IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iwe/workpr/168.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Russian FDI in Central and Eastern European countries: opportunities and threats

Author

Listed:
  • Csaba Weiner

    (Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

Russian outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has been showing a very promising performance in recent years. The Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have become a key destination, but this is often viewed with suspicion by host countries. The paper begins with the quantity and geographical distribution of Russian capital investment, pointing to differences between estimates and official OFDI data reported on a balance-of-payments basis by the Central Bank of Russia, which are frequently revised. In some years, OFDI has exceeded the FDI inflows into Russia, which is very unusual for an ex-communist transformation country. It is also paradoxical that FDI from relatively poor and less developed Russia should be supporting the economies of relatively more developed countries. When the destinations are examined, it emerges that some of the FDI is round-tripping and trans-shipping, as a significant proportion of the investment is conducted indirectly, through third economies. The paper investigates the companies behind the transactions and their various motives for expanding abroad. The bulk of the OFDI has been coming from natural resource- based companies, Russia’s largest exporters, earning well from high world market prices for energy sources and raw materials. Having presented the Russian FDI position in the CEE region through the statistics of the host countries, the paper sets out to describe the main Russian-origin investments and trends in selected CEE countries. Special attention is paid to the strategic investments in the gas and oil industries and the alarming dependence on Russian natural gas and crude oil. It is stressed that Russian FDI is managed by mature strategies. The paper also looks at the usually negative attitude taken in ex-socialist CEE countries to companies with Russian capital. The reasons for resistance include memories of earlier Soviet policies, fear of losing control over the commanding heights of the economy, and so-called oil and gas diplomacy, as well as cultural, productivity and efficiency issues. Five case studies are cited to shed light on the probable acquisition methods. Finally, attention is turned to the prospects for Russian FDI in the CEE countries and to some actual privatization opportunities.

Suggested Citation

  • Csaba Weiner, 2006. "Russian FDI in Central and Eastern European countries: opportunities and threats," IWE Working Papers 168, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.
  • Handle: RePEc:iwe:workpr:168
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://vgi.krtk.hu/publikacio/no-168-2006-04/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. John Dunning, 1981. "Explaining the international direct investment position of countries: Towards a dynamic or developmental approach," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 117(1), pages 30-64, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Éltető, Andrea & Sass, Magdolna & Kalotay, Kálmán & Weiner, Csaba, 2015. "Orosz befektetések a visegrádi országokban. Az elméletek temetője? [Russian investment in the Visegrád countries - a cemetery for extant theories?]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 565-586.
    2. Kalman Kalotay & Andrea Elteto & Magdolna Sass & Csaba Weiner, 2014. "Russian capital in the Visegrád countries," IWE Working Papers 210, Institute for World Economics - Centre for Economic and Regional Studies.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harun Kaya, 2005. "ANeglected Research Area: Internationalization of Turkish Firms via Outward Foreign Direct Investment," Anadolu University Journal of Social Sciences, Anadolu University, vol. 5(2), pages 137-154, December.
    2. Eloísa Ortega, 1992. "La inversión extranjera directa en España (1986-1990)," Estudios Económicos, Banco de España, number 51.
    3. Nguyen Kim Phuoc, 2016. "Impacts of local characteristics on regional FDI inflows into Mekong Delta," HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE - ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY, vol. 6(1), pages 89-103.
    4. Menna, Khaled & Mehibel, Samer, 2018. "Les pays de l’Afrique du Nord et les IDE face à la problématique de l’attractivité [North African countries and FDI facing the issue of attractiveness]," MPRA Paper 85559, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Daniel Münich & Martin Srholec & Michael Moritz & Johannes Schäffler, 2014. "Mothers and Daughters: Heterogeneity of German Direct Investments in the Czech Republic," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2014(1), pages 42-62.
    6. Sosa Andrés, Maximiliano & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Busse, Matthias, 2013. "What drives FDI from non-traditional sources? A comparative analysis of the determinants of bilateral FDI flows," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 7, pages 1-53.
    7. Rybalko Yuliia S., 2014. "Holistic Approach of the Evolution Theory to TNC Genesis," Business Inform, RESEARCH CENTRE FOR INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS of NAS (KHARKIV, UKRAINE), Kharkiv National University of Economics, issue 2, pages 23-29.
    8. Lurdes Martins & Jorge Cerdeira & Aurora A.C. Teixeira, 2020. "Does corruption boost or harm firms’ performance in developing and emerging economies? A firm‐level study," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 2119-2152, August.
    9. Lydia Bals & Jon F. Kirchoff & Kai Foerstl, 2016. "Exploring the reshoring and insourcing decision making process: toward an agenda for future research," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 102-116, December.
    10. Vishwasrao, Sharmila & Bosshardt, William, 2001. "Foreign ownership and technology adoption: evidence from Indian firms," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 367-387, August.
    11. Khanindra Ch. Das, 2013. "Home Country Determinants of Outward FDI from Developing Countries," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 7(1), pages 93-116, February.
    12. Alessia Amighini & Claudio Cozza & Elisa Giuliani & Roberta Rabellotti & Vittoria Scalera, 2015. "Multinational enterprises from emerging economies: what theories suggest, what evidence shows. A literature review," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 42(3), pages 343-370, September.
    13. Ruben Molina Martinez & Oscar Hugo Pedraza Rendon & Jorge Luis Alcaraz Vargas, 2012. "Multinationalization Of Mexican Companies, La Multinacionalizacion De La Empresa Mexicana," Revista Internacional Administracion & Finanzas, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 5(5), pages 71-85.
    14. Iavor Marangozov, 2005. "From Practice to Theory of the International Joint Ventures," Economic Studies journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 2, pages 44-77.
    15. Jan Hendrik, Fisch, 2011. "Real call options to enlarge foreign subsidiaries - The moderating effect of irreversibility on the influence of economic volatility and political instability on subsequent FDI," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(4), pages 517-526, October.
    16. Huiying Zhang & Yikang Liu, 2022. "Do Foreign Direct Investment and Migration Influence the Sustainable Development of Outward Foreign Direct Investment? From the Perspective of Intellectual Property Rights Protection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, April.
    17. Angels Pelegrín Solé, 2004. "Regional distribution of foreign manufacturing investment in Spain. Do agglomeration economies matter?," ERSA conference papers ersa04p682, European Regional Science Association.
    18. Frank Barry & Holger Gorg & Andrew Mcdowell, 2003. "Outward FDI and the Investment Development Path of a Late-industrializing Economy: Evidence from Ireland," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 341-349.
    19. Claudio Cozza & Antonello Zanfei, 2016. "Firm heterogeneity, absorptive capacity and technical linkages with external parties in Italy," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 872-890, August.
    20. Yao, Shujie & Wang, Pan, 2014. "Has China displaced the outward investments of OECD countries?," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 55-71.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iwe:workpr:168. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Kanász Mária (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vkhashu.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.