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The former Soviet Union disintegrated three decades ago. That momentous 1991 was not only the starting point for independence of the countries of the post-Soviet space but also the starting point for their transformation from centrally planned economy to capitalism, often with local specificities. At the moment of writing this article aiming at analysing the long-term, structural characteristics of inward and outward foreign direct investment (FDI), these 12 economies are facing new COVID-19-related challenges, different from the problems of transformation undertaken in the past decades. After a brief literature survey, in which the main issues raised by academic research are highlighted, the article analyses the long-term trends and the main characteristics (geographical and sectoral) of FDI, with special reference to greenfield project announcements from 2003 on (the starting year of data availability). It also explores how much economic development was based on either attracting inward or promoting outward FDI or both. The performance of the 12 post-Soviet economies is controlled against the performance of other transition economies such as the Baltic States, South-East Europe and/or the Visegrad Group. The article concludes that indeed efforts towards using inward or outward FDI for development has been modest, even if in inflows one can observe some convergence with the other transition economies, which have been relying more wittingly using FDI for their development.

Globalization is considered as the catalyst for the progress of economic activities and economic development of lower-middle-income countries. Greenfield investment not only promotes welfare but also helps in the health and education sector of these countries. This study examined thirty-four (34) sampled countries of the lower-middle-income group from different regions for a time span of 1998-2017. Im, Pesaran and Shin (2003) test is applied for testing panel unit root and one step system GMM technique is applied for the complete data analysis. The results of the study concluded that greenfield investment has increased economic growth and helped to push the welfare activities of sampled countries. Besides the increase in economic growth and welfare, greenfield investment also brings improvement in the health and education sectors through the transfer of new and advanced technologies from the developed nation firms to the host countries. Therefore, lower-middle-income countries must approve soft and friendly economic and business policies for the attraction of foreign investors from abroad. Such policies will help in promoting and increasing economic activities and economic development of the sampled countries.

Strict environmental regulation may deter foreign direct investment (FDI). The paper develops the hypothesis that regulation predominantly discourages FDI that is conducted as Greenfield investment rather than mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The hypothesis is tested with German firm-level FDI data. Empirically, stricter regulation reduces new Greenfield projects in polluting industries, but indeed has a much smaller impact on the number of M&As. This significant difference is compatible with the fact that existing operations often benefit from grandfathering rules, which provide softer regulation for pre-exisiting plants, and with the expectation that for M&As part of the regulation is capitalized in the purchase price. The heterogeneous effects help explaining mixed results in previous studies that have neglected the mode of entry.

Traditionally, there has been minimal interest on behalf of developers, land owners as well as private sector stakeholders to redevelop brownfields (De Sousa, 2000). The fears of real or perceived contamination have made the redevelopment project too expensive and risky to develop profitably. Limited government funding and assistance to the private sector for brownfield redevelopment further complicates brownfield redevelopment. This research investigated Ontario’s Community Improvement Plans with brownfield provisions and how they quantitatively aid investor returns. Hypothetical scenarios for a multifamily residential development were generated for both hypothetical brownfield and greenfield sites where brownfield incentives could be implemented. The pro forma analysis revealed that a full exemption from regional development charges (RDC) had the greatest effect on investor returns (NPV and IRR) followed by the joint TIEG offered in the City of Waterloo. Greenfield development is the most financially feasible option with no added costs or risks from contamination.

PurposeThe privatization of infrastructure promotes efficiency and service standards. While cross-border private participation infrastructure (PPI) projects hosted in emerging markets have become more prevalent in recent years, there have also been more failures. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how governance distance affects the survival of cross-border PPI projects.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide theoretical justification and empirical evidence to verify our views. The authors test the hypotheses on a sample of 4,678 cross-border PPI project investments made in emerging market countries between 1990 and 2016. Estimation techniques consist of a binary logistic regression model and a rare events logistic model.FindingsThe findings suggest that increased governance distance can lead to project failure. The study results show that governance distance is negatively correlated with the probability of project survival. Greenfield investment intensifies the negative effect of governance distance while competitive contracts mitigate the negative effect of governance distance.Practical implicationsThe results reveal that transnational investment in infrastructure projects is susceptible to institutional differences between home and host countries. Therefore, both private enterprises and host government should pay attention to the impact of inter-country differences on negotiations and project operation. Competitive contracts mitigate this negative effect, but entering in the form of greenfield investment amplifies the negative effect of distance.Originality/valueTransnational industrial engineering projects are easily affected by the differences in governance levels between the two countries. This study introduces governance distance into the field of infrastructure projects, focusing on the impact of differences between home and host countries on transnational projects. The findings on infrastructure projects that are closely related to host government contribute to the literature by broadening the research of institution and distance.

This paper investigates how important sources of heterogeneity shape the way in which family firms (FFs) enter foreign markets. By integrating insights from International Business and Family Business literature, we claim that the interplay between the generation ruling the firm and the presence of non-family board members direct the choice between a greenfield investment vs. the acquisition of a local unit. FFs prefer to enter foreign markets through greenfield investments, especially when run by the founders, due to their emotional attachment to the firm and to the lack of adequate organizational capabilities to undertake and manage cross-border acquisitions. The bias towards greenfield investments is corrected by the presence of non-family members in the board. However, we claim that non-family directors’ voice is on average more effective in second-generation FFs as they show an average lower SEW orientation, while FFs surviving in the long term are those ruled by the successors more authoritative in imposing attention on the preservation of family values. Therefore, third-and-beyond generation FFs present a higher SEW orientation as well as diversified organizational capabilities, which make them less incline to follow external advice. We test our hypotheses on a sample of 1,849 manufacturing initiatives undertaken abroad by 532 Italian FFs in the period 2000–2013.

Previous studies on the effect of FDI on sectoral growth are far from reaching a consensus. This paper, using a panel data of 35 countries between 1990-2019, aims at investigating the differential effects of foreign direct investment modes of entry into the economic sectors. Through the systems generalized method of moments methodology, this study found that the impact of foreign investment on growth corresponds directly with the absorptive capacity of the host country. Meanwhile,M&A is a better economic booster than greenfield investment. The results also suggest that foreign investment is a significant agent of economic growth in the service sector, relatively weak in the manufacturing sector and insignificant in the agriculture sector. Also, M&A seems to spillover more easily than greenfield across sectors, and natural resources are not very good channels to transmit foreign investment into economic growth.

The preservation of luxury offerings over time is not evident. Here, we consider the factors that may have contributed to their successful evolution in Monaco. To frame our theoretical discussion, we lean on observations, behavioural economics, and several models that may support insight. The conversion of Monaco into a luxury resort stemmed from a visionary nineteenth century greenfield project. The creation of enticing, exceptional, and elusive offerings attracted a new clientele. The principality was transformed into a haven of luxury. It remains one to this day. As luxury offerings mature, the need to continue to provide innovative products and services is amplified by the challenge to preserve, and at times remove, infrastructure, products, and services. Environmental, economic, and social sustainability must also be addressed. These factors can seem incompatible. Yet in Monaco, they are managed harmoniously. We explore this phenomenon through the lens of three forces that can impact luxury offerings over their life cycle: creation (creating new offerings), preservation (preserving existing infrastructure, products, and services), and removal (removing offerings). We conclude that complementary management of the forces of creation, preservation, and removal can foster the longevity of luxury offerings, when guided by principles of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. The overall objective of this article is to widen the debate relating to the long-term and sustainable evolution of luxury markets.

Whether outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) will increase an enterprise's debt ratioremainstobeinvestigated. Using the firm-level data, this study explores the effect of OFDI on an enterprise's debt ratio by using a combination of the propensity score matching (PSM) and difference-in-differences (DID) strategies. Moreover, we investigate the influential mechanism and heterogeneous effects of OFDI on debt ratio.The results show thatthe technological innovation effect is offset by the investment substitution effect, leading to an overall nonsignificant impact on the debt ratio. However, the impact of OFDI on an enterprise's debt ratio demonstratesstrongheterogeneity in the developmental degree of investment destinations and in the investment modes. The impacts on debt ratio by brownfield investment andthe OFDI destined for less developed countries are not apparent.In comparison, the greenfield investment andthe OFDI destined for developed countries lead to anincreased debt ratio.

This paper examines the impact of economic policy uncertainty in home and host countries on the choice of foreign establishment mode. Using 777 foreign subsidiary establishments made by Chinese fir...

Using original linked firm-level panel data obtained from the China Global Investment Tracker and CSMAR dataset over the period 2005–2017, this paper investigates whether the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) affected the probability of troubled Chinese overseas investments. We find that the probability of troubled Chinese overseas investments rose in the countries covered by the BRI. The finding is robust to various robustness checks. Furthermore, the European countries along the route witnessed the most troubled overseas investments associated with Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), highlighting the hostility of some European partners towards Chinese SOEs. We provide evidence that increasing greenfield investment or cross-border merger and acquisition (M&A) and decreasing the number of new construction contracts by Chinese enterprises are more likely to cause trouble for overseas investments.

A huge proportion of the world’s known hydrocarbon accumulations reside in low-relief structures (see, for example, (Macgregor, 1996)). Capturing top-reservoir undulation for low-relief fields is crucial, impacting reserve calculations and development decisions. We present a workflow and case study of a greenfield development from onshore the Arabian Plate (Sultanate of Oman) where reprocessing and depth conversion velocity model building led to better characterisation of the reservoir and depth uncertainties. With the subtle structural variation captured in two-way-time, time-depth conversions based on direct velocity data allowed the team to make explicit examination of the consequences of the uncertainty to these low-relief reservoirs. In both the reprocessing and depth conversion, horizontal wells played a novel role in the quality control.

The relationship between foreign direct investments (FDI) and natural resource endowment of a country is contentious. This study attempts to study this relationship for Saudi Arabia that is primarily an oil-producing country. In the process, it would also assess the role of institutions, trade openness, and domestic investments in attracting FDI. Using the methodology of cointegration over the data for the period 1984-2016, the study ascertains the presence of ‘resource curse’ in terms of attracting FDI. The study discovers new findings as to the resource curse in attracting FDI are not because of institutional quality which has a positive relationship with FDI. The results also indicate the absence of crowding out of domestic investments. Finally, the study recommends channeling FDI to Greenfield projects with the maximum transfer of management and technology.Keywords: Natural Resource, Institutions, Trade openness, Crowding-out, CointegrationJEL Classifications: E02; F21; O43; P33DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijeep.10359

National spatial planning has strongly influenced urban development and open space preservation in the Netherlands since the 1950s and established the country’s reputation as a planner’s paradise. The gradual withdrawal from this active and stringent type of planning in favour of decentralisation and deregulation has received less attention and its impacts on urban development patterns remain poorly studied. This study investigates residential development since 2000 in relation to the changing planning context. We focused on residential densification and the redevelopment of greyfields and brownfields as desired outcomes of policies that aim to limit urban development in open landscapes. Using detailed spatial housing and land-use data we quantified the relative importance of different urban development processes over three subsequent six-year periods characterised by slowly decreasing national policy attention to steering residential development. Our results indicate that, while the national policy instruments got weaker, the share of residential development within existing urban areas increased. Our results lend further credence to the suggestion that the abandoned national spatial planning policy targeted at housing construction within urban development zones that were predominantly defined on greenfield near existing cities, limited urban redevelopment. Despite reduced government spending, densities increased within existing urban areas as general, local-level restrictive policies with respect to greenfield development remained in place and demand for urban housing remained unabated.

Over the last two decades, China's outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has expanded rapidly. The country is now the world's second‐largest source of OFDI. China is often viewed as a monolithic investor, however, without sufficient attention to the differences between investments by state‐owned enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises (PEs). To shed light on the internal complexity and heterogeneity of Chinese OFDI, we construct a panel dataset of investments in the U.S. across the 50 states and Washington, D.C. from 2005 to 2017, which we analyze using a spatial autoregressive model. We find clear evidence that the ownership structure of Chinese firms affects investment strategy and entry mode. Statistical analysis indicates that SOEs are more likely to pursue greenfield investment motivated by market‐seeking and resource‐seeking objectives, while PEs pursue mergers and acquisitions in order to obtain strategic assets. We also detect a positive and significant relationship between the presence of Chinese overseas communities and OFDI, with the strength of the correlation depending on ownership structure. Finally, we find that Chinese OFDI is spatially dependent, meaning that investments flow to states where they are already concentrated nearby.

New firms face challenges regarding pace, time, scalability, and societal changes, requiring increased attention to sustainable work prerequisites. However, this dimension of social sustainability is less studied than economic and ecological sustainability. This paper addresses how sustainable work is considered in an entrepreneurial startup carrying out a greenfield project within a new industrial domain. Data were collected for 30 months in a longitudinal case study. The study shows that (i) working condition challenges were drivers for innovative solution-oriented approaches with potential for rapid decision-making, flexibility, and to attract, recruit, retain, and develop talented people; (ii) a strategic focus on sustainability and collective contribution to a purpose-driven vision were important enablers for taking steps of operationalising sustainable work dimensions during the startup; and (iii) the firms early stakeholder collaboration addressing working conditions was an important means for design for sustainable work and their role as agents of sustainable work. Research implications are how sustainable work can be considered during startups and through stakeholder collaboration. Furthermore, the case contributes to increased knowledge of how the three pillars of sustainability-economic, ecological, and social sustainability-are interrelated and are suggested to be continuously considered over time, specifically during rapid major changes. Funding Agencies|RISE Research Institutes of Sweden - Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems; XPRES (Initiative for Excellence in Production Research)

Purpose This study aims to examine the effect of greenfield foreign direct investment (GFDI) and mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the environment and more specifically, on the sectoral emissions of CO2. The authors identify significant differential and income effects with various data classifications of foreign direct investment (FDI) mode of entry. Design/methodology/approach The authors use system generalized method of moments with instruments for income and GFDI and M&A, which allows us to control for present reverse causality and endogeneity of income and the two modes of FDI. Findings Evidence from the full sample reveals that GFDI increases pollution, supporting the pollution haven hypothesis, while M&As decrease pollution in line with the halo effect hypothesis. GFDI flowing into poorer countries worsens the environment, while M&As flowing to industrialized economies reduce pollution. Entry-mode effects are also present at the level of industry emissions. GFDI in developed economies decreases pollution in transport industry but increases it in poorer countries. Practical implications The authors demonstrate: first, a recipient country level-of-development effect: GFDI investment flowing into poorer countries has harmful effects on environment, but no significant effect in rich economies, while M&As flowing to industrialized economies have a beneficial effect to the environment, supporting the halo hypothesis. Second, the authors demonstrate a differential entry-mode effect at the industry level: GFDI in developed economies decreases pollution from transport industry, while both modes of entry in developing economies increase it. Social implications M&As emerge as a type of FDI that is less harmful to the environment. This is especially true in the case of developed economies. However, policymakers should oversee strictly the inbound GFDI flows and determine whether they carry “dirty” or “clean” production processes. This is the type of FDI to be regulated and scrutinized to ensure that economic development is fostered alongside environmental conservation. Originality/value In existing theoretical and empirical literature, little guidance is available on which mode of entry would have greater effect on the environment of the host country. This paper answers this issue by disaggregating FDI flows into GFDI and M&As and examining how each mode of entry impacts pollution in host countries. To the best of the knowledge, this is the first study that analyzes the environmental impact of the two modes of entry of FDI while disentangling the environmental Kuznets curve effect from the halo effect.

PurposeEstablishment of wholly owned subsidiaries in a foreign market is central to international marketing because sole ownership and high commitment facilitate firm's marketing in the local market. Drawing on knowledge-based theory, this study extends the current understanding of firm's sequential establishments of wholly owned subsidiaries in a host country.Design/methodology/approachSwedish firms' establishments of wholly owned subsidiaries in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States were analyzed using a longitudinal approach.FindingsA firm's broad international experience is associated with an acquisition in any phase, while mode experience and value-adding experience are associated with postinitial acquisitions. There is no association between mode experience and greenfield investments.Research limitations/implicationsKnowledge-based theory explains a firm's choice of establishment mode when establishing in the same host country. Effects of marketing experiences are due to the establishment mode and different experiences explain choices for initial and postinitial establishments.Practical implicationsIn choosing between a wholly owned subsidiary in terms of an acquisition or a greenfield investment, for a foreign establishment the firm is advised to consider the impact of marketing experiences and establishment phase.Originality/valueResearch is needed on how experiences affect choices between foreign establishment modes where the firm is the sole owner. This study is the first to focus on the choice between wholly owned subsidiaries in terms of acquisitions and greenfield investments, and the impact of experience and phase of establishment in a particular host country.

Preferential trade agreements are growing in number and deepening in content by incorporating disciplines that go beyond market access. They increasingly encompass non-trade-related disciplines as diverse as intellectual property rights, environment laws, or labor market regulations. Moreover, because investment is complementary to trade, preferential trade agreements provide relevant institutional frameworks to partner countries that wish to regulate their foreign investments. This paper studies the impact of deep trade agreements on foreign direct investment and examines three sub-questions. First, is the impact of trade agreements on foreign direct investment heterogeneous across types of business activity Second, is this impact heterogeneous across disciplines covered in the agreements Third, does the level of development of home and host countries matter for this impact The analysis exploits the World Bank’s data set on the content of preferential trade agreement and data on announcements of bilateral greenfield investment at the activity level. The findings show that deep trade agreements matter for investment: every additional discipline in a preferential trade agreement increases foreign direct investment by 1.4 percent, on average. Deep agreements do not impact foreign direct investment in natural resources and extractive activities and have heterogeneous effects across manufacturing- and services-related activities. The results also reveal that disciplines that go beyond the mandate the World Trade Organization matter more for foreign direct investment. Disciplines related to investment liberalization and protection, intellectual property rights, or migration increase foreign direct investment, whereas disciplines on labor market regulations reduce investment. The results are mostly driven by investment between developed and developing countries.

The topic of investment timing in multi-stage public-private partnership (PPP) projects has not been received much attention so far. This study investigates optimal expansion timing decisions in multi-stage PPP projects under an uncertain demand and where the first-stage greenfield project involving a dedicated asset is immediately implemented as the PPP contract is closed, whereas the timing of the later expansion is flexibly decided according to the demand. In this setting, the optimal multiple stopping timing theory is adopted to model the expansion framework. Furthermore, we integrate a government subsidy, including an investment subsidy and revenue subsidy, into the expansion timing decisions. Through a hypothetical three-stage investment plan for a sanitary sewerage project, the optimal expansion strategies and the value of the multi-stage project before and after the subsidy are provided using a least squares Monte Carlo simulation. Also, the influences of a dedicated asset on the expansion strategies and project value are illustrated. In addition, we compare the incremental value before and after the subsidy and earlier expansion derived from two types of subsidies. The comparisons show that there is more incremental value for the revenue subsidy, and that the investment subsidy brings an earlier expansion.

Multinational enterprises undertake Foreign Direct Investments mainly through two different modes: Mergers and Acquisitions and greenfield investments. In the sizable empirical literature that examines the determinants of Foreign Direct Investments, very few studies investigated the determinants of these modes. This article empirically analyzes the extent to which determinants such as market size, exchange rate, and market openness in six selected ASEAN countries (ASEAN-6) influence the choice of one entry mode of Foreign Direct Investments over the other. A robust relationship between market size and exchange rate with greenfield inflows rather than Mergers and Acquisitions sales is found. Additionally, given an increase in market openness, foreign firms prefer Mergers and Acquisitions to greenfield investments. The results also confirm the fire-sale Foreign Direct Investments phenomenon during financial crises.

Building a modern, sustainable and reliable infrastructure is crucial to meet the growing needs of people in Russian regions. Investment in infrastructure increases economic growth temps, opens up new economic opportunities and facilitates investment in human capital. Сurrently, the population of the Russian regions is experiencing infrastructure deficit, as evidenced by congested roads, poorly maintained recreational areas, deteriorating social infrastructure assets: schools, hospitals, that are either missing or in urgent need of repair. In this regard, the state bears huge costs in parallel with the reduction of productivity and competitiveness of the regions and observing a lower standard of living. The regional authorities are not able to finance the needs of regional infrastructure, some regions have infrastructure created many years ago, that needs modernization, it is necessary to find funding for «greenfield projects – infrastructure projects implemented in undeveloped «green» areas». The decision of the regional authorities on the implementation of public-private partnership should be based on determining the benefits, which this approach will bring to the public: lower costs, high level of service or reduced risk. The conclusion, that the provision of regions with infrastructure facilities is due to the satisfaction of social needs of citizens, economic well-being and a decent standard of living of the population, – has been substantiated.

This study investigates the influence of greenfield investment and brownfield investment on renewable energy consumption along with the moderating effect of government effectiveness in 68 countries over the period 2013 to 2014. In order to evaluate more holistic view of the empirical model, we further divide our data into two sub-panels based on country risk. By applying the system-GMM technique to mitigate statistical biases including endogeneity, the empirical results show that brownfield and greenfield investment positively influences renewable energy consumption in global and low-risk panel. However, there is no statistically significant effect of brownfield investment and adverse effect of greenfield investment on renewable energy consumption in low-risk countries. Results also show that effective governments promote the use of renewable energy but it does not moderate the relationship between brownfield investment and renewable energy consumption. On the other hand, government effectiveness strengthens the positive association between greenfield investment and renewable energy consumption in global and low-risk panel, while weakens the negative link between these variables in high-risk countries. Policy implications of our results are also discussed.

Introduction Private car dependency is widely recognised as problematic. While ongoing advances in technologies of connectivity mean our capacity to envision a less car dependent city is stronger than ever, many cities and routines remain defined by the private car. Greenfield development on the outskirts of cities provides a case in point of how this comes to be. Car dependence is perpetuated in newly established outer urban areas because residential growth often precedes the arrival of the infrastructure, jobs and services required to live a less car dependent life. These asynchronies in greenfield development processes are known to have negative health implications. Less explored are the health impacts of the specific transport practices associated with relocating to a greenfield estate. This paper seeks to fill this gap by providing new insights into the health impacts of the transport practices associated with relocation to the suburbs. Procedures The study draws from a sample of 317 recently relocated residents to a greenfield estate in Sydney, Australia and uses multiple regression techniques to provide a quantitative exploration of the commuting experience. Findings Substantial increases in commute times for relocating residents are revealed and these commutes are car-dependent. This impacts wellbeing in different ways. Increases in commute time and changed commute time of departure are found to be significantly associated with lower mental health scores and decreased indices of subjective wellbeing. Conversely, an appreciation of private car use and disregard for public transport access is associated with increased happiness. Conclusions The pathways between commute time, mental health and subjective wellbeing are complex and embedded in subjective experiences of the commute both past and present. These findings need further research in the future.

The next step after smart cities is the creation of digital or smart nations. A digital nation requires a national transformation across diverse institutions including the urban and rural areas of a society. Besides diverse social innovation initiatives, sustainability is a key aspect, so that rather than greenfield projects, long-term solutions will involve brownfield, smart city projects. A digital transformation to a digital or smart nation requires a great deal of innovation in planning, process re-engineering and execution. Whereas research work and policy actions are traditionally focused on a city level, these efforts need to be widened to the national level. Existing city-scale theories and frameworks may be used and adapted to meet the larger-scale needs of the future smart nations. The new issues and research challenges which arise need to be addressed through interdisciplinary approaches. This special issue on the theme of digital nations attempts to address the need in the academic literature to provide a better understanding of digital nations.

Using a panel dataset of 105 developing countries for the period 2003–15, this paper assesses the effects of Aid for Trade (AfT) on greenfield FDI flows to the aid‐recipient countries. Particularly, this paper classifies the total dollar value of greenfield FDI flows to each recipient country in terms of four different layers: the extensive and intensive margins of projects as well as the extensive and intensive margins of source countries. Applying the system GMM estimator, this paper finds that AfT not only increases the dollar value of FDI flows to the recipient countries but also helps diversify the greenfield projects and source countries. In addition, this paper finds that AfT has a greater effect for greenfield FDI from donor (developed) countries than from non‐donor (developing) countries. Among the three components of AfT, aid for trade‐related infrastructure and aid for trade policy regulations are found to have positive links with greenfield FDI, irrespective of source‐country groups, yet their effects are larger for developed source countries. In contrast, aid for building productive capacity hinders greenfield FDI flows from non‐donor countries, while it promotes greenfield FDI from donor countries. We offer some explanations for this finding.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the impact of corruption on foreign direct investment (FDI) and its two major modes of entry: greenfield investment (greenfield) and cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As). Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from 131 countries. Modern econometric techniques, including the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator, two-stage least square estimator and two-step system GMM estimator, are used to evaluate the impact of corruption on FDI activities. Findings The empirical results illustrate that corruption is a deterioration factor that significantly hinders FDI inflows. However, this finding turns out to be contradictory when the two major components of FDI – greenfield investment and cross-border M&As – are separately examined. Specifically, while corruption consistently discourages cross-border M&As over time, it appears to exert positive effect on greenfield investments. Originality/value This is among the first to empirically examine the impact of corruption on FDI and its modes of entry in a number of countries spanning different time windows. In this sense, this paper also captures the changing nature of societies and economic conditions overtime and, therefore, enable academic researchers, policy-makers and business practitioners to draw broad inferences from the empirical results.

At present, concerns regarding climate change are common, especially in countries more vulnerable to environmental degradation. Greenhouse gases, including carbon emissions, are mainly considered to deteriorate the environment. Despite substantial agreement on many environmental issues, there are also important differences between regions and countries, and often, within nations. Accordingly, this study aims to examine the environmental performance of South and East Asian countries and its association with trade and other economic variables. Panel regression techniques and robust checks are used to examine the data, which covers 15 years from 2002 to 2016. The findings suggest an extensive negative association between trade liberalization and the environmental performance of selected countries. It is also shown that climate change performance is an important channel for the overall environmental change. The results regarding heterogeneous differences affirm the concept of sustainability and the pollution halo hypothesis. However, it is suggested that each country should make an effort to improve its environmental performance along with economic development. The role of green innovation and renewable energy is very crucial in this regard. The outcomes of this study could be helpful for researchers and policymakers to form better policies regarding the environment and climate change.

Innovation is crucial for firms’ sustainable development. However, the original motivation of innovation in China is insufficient and the key technology is controlled by other countries. Outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is an important strategic choice in emerging economies to seek overseas advantageous technical knowledge and to participate in global competition. With the further development of China’s “go global” strategy, OFDI flows have risen considerably. Whether OFDI can promote firms’ innovation levels and whether OFDI entry modes (greenfield investment and cross-border M&amp, A) have the same impact are still major issues to be solved. Therefore, we constructed a mathematical model and adopted the propensity score matching double difference method to analyze the impact and mechanism of OFDI on firms’ innovation. The results show that OFDI has a significant effect on innovation quantity, quality, and efficiency, and it has not led to innovative strategic behavior. Further research shows that cross-border M&amp, A has a stronger effect on innovation quality than greenfield investment, and both have a sustainable innovation effect. Over time, the gap between the impact of greenfield investment and cross-border M&amp, A on innovation quality has gradually narrowed. From the perspective of mechanism, the two entry modes of OFDI are beneficial to firms’ access to government resources and to promote innovation quality, while government resources have a stronger mediating effect on cross-border M&amp, A firms. This paper deepens the research on the influence mechanism of OFDI entry modes on firms’ innovation levels, while also providing theoretical and practical support for the selection of OFDI modes and innovation strategies for firms.

Using data on greenfield investment in German districts from 2003 to 2010, we examine how regional development policies affect the decision of multinational corporations to locate facilities in Germany. We are interested in whether regional development policies accumulate to increase the attractiveness of a region and whether some policies are necessary to attract foreign investors. Applying count data models and geographic weighted regression, the results indicate that, on average, regional development policies increase the attractiveness of German districts for multinational firms. We find that place-based policies have the strongest effect on investments in the East German lagging regions. However, policies predominantly attract standardised types of investments that require considerable capital investments but not specialised location advantages.

In the greenfield development process, one of the key questions that needs to be answered is, "What is the range of EUR for a particular development concept and the associated completion method based on the existing range of subsurface uncertainties?" The key challenge then is how can the team forecast a representative range of EUR efficiently to obtain a range of results that represent a probabilistic outcome. During the reservoir modelling process of this case study, a total of 405 static realizations had been run and then a STOIIP S-curve was generated. In the next step, 20 cases each of "High, Mid and Low" static models were selected based on the S-curve distribution for the next phase of dynamic simulation due to time and resources constraint. In terms of completion, the same development concept and completion method is assumed, where each dynamic case requires 8 horizontal producing wells with 200 metres of completion interval. Wells placement aside, each of the 60 dynamic models should not have the same fixed perforation depths and intervals due to the geological uncertainties with regards to facies distribution and they need to be selected based on the well effective k-h and hydrocarbon saturation along each well trajectory. Manual work could be used to analyse the best intervals for each of the planned wells, or in this case, this laborious process was replaced with an automated selection of the optimum completion interval workflow using Python script. This paper will show the workflow of how a scripted Python code is designed to provide an "automated moving window" to find the best intervals along a well trajectory. This workflow was executed in the pre-processor of the dynamic simulator which has a workflow window with Python-embedded capability. The Python code then generated the simulation keyword COMPDATMD, which contained the best perforation intervals for all the wells as an output. This automated workflow resulted in an optimization of the completion intervals in all the 60 dynamic model cases, while the ultimate recovery for this greenfield development in Peninsula Malaysia increased by 30% compared to EUR from previously "unoptimized runs". This approach is managed to cut down the run preparation time by at least two weeks compared to the manual solution. The improved range of EUR is also considered as a more representative outcome of the field development evaluation. Utilizing emerging technology breakthrough such as ability to customize specific features via a programming language is important towards a successful era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). The results of this automated and customized workflow automation demonstrate a successful application of using machine learning for enhanced problem-solving in reservoir simulation.

The FDI-entrepreneurship nexus has received growing attention over the last decade. However, the empirical findings on their relationship have been inconsistent at best. This study seeks to examine how the inflows of Greenfield investment influence entrepreneurship of the host country. Using panel data from 110 countries during the period 2001-2018, we find that growing level of Greenfield investment brings detrimental impact on the level of total and opportunity-driven entrepreneurial activities in the host countries while the impact on necessity-driven entrepreneurship have been mixed. The results regarding the impact of Greenfield investment on total entrepreneurial activities and opportunity-based entrepreneurial activities are robust across different econometric settings, different time span and different categories of control variables.

There is now a general belief that China, as a nation, contributes to the development of the economy of many African countries including Ghana. Due to this, many African countries including Ghana have been doing all that they can to create economic-friendly environments to attract more investments from China. China has been investing in the various sectors of the economy of Ghana. Hence, this study analyzed and assessed the investment of China in Ghana. Employing the explanatory research design, major sectors of the economy of Ghana and major projects of the country financed by China in Ghana were purposively selected. Major data were collected from Ghana Investment Promotion Center (GNPC) relating to the Chinese investments on the economy of Ghana in 2017 and 2018.Analysis for the data collected was done using tables in order to explain the relationships between Chinese investments and their impacts on the development of Ghana. It was found that Chinese companies have been engaging in Greenfield investment where these companies were directly set up and financed by these Chinese. Few of these Chinese engaged in transfer of existing assets from local firms to their firms which can be termed as mergers and acquisitions. It was also found that China has been investing in Ghana as a result of market size, trade openness, infrastructures and availability of natural resources. It was further found that the main sectors of the economy of Ghana benefitting from the various investments and number of projects by China included manufacturing, general trade, export trade, service, agriculture, liaison, building and construction. It was again found that reduction in the unemployment rate, improvement in infrastructures and having access to several Chinese goods and services at cheaper prices are all positive impacts resulted from investments of China in Ghana. However, it was found that company practices and policies leading to dissatisfaction in several communities who perceived that companies set up by China are not adding enough to strengthen the economy of Ghana and the low demand for locally manufactured goods are major negative impacts resulting from investments of China in Ghana. The study concluded that that there will always be an impact (positive and negative) in terms of the various investments made by China in Ghana. It was also concluded that China will continue to be an integral part with regards to the development of the sectors of the economy of Ghana because more Chinese firms will continued to be established in Ghana. The Government of Ghana is encouraged to create the enabling economic environment and produce favorable economic indicators to attract many Chinese investors. Governments’ role in supporting the local firms should also be deepened.

Summary The giant pre-salt Bacalhau field is located in the Santos Basin, and is the first pre-salt greenfield development by an international oil company (IOC) in Brazil. Bacalhau is a complex, overpressured field with high quality carbonate reservoirs with light oil belonging to the Barra Velha Formation. This work presents the story from the appraisal to development of the production of the field that will be a future cornerstone of Equinor daily production.

Port capacity investments are large, expensive and uncertain. They also involve long construction lead times. Therefore, choosing the timing and size of port investments appropriately to serve trade growth is important. This paper presents a real options model to value the option of single-phase (service) port expansions with flexible investment timing and size under uncertainty. The model moreover takes the construction lead time into account. This model allows comparing investment in the expansion of a port already operating and generating revenues with an investment in a greenfield project. An existing port has incentives to protect users from congestion resulting in delays and to protect their port revenues. Therefore, the higher the port users’ aversion to waiting, the earlier the port is expanded and the smaller the expansion. Oppositely, in a greenfield project, increased waiting-time aversion leads to projects being undertaken later and being larger. The impact of increased time to build on both the investment timing and size is ambiguous, since this construction lead time increases uncertainty, but at the same time also reduces the present value of cash flows. Increased public ownership leads to earlier investment, but not necessarily more capacity.

External stakeholder collaboration is vital for new industrial projects and establishments. The aim of this paper is to explore why and how new firms can create relations and stakeholder collaboration with trade unions during industrial start-ups. A case study was carried out in the early phases of a new firm´s major greenfield project aimed at establishing a new industrial domain in a Nordic context. The results showed that early co-operation between a new firm and trade unions has the potential to proactively address prerequisites for sustainable work in design phases of new factories, but also to strengthen the attention to other dimensions of social sustainability that are crucial for an industrial start-up’s longterm possibilities for success. However, specifically in a rapidly growing new firm, there needs to be a systematic approach that incorporates continuous anchoring activities both within and between the stakeholders. Practical implications are how new firms can initiate and establish co-operation with trade unions and other social partners in fast-moving work environments and change processes. Hence, the study identifies advantages and approaches for new firms to build relations with trade unions in a stakeholder collaboration chain inspired by the Nordic model. Further, to proactively pay attention to dimensions of social sustainability in a new firm´s early development phases and change processes, such as industrial start-ups, seems beneficial from an individual, business, and a societal perspective.

El presente trabajo estudia métodos para aumentar la productividad de la ganadería y reducir su impacto ambiental. A través del estudio de caso del proyecto Greenfield del Establecimiento Stella, localizado en el sudoeste de la provincia de Buenos Aires, se muestra que la aplicación de la denominada "tecnología del tercer milenio" o Pastoreo Racional Voisin (PRV), permitiría, no solo aumentar la productividad ganadera, sino además lograr un producto final orgánico y reducir el impacto ambiental fruto de la actividad, obteniendo incluso un balance positivo de carbono y alcanzando así un mayor beneficio real. De modo que la utilización de esta herramienta por parte de diversos productores puede concatenar el desarrollo económico, social y ambiental de la región. Para lograrlo, resulta necesario aunar esfuerzos entre los sectores privado, académico y gubernamental, propiciando espacios de investigación para divulgar tal tecnología.

China has emerged as an important partner for Africa. Not surprisingly, Chinese business and investment relations with Africa have been growing. This article contends that Africa offers a different proposition to Chinese business interests in non-African developing economies. In this optic, it takes a “comparative” institution-based view treating factors that determine Chinese multinationals' cross-border merger and acquisition (CBMA) decisions as comparatively different for Africa to the rest of the developing world. From a panel data estimation of the number of Chinese CBMAs from 2007 to 2016, we find among market size, natural resources, strategic assets, labor productivity, and institutional governance, only natural resources and market size have a distinctive effect, with Chinese investors being more attracted to African natural resources than the African market. The drive for natural resources provides impetus for Chinese MNEs to choose CBMAs over greenfield investment, and through majority ownership to exercise control. Our inference is that Africa is “significantly” different from other developing regions, in terms of CBMAs, as Chinese multinationals have a strong motive to control access to natural resources.

This paper examines the effect of Commonwealth membership on greenfield investment, using bilateral data in a structural gravity model. Estimates suggest that Commonwealth membership is associated with 19 per cent more greenfield investment, but this study finds this is effect to be only weakly significant. It finds that the presence of common legal origins is a statistically significant determinant of both intra- and extra-Commonwealth greenfield investment, along with membership of goods trade agreements and common colonial antecedents for the latter: meanwhile, geography has a negative bearing on both. No single factor consistently explains the Commonwealth's greenfield investment into the rest of the world, though the effect of geography and bilateral investment treaties is negative.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to systematically review the evolution, characteristics, motivations, entry patterns, organizational structure and effectiveness of the internationalization of Chinese research institutions in the past 40 years of reform and opening-up. Design/methodology/approach This paper describes the evolution and practice of Chinese research institutions “going out” by constructing a theoretical framework diagram and uses official statistics and existing research to explain the authors’ points. Findings The research results show that the internationalization of research institutions has undergone four phases: sprout period, starting period, adjustment period and accelerating period. It shows a rapid growth of investment scale, diversification of investment entities, rich and varied forms, and transition to major countries along the “One Belt and One Road.” Expanding the international market, tracking and acquiring technological frontiers, nurturing domestic R&D talents, and evading the risks of political, economic, cultural and scientific differences between home and host countries are the main motivations for Chinese research institutions to “go global.” Multinational corporations have entered the host country with modes such as M&A, greenfield investment and joint R&D alliances in their own strengths and also presented a variety of organizational structures such as integrated R&D networks. Originality/value This paper systematically summarizes the internationalized experience model of research institutions with Chinese characteristics since the reform and opening-up. From the perspective of internationalization model transformation, policy integration and cooperation among emerging economies, it presents the opportunities and challenges faced by the research institutions in the process of internationalization and provides a theoretical basis for improving the internationalization ability of research institutions.

This paper investigates the impact of within-country religious diversity on the performance of private participation infrastructure projects. Our analysis of 8139 projects in 33 countries (1990–2014) shows that higher levels of within-country religious diversity are associated with a higher risk of project failure. This negative effect is exacerbated in greenfield projects and when a project's main sponsor is a foreign firm. In contrast, we find no moderation effect for local government ownership. The study contributes to the ongoing debate regarding the effects of within-country diversity on foreign business ventures.

Our research aims to identify the nature of the outward foreign direct investment done by Polish firms in remote markets. By exploring quantitatively and qualitatively the flows and stocks of Polish FDIs conducted outside Europe and examining the data on projects conducted by Polish firms outside Europe the authors try to diagnose the internationalisation motives and location patterns of Polish firms in distant regions. The results showed that, although marginal, the presence of Polish investors in foreign markets comes in diversified forms, ranging from pure export servicing and sales to bold greenfield projects created from scratch.

An important strategy for commodity trading firms is geographical diversification through acquisitions and greenfield development, often justified with the quest for multiple origins. This strategy can be interpreted as a “switching option” which tend to be undervalued using traditional valuation techniques. This paper develops a stochastic binomial real options model to value networks of export elevators. It is applied to soybean trading for shipments from ports in the United States, Brazil, and Ukraine. The paper estimates the value of the option of being able to switch origins in export trade. This option value is substantial and is determined partly by margin distributions and correlations among these.