ABSTRACT
The increasing globalisation of economic activities with new trends and patterns of investment, trade and inter-firm collaboration is rapidly changing the world map of industrial activity. International direct investment, in particular, grew rapidly during the 1980s and after a slow-down in the early 1990s showed renewed growth starting in 1993. Growth in flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) outstripped the growth in international trade that had been the primary engine of international economic growth until the end of the 1970s. Meanwhile, the annual sales of goods and services by foreign affiliates have reached one and a half times the value of world exports (OECD 1996, p. 15-21).
