Foreign Direct Investment in Emerging Economies: Corporate Strategy and Investment Behaviour in the Caribbean

The Caribbean countries of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad-Tobago represent excellent examples of the increasingly important role played by Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in less developed, micro-economies. The increased dependence of these countries on FDI, however, calls into question the attractiveness of the business environment of the region to the foreign investor. This volume examines both the investment behaviour and corporate strategies operating in these three countries, and assesses the factors which influence the motivations, location choices and market entry mode of multinationals making investments in the Caribbean. The degree to which these are shaped by the timing of the investment decision, the type of FDI - market-seeking, resource-seeking or export-seeking - and the country of origin of the investor is also explored. By drawing on core case-studies and the use of quantitative analysis, the author highlights key issues relating to corporate strategy and investment behaviour of Multinational Enterprises in the economies of less industrialized countries, including: public policy strategic management human resource development, institutional reform and infrastructural upgrading.