The transnational corporation and the direct foreign investments: A comparative analysis on selected countries since 1990s

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the importance of the transnational companies and the foreign direct investments in the economy of some selected countries since 90’s. For this, it was examined the internationalization of the transnational companies, the composition of the world wide external capitals flows, determinants of the foreign direct investments attraction and the evolution of the foreign direct investment flows . The developed countries’ not-financial transnationals increased more than 176% from 1990 to 2004 in its total assets. The biggest worldwide corporations are located in the developed countries. General Motors, Exxon, Shell and Ford Motors have held the greatest amount of assets abroad. It was US$ 1.38 trillion, whereas the biggest transnational corporations in the developing countries come from Asia. The Chinese China National Petroleum Corp and the Hutchison Whampoa from Hong Kong, a gigantic corporation of telecommunications, retail and hotels, in total assets, the two enterprises held US$194.55 billion in 2004. United States, among industrialized economies, and China, among the developing countries, were the countries with the greatest foreign direct investments. They received 14.4% and 5.7% of the global foreign direct investments, respectively.

Key words: foreign direct investments, international corporation, industrial and non-industrialcountries.