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A Business Will Always Look For New Ways To Profit – Its

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A business will always look for new ways to profit – its success is dependent on how well it can attract growth and keep the profits flowing. One of the modern ways of increasing profits is conducted through foreign direct investment (FDI). What is about and how can it provide profits to businesses? Here’s a look at the modern phenomena and the advantages businesses can enjoy from engagement.
1 Foreign Direct Investment – the key things to know

Before we start examining how a business can benefit from foreign direct investment let’s take a crash course on what FDI is about.

FDI Definition

Investopedia’s definition of FDI states the following:

“An investment made by a company or individual in one country in business interests in another …show more content…

One of the key features of the OECD guidelines is the minimum ownership control the business must have in the foreign company in order for it to count as FDI. The current guidelines state the ownership must be a minimum 10% of the ordinary shares or voting shares of the company. Nonetheless, the definitions together with the guidelines are flexible and companies can find themselves under de facto control – for example, by controlling the technology – even without the 10% controlling stake.

The key feature

The key feature of FDI is essentially that of control. This separates it from a traditional portfolio investment. When a business makes a foreign direct investment, it establishes either effective control or substantial influence over the decision-making process of the business or the operation.
This requirement for control is also what provides the structure to determining what counts as FDI and what doesn’t. As I noted above, according to the OECD definition, the business must have a 10% minimum ownership stake before its investment counts as FDI.

The methods of FDI

So, how does a company go about making a FDI? There are a number of different options for gaining control and investing in a company or business operation abroad. The most common methods of FDI include:

• Opening a subsidiary or an associate company in a foreign country
• Acquiring a controlling interest in a company that already exists in the foreign country
• Merging with another foreign

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