquirir uma empresa estrangeira já existente ou estabelecer uma nova filial no exterior. Todavia, os resultados, longe de serem consensuais, têm sido fornecidos por estudos ao nível da empresa. Uma questão interessante, e ainda não explorada, é a evidência empírica acerca da existência de factores macroeconómicos específicos a cada modo de entrada. Uma outra problemática que carece igualmente de investigação diz respeito aos efeitos potenciais que as F&A internacionais e os investimentos de raiz (IR) exercem no crescimento económico dos países recipientes. Estas constituem as duas questões centrais deste trabalho. Ao nível da primeira questão, estendemos o trabalho de Globerman e Shapiro (2005) com vista a investigar, não só os determinantes macroeconómicos específicos das F&A internacionais, mas também os dos IR, adoptando um painel de 53 países, ao longo do período 1996-2006. Encontramos evidência que nos permite concluir que, apesar da existência de um conjunto de variáveis que são comuns a todos os modos de IDE (como a dimensão da economia, o grau de abertura ao exterior, o índice de governação e o índice de desenvolvimento humano), existem outras variáveis que parecem ser específicas do modo de entrada. Entre estas, o grau de protecção ao investidor e as variáveis associadas ao contexto cultural parecem desempenhar um papel importante na explicação das F&A internacionais e dos IR, respectivamente. Além disso, não encontramos diferenças significativas entre os países desenvolvidos e os países em desenvolvimento, no que respeita aos determinantes específicos do modo de entrada Na segunda questão foi conduzida uma análise inovadora para estudar a relação entre o IDE e o crescimento económico, distinguindo entre os efeitos das F&A internacionais e os dos IR. A evidência sugere a existência de uma relação causal bidireccional entre o IDE / as F&A e o crescimento económico. Constatamos ainda que o crescimento económico causa os IR, mas o inverso não é verdadeiro. Adicionalmente, com base na estimação de um modelo estrutural de crescimento, os resultados indicam uma relação positiva entre o IDE de raiz e o crescimento económico, em ambos os grupos de países. Ao invés, as F&A internacionais tendem a exercer um impacto negativo no crescimento económico dos países em desenvolvimento e não significativo, no caso dos países desenvolvidos. / In the last years there were few subjects in International Management that have received so much level of attention as the FDI entry mode choice, in particular, the decision between acquiring an already existing foreign firm or establishing a new firm in a foreign country. However, the results, far from being consensual, have been supplied by firm-level studies. An interesting question, not yet explored, is the empirical evidence related to the existence of macroeconomic mode-specific determinants. Another issue which requires investigation is related to the potential effects that cross border mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and greenfield investments cause on host countries economic growth. These are the two central questions of the present study. In what concerns the first question, we extended the work by Globerman and Shapiro (2005) in order to investigate, not only the macroeconomic specific determinants of cross border M&A, but also those of greenfield investments. We adopted a panel data set of 53 countries, over the period 1996-2006. We have found evidence that allow us to conclude that, despite the existence of a group of mode-encompassing variables (such as economy s size, openness, governance and human development index) there are others that seem to be mode-specific variables. Among these, the degree of investor protection and cultural context variables seem to play an important role in the explanation of cross border M&A and greenfield investments, respectively. In addition, we did not found significant differences between developed and developing countries, with respect to entry mode-specific determinants. In the second question a new approach was introduced to study the relationship between FDI and economic growth, while distinguishing the effects of cross border M&A and the ones of greenfield investments. The evidence suggests that there is bidirectional causality between FDI / M&A and economic growth. We have also concluded that economic growth causes greenfields, but the reverse is not true. Moreover, based on the estimation of a structural growth model, the results indicate a positive relationship between greenfield investments and economic growth, in both groups of countries. Instead, cross border M&A seem to exert a negative effect on the economic growth of developing countries and insignificant on developed countries.

Dans la quête des pays du Sud de moyens de développement économiques en vue d'améliorer le bien-être collectif de leurs populations, ces dernières décennies ont connu une concurrence accrue entre les pays en développement pour attirer le plus grand volume d'investissement directs étrangers. Cette concurrence est devenue de plus en plus acharnée "race to the bottom" en raison de la difficulté accrue d'obtention de crédits auprès d'organismes de financement internationaux. Les investissements directs étrangers (IDE) constituent non seulement des sources de financement mais aussi un transfert de technologie et de savoir-faire industriel vers leurs économies. Une question centrale dans cette thèse, que nous avons tenté d'examiner en profondeur de manières théorique et empirique, consiste à comprendre les mécanismes qui ont engendré le phénomène d'IDE et les facteurs qui l'encouragent. Parmi les nombreux pays en développement qui ont tenté de préparer un terrain attrayant pour les IDE, certains ont moins bien réussi. Ceci n'a pas empêché une deuxième vague de pays de se précipiter vers ce phénomène, convaincus que les IDE sont le moteur du développement. C'est là que vient notre deuxième question centrale où nous tentons d'établir un lien entre les IDE et la croissance économique. Notre travail empirique classe les pays en cinq zones régionales tout en mettant un accent particulier sur les pays du Maghreb et du Moyen Orient. Nous montrons que, pour être attrayant aux IDE, un pays devait être politiquement stable, doté d'infrastructures suffisantes, d'institutions efficaces et d'une population éduquée. Par ailleurs, il existe des biais spécifiques à certaines régions. La région du Maghreb et du Moyen Orient, par exemple, souffre d'un biais défavorable à l'accueil d'IDE. Nous tenterons d'expliquer et d'analyser les causes de ce biais. Concernant le lien IDE-Croissance, nous montrons, toutes choses étant égales par ailleurs, que les IDE ne commencent à avoir un effet positif sur la croissance qu'à partir d'un certain seuil de niveau de capital humain de la population. / The quest for progress towards economic development in the countries of the South has increased competition between these nations in the last two decades, as they each try to attract the largest volume of FDI. This competition has become a race to the bottom due to the increased difficulties in obtaining credit. Many developing countries have attempted to attract FDI. Some have been less successful than others, in this regard; however this did not prevent a second group of countries undertaking the same policy. The decision makers seem to be convinced that FDI is the engine of development and the main question in this thesis is to better understand the phenomenon of FDI, its mechanisms and determinants. The second question is an assay to establish a link between FDI and economic growth. Our work classifies countries into five zones with an emphasis on the Maghreb and the Middle East. We show that to be attractive for FDI; a country should be politically stable, with adequate infrastructure, effective institutions and an educated population. Natural resources and bilateral investment treaties are decisive factors for the attraction of FDI. In addition, there are biases specific to certain regions. The Maghreb and the Middle East suffer from negative biases that are preventing this zone from attracting FDI. We try to explain and analyze the causes of this limited volume of FDI received. On the link FDI-growth, we found that FDI does not begin to have a positive effect on growth until there is a certain threshold level of human capital in the population.

Thailand has been one of significant recipients of foreign direct investment (FDI) among developing countries over the last 30 years, and has recorded rapid and sustained growth rates in a number of different industrial categories. Thailand has shown a clear policy transition for foreign investment over time from an import-substitution regime to an export-oriented regime. Before the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis (1985-1996), Thailand had the fastest growing level of exports in manufactured goods among Asian economies. FDI plays a significant role in the Thai economy. Thailand has been pursuing different foreign investment policies at different times depending on the development objectives and economic situation in the country. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the determinants of FDI and foreign portfolio investment (FPI) in Thailand using the extended Gravity Model. Panel data is used to estimate and evaluate the empirical results based on the data for the years 1980 to 2004. It also examines the FDI flows between different locations and their geographical distances in Thailand. The primary research question addresses what factors motivate, attract, and sustain the FDI and FPI in Thailand. In addition, this study also examines the effects of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis on the inflows of FDI and FPI into Thailand. The results show that the inflows of FDI in Thailand, which are supply-driven, are significantly influenced by its 21 largest investing partners. The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis has no impact on the determinants of the inflows of FDI into Thailand, but positively influences the inflows of FPI into Thailand. Our results also show that increases in GDP and trade between investing partners and Thailand potentially attract more FDI and FPI into Thailand. Investing partners closer to Thailand draw more portfolio investment into Thailand than distant partners – emphasising that distance has a negative impact on the portfolio investment but a negligible impact on the FDI.

已開發國家有關海外直接投資活動的研究，自1960年代國際間海外直接投資活動如雨後春筍般出現才告展開。開發中國家的相關研究則在1980年代後期才開始，但仍屬少數。台灣地區的海外直接投資活動是從1980年代中期，投資環境惡化，生產成本上升後大量湧現。 　　本研究參酌Aharoni (1966)的投資決策階段，修正Larimo (1995)的決策過程模型，從行為學派的觀點來研究台商海外直接投資決策過程。經過八個個案的深入訪談，發現台商海外直接投資決策過程與行為學派過去結論相同者有下列四點： 　　一、投資動機為多重目的。 　　二、投資決策採可接受的原則。 　　三、實際決策時採單一去或不去的抉擇。 　　四、決策環境為動態，且非完全資訊下的理性抉擇過程。 　　而針對台灣廠商在海外直接投資過程中所表現出來的行為特色，則有下列兩點： 　　一、台商會策略性的運用合資夥伴促使投資案的順利進行。 　　二、母國政府政策在初步評估時對台商會有影響，但決策結果仍依實際效益而定。 　　在台商海外直接投資所遭遇到的跨文化管理上，本研究採Adler(1983)提出的Synergistic Research跨文化管理研究方法。實證發現，台商的跨文化管理問題多集中在人力資源管理問題上，這些問題可歸納為下列三類： 　　一、語言不同產生的溝通問題。 　　二、外派人員與當地合夥人或幹部相處合作問題。 　　三、民族性或文化差異造成政策推行的失效或差距。 　　台灣廠商在適應跨文化管理問題的過程及因應作為如下： 　　首先為了避免因與投資地主國文化不同而可能產生的管理問題，曾遭遇過跨文化管理問題的台商，會將文化差異程度列為選擇投資地主國的重要因素。 　　其次在跨文化管理作為上，海外初期營運是移植台灣母公司做法並因當地法規而略微修改。至於在當地勞工的管理上，則採「以夷制夷」方式，避免台籍幹部直接面對第一線的員工所可能因文化差異產生的管理問題。 　　在跨文化管理策略的形成上，台商目前傾向採本土化的「因地制宜」策略，並未有具體成形的「全球一致」策略。在適應過程中，台商會由文化衝突的經驗中學習，逐步修正其管理模式以配合雙方需求，並用於日後的投資案上。