Basics
of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Foreign direct investment
(FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or market a
product in a foreign country. FDI occurs whenever an organization or affiliated
group takes an interest of 10 percent or more in a foreign business entity.
Once a firm undertakes FDI, it becomes a multinational enterprise. Walmart is
the first multinational in the early 1990’s when it is invested in Mexico.
FDI takes on two main
forms. The first is a greenfield
investment, which involves the establishment of a new operation in a
foreign country. The second involves acquiring
or merging with an existing firm in the foreign country. Acquisitions can
be a minority (where the foreign firm takes a 10 to 49 percent interest in the
firm’s voting stock), majority (foreign interest of 50 to 99 percent), or full
outright stake (foreign interest of 100 percent).
It is important to
distinguish between the flow of FDI
and the stock of FDI. The flow of FDI refers to the amount of FDI
undertaken over a given time period. The stock
of FDI refers to the total accumulated value of foreign owned assets at a
given time. We also talk of outflows of FDI, meaning the flow of FDI out of a
country, and inflows of FDI, the flow of FDI into a country. 

