ABSTRACT
A customer-centric approach is the key to success in most modern businesses. FDI is no exception to this, which is reflected in the insight and resources IPAs dedicate to understanding, designing and deploying the services investors need, welcome and take up. This chapter outlines a framework for Investor Services comprising of 4 stages. The first stage looks at economic cycles, which affect all economies, and in turn define the context within which a business performs. The second stage looks at business life cycles and how these define a company’s ambition to open a subsidiary abroad, and therefore what needs they will have once they land. The third stage looks at the 7 categories of Investor Services and how these match the various life cycles. The fourth stage introduces UNCTAD’s classification of administrative, operational and strategic services, and expands on it to capture the new needs that many IPAs provide today, such as value chain services and those services that address needs related to sustainability and governance.
