This research focuses on the determinants of Vietnam’s outward FDI by studying simultaneously the influence of two pull factors and push factors. In addition, the work examines the differences in assessing the impact of two factors groups on investment decisions by market entry method. The authors conduct qualitative research interviewing six experts as the managers have an important role in the decision to invest directly abroad for their business and quantitative research by multiple regression methods studying samples consisting of 248 enterprises. Push factors group from Vietnam includes competitive pressure of Vietnam market, monetary policy, interest rates of Vietnam, regulations and procedures for licensing investment abroad of Vietnam, incentive policy, and investment incentives to overseas. Pull factors group from host country includes culture–geography, macroeconomics and market, infrastructure, regulations and policies related to investment. Through two groups of factors, the authors withdraw into four groups that impact the Vietnam’s FDI abroad including: (i) culture–geography, (ii) infrastructure; (iii) the macro-economic and market; and (iv) regulations and policies related to investment. The results indicate that two groups of factors, both pull factors and push factors, have impact on Vietnam’s FDI abroad.

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The success of exports in Vietnam has become a driving force for economic growth since the reform in 1986. The paper uses data from 2010 to 2014 to estimate the gravity model for Vietnam’s exports with the random effect estimation. The empirical results show that the bilateral trade of Vietnam is positively associated with the country’s GDP and importing countries’ GDP. Furthermore, it has a negative relationship with distance from Vietnam to trading partners. These results are akin to those of the previous studies of the gravity model. Particularly, foreign direct investment, border effects and exchange rate play a significant role in promoting exports of Vietnam. Besides, the deepened integration into the region and world market also has significant impacts on expanding exports of Vietnam. Therefore, these factors have contributed to explaining the success in exports of Vietnam over the past few years.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role external debt and foreign direct investment play in influencing financial development in Africa. Design/methodology/approach Annual data on external debt, foreign direct investment and financial development were extracted from the World Bank World Development Indicators from 2002 to 2015. The data employed were analysed within causal research design and the dynamic panel using generalized method of moment estimation approach. Findings The findings revealed that external debt and foreign direct investment have a significant positive relationship with financial development in African economies. Governments of the sampled economies should enact policies that would help attract high level of foreign direct investment as it contributes positively to financial development. Finally, governments of the sampled African economies should ensure foreign direct investment and external funds borrowed are channelled to productive sectors. Originality/value The paper analysed the relationship between external debt, FDI inflows and financial sector development. The paper is the first in terms of such analysis within the framework of the dual-gap framework, which is the first time in these kinds of studies. Previous studies have concentrated on the effect of financial sector on FDI and not the other way around.

Purpose – The factors that determine foreign direct investment (FDI) are important to policy-makers, investors, the banking industry and the public at large. FDI in Ghana has received increased attention in recent times because its relevance in the Ghanaian economy is too critical to gloss over. The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of FDI in Ghana between the period of 1990 and 2015. Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a causal research design. The study used the Johansen’s approach to cointegration within the framework of vector autoregressive for the data analysis. Findings – The study found a cointegrating relationship between FDI and its determinants. The study found that both the long-run and short-run results found statistically significant negative effects of inflation rate, exchange rate and interest rate on FDI in Ghana while gross domestic product, electricity production and telephone usage (TU) had a positive effect on FDI. Research limitations/implications – The study found a cointegrating relationship between FDI and its determinants. The study found that both the long-run and short-run results found statistically significant negative effects of inflation rate, exchange rate and interest rate on FDI in Ghana whiles gross domestic product, electricity production and TU had a positive effect on FDI. Practical implications – This study has potential implication for boosting the economies of developing countries through its policy recommendations which if implemented can guarantee more capital inflows for the economies. Social implications – This study has given more effective ways of attracting more FDI into countries which in effect achieve higher GDP and also higher standard of living through mechanisms and in the end creating more social protection programs for the people. Originality/value – Although studies have been conducted to explore the determinants of FDI, some of the core macroeconomic variables such as inflation, interest rate, telephone subscriptions, electricity production, etc., which are unstable and have longstanding effects on FDI have not been much explored to a give a clear picture of the relationships. Therefore, a study that will explore these and other macroeconomic variables to give clear picture of their relationships and suggest some of the possible ways of dealing with these variables in order to attract more FDI for the country to achieve its goal is what this paper seeks to do.

The fierce competition among hardware companies is increasingly becoming a global competition. With a fast-paced innovative environment, international business is becoming a strategic plan that all hardware management teams have to follow. However, with unique characteristics of high-tech industry, the international business of hardware firm potentially has specific issues, which make this research worth to proceed. This study examines the relationship between international business and performance of hardware companies from 2008 to 2014. To evaluate this potentially significant relationship, different degrees of internationalization are accounted to examine whether each stage may influence dissimilarly to the performance. In order to study a greater scale of this relationship, innovative performance, as a key competitive factor of high-tech companies, is also measured as another indicator to evaluate the internationalization’s effects. A profound analysis is also provided to explain the findings based on unique characteristics of the hardware industry. The study finds out that companies who invest to diversify their markets likely achieve a higher profit during the internationalization process than their competitors.

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