ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the pattern of investment carried out by foreign-owned plants in the North East of England. The kinds of issue examined are the scale, timing, location, activity and country of origin of the foreign direct investment (FDI). Much of the analysis is novel, since as the first part of the chapter shows, regional analyses of FDI typically operate at the aggregate level and rarely consider investment. The investment data are project-based and cover significant investments by foreign-owned plants in the region, including start-ups, acquisitions, joint ventures and re-investments. The next section explores the nature and representativeness of the investment data. The investment data were originally collated by the main inward investment agency for the North-East of England, One NorthEast, and its predecessor, the Northern Development Company. Before closing it is worth briefly considering the characteristics of the Multiple Investor plants compared to the Single Investors.
