ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the potential for and impacts of foreign direct investment in nonmetropolitan areas. Individual communities are appreciative of the income, employment, and increased tax base associated with foreign investment and actively recruit foreign firms to their economies. Locational factors important to rural, foreign-owned manufacturers are compared to determinants provided by rural, domestic branch plants and metropolitan, foreign-owned facilities. Foreign-owned manufacturers in Georgia and South Carolina exhibited a marked preference for locating in or near metropolitan areas. Foreign-owned manufacturers in Georgia and South Carolina exhibited a marked preference for locating in or near metropolitan areas. The Georgia and South Carolina manufacturers were asked to rate nine regional characteristics according to the importance of that characteristic in selecting the Southeast as the location for their facility. The local development implications of attracting a branch of a large manufacturing concern will vary significantly depending on the hiring practices and local market linkages of the facility.
