The Perception of the External Investment Environment of South Africa: The Case of Chinese SMEs FDI (original) (raw)
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The need for international expansion in organization have continued to be an unending journey among global business as many business currently have their production facility in one or two countries of the world due to variance in labour cost. The study examines the global effect of production on the foreign direct investment competitive position of the selected institutions in the South East Nigeria. The objectives of the study includes to examine th e global effect of purchasing on exports competitive position of the selected institutions in the South east Nigeria and to determine the global effect of production on the foreign direct investment competitive position of the selected institutions in the South east Nigeria. Survey method was adopted in the study among 173 manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Data obtained using questionnaire and interview guide were presented in tables. Inferential statistic was used for the test of the study hypotheses. The result of the study shows that there was a positive global effect of purchasing on Export Competitive position of institutions or firms in South east Nigeria (Zcomputed>Zt; = -0.00993 < 1.645). Also the study shows that there is a positive global effect o f production on the direct foreign investment competitive position of the selected institution in south east Nigeria ((Zcomputed>Zt; = -0.009938 < 1.645).. It was concluded that the global effect of purchasing on exports competitive position of some institutions and firms studied has both international business and local business implications; the e -procurement method of purchasing which is becoming more popular than the traditional increase the exports competitive position of the companies. It is recommended that the strategic, manufacturing managers, materials managers or the institutions studied backed by policy should continue to ensure that purchasing should have a positive global effect on export competitive position to make foreign buying easy.
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This paper investigates which economic factors determine Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows in South Africa, establishes whether there is a statistical relationship or trends with foreign direct investment and factors such as financial openness, market size and growth, democracy, exchange and prime rates using time series data for the period 1970 to 2011. Though multivariate regression models were employed, this paper finds that financial openness (Kaopen index), democracy, one year lagged FDI and market size (GDP per capita) were significant in influencing FDI. GDP per capita had by far, the highest magnitude influencing FDI inflows in South Africa. This paper also compares South Africa with similar countries in terms of attracting FDI. Theoretical evidence showed that cheap labor and training of the labor force attracted higher FDI in the Chinese economy whereas this was not the case for South Africa. Other differences can ultimately be attributed to the start of democracy in South Africa.