Large Western corporations have long invested overseas to penetrate markets, seek
resources, and increase efficiency. After the explosion of inward FDI to the South in the 1990s, it
is now the turn of the largest companies from emerging and transition economies, including the
so-called BRICs, to intensify their outward FDI through mergers and acquisitions as well as
greenfield investments. The contours of this emerging phenomenon are described in this paper,
with a focus on the quantification of the weight of South-South FDI flows and their
developmental consequences.
Developing Country Multinationals
South-South Investment Comes of Age
