UN World Investment Report 2010 - Office of Trade Negotiations

CHAPTER I Global Trends in FDI 7
12 trillion yen ($133 billion) higher than
the previous year, but they still remained
40 per cent lower than at their 2008 peak.
A similar trend can be observed in emerging
economies. For example, the operating
Box I.2. Outward FDI from the BRIC countries
Rapid economic growth at home, high commodity prices, and FDI liberalization in host countries
have been feeding a boom in outward investment from BRIC, which reached a peak of $147
billion in 2008 – almost 9 per cent of world outflows, compared to less than 1 per cent ten years
ago (box figure I.2.1). Although their FDI outflows fell in 2009 due to the global financial and
economic crisis, the four countries’ TNCs were again active outward investors over the first five
months of 2010. a
As in the case of developed countries, outward FDI
from BRIC has been boosted by rising volumes of
cross-border M&As. Between 2000 and 2009, Indian
firms finalized 812 deals abroad, Chinese firms finalized
450, Brazilian firms finalized 190, and Russian
firms finalized 436. Some of these deals were valued
at more than $1 billion (visit http://www.unctad.org/
wir for the full list of mega deals). TNCs from BRIC
share a number of common features:
•
•
•
•
They have developed various ownership-specific
advantages that allow them to be competitive in
foreign markets as well as in their own markets.
profits of companies of the Republic of
Korea listed on the local stock exchange
saw double-digit growth in the first quarter
of 2010, compared to the same period in
the previous year. General improvements in
Box figure I.2.1. Outward FDI
flows and stocks from BRIC
(Billions of dollars)
Source: UNCTAD, FDI/TNC database (www.unctad.
org/fdistatistics).
In organizing their expansion abroad, Brazilian, Chinese, Indian and Russian TNCs alike
have sought to establish portfolios of locational assets as increasingly important sources of
their international competitiveness.
Initially, firms from BRIC expanded mainly into their own region, often into countries with
which they had close cultural links. A growing number of TNCs have ventured further afield,
however, in search of new markets and resources. India’s FDI stock in emerging markets, for
example, used to be concentrated in Asia, which accounted for 75 per cent of the total in the
mid-1990s. By 2008, India’s FDI flows to outside of Asia had increased to 61 per cent.
A large number of TNCs from BRIC are motivated by strategic considerations rather than
by short-term profitability, reflecting the role of state-owned enterprises in the outward
FDI of the group. The majority of Chinese TNCs, for example, are state-owned, and some
Brazilian, Indian and Russian TNCs are also state-controlled (Petrobras, ONGC Videsh and
Gazprom, for instance).
Many of the TNCs headquartered in BRIC have become truly global players, as they possess
– among other things – global brand names, management skills and competitive business
models. Some of them, ranked by foreign assets, are: CITIC (China), COSCO (China),
Lukoil (Russian Federation), Gazprom (Russian Federation), Vale S.A. (Brazil), Tata (India)
and ONGC Videsh (India).
Supportive government policies have backed the rise of BRIC’s outward FDI. The adoption, in
the early years of the new millennium, of China’s “go global” policy successfully encouraged
domestic enterprises to invest globally. Brazil, India and the Russian Federation also want to
create global players through incentives (e.g. creating national champions in the Russian Federation
and in Brazil, and further liberalization of foreign exchange regimes in India).
Source: UNCTAD.
a “Growing nations draw deal activity”, Financial Times, 17 May 2010.