This thesis incorporates institutional definition of the economies in transition into the economic analysis of the investment variable. Probability environment of the real world is another point of analysis. Decision-making framework is analyzed and incorporated into analysis as well. Thesis tries to answer questions such as: Why same projects are treated differently in different circumstances. Finally the Russian experience is investigated and used to prove hypothesis about investment climate parameters and to give examples of investment into institutional matrix.

Ukrainian investment climate is attractive and repulsive at the same time. Although Ukraine occupies a strategic geographic position, it is a crossroad between one of the world's largest market European Union and one of the world's rapidly growing markets Russia; country of rich natural resources and manpower with a high level of education, which makes it an attractive investment environment, but still it has not yet reached its expected potential, because of inability to minimize government intervention in the operation of markets, remove administrative barriers that hinder business and perform target privatization and become attractive to foreign and domestic investors. That's why, the main objective of Master Thesis is to analyse and overview the investment climate of Ukraine through the framework of political, legal, economic and social conditions, risks and opportunities that ensure and promote investment activities for domestic and foreign investors. Thesis is concentrated on the notion of investment, types of investments and investment climate in general in order to benefit from knowledge how the investment can be protected and be eligible to take claim to dispute settlement. The research is analysing the recent economic performance and macroeconomic policy of the country; focused on general overview of investment legislation base and current regulation of foreign investment regime; describe the basic challenges and opportunities to invest in Ukraine.

This thesis focuses on the analysis of the business environment of the Republic of Belarus and trade relations with the Czech Republic. The goal of this thesis is to provide the reader a comprehensive document that provides a complete and relevant information to help readers to orientate themselves in the Belarusian business and investment environment. At the same time the aim of this thesis is to help Czech entrepreneur identify prospective business opportunities and Czech entrepreneur could realistically exploit his business activities. The mapping the business environment in Belarus, I used the PEST analysis, which is reflected in the logical construction of the thesis. The thesis charts the political and legal environment, economic environment, socio-cultural and technological environment of the country. I exploit my own knowledge and experience I have accumulated during numerous trips to Belarus in this thesis. This thesis clearly summarizes the significant characteristics of the business environment in Belarus. Getting familiar with its contents raises a presumption of successful entry of the Czech entity on the Belarusian market.

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Структура магистерской диссертации включает в себя введение, магистерской три главы, заключение, список использованных источников. В первой главе мы рассмотрели роль прямых зарубежных русском и инвестиций в экономическом развитии стран и теоретические концепции мотивов осуществления ПЗИ. Во второй главе мы провели анализ инвестиционного климата Российской Федерации, проанализировали формы привлечения прямых иностранных инвестиций в национальной экономике и сделали анализ факторов, влияющих на прямые иностранные инвестиции в России. В третьей главе изучили стратегические приоритеты и эффективность привлечения иностранных инвестиций в развитие экономике региона. В заключении подведены итоги выполненной работы. / The structure of the master's thesis includes an introduction, master's three chapters, conclusion, list of sources used. In the first chapter, we examined the role of foreign direct Russian and investment in the economic development of countries and the theoretical concepts of the motives for implementing FDI. In the second chapter, we analyzed the investment climate of the Russian Federation, analyzed the forms of attracting foreign direct investment in the national economy and made an analysis of the factors influencing foreign direct investment in Russia. The third chapter explored the strategic priorities and the effectiveness of attracting foreign investment in the development of the region's economy. In the conclusion, the results of the work performed are summarized.

The purpose of this project is to describe and explain the foreign investment decision process in the uncertain and turbulent environment of transition economy. By getting an in-depth understanding of how decision-making works in the environment of transition economy, the study intends to contribute to the development of business administration theory in the area of foreign investment decision-making, particularly its application in the turbulent and uncertain world. Theoretical ‘blocks’, elaborated on the basis of literature study, include the following concepts: the framework of transition economy; initial motivation (or reasons) of companies to make foreign direct investments (FDI); investigation of the investment climate and information collection methods; project evaluation and investment decision criteria; risk assessment factors and risk reduction measures. Transition economy is defined in the study as ‘a non-planned, non-market economy’ where the new emerging market institutions coexist with the bureaucracy and hierarchy inherited from the old administrative system. Investment projects, therefore, should probably be seen as being under institutional influence from both the local (i.e. transition economy) and the Western investor’s home country environments. The empirical data presented in the paper also shows that it is necessary to establish the relevant economic, legal, political and social institutions in order to attract FDI. The study further includes the analysis of the main components and features of transition economies and their influence on FDI decision-making. One of the results of the study is that FDI decision-making in transition economies is largely consistent with different theoretical approaches suggested in the literature. On the other hand, the empirical support obtained for different theoretical approaches is often questionable and opened to alternative interpretations. The presented project suggests that theoretical perspectives do not preclude each other, but rather have a complimentary character. The study attempts to contribute to the mainstream FDI theories through a firm-level approach based on the case studies. Two in-depth case studies are presented in the paper: Ericsson’s direct investments in Russia and Vattenfall’s investments in the Baltic countries. A formal questionnaire based on the parameters of theoretical ‘blocks’ was created and 25 top executives from Ericsson and Vattenfall who participated in FDI decision-making were surveyed. The empirical investigation took place during the period 1997 - 1998 with partial updating of the cases during the year 2000.  The study shows that where companies confront stable environments, investment decision routines and procedures will be less necessary and important than where market uncertainty is high. The strong appreciation of the local business partners for properly done investment calculations increases the importance of capital budgeting in transition economies more than in developed market economies. Besides, traditional investment appraisal methods provide managers with an ‘objective’ or ‘materialistic’ feedback for the decision-making in the rapidly changing uncertain environment. On the other hand, the study emphasises the importance of strategy over financial techniques and argues that FDI decisions in transition economies should be based on methods consistent with the company’s long-term objectives. In case of permanent changes, new approaches as well as better co-ordination of traditional techniques with strategic, political, historical, geographical and cultural issues are required. Ericsson’ s direct investments in Russia are presented in the paper in connection with other factors: the company’s historical involvement in Russia, marketing strategy, human resource development, privatisation and restructuring of the telecommunication sector in Russia, etc. Nordic Electric Power Co-operation (Nordel), the EU’ s decision in 1996 to create an internal electricity market in Europe, Baltic ring study, future plans to privatise the energy companies in the Baltic countries, etc., are the framework to present the second case. An application of project evaluation and risk assessment techniques for broader and more complicated environments shows that investment decision-making is probably as much, if not more, a social, political and cultural technology as an economic one. The study argues then that the rational choice decision-making model often co-exists with alternative models elaborated in social science - limited rationality, political and garbage can. According to the empirical data, the investment decisions are largely based on intuition, business experience and judgement, personal contacts with representatives from the local country, and these investment criteria are inevitable and acceptable in a situation of total chaos and permanent change. The right chosen partner, for example, is one of the major criteria for the success of the investment project in a transition economy. One of the outcomes of this study is that the revitalised form of investment decision-making will differ rather markedly from much of what has gone before: less emphasis on the quantitative aspects of capital budgeting, more on the qualitative aspects of companies and investment environment. The project also argues that determinants, approaches and criteria of investment activity in transition economies are largely consistent with patterns observed in other parts of the world. A few specific environmental conditions of transition economies, however, are shown in the study to affect the pattern of FDI decision-making. The level of turbulence is still different compared to the developed market economies due to uncertainties and unpredictibilities associated with environment of transition economies. Other major differences are the large power distance with authoritarian leadership, strong hierarchy and bureaucracy as well as the vital role of personal contacts in transition economies. It is not clear, however, if these features of transition economies should be seen as inherited from the past communist system or as an alternative way to organise the economic actors through networks, a way that is natural and appropriate for the majority of Asian societies.

Thesis (MDF (Business Management))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The risk of operating in a foreign investment climate is a subject of interest to most investors looking for opportunities to expand their international footprint. There are many organisations that provide risk assessments of the levels of threat of specific risks in foreign countries. However, most focus on political or what is commonly known as country risk or they provide a summary of ranking providing a comparison of different countries’ investment climate attractiveness. The make-up of the variables used in coming up with the ranking or a view on a particular country do not usually provide a level of detail that allows an analyst to understand the qualitative issues that give a country a particular rating assessment or ranking. This research has tried to address this gap by coming up with a detailed qualitative model that provides understanding of the key sources of information required for each major category of risk. The research also attempts to integrate as many aspects of the business environment that could affect a country. A particular case of Malawi has been chosen to demonstrate the level detail and understanding the investors need to reach before making a decision on whether to invest in a country. The research focuses on three major areas. The first is to provide a good understanding of what is currently available for analysts to use in determining risk factors of a particular environment or risk category. The second is to illustrate the uses and limitations of the options available in the form of assessment reports or assessment models. The third is to develop a model and demonstrate its use in the context of Malawi’s investment climate. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die meeste van die beleggers op soek na geleenthede om hul internasionale voetspoor uit te brei, stel ook in die risiko belang wat besigheid in ’n buitelandse beleggingsklimaat inhou. Talle organisasies verskaf risiko-assesserings van die bedreigingsvlakke van spesifieke risiko’s in die buiteland. Die meeste van hulle kyk egter na politieke of landspesifieke risiko’s of hulle verskaf ’n opsomming waarin die ranglysposisies van die aanloklikheid van verskillende lande se beleggingsklimate vergelyk word. Die samestelling van die veranderlikes in hierdie ranglysposisies of oorsig van ’n spesifieke land verskaf gewoonlik nie voldoende detail aan die ontleder om die kwalitatiewe kwessies te verstaan wat aan ’n land ’n spesifieke assessering of ranglysposisie gee nie. Hierdie navorsing fokus op hierdie gaping deur ’n breedvoerige kwalitatiewe model te verskaf vir ’n beter begrip van die vernaamste inligtingsbronne wat vir elke groot risikokategorie vereis word. Hierdie navorsing poog ook om soveel aspekte van die sakeomgewing te integreer wat ’n land kan beïnvloed. Die spesifieke geval van Malawi is gekies om die vlak van detail en begrip te demonstreer wat beleggers nodig het voordat hulle ’n beleggingsbesluit ten opsigte van ’n land kan neem. Die navorsing lê op drie belangrike areas klem. Die eerste is om ’n goeie begrip te bied van die inligting wat tans aan ontleders beskikbaar is om die risikofaktore van ’n spesifieke omgewing of risikokategorie te bepaal. Die tweede is om die gebruike en beperkings te illustreer van die opsies wat in die vorm van assesseringsverslae of assesseringsmodelle beskikbaar is. Die derde is om ’n model te ontwikkel en die gebruik daarvan in die konteks van Malawi se beleggingsklimaat te demonstreer.

L’aspect peu volatil observé durant les différentes crises financières et l’importance des externalités relatives à la simulation des économies hôtes attribuent aux IDE une dimension considérable surtout pour les pays en développement (PED). Dès lors, l'attractivité du territoire est devenue la priorité principale des politiques des PED vers une ouverture sur les marchés internationaux. Ce qui explique la grande vague de réformes structurelles et de stratégies attractives qui a marqué ces économies durant ces deux dernières décennies. La contribution de cette thèse repose sur l'analyse des déterminants des IDE au niveau macroéconomique et mésoéconomique. La première étude consiste à estimer l’attractivité des territoires de la région du Moyen Orient et de l’Afrique du Nord (MENA). Nous avons appliqué les nouveaux apports de l’économétrique spatiale pour la spécification des flux bilatéraux de huit pays MENA en provenance de 16 pays d’OCDE sur la période 1985-2010. L'objectif est d'examiner la spécificité de cette région en évaluant conjointement la contribution spatiale interrégionale pour expliquer la nature des IDE et le rôle de l’autocorrélation spatiale intra-régionale à promouvoir l’investissement dans les territoires étudiés. La deuxième étude procède à l’analyse typique du climat d’investissement marocain objet de la recherche. Il s’agit de faire une comparaison sectorielle en identifiant la significativité des déterminants des IDE dans le secteur primaire, le secteur secondaire et le secteur tertiaire. Le travail consiste en premier lieu d’évaluer l’impact des variables macroéconomiques sur les flux des IDE dans neuf secteurs. En deuxième lieu, des variables mesurant la qualité institutionnelle sont intégrées individuellement afin d’approximer les différentes élasticités du climat juridique et administratif sur l’attractivité des IDE. / The low volatility observed during the global financial crises and the importance of externalities on simulating host economies attribute considerable interest to foreign direct investment especially for developing countries (DCs). Therefore, the territorial attractiveness became the main priority for DCs’s policies towards more international openness. This explains the multitude of structural reforms and attractive strategies adopted by these economies over the last two decades. The contribution of this thesis is based on the analysis of FDI determinants at the macroeconomic and mesoeconomic level. The first study estimates the territorial attractiveness of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). We have applied the new contributions of the spatial econometric specification to examine the bilateral flows from 16 OECD countries to eight MENA countries over the period 1985-2010. The purpose is to jointly evaluating the spatial interregional contribution to explain the nature of FDI present in the region and the role of the spatial intraregional autocorrelation to promote investment in the studied areas. The second study proceeds to analyze the specificity of Moroccan investment climate subject of this research. It consists to compare different economic sectors by identifying the significance of the FDI determinants in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Thus, we estimate the impact of macroeconomic variables on FDI inflows within nine sectors. Thereafter, three institutional variables are individually incorporated to approximate the various elasticities of the legal and administrative climate on FDI attractiveness.

Investment climate in Lithuania is attractive and adverse at the same time. Since Lithuania declared its independence in 1990, it started a reform process from centralized economy and political system towards free market focusing on adjusting the policies and attracting more foreign investment. Therefore the thesis analyses how Lithuania was developing concerning its macroeconomic, political and legal as well as social, cultural and technological aspects. The assessment of Lithuania's investment climate in respect to these factors is the main objective of the thesis. So, to a large extent, Lithuania as a country is firstly positioned in a favourable geographical location by the Baltic Sea and offers investors good infrastructure, diversified economy, investment laws that conform to EU standards, low corporate profit tax, well educated and considerably cheap labour force as well as stable democratic government, however, the thesis reveals that it does not outweigh shortcomings that eventually seem to be more investment influential. Therefore the thesis also contains recommendations and suggestions for investment climate in Lithuania improvement towards building stronger, more reliable and attractive environment for foreign investors.

Many countries would like to use foreign direct investment to increase the growth of GDP and promote stable development. The Czech Republic is one of the countries having the largest FDI within Central and Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, Chinese investments have increased significantly and already became an important feature of the China-Europe relationships during recent years. The closer cooperation between China and Europe could encourage FDI. Within the kinds of FDI, the real estate industries experienced a rapid increase in many developed and emerging regions. Therefore, the aim of this study is aiming to analyse the investment environment of Chinese commercial properties in the Czech Republic. Two basic research designs will be employed for this research. The first design is focusing on collected recent available data to present the investment climate of the Czech Republic. In this part, we also make comparisons of the Czech Republic with serval economies. We found that the relatively low cost of labour, low inflation rate, easier to set-up a business (in terms of both times consuming and cash consuming) make the Czech Republic becomes more attractive. And this is consistent with the empirical analysis. Secondly, the questionnaire method was used for the study and we get back 108 questionnaires....