ABSTRACT
This chapter explains to fill a gap in the literature of the multinational enterprise by assembling and analysing the rather limited information on international trends in foreign direct investment (FDI) within the major industrialised countries. Recent United Nations report (UN) has suggested the increasing importance of non-equity forms of overseas involvement such as licensed technology, franchise agreements, and subcontracting arrangements. These have been particularly important not only in parts of the world where restrictions are placed on majority ownership, such as in Japan and some newly industrialising countries (NICs) in South East Asia, but also in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe where private ownership is not permitted. Data deficiencies are the root cause of many of the uncertainties surrounding the international activities of multinational enterprises and so merit some discussion. It is important to set this high level of divestment by UK manufacturing multinationals in the context of recent aggregate UK trends in FDI.
