ABSTRACT
Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine trends and patterns of foreign direct investment (FDI) in services, and their underlying reasons so as to shed some light on the globalization of services, as far as FDI is concerned. Globalization involves, among other things, the international expansion of firms' activities through trade, FDI and other modes (such as licensing, subcontracting or franchising) of accessing markets, resources and assets and reducing costs. FDI has increased particularly rapidly in recent decades and, as a result, sales of foreign affiliates have become larger than exports for delivering products to international markets (UNCTAD 1998: 2). FDI has also become one of the key channels for international technology transfer.
