Attracting Foreign Direct Investment to East European Economies: Can Lessons Be Learned from the UK Experience?

The aim of this chapter is to examine the extent to which East European Economies (EEEs) have succeeded in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) during the 1990s and to consider whether there are any lessons which can be learned from the well-developed inward investment policy of the UK and its regions. ¹ A discussion of the theories of FDI and the multinational enterprise (MNE) is eschewed (for recent reviews, see Dunning 1993a and Caves 1996) and the chapter begins with a brief consideration of the locational requirements of MNEs, host country factors associated with the attraction of FDI and some specific factors pertaining to the EEEs. This is followed by an analysis, based on secondary data, of stocks of FDI in the EEEs and flows into them. The chapter concludes with a discussion of policy issues.