The growing importance of Japan on the world market has brought with it changes in the international division of labour and a shift in the focus of the expansion in world trade away from the EC and the USA. What factors determine the shares of the EC, the USA and Japan in international trade?...

The sudden shock of the fivefold increase of the price of oil in the autumn of 1973 has been reflected since in the world trade by structural changes in its composition by categories of goods and its regional distribution. How has the international trade coped with this shock, and which more...

The Asian Pacific countries do not only show unparalled growth dynamics, they are also in the process of growing ever closer together. There is already talk of the creation of a new economic bloc. The following article analyses private direct investment in the Asian Pacific area, an element in...

During the last decade the world stock of foreign direct investment has more than doubled. Nevertheless, considerable impediments to FDI continue to exist. The following paper discusses these and offers an answer to the question as to whether multilateral rules on FDI are necessary to remove...

Global investment strategies have become a central issue in international business and in international economics. The worldwide stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) can be estimated at over US $ 1500 billion in 1990 - three times the value of the 1980 stock. The following article discusses...

Foreign direct investment is an important catalyst for the economic changes in transition economies offering host countries external resources, technology, management, and access to foreign markets. It is therefore high on the public policy agenda in the transition economies of Central and...

During the 1980s foreign direct investment (FDI) expanded remarkably. Simultaneously, the regional structure of foreign direct investment changed. This relationship is discernible among industrial countries, as well as between industrial and developing countries. Of particular importance is the...

The tremendous importance of small and medium-sized enterprises within the German economy is repeatedly stressed in policy discussions. That makes the disproportionately low level of involvement by SMEs in the Asian growth region stand out all the more prominently. What are the factors...