ABSTRACT
This chapter takes as its starting point the changes in the geographical origin and industrial composition of international production (production financed by foreign direct investment) which have occurred since the early 1960s, and assesses how far the theories of foreign direct investment put forward in the 1960s, primarily to explain a US phenomenon., need to be modified. Section II briefly outlines the historical changes. Section III reiterates the case for an eclectic theory of international production which helps explain both the extent of, and the way in which domestic and foreign markets are served by, enterprises of different nationalities and the industrial and geographical composition of such activities. Section IV makes use of this theory to suggest reasons for differences in the industrial pattern of the outward direct investment by five developed countries, viz. the USA, the UK, West Germany, Japan and Sweden, in 1975. Section V draws the main conclusions.
