Five decades of research on foreign direct investment by MNEs: An overview and research agenda

Justin Paul; María M Feliciano-Cestero

doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.017

Five decades of research on foreign direct investment by MNEs: An overview and research agenda

J Bus Res. 2021 Jan:124:800-812. doi: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.04.017. Epub 2020 Apr 11.

Authors

Justin Paul¹, María M Feliciano-Cestero¹

Affiliation

¹ Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR 00925, USA.

Abstract

Despite the significance attached to foreign direct investment (FDI) by Multinational enterprises (MNEs), there are is no comprehensive review of the FDI literature. Moreover, those that have been published, focus on subsets of FDI. This review systematically examines the empirical as well as theoretical research on FDI through an analysis of 500 articles published during the last five decades. Theoretical models, methods, context, and contributions to scholarship were reviewed. We strive to highlight the key theories, paradigms, and articles and provide directions for future research. We conclude that FDI has evolved as the most significant area of international business.

Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Foreign subsidiary; IFDI; MNE; OFDI.