Foreign direct investment from Japan, South Korea and China in the Czech Republic: A comparative analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu05.2024.208Abstract
Multinational companies from Japan, South Korea and China began to actively penetrate Czech market starting from the mid-1990s. By 2021, Japan was the leader in terms of foreign direct investment stock in the Czech Republic ($ 4.7 billion), followed by South Korea ($ 3.4 billion); and China ($ 760 million). The methodological basis of the paper is Dunning’s eclectic paradigm, which makes it possible to explain foreign investment activities from the point of view of the simultaneous availability in these processes of ownership, location and internalization advantages. As a result of a comparative analysis, the author comes to the following conclusions. In the processes of activity of foreign affiliates of Asian companies in the Czech Republic (as part of the implementation of existing ownership advantages), the following features were identified: concentration on the main field of activity of the parent company; concentration of activity in those industries that are most developed in the Czech Republic (industry agglomeration effect); clustering of affiliates around the leading company and main activity; diversification of the activities of foreign affiliates by supplementing the main activities of the parent company with the activities in related sectors. To explain the weak
presence of Chinese MNCs in the Czech market and the more deep activity of South Korean and Japanese MNCs, a “wedge-shaped” foreign market entry was proposed; it is based on the idea of internalization advantages of. The leading company represents a spearhead of the “wedge-shaped” foreign market entry. A large MNC possesses powerful and well-developed ownership advantages. It is the first to enter foreign market in the sector that is main one for its activity in the national market; and it is followed by foreign affiliates operating in the main and related sectors in a kind of expanding “wedge”. It is the penetration that enables MNCs to gain a foothold in the market, leveraging both ownership, location and internalization advantages.
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