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This paper investigates the geography of multinational corporations’ investments in the EU regions. The ‘traditional’ sources of location advantages (i.e. agglomeration economies, market access and labour market conditions) are considered together with innovation and socio-institutional drivers of investments, captured by means of regional “social filter” conditions. The introduction of a wider set of attraction factors makes is possible to empirically assess the different role played by such advantages in the location decision of investments at different stages of the value chain and disentangle the differential role of national vs. local and regional factors. The empirical analysis covers the EU-25 regions and suggests that regional-socio economic conditions are crucially important for an understanding of the location investment decisions in the most sophisticated knowledgeintensive stages of the value chain.

We provide an empirical analysis of host country determinants of Chinese outward FDI for the period 2003 to 2008, using data disaggregated by country and industry. We want to assess the relevance of market-seeking, resource-seeking and strategic asset seeking motivations suggested by the theory on FDI determinants. Our results show that only FDI in manufacturing is attracted by market seeking motivations. As expected, resource seeking is an important motivation for Chinese FDI in resource related sectors, which usually refers to countries with political fragile environments. Strategic asset seeking motivations are relevant for both manufacturing and services.

This study investigates the motivations driving Chinese outward direct investment to Italy. The analysis is based on secondary sources and in-depth interviews with key informants and senior managers of Chinese affiliates in Italy. The empirical analysis shows that the evolution of the Chinese pattern of entry to Italy is in line with the model followed by Chinese firms for direct investment in other European countries: starting with small scale operations in trade-related activities, and then evolving towards the acquisition of tangible and intangible resources deemed necessary to increase Chinese presence in international markets and, more generally, to upgrade its technological and production capacities. Chinese investments in Italy are increasingly targeting the acquisition of design and brands in key Italian sectors of specialization, and technological capabilities in sectors such as metalworking. Chinese multinational enterprises also are investing in Italy to get access to local competitive advantages in sectors such as automotives and home appliances. This location choice is clearly linked to the intention to tap local competences available at the cluster level.

From a development perspective an investigation of the changes that have occurred in the wine industry is of particular interest because it provides evidence on how emerging economies have been able to acquire significant shares of the international market in a dynamic sector. Based on novel empirical evidence as well as secondary sources, this paper shows that emerging countries with diverse institutional models and innovation strategies, have been driving the process of technological modernization and product standardization. Newcomers in the wine sector have responded particularly effectively to changes in consumption habits, and in aligning emerging scientific approaches with institutional building efforts and successful marketing strategies.

The rising role of developing country MNEs in international markets is one of the most recent aspects of the globalization process. Recent data on the outward expansion of firms from developing countries have induced many scholars to analyze in depth this phenomenon, both theoretically and empirically. This study is a aimed at systematically and critically review the literature on this relatively new topic. At a theoretical level, the paper is an attempt to shed some light into the current debate on the adequateness of the ‘old’ theories of internationalization to explain this ongoing process. A strand of ‘new’ theories is in fact emerging focusing on the unique features of the internationalization process of developing country MNEs. Moreover, by means of an analysis of a very recent strand of empirical and descriptive literature, the final objective of this work is to focus on the distinctive features of developing country MNEs in order to suggest additional directions for future research and more detailed analyses on the topic under exam.

One of the most pervasive and disruptive effects of globalisation is the fragmentation of production processes across countries. This phenomenon is the result of delocalisation strategies pursued by firms in industrialised countries to counter increasing competitive pressures from low labour-cost producers in emerging economies. Many Italian industrial districts are deeply interested by this phenomenon. This paper will be focussed on footwear industrial districts. In the Italian footwear sector the increasing globalisation of production is imposing major changes on the organisation of production: · on the one hand, evidence at a national level shows that increasing international competition is spurring a massive fragmentation of production processes through delocalisation of labour-intensive activities abroad (towards Eastern European countries, mainly Romania); · on the other hand, evidence from a previous study of one of the author on one of the most important footwear clusters - Riviera del Brenta - suggests that the overwhelming presence of fashion firms and increasing concentration in distribution is limiting producers' control on some crucial activities, i.e. design, branding, marketing, distribution (Rabellotti R., 2001, ?The effect of globalisation on industrial districts in Italy: the case of Brenta?, IDS Working Paper 144, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton). Overall, these trends are reducing the range of activities carried out within the districts. Consequently, as firms in industrial districts enter international production networks, they are altering their traditional sources of competitiveness, which has traditionally come from intra-cluster relationships. This paper is concerned with the effect of globalisation of production on footwear industrial districts in Italy. The aim is to investigate the changing role of footwear districts within international production networks. The following questions will be tackled: which is the pattern of specialisation of footwear districts in Italy? Is there any common trend towards a reduction of activities carried out within the districts' Or, instead, are different patterns emerging for districts according to their segment of market and according to the value chains they belong to? The paper will explore these issues by analysing the pattern of fragmentation of production in the footwear sector at a regional and ?provincia? level, using data on outward processing trade (OPT) collected by Associazione Nazionale Calzaturifici Italiani (ANCI). This will allow to understand delocalisation strategies by location and to answer the question of whether different trends are emerging at a regional level. By matching this information with the geographical distribution of footwear districts in Italy, it should be possible to throw some light on the pattern of specialisation of different districts. As regards the other trend which might impact on the pattern of specialisation of footwear districts - such as the emergence of big fashion firms in the luxury segment of the market? and which does not show up in the data, primary source information will be collected through surveys to producers in different footwear clusters, to complement the analysis above.

The aim of this paper is to elaborate a framework for analysing policies and instruments adopted by international co-operation to promote the development of the private sector in developing countries. First of all, the paper presents a brief overview of donors' dominant approach in the past two decades and then an analysis of the most recent trends in this field. Both concerning non financial and financial services to the firms, there is a wide consensus on the need of strengthening local supply institutions, promoting their sustainability and effectiveness. Donors should sustain on the supply side, the development of a well functioning and transparent market for services, avoiding interventions which generates long term distortions and on the demand side should help firms in identifying their needs and the best way to satisfy them within the market.