Welcome to the LSE blog dedicated to globalisation and its consequences for local economic development and innovation. This blog aims to tackle and debate fundamental questions related to the location strategies of global investment flows and their impacts on their host countries, regions and cities across the globe. The blog aims to foster the dialogues between academics in all fields, students, policy makers, economic development practitioners, businesses, managers and members of local communities.
Location
- What characteristics make some regions and cities more likely attract and embed foreign investments?
- How important are regional institutions and business environments in attracting investments by foreign firms?
- What types of business functions are attracted to what types of regions? How multinationals choose how to enter their host economies (e.g. greenfield investments vs. acquisitions)?
- How has the Great Recession re-shaped the spatial organization of global value chains in in Europe and beyond? What about Brexit?
Impacts
- How important are global investment flows and value chains for innovation, jobs and economic growth of European and world countries, regions and cities?
- How does the innovation impact of global investment flows vary at different stages of technological development and in different institutional contexts across continents?
- How different strategies of foreign multinationals affect the innovation and growth trajectories of host regions and cities?
- How do outward FDI and off-shoring impact employment levels and innovation performance in their economies of origin?
Policy & Practice
- Can policy makers leverage global investment flows to promote innovation, growth and jobs? How?
- What incentives and tools really work to attract FDI? And to retain them?
- How do foreign investors identify the most suitable locations for their investments?
- How can multinationals make a valuable contribution to their host economies?
